Abaji

Born in Beirut in 1958 to a family of Armenian origin, Abaji has, from France, built a career as a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist where oriental blues, folk, Near Eastern music and image-related writing intersect. Arriving in France in 1976 after the start of the Lebanon War, he develops a very personal approach, nourished by his movements between Arab, Armenian, Greek and Western cultures, with a central place given to string instruments and percussion. Abaji drew attention in the 1990s, notably with Paris-Beyrouth in 1996, then Bedouin Blues in 2000 and Oriental Voyage in 2003, albums where oud, guitar, bouzouki, harmonica or flutes sketch a mobile acoustic language, between nomadic singing, Mediterranean motifs and improvisation. The rest of his discography continues this line with Nomad Spirit in 2005, Origine Orients in 2009, Route&Roots in 2016 and Blue Shaman in 2021. On stage, Abaji evolves as much in world music circuits as in more cross-disciplinary contexts, solo or surrounded by musicians from different horizons, with occasional collaborations such as Gabriel Yared, Ramesh Shotham, Majid Bekkas or Djivan Gasparyan. In parallel, Abaji regularly composes for film, television, theatre and dance.