Album Title: Mystic
Performer: Abed Azrié
Label: Doumtak | Nocturne
Play Time: 65'42"
Recorded: 2007


Mystic sets to song Sufi poems from the 9th to the 13th century in a quasi Moorish context of oud and Middle-Eastern violin plus accordeon, double-bass and hand drums. Over many albums including the groundbreaking Aromates, Lapis Lazuli and the various incarnations of Suerte, the Arabian singer Abed Azrié now living in Paris has developed a unique style that bridges Al-Andalus elements with long-forgotten Sumerian kingdoms of Mesopotamia. His Epic of Gilgamesh in fact works directly with such ancient source texts whereas Omar Khayyam is dedicated to Sufism and Venessia to a particular epoch of the floating city of Venice.
These transcultural airs are so firmly embedded in Azrié's music as to generate their own time shifts. One feels in the presence of something ancient unable to exactly fix its time and place. The Arabian modes, timbres and lyrics suggest the

Mystic's Special Edition version is accompanied by a DVD of a l'Institut du Monde Arabe concert in 2008.