WASHWISHNI

The band of Rima Khcheich is a result of many years of collaboration with Dutch bassist Tony Overwater, gathering the finest musicians from Europe like Maarten Ornstein on clarinet, Maarten van der Grinten on guitar, percussionist Ruven Ruppik. On the album she also invited the Dudok String Quartet and trumpet player Angelo Verploegen, creating a uniqe new sound recorded in Holland's famous Wisseloord Studio. Rima Khcheich is Lebanon's most prominent singer of the "younger" generation. She is well known for her qualities as a clasical Arabic singer and the way she transforms this music to a contemporary new sound. Together with her Dutch musicians she developed a style of music that uses the best of both worlds, beautiful melodies and complex rhythms of the Arabic tradition combined with the advanced harmony and improvisation of the European music. After five successful albums combining classical repertoire with contemporary music she now recorded her latest album Washwishni with fifteen newly composed songs. She wrote most of the songs in collaboration with Lebanese artist Rabih Mroue and some were specially written for her by Egyptian composer Fouad Abdel Majeed.The songs form an almost satirical comment on the concerns of the younger Arab generations such as immigration, religious, revolution and love.