As part of Darna Fest, we, together with Darna, are organising a unique night of concerts themed around the Jewish-Moroccan community. This year, the festival focuses on three female artists and their relationship to Jewish-Moroccan culture. Three artists, three generations, three disciplines. Each has her own perspective on this cultural heritage.  

See the full Darna Fest programme here.

For the festival’s closing night, Darna has invited conductor Tom Cohen, singer Neta Elkayam and the Brussels Philharmonic Soloists for an exceptional evening!

A Judeo-Moroccan singer who combines Andalusian, Berber and Mediterranean musical influences in her voice, Neta will present excerpts from the Judeo-Moroccan repertoire carried by arrangements for orchestra by Tom Cohen. In the first part, the new Al'Faamenco project will offer us an encounter between the Chaabi music of Morocco and Flamenco.

An evening that promises to be full of emotions, joy and nostalgia!

HAK A MAMA - Neta Elkayam & Tom Cohen

The project Hak a Mamma aims to create a bridge between times and cultures. Its starting point is the music that our grandmothers, Jewish and Muslim, heard when they were young in Morocco - the common cultural ground from which and on which they grew.

In a kind of movement that goes back to this common point of departure and at the same time forward to the present here and now - these wonderful works receive a moving and compassionate interpretation by Neta Elkayam wrapped in the unique arrangements of maestro Tom Cohen for the Brussels Philharmonic Soloists and a Moroccan orchestra. As an unconditional lover of Morocco, Tom knows how to transmit these musical treasures in a unique way, even to those who did not grow up in this tradition and do not know its background.

This inter-generational, inter-continental and inter-temporal meeting is actually an open and inviting artistic dialogue of languages ​​and sounds that illustrates the connecting and magical power of the happiest-sad-music you will ever hear.

• Neta ELKAYAM, vocals
• Tom COHEN, arrangements & direction
• Abderrahim SEMLALI, violin
• Abdelhafid CHAKKOUR, ‘oud
• Ahmed EL MAAI, qanun
• Tammam RAMADAN, ney
• Ahmed KHAILI, darbuka
• M’hamed EL MENJRA, bass
• Karim ZIAD, drums
• Brussels Philharmonic Soloists: Alissa VAITSNER, Annelies BROECKHOVEN & Gillis VELDEMAN (first violin); Anton SKAKUN & Aline JANECZEK (second violin); Stephan UELPENICH & Hélène KOERVER (viola); Julius HIMMLER & Kirsten ANDERSEN (cello); Dominique BODART (trumpet); Pieter PELLENS (alto saxophone); Alexandre MAINZ (trombone)

Brussels Philharmonic Soloists

Under the name Brussels Philharmonic Soloists, the musicians of Brussels Philharmonic have been performing a variety of projects in the most diverse line-ups since 2009.

The musicians of Brussels Philharmonic are versatile virtuosos, and hence the Brussels Philharmonic Soloists play a very broad range of compositions, from baroque to contemporary, from conceptual to film, from the famous classics to surprising crossovers. Just as at the concerts of the Brussels Philharmonic, the Soloists want to bring people together through music, sometimes in unexpected places and moments, and make the experience of live music an exceptional one.

The Brussels Philharmonic Soloists perform and record regularly in collaboration with the Vlaams Radiokoor and Brussels Philharmonic, and are also regularly on the programme of various cultural and other partners.

AL’FANAMENCO

Let yourself be spirited away by the duende of flamenco and the Arab melodies of the Moroccan Chaabi! On the shoulders of a centuries-old common history, a mixed identity and a rich culture that has developed on both sides of the Mediterranean, the project Al'Fanamenco reveals the soul of these musical trends that bear no secrets from each other. With two vocalists with strong yet subtle timbres, these songs rub against one another, cross paths and bloom with intensity.

• Vanesa DIAZ GIL & Souhaila, vocals
• Raul CORREDOR, guitar
• Adil BENHSAIN, ‘oud
• Kawtar ABDOUNE, darbuka
• Romain DUYCKAERTS, cajón

This event is organised in cooperation with Darna as part of Darna Fest (2 to 19 December 2022).

With the support of Cinemamed, Bozar, Musée Juif de Belgique, Centre de la Culture Judeo Marocaine and the Brussels Philharmonic.

Concert Pictures © Daria Miasoedova