Limitless Adaptation: Firas Zreik Speaks

Photo by Felicia Abban.

by Rob Shepherd

The Kanun is a plucked zither that traces its history back to the Old Assyrian Empire during the nineteenth century BC. Over three millennia, the instrument has become a fixture in Arabic music, specifically forms adopting maqam; a unique improvisational system based around melodic modes. But, as Kanunist Frias Zreik shows, it would be a mistake to pigeonhole the instrument as one capable solely of creating traditional Middle Eastern music. 

Zreik’s training includes a deep exploration of jazz composition, which he studied on a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music. Zreik has collaborated with other artists from around the globe, including Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters, Indian vocalists Shankar Mahadevan and Shreya Goshal, and Belgian saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol. He has also served as musical director for the internationally renowned vocalist, his mother, Amal Murkus. The pan-cultural influences are similarly evident on Salute (Levantine, 2023), Zreik's first full-length album, as it features an octet mixing Middle Eastern and Western instruments. 

In our conversation, Zreik seemingly suggests that it is a flawed conception to limit a specific instrument or sound to a geographic location. The sounds of his native Palestine loom large in Zreik's music but so do jazz, as well as Latin and Brazilian music. 

The Jazz Gallery: Do you plan to play primarily new compositions at your upcoming quintet performances at The Jazz Gallery?

Firas Zreik: We will be premiering a few pieces I wrote recently. Last month I was at an artist residency at the MacDowell Fellowship program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and wrote new compositions there. Those pieces are probably the framework for our next big project. I feel like the performances will give a glimpse of what we are doing in the future, but we will also have many songs from my recent album, Salute. 

TJG: Salute is a beautiful album. It should be interesting to hear those compositions with this quintet as its instrumentation—Kanun, saxophone, guitar, bass, and percussion—is very different from the eight-piece group featured on the album. How did you select the instrumentation for your quintet?

FZ: I've been trying different setups for the past few years. I still do that. The instrumentation of none of my groups is written in stone. Sometimes I play with very different kinds of setups. Maybe it is a traditional Arabic ensemble with a nay, violin, oud, and riq. Other times, I play with trios or duos that feature a rhythm section and harmonic instruments, and sometimes solo.

But I've been performing in this quintet formation for the past concerts around [New York], and it feels solid. I feel that bass, percussion, and guitar give a really nice base to build something on. And having a horn to join the lead, with the Kanun, is crucial. All of that allows the Kanun to dance in between the different parts. 

TJG: You mentioned in another interview that you view the Kanun as the heart of the Arabic ensemble and that it sets the tone and tempo for the rest of the group. Do you feel that is the case for not only its use in traditional settings but more “jazz” focused ensembles?

FZ: I believe so. The vast capabilities of the instrument still shine even within a non-traditional ensemble. The Kanun is a very versatile instrument. I can play high octaves, low octaves, and double octaves. I can comp. I can harmonize. I can groove. And it blends well.

TJG: As for harmonizing, is it difficult to get the rest of the group to work with the Kanun, given that it is a microtonal instrument and the rest of the bands are Western instruments?

FZ: At the beginning, it was. But the musicians I have been working with have adapted beautifully to the maqam tradition the Kanun comes from and the instrument’s sound and intonation. They have stopped thinking of it as a microtonal instrument per se. The microtone is just another sound that you can create. Just another intonation that you can hit within your inventory. 

We always discuss intonations, especially microtonal intonations. We also discuss scales, especially those that derive from the maqam world. And we often discuss ornamentation and aesthetics in the sense of style. If there's a specific note to work around, or a sweet spot, or some things to avoid, we talk about all that, but I feel like it has been a great adaptive process, the band has been adapting beautifully.

TJG: Do you feel part of why they have adapted so well is because maqam uses modal concepts, and so do certain types of jazz?

FZ: Yes, that's very true that there is a shared connection in modality. There are definitely a lot of analogies between modal jazz and maqam in the sense of having one tonic gravitational center, linear phrasing, and build-up. But I think what matters far more are the musicians. They are capable and open enough and make sure to explore other worlds. It’s the musicians and their ability to adapt, more than anything else. Not everyone can adapt so easily. 

TJG: One thing that is interesting about the makeup of the quintet is that it seems like it may draw connections between Latin American and Middle Eastern music. [Saxophonist] David Leon is Cuban American and [guitarist] Ramiro Marziani is Argentinian. [Bassist] John Murchison co-formed the Brooklyn Maqam, and you and [percussionist] Alber Baseel are from Palestine. Do you see a connection between Latin and Middle Eastern music?

FZ: What kind of vocabulary each musician brings is usually a consideration when I form the band. The other musicians bring in music native to themselves, but it is not based on some shallow identity designation. As for what they bring to the table, I'm talking about musicality. I mean, Ramiro is specialized in tango, but he loves rock and roll and has studied jazz. David Leon is a jazz saxophonist but is also deeply connected to Cuban musical traditions. John is a classical and jazz bass player, but his passion for Arabic music has taken most of his attention. And Alber is a Palestinian percussionist, but most of his training was Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian percussion; he can play both Arabic percussion as well as global percussion. 

