THE UNKNOWN SPANISH LEVANT
"Luis reflects the transoceanic circulation of Hispanic music with the African and Asian continent" World Music Central
Projects on tour and workshops
The unknown Spanish Levant (trilogy album 2021-2022)
Luis Gimenez Amoros comes from the Valencia region. He combines traditional music from the Spanish Levant (Valencia and Alicante mainly) with musical influences from Europe, Asia and Africa where he has resided as ‘Musician/Ethnomusicology Lecturer’ during the last twenty years.
In his fourteenth album, Luis (former Mariem Hassan’s guitarist among many collaborations) performs with other multi-instrumentalists Valencian musicians known in the World Music industry such as Diego Lopez (L’ham de foc) and jazz artists influenced by the local music of ‘Moros y Cristianos’ (Javier Geras, Fran Ramos and Paco Soler). This trilogy album will be released between 2021-2022 and it aims to evoke how the music from the Spanish Levant remains unique and part of a broad cultural circulation within and beyond the Iberian Peninsula. His albums have been nominated by Mellon Foundation or selected by Transglobal Music and Mundofonias.
On tour 2: Pagoda session (2020)
The album ‘Pagoda Session’ has been recorded and produced by Luis and Tengku at UPSI studio (Malaysia) and recalls the cultural links from Al-Andalus to the present day with the Asian continent. The band is composed by Du Jiazhen on the Chinese pipa, Syahmi Bin Hussein on the Malaysian gambus (or oud), Sidi Amir on regional percussions from South East Asia (rebana and gendang) and Luis on the acoustic guitar. This musical project has led the author to play in different countries from three continents, however, the uniqueness of the album ‘Pagoda Session’ consists of the intercultural sound of the band where the acoustic instruments are able to narrate their own story and altogether reveal a cultural interaction that has been forging for centuries.
On tour 3: Middle Passage (2019)
During 2019-2020, Luis released a trilogy album entitled ‘Middle Passage’ (recorded in South Africa, Malaysia and Spain). These albums are based on a musical journey from Spain to South Africa (Middle Passage), a historical journey from Al-Andalus to Malaysia (Pagoda Session); and a reflection on this musical journey across Afro-Asia from the Iberian Peninsula in the album ‘Exilis’. Luis performed Middle Passage in the United Kingdom, Spain, Mauritania, South Africa and Malaysia. He performed in formal and informal settings from the mentioned countries with local and international musicians during the launch of this album such as the legendary Mauritanian musicians Koumban and Atage Seyda; the Chinese pipa player Di Jiazhen; the Malaysian musicians Syahmi Bin Hussein on the Malaysian gambus (or oud) or Sidi Amir on regional percussions from South East Asia (rebana and gendang); and several musicians from Cape Town like Eugene Ackerman, Ted Petersen or Kurt Bowers.
Workshop 1: Performing the Spanish Levant
Trough creative, performative and theoretical studies on ancient Andalusi music, this workshop aims to explore the notion of Convivencia (coexistence) in relation to the inter-cultural rhetoric of ancient Andalusi/Levantine music (since the 9th century) such as the commonalities between the use of frigian and hijaz scale in Spanish music, maqamat in the Middle East, Dastagh in Persia, Hindustani music in India and Ghazal in Malaysia.
Workshop 2: Africa North to South
In relation to the album 'Middle Passage', this creative workshop proposes a musical and imaginary journey from Spain to South Africa passing through different places on the African continent. In this way, students will use musical elements from a certain geographical area in relation to different musical styles from the Spanish-speaking world in Spain, America and Africa. This workshop aims to enhance musical sensitivity for the study of non- western music and its possible musical fusion within the students' knowledge. The musical styles explored will be: Gnawa, griot music from Mali, Mauritanian Haul, alian Wassoulou, Tamashek, African fingerpicking guitar, afrobeat, palm wine, Highlife, chimurenga, rumba, maskanda, Malagasy and mbalax.
GALLERY
International collaborations on tour
Celtic Flamenco
Three spaniards - acclaimed flamenco singer (Raúl Micó) , an eclectic guitarist (Luis Gimenez Amoros) and a virtuoso violinist (Manuel Ruiz)- combine two of their favourite musical styles performed in the Iberian Peninsula: Flamenco and Celtic music from Galicia. This show aims to evoke Spain as a cultural bridge between Africa and Europe.
Remembering Mariem Hassan
Luis Gimenez Amoros and Vadya el Hanevi have accompanied Mariem Hassan for the release of her album 'El Aaiun egdat' (2012) and international performances. This show pays tribute to the iconic Saharawi artist and to her cultural heritage developed in refugee camps and in exile since 1975.Vadya dance, sings and play tbal while Luis accompanies her combining Saharawi music with other musical styles.
Demachena
Over the last two decades, DEMACHENA trio have been have been pushing the boundaries that define musical genres. Harnessing their individual cultural experiences in a never-ending attempt to amalgamate these musical influences into a homogeneous style. The result is an inimitable concoction with influences as far ranging as traditional Shona mbira and Flamenco, providing a familiar sound to more obscure genres. Every performance is a pulsating and riveting musical journey.
Academic
Los mares del desierto: Saharawi music in the Algerian refugee camps (2004)
Besides his artistic career, Luis has been an Ethnomusicology lecturer in various Universities and conducted interdisciplinary research in three different continents from which he has published academic articles, documentaries and academic books mainly on the study of musical circulation within an Afro-Asian context in Western Sahara, Mauritania, South Africa, Algeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, India, Spain and Malaysia.
Edgar Bera: The revitalisation of Zimbabwean mbiras (2016)
This documentary was internationally awarded with the conservation award at the Nepal fillm festival in conjunction with the British Library. It shows Edgar Bera's studio at the Mbira Republic in Dzivarasekwa outside Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Bera (or Shumba) is one of the few mbira makers able to manufacture six types of Zimbabwean mbiras related to a broader musical heritage in southern Africa. This documentary reveals the mbira playing and mbira making of Bera during 2015.
Adama Drame: Embracing the Malian nation and beyond (2006)
Adama Drame shows how a Malian musician residing in Bamako performs various musical styles from Mali and interconnected to other places beyond nationhood.
Abahlali Choir in South Africa (2017)
Abahlali choir during the making of the album at the Unniversity of Fort Hare. This project is part of the Post-Marikana resistance songs project.
How to play Zimbabwean mbiras by Edgar Bera (2018)
Educational DVD series for tertiary education on how to play six types of Zimbabwean mbiras and its cultural relationship with southern African music.
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