ABOUT HARKAN
Harkan is a one-of-a-kind band formed by internationally-renowned French classical harpist Maia Darmé, Tunisian kanun virtuoso Nidhal Jaoua, and Iranian Kurd percussionist Ebrahim Ahmadi on the daf, bendir, dayereh and dahol.
Harkan’s repertoire blends original contemporary compositions with immemorial music from across the greater Mediterranean. The trio brings jazz flavors, meticulously woven arrangements inspired by classical music, and new colors to traditional melodies from Turkey, North Africa, the Levant, Persia, Spain, Italy, Greece… Fiery dances follow languorous pieces as the rhythm builds up – the musicians’ dazzling fingers running on an ocean of strings. The versatility of the trio and their unusual instruments never ceases to amaze. Harkan is a moment out of time and away from reality.
« Seeing the European harp and Oriental qanun together is akin to watching two distant cousins realize they have so much to tell each other. Their voices, similar yet of a slightly distinct timbre, responding seamlessly to one another under Harkan's hands. Their story kindled by the beat of ancestral drums, echoing tales of faraway journeys, promises and horizons yet to come. »
— Tunisia Tourism, 27/12/2018
At the heart of the project lies the surprising encounter of the pedal harp and the kanun – both relatively little-known outside of their native cultural traditions – but above all that of two brilliant performers eager to redefine what their instruments can do and challenge the preconceptions surrounding them. The story began in 2016, when the two musicians crossed paths backstage at the Tunis Theatre – one stepping onto the stage as the other came off. Both driven by curiosity for the other’s musical universe, they decided to collaborate.
They spent the next two years researching folk and art music of the MENA region over the past five centuries, creating arrangements that play on the striking similarities between the harp and kanun’s tones, collaborating with contemporary composers on new creations, and developing new playing techniques for both instruments to allow them to venture into foreign music cultures. The result is a richly varied program, technically remarkable yet deeply expressive, and accessible to all audiences, from first-time listeners to seasoned connoisseurs.
In the summer of 2018, they launched “Harkan” (حركًا) – a contraction of “harp” and “kanun”, but also, in Classical Arabic, the adverb indicating movement. A fitting name for this awe-inspiring duo, whose hands seem to dance in perpetual motion. Following the project’s immediate success in North Africa, the group began performing across Europe and expanded into a trio with the addition of Ebrahim Ahmadi, an Iranian Kurdish master of frame drums (daf, dahol, dayereh, bendir).
Since then, Harkan has captivated audiences at numerous festivals and prestigious venues including Festival Vand’Jazz, Festival Ôrizons, Festival Les Lantonnales, Festival La Saison Bleue, the International Harp Festival of Dinan, the International Guitar Festival of Issoudun, Festival Noctuel, Festival of Guîtres, Festival of Hergla, the National Theatre of Ceuta, the French Institute of Tunisia, the National Centre for Arab and Mediterranean Music, the Abdelliya Palace, Casa Árabe in Madrid and Córdoba, the Archaeological Museum of Sousse, the House of Tunisia in Paris, the National Theatre of Caen, of Neuilly, of Epinac, of Blois, of Vendôme, as well as the International Kanun Symposium (Ankara) and the World Harp Congress (Cardiff).