The Orients of the Lute

With these recordings, Marc Loopuyt takes us on a fascinating voyage in time and space, to the worlds of his favourite instruments: the ‘ûd –the ancestor of the Western lute– and the flamenco guitar. We find ourselves in a modal world ranging from Azerbaïjan to Morocco and including a detour in Spain, where flamenco has probably retained a flavour inherited from the golden age of Medieval Andalusia, also evoked in these recordings with the kwitra, a lute originating from Andalusia, which can still be heard in Morocco. Marc Loopuyt regularly calls for artists of varied origins and these recordings thus feature Armenian, Azeri, Egyptian, Gypsy and Moroccan musicians, as well as his son Thomas, who brilliantly pursues the family tradition.