TJG: Speaking of Brazilian music, didn’t you recently meet Hermeto Pascoal?

FZ: Oh yeah! He came to New York about a month ago and did back-to-back concerts [for Jazz is Dead]. I went to both nights and had the pleasure of meeting him. He is a brilliant artist and a big inspiration to me. 

TJG: What do you find inspiring about him?

FZ: It is Hermeto’s openness. He is not even cross-genre. He doesn't think in genres at all. He thinks in terms of sounds. He is always willing to take a risk and think outside of the box; outside of his comfort zone and have fun on stage. He is a brilliant mixture of virtuosity and fun, which is very rare.

TJG: Amir ElSaffar has also done significant work in melding maqam and jazz influences. As you previously worked with Amir, has he influenced how you approach combining those different types of music?

FZ: I met Amir back in 2016 maybe during my second year in college. I went to New York to play a concert with him and the Alwan music ensemble. I think Amir's music and his philosophies on creation, composition, and free improvisation are so special. So is how he insisted on going back to Iraq to study maqam and its aesthetics. In the process, he came up with a whole new idiom. All of that is very inspiring. 

But I already had in mind this idea of fusion—of creating fresh sounds from your environment and then combining it with other oceans of music—long before I met Amir. Also, Amir’s experience, in some ways, is the opposite of mine. He was a great jazz trumpeter first before he explored maqam. I went in the opposite direction, starting with maqam and then exploring jazz. And so, the perspectives will be, by their very nature, different. Amir is a big inspiration, and it's always fun to work with him. He told me he is planning to come to the show at the Jazz Gallery, so maybe I'll see him there.

TJG: Like Hermeto or Amir, you also adopt a view of music that is less cleanly limited to a specific genre. Do you find this broad perspective on music makes it more difficult to discover opportunities to present your music, compared to if you were, say, a traditional straight-ahead jazz musician?

FZ: No. Actually, I think I fit into more contexts than a traditional musician of any kind because while I come from the Arabic music tradition and am big in that scene, I’m also a part of other scenes. I perform at different kinds of venues. I like fusion and have collaborated with Indian musicians, Greek musicians, Turkish musicians, Flamenco musicians, and many others. I take from all of those kinds of music. And doing so has its advantages and disadvantages. 

TJG: Since you mentioned Turkish music, the Kanun is common there as well.

FZ: Yes, and Turkish Kanun has influenced me. I think every Kanun player should learn from different Kanun schools. The Turkish Kanun school is among the most prominent of the Kanun schools. It’s fantastic but very different from the Arabic, classical Egyptian approach to the Kanun. I also draw a lot of inspiration from the Armenian Kanun school, as well as the Greek and Persian Kanun schools. The Kanun is common in all these countries. And all of them have different aesthetics but with many similarities. I started playing solely classical Arabic Kanun but found myself drawn to other Kanun schools as well. All the different schools eventually shaped my sound as a Kanun player and, later, as a composer too. I don't think it's contradictory to borrow from those schools as long as you shape it into your sound and not just try to imitate others.  

TJG: Presumably, you are not even consciously aware as you play from which school a particular sound or idea comes as you play. 

FZ: Right. What I play comes together naturally. But I also come from a very specific tradition with clear roots. Having these roots helped me explore other oceans of music, whether different schools of Kanun or things like jazz or flamenco, which aren’t historically tied to the Kanun. Without these roots, it would have been very easy to get lost because I wouldn’t have a native tongue.

TJG: How did jazz become a part of that story? Did you grow up listening to jazz?

FZ: Yes, I grew up listening to jazz. But my parents always brought home music from all over the world, from Argentina, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Western classical music, as well as jazz. My sister, Yara, studied jazz piano at the conservatory back home. In many ways, she was the one who got me into jazz initially. And then I really started liking modern fusion bands, it just clicked to me that jazz is a gate to so many languages. It's like a common language.

But I have never presented myself as a jazz musician. I never will. I studied jazz to widen my thoughts, my imagination, and my knowledge. I utilize what I learn into creating a new sound that sounds like me. As an artist, there is always a struggle to sound like yourself. It's an ongoing process. As Miles once said, “It takes a while to start sounding like yourself.” Right now, I'm happy with the sound I have, but that might change in a few years. I’m always going to be looking for new sounds whether from jazz or somewhere else entirely. 

The Firas Zreik Quintet plays The Jazz Gallery on Saturday Friday, July 15, 2023. The group features Mr. Zreik on Kanun, David Leon on saxophone, Ramiro Marziani on guitar, John Murchison on bass, and Alber Baseel on percussion. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. $30 general admission ($15 for members, FREE for SummerPass holders), $40 reserved cabaret seating ($25 for members), $20 livestream access ($5 for members, FREE for SummerPass holders). Purchase SummerPass here. Purchase tickets here.