© Sachyn Mital
“Shimmering spidery piano godliness.”
“A magician with his chromatics and disquieting passing tones.”
“Trailblazing pianist transforms Khaleeji music.”
“He devises a new idiom, with jazz as its stimulant, and classical Arabic music as its native tongue.”
“Yamani’s piano amuses in varying the sensations, contradictory, paradoxical, resolved in the perception of the musical moment.”
“A piano in each hand.”
“Yamani’s resonant chords echo hauntingly in a provocative improvisation with a touch of thrilling angularity.”
“A world-jazz heard nowhere else.”
“A revelation... an organic hybrid of ecstatic proportions.”
“From inverting the keyboard keys to questioning the sound of a rectangle to combining poetry and numerology with jazz, Tarek Yamani maneuvers his creative process in many atypical ways.” - BAC Stories.
Born and raised in Beirut, Tarek is a pianist, composer, producer, and educator who is constantly stretching the edges between Jazz, Arabic music and Electronica.
After a brief encounter with classical piano lessons as a child, Tarek's dissatisfaction with the classical music system turned him into a true teenage metalhead where he taught himself the guitar and spent years deep into the world of metal.
Around the age of 19 - shortly after finding himself co-producing and performing with the iconic Arabic hiphop band Aksser - jazz appears in the form of a revelation showing him with absolute clarity that this is the kind of musical expression he's been looking for all along. Not being able to find a mentor, he goes on to teach himself jazz piano via records and later on, the Jazz Piano Book, the only book he found.
Since the release of his debut Ashur in 2012, Tarek has been reinventing Arabic music within the framework of Black American Music in a genre often dubbed Afro-Tarab and most evident in his second album Lisan Al Tarab: Jazz Conceptions in Classical Arabic.
Following the commission by the Abu Dhabi Festival, Tarek went on to research and write new music based on the largely unexplored rhythms of the Arabian Peninsula. The new work entitled Peninsular was released to critical acclaim and described as "a world-jazz heard nowhere else" (TSF Jazz), "luminous music anchored in jazz harmony and Arab traditions" (Télérama), “striking, rather atypical, rich, varied… to urgently insert into your playlists” (Jazz Magazine) and "the most beautiful surprise of the beginning of this year" (Jazz News).
Winner of the prestigious "Thelonious Monk Int'l Jazz Composers Competition" for his composition "Sama'i Yamani", Tarek has been part of 4 all-star global concerts of the International Jazz Day and shared the stage with luminaries such as Wayne Shorter, Richard Bona, Zakir Hussein, Esperanza Spalding, Antonio Sanchez, Brian Blade and Vinnie Coliauta.
He performed around the world in venues such as the Smithsonian Institute (Washington, DC), Barcelona Cathedral at La Merce (Spain), David Rubenstein Atrium (Lincoln Center, NY), Dubai Expo 2020, Boulez Saal (Berlin), Dizzy's Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center), MuCEM (FR), the World Bank Auditorium (Washington DC), Gran Teatro de la Habana (Cuba), Melbourne Arts Center, New York University (Abu Dhabi Festival), the Blue Whale (LA), the Detroit Institute of Arts, New Morning (Paris), Aaron Davis Hall (NYC), and King’s Place (UK) to name a few.
Since moving to NYC in 2011, Tarek has played as a leader or sideman in New York's most renowned jazz clubs such as the Lenox Lounge, Iridium, Smoke, Smalls, Cornelia Street Cafe, Bill’s Place, The Stone, Le Poisson Rouge, Shapeshifter Lab, Nublu & 55 Bar.
In April 2013, he founded, organized & produced a cutting-edge performance called “Beirut Speaks Jazz” which aims to promote jazz in Lebanon by igniting adventurous collaborations between artists from the worlds of rock, pop, tarab, rap and blues over the foundations of jazz.
In October 2021, Tarek’s first string quartet “Berytus” which was commissioned by University Musical Society (Ann Arbor) was premiered by the Spektral Quartet part of the UMS Digital Artist Residency.
Tarek is the recipient of many grants such as the Baryshnikov Arts Center artist-in-residence, the Abu Dhabi Festival Commission, the Thelonious Monk Jazz Composers Competition, the Givanas Foundation grant, the Huygens scholarship, the Andrea Elkenbracht award, the Cultural Resource grant (Al Mawred), the Prins Bernhard Culture fund, the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency (did not attend), the New Dutch composition contest, and the Kulturprojekte Berlin Stipendien-Sonderprogramm.
As a film composer, Tarek has scored numerous short films such as "I Say Dust", “Like Salt” and “Tallahassee” which were screened in 70+ festivals around the world and were shown on BBC, Sundance TV and AMC Network.
As an author, he has written and self-published two books about rhythm: "Duple vs Triple: A Melodic Approach to Mastering Polyrhythms in Jazz and other Groove-Based Music in 56 Steps" and "The Percussion Ensemble of the Arabian Peninsula".
Discography:
Peninsular (2017) — Portraits in Khaliji Rhythms and Jazz -- "Trailblazing pianist transforms Khaleeji music (CNN)"
Lisan Al Tarab (2014) — Jazz Conceptions in Classical Arabic -- "A sublime and innovative exploration of the common ground between Jazz and Arabic musical heritage (All About Jazz)"
Ashur (2012) — “Shimmering spidery piano godliness (Time Out)”
self-released on edict records
Singles:
No More Jazz (feat. Lynn Adib) (2022) — in collaboration with Anis Hachemi; released on BORDERS OF LIGHT
Hilal (2021) — compilation, Nahma: A Gulf Polyphony; released on FLEE
King Matar (2021) — self-released
Bibliography:
The Percussion Ensemble of the Arabian Peninsula: 36 descriptions and transcriptions of rhythms from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain (in collaboration with Rony Afif)
* self-published
Highlights / Awards (chronological list):
Kulturprojekte Berlin Stipendien-Sonderprogramm / 2020
UMS Digital Artist Residency to compose an evening length piece for Spektral Quartet / 2020
Artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York City / 2018
Commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Festival to compose "Peninsular: Portraits in Khaliji Rhythms and Jazz" / 2016
Speaker at Middle East's largest creative conference Nuqat / 2014
Received the Mawred grant to fund "Lisan Al Tarab: Jazz Conceptions in Classical Arabic" / 2014
Best Gig nomination for the Time Out Dubai 2014 Music and Nightlife Awards / 2014
Music juror for the 2013 grant cycle of the leading Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (AFAC) / 2013
ASHUR Promotion Video (directed by Darine Hotait) was an Emmy Awards finalist / 2012
Awarded first prize of the prestigious “Thelonious Monk Jazz Composers Competition” for Sama'i Yamani (feat. Rasha Rizk / 2010
“Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition”, semi-finals, Switzerland / 2010
The Prins Bernhard Cultural Foundation Grant in the Netherlands / 2010
Tarek’s composition “Theme & Variation” won the New Dutch Contest & was recorded by the West Coast Big Band in Amsterdam / 2009
The Andrea Elkenbracht Fonds award from the municipality of Groningen, the Netherlands / 2009