A window is enough to separate and isolate an individual from the rest of the world. Then the faces on the street each have a different story to tell, depending on what the onlooker wants to see.

Giuseppe Rinaldi - Tenor Saxophone
Giedrius Nakas - Piano
Makram Aboul Hosn - Double Bass
Jaemin Lee - Drums

Klaas Pot: Recording/Mixing Engineer

Copyright © Makramusic 2014

www.makramusic.com

"Looking through a Shop Window, Oxford Street"                    
  © David Tindle  
Photo credit: Lakeland Arts Trust

Street Window

Here is a track I put together that was first inspired by Stephen Hawking's "A brief history of Time", my post-school introduction to the world of Physics. The ideas in the book inspired me to want to record a track, reverse it and then listen to both the original and reversed track at the same time. The anonymous woman talking in the background is from an audio clip I recorded on my phone next to a bus stop in Manhattan. The result of all this, is this experimental track.

Makram Aboul Hosn: Double Bass, Buzuq, Recording & Mixing.

Copyright © Makramusic 2015

www.makramusic.com

Photo Credit: Saretta, copyright 2007

"I'm of No Race"

"You come back, wavering shapes, out of the past
In which you first appeared to clouded eyes.
Should I attempt this time to hold you fast?
Does this old dream still thrill a heart so wise?
You crowd? You press? Have, then, your way at last.
As from the mist around me you arise;
My breast is stirred and feels with youthful pain
The magic breath that hovers round your train.

With you return pictures of joyous days,
Shadows that I once loved again draw near;
Like a primeval tale, half lost in haze,
First love and friendship also reappear;
Grief is renewed, laments retrace the maze
Of Life's strange labyrinthian career,
Recalling dear ones who, by fortune's treason
Robbed of fair hours, passed before my season.

They will not hear me as I sing these songs,
The parted souls to whom I sang the first;
Gone is that first response, in vain one longs
For friendly crowds that have long been dispersed.
My grief resounds to strangers, unknown throngs
Applaud it, and my anxious heart would burst.
Whoever used to praise my poem's worth.
If they still live, stray scattered through the earth.

And I am seized by long forgotten yearning
For that kingdom of spirits, still and grave;
To flowing song I see my feelings turning,
As from aeolian harps, wave upon wave;
A shudder grips me, tear on tear falls burning,
Soft grows my heart, once so sever and brave;
What I possess, seems far away to me,
And what is gone becomes reality." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Makram A.Hosn - Bass & Composition
Adam Kolker - Sax
Ignacio Fernández de Frutos - Guitar
Jorge Castañeda Valenciano - Piano
Mikel Urretagoiena - Drums

Copyright © Makramusic 2015

www.makramusic.com

In Wavering Forms

A Koan-tet arrangement of Dizzie Gillespie's infamous "Night in Tunisia". Recorded live at Singlezaal, PCC in the Netherlands on the 1st of June, 2016. 

Makram A.Hosn: Bass, compositions & arrangements
Mikel Urretagoeina: Drums
Stefan Goranov: Percussions
Jorge Castaneda: Piano
Nacho De Frutos: Guitar
Dani Juarez: Tenor Saxophone

Copyright © Makramusic 2016 

www.makramusic.com

Night In Tunisia (live)

A three-part composition experimenting with polyrhythms, polytonalities and group improvisation. Recorded live the Singlezaal, PCC in the Netherlands on the 1st of June, 2016. 

Makram A.Hosn: Bass, compositions & arrangements
Mikel Urretagoeina: Drums
Stefan Goranov: Percussions
Jorge Castaneda: Piano
Nacho De Frutos: Guitar
Dani Juarez: Tenor Saxophone

Copyright © Makramusic 2016 

www.makramusic.com

Jamais Vu

An impromptu take of "Reaching for the Moon".

Nada Mouzannar: Voice
Makram A.Hosn: Double Bass
Nabil A.Khalek: Sound Engineer/Production

Copyright © Makramusic 2016 

www.makramusic.com

Reaching for the Moon (ft. Nada Mouzannar)

The opening track on an album I recently recorded with Jeremy Siskind on Piano. Here Jeremy plays my composition "Debbie's Waltz" and develops it with a breathtaking improvisation inspired from the written theme.

Unknown album (28-Oct-17 12:19:49 PM)

Debbie's Waltz

Oboe: Oleg Balanuta
Clarinet: Ciprian Melente
Bassoon: Ionut Mardare

Recorded & mixed by Nabil Abdul Khalek at Signwave Studios.

I was struck by the realization that since I was a boy, the idea of war was not only normalized, but glorified with all kinds of war toys. Little heroic action figures, tanks, airplanes, missiles. A child's innocence combined with these toys which in reality represent something as terrible as war is something that probably translates as passiveness to war in adulthood. 

"Little Toy Soldiers going off to war
None will ever live to  see age twenty four
None of them even  know what they're fighting for
Little Toy Soldiers going off to war

The world has always been this way
With Emperors and Kings
Fighting with toy soldiers
And the glory that it brings

Land, beliefs, religion
The basis of the war
fought by young toy soldiers
Who all die by the score

Time has taught us nothing
But, it's changed the way we fight
War is a full day job
Now that it is fought at night

The boards of little armies
Are now shown up on the screen
With all the little soldiers
Lit in different shades of green

They used to be all metal
Painted up in nice bright shades
With a General on horseback
Leading all his smart brigades

Then, the men were plastic
glued to bits of wood
Behaving as a unit
Just like a soldier should

Now, the war is different
They're up there in different hues
You can watch them fight in real time
Just like on the nightly news

The only thing remaining
The thing that's stayed the same
Is that nobody in power
Know the Little Soldiers names

Little Toy Soldiers going off to war
None will ever live to  see age twenty four
None of them even  know what they're fighting for
Little Toy Soldiers going off to war"

"Little Toy Soldiers" by Roger Turner
April 29 2018
Copyright © roger turner | Year Posted 2018

Photograph: Teresa Evangeline 
(http://teresaevangeline.blogspot.com/2013/11/toy-soldiers.html)

"Toy Soldiers" Suite for Woodwind Trio (3rd Movement)

This is my second classical composition, the subject is some fantasy world with creatures unlike any we've seen before.

Stefan Diaconu: Flute
Oleg Balanuta: Oboe
Ciprian Melente: Clarinet
Gabriel Raileanu: French Horn
Ion Mardare: Bassoon

Recorded & mixed by Jawad Chaaban @ OneHertz Studio, Beirut.

Copyright © Makramusic 2019

Woodwind Quintet No.1 (1st Movement)

Body & Soul

What it sounds like in my head, especially when in an interesting conversation.

Transmigration

Let Me Finish

Betcha Sting

Perhaps my most personal, and fragile of compositions. Dedicated to the memory of loved ones who've left before us.

Ever-recurring Story Of September

When I read about the South African droughts a few years ago, I was inspired to compose a piece to symbolize a rain dance ritual. The name "Modjadji" or Rain Queen refers to a line of queens of the Balobedu (Limpopo province, South Africa) believed to have the ability to control clouds and rainfall.

Modjadji

Jazz Bassist and Composer based in Beirut, Lebanon.

Makram A.Hosn

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