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Their music seems to come from pain, yet is full of hope
Mowat’s passion is to use music to bring people together. Constantly creating cross-cultural collaborations rooted in jazz improvisation, his forthcoming project is bringing together the outstanding Palestinian nay master and percussionist Faris Ishaq and his cross-cultural Bristol-based British European Jazz Ensemble (BEJE).
The nay is an end-blown flute that dates back over 4,500 years, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use. It figures prominently in traditional Kurdish, Persian, Turkish, Jewish, Arab and Egyptian music. David Mowat comments: ‘Faris’s nay is rooted in ancient Egypt – but flowers in Coltrane’s Elysian canopy!’
Faris Ishaq and BEJE have toured together since 2018 for David Mowat’s show ‘Longing Belonging and Balfour’ (with Arts Council and British Council backing).
Winning a scholarship in 2018 to the world renowned, prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, Faris Ishaq was named ‘best student’ for his innovative work blending Arabic music with jazz. Born in Bethlehem in occupied Palestine, growing up Faris Ishaq was mostly self-taught as a musician and composer but soon gained recognition for his inventive, crosscultural artistry.
Performing at both the London and Monterey Jazz Festivals, Faris Ishaq has collaborated with the multi-Grammy-winning jazz bassist John Patitucci. His concerto for nay and orchestra, ‘A Wildscape’, received its premiere with the St Paul’s Sinfonia in Southwark Cathedral in 2024. His new solo album ‘Jasad’, follows ‘Tripolarity’ (2019), ‘Nature Addresses You’ (2021) and ‘Kham’ (2023).
BEJE is led by David Mowat (trumpet and band leader), with Knud Stüwe (oud), Timothy Funnell (piano), Andy Hamil (double bass) and Paolo Adamo (drums), and their most recent tour was another cross-cultural project ‘Yunmi Sang and the BEJE Trio’ – an exceptional South Korean collaborative jazz partnership, with their 2026 album ‘Modernised Sacrifice’.
Mowat’s passion is to use music to bring people together:
In BEJE I’m celebrating many cross-cultural collaborations all rooted in jazz improvisation. I’m reaching for the common human condition however diverse are the people who work together. Started in 2013 BEJE began with the many European jazz musicians who made the cosmopolitan city of Bristol their home. Then we connected with a wider cross-section of people as my work and passions took me elsewhere. BEJE is a multi-faceted ever evolving project with a slightly different line up for each project. The current album is the most collaborative of the ones we’ve done, with four of us contributing compositions.
I strive to find the common humanity in all, and a time beyond the conflict when we’ll be brothers and sisters on the one small planet we will all have to share in equality, for there to be any future worth living.
FARIS ISHAQ + BEJE are now digging deep in the studio recording their new album in just 5 intensive days. They will be on fire!
They are now digging deep in the studio recording their new album in just 5 intensive days. They will be on fire!
Exclusive pre-release album available to buy here
Plus performing their new collaboration live at Christ Church, Julian Road, Bath on Saturday 16 May. Doors 7pm, Music 7.30. https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/whats-on/faris-ishaq-beje-5qvg
Mowat also curates a successful monthly ‘global sounds’ dance night in Bristol, the Cotham Club, which is always looking for artists. https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/checkout/cotham-club
