Victoires du jazz 2019 | Jazzahead 2022 | Womex 2022
“If there is an artist in France inhabited by the consciousness of the immense, the unrepresentable Syrian disaster, it is Naïssam Jalal. Angry, bruised, stunned, horrified or focused on the memory of a culture that is now devastated, her music appears as a direct projection of her soul, a vivid painting of the feelings that animate him. But even despair always gives way to the enthusiasm and appetite of the flautist."
Les Inrocks (FR)
"compositions of great melodic richness, undulating grooves, precious harmonies referring to the music of the Middle East and a some modal lyricism wich reminds us in turn the nomadic music of Don Cherry and the obsessive mystical jazz of John Coltrane."
Jazz Mag (FR)
Naïssam Jalal has been revealing a personal and vibrant musical universe giving new meaning to the word freedom, both in substance and in form. In a continual search with boundless curiosity, she shines by her virtuous capacity to weave the bonds between different musical cultures and aesthetic fields.
Commitment through and in music, and creation in the service of commitment: these are the guidelines of her many artistic projects that have never ceased to surprise by their originality, their authenticity and their artistic qualities.
Bringing jazz, classical music and Eastern music closer
WOMEX 2021 - Jazzahead 2022
Naïssam Jalal: flute, nay, vocal, composition
Mehdi Chaïb: tenor & soprano sax, percussions
Karsten Hochapfel: guitar, cello
Damien Varaillon: double bass
Arnaud Dolmen: drums
Oscillates between contemplation and trance, silence and music
Victoires du Jazz 2019
Jazzahead! 2019
Naïssam Jalal: flute, nay, vocal, composition,
Claude Tchamitchian: double bass
Leonardo Montana: piano
Bringing together Egyptian, Moroccan and American traditions
Naïssam Jalal: Flute, voice, nay, composition
Clément Petit: Cello
Claude Tchamitchian: Double bass
Zaza Desiderio: Drums
Impressionistic repertoire based on Hindustani- and classical Indian music.
Naïssam Jalal: flute, vocals, composition
Debasmita Bhattacharya: sarod
Leonardo Montana: piano
Flo Comment: tampura
Anuja Borude:pakhavaj
Francesco Ciniglio: drums
Born in Paris of Syrian parents, Naïssam Jalal studied at the Higher Institute for Arab Music in Damascus, where she studied the ney flute. Later, she moved to Cairo for a few years and enriched her playing with the greatest masters of classical Arabic music such as the great violinist Abdu Dagher and Fathi Salama, with whom she performed in the most prestigious theatres. She participated in the creation of the El Dor El Awal and Bakash groups. Between musical training and a quest for self, these years of initiation — in the noble sense of the term — formed the foundation of the artist as she has become today.
Back in France, she accompanied the Lebanese rapper Rayess Bek and the Egyptian oud player Hazem Shaheen. In 2009, she unveiled the Noun Ya project, a duet with oud and guitar player Yann Pittard, with whom she toured in France, Syria, Japan, Lebanon and Tunisia, and released the album Aux Résistances.
From rap to contemporary jazz, tango and afrobeat, Naïssam Jalal plays with everyone and avoids all musical categorisation. She has been found alongside the cream of African musicians on the Parisian scene: Cheikh Tidiane Seck, Mamani Keita, Kiala, Brice Wassi, Hilaire Penda, Fatoumata Diawara, Moh and Hervé Samb; or with big names in French and international jazz: Hamid Drake, Michael Blake, Médéric Collignon, Nelson Veras, Hubert Dupont and Mathilde Gross Viddal; in Arab music with Amazigh Kateb, Lena Shamamyan, Macadi Nahhas, Youssef Hbeish, Khaled Aljaramani and Ahmad Alkhatib; and with the Latin American musician and singer Melingo.
She has recorded with Abdoulaye Traore, Mohamed Diaby, Napoleon Maddox, Aziz Sahmaoui, Mike Ladd, Sébastien Giniaux, Aerophone Jazz Trio, and the Palestinian rap group Katibeh 5, and has composed music for two feature films (Karima Zoubir’s Camera Woman and Odile Demonfaucon’s In the hands).
