Amparo Cortés, daughter of flamenco dancer and singer Gitanillo de Marchena, was immersed from the tenderest age in the flamenco gypsy culture of Seville. Her paternal uncle was the famous guitarist Melchor Marchena, still recognised as one of the largest and most influential tocaores. Not just an authentic flamenco singer with great feeling (duende) and a captivating stage presence that can charm any audience, Amparo is also a poet, producing work on an almost daily basis, and this is reflected in her cantes. Her poems are strongly autobiographical, emotional, vulnerable and often very beautiful, couched in the language of a poetic oral tradition which displays her extraordinary proficiency in the Sevillian dialect.

An encounter with the poet Taha Adnan prompted Algerian singer Abdel Wahab Hakem and French guembri player Philippe Claudel to set his poems to music. They chose the name ’Hamri’ (’red earth’ in Arabic) for this duo in which the austere accompaniment of the guembri (Berber lute) allows Taha Adnan’s poetic words, interpreted brilliantly by Hakem, to take the foreground and resonate fully.

Helena Ruegg’s music is a very personal mix of tango, Yiddish music and jazz. Argentinean tango and the bandoneon maestri Alfredo Marcucci, Juan Jose and Rodolfo Mederos Mosalini were profound formative influences. More recently, travels to Israel and Palestine increased her interest in Yiddish culture, language and music. Although later this year Enja will be bringing out a CD of Ruegg in trio with Quique Sinesi and Michel Godard, this concert showcases her talents as a virtuoso soloist.

Since bringing out their wonderful CD ’Doverie’, Balkan music group ’Zongora’ (Nicolas Hauzeur on violin, Mladen Mladenov on clarinet and Benjamin Clement on guitar) have added Greek accordionist Dimos Vougioukas to their ranks. The quartet specialises in the exuberant music that spans the frontier between Mediterranean and Balkan cultures.

Mamadou Dramé is a virtuoso of the traditional West African instrument, the chromatic cora. A Dakar Conservatory graduate, he sometimes accompanies himself on vocals, too. His is a new face on the Belgian world music scene. He is accompanied by fellow national Serigne Thiam on the calabash who earned his reputation sometime ago and has played with Thione Seck and Malick Pathe Sow, to name a few. We are honored to have this duo share their music and universe with us.

The Cuban singer/guitarist Pucho Diaz enriches his music with influences from his native Havana and from in fact the whole world: songs and rhythms from Africa, Arabic music and Spanish traditions. His intelligent words and his harmonies are often supported by serious groove and even necessary intimacy. Pucho is accompanied by cellist Anja Naucler (Manou Gallo, Ghalia Benali and Triode) and by Octave Komlan (Malick Pathe Sow, Kel Assouf).

Two voices, a double-bass and percussions. The meeting of these different instruments gives life to a project which invites us to explore different states of our human condition and our deepest essential emotions. Lullabys, serenades, sailor songs and other music inspired by European traditions are enriched with personal arrangements and compositions.

No instrument can better reflect the sound of the soul than the Armenian doudouk. It is one of the oldest double-handled instruments in the world. Vardan Hovanissian, and his instrument, travels the world as a soloist or with Israelian singer Yasmin Levy or with the Blindnote project. One of his latest projects is this doudouk trio which finally shows off the instrument properly.