First prize in Jazz category of the International Songwriting competition 2023
Victoire du Jazz 2019 (album Quest of the Invisible)
Grand prix of the Académie Charles Cros 2017
Jazzahead! 2022
WOMEX 2021
Jazzahead! 2019
02 Apr 2024 - Points Communs - Cergy (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
06 Apr 2024 - Astrada Marciac - Marciac (FR) Quest of the Invisible
07 April 2024 - Détours de Babel - Grenoble (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
29 April 2024 - Théâtre Gérard Philipe - Saint Dénis (FR) Healing Rituals
04 May 2024 - Bray Jazz - Dublin (IR)
06 May 2024 - Jazz Sous Les Pommiers - Coutances (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
07 May 2024 - Jazz Sous Les Pommiers - Coutances (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
08 May 2024 - Jazz Sous Les Pommiers - Coutances (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
11 May 2024 - Bordures Festival - Langon (FR) Healing Rituals
22 May 2024 - D'Accord! x The Glasshous International Centro of Music - Gateshead (UK)
23 May 2024 - D'Accord! Manchester Jazz Festival - Manchester (UK)
26 May 2024 - Festival des Musiques Sacrées - Fez (MA) Healing Rituals
30 May 2024 - Théâtre de Vanves - Vanves (FR) Healing Rituals
07 June 2024 - Auditorium de Musique - Issoire (FR) Healing Rituals
08 June 2024 - Jazz à Barraux - Barraux (FR)
14 June 2024 - Ravenna Festival - Ravenna (IT)
16 June 2024 - Côté Jardin Bijloke - Ghent (BE) Rhythms of Resistance
21 June 2024 - Opéra de Clermont-Ferrand - Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
22 June 2024 - La Baie Des Singes - Cournon-d’Auvergne (FR)
07 July 2024 - Brosella Festival - Brussels (BE) Rhythms of Resistance
08 July 2024 - Jazz à Porquerolles - Porquerolles (FR) Solo
09 July 2024 - Aux Heures d'Été - Nantes (FR) Healing Rituals
12 July 2024 - Festival Radio France Occitanie Musée Fabre - Montpellier (FR) Solo
16 July 2024 - Les Estivales du Haut Calavon - Viens (FR) Healing Rituals
19 July 2024 - Errobiko Festibala - Itaxou (FR)
21 July 2024 - Calagonone Jazz Festival (IT) Duo avec Lina Belaïd
02 Aug 2024 - Le Patio de la Roche - La Rochefoucauld (FR) Quest of the Invisible
03 Aug 2024 - Le Patio de la Roche - La Rochefoucauld (FR) Quest of the Invisible
09 Aug 2024 - Festival Gilles Peterson - Saint-Paul-de-Vence (FR) Rhythms of Resistance
25 Aug 2024 - Shambala Festival - Birmingham (UK) Rhythms of Resistance
15 Sept 2024 - Festival Ethnos - Napoli (IT) Healing Rituals
29 Sept 2024 - Fondation Royaumont - Asnières-sur-Oise (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
03 Oct 2024 - Enjoy Jazz Festival - Heidelberg (DE) Healing Rituals
04 Oct 2024 - LantarenVenster - Rotterdam (NL) Healing Rituals
05 Oct 2024 - Flagey - Brussels (BE) Healing Rituals
06 Oct 2024 - Open Music Jazz Club, Jazz en Nord Festival - Comines (FR) Healing Rituals
11 Oct 2024 - Musée des Confluences - Lyon (FR) Healing Rituals
14 Nov 2024 - Chapelle Corneille - Rouen (FR) Healing Rituals
23 Nov 2024 - Le Zef - Marseille (FR) Rhythms of Resistance
26 Nov 2024 - Auditorium Saint-Germain - Poitiers (FR) Quest of the Invisible
31 Jan 2025 - L'Arsenal Scène nationale - Metz (FR) Landscapes of Eternity
In collaboration with Tour'n'Sol prod.
