WASSIM IBRAHIM & TOMAS CELIS SANCHEZ / Mexico/Syria/Poland

​

21.08.2020  8:00 PM  concert  Strefa club

21.08.2020  12:00 PM (noon)  workshops  Strefa club

​

A duo of experienced musicians with different cultural and musical background. A percussionist from Mexico and an instrumentalist from Damascus have both made their home in Poland, and now invite the audience for a musical journey that will let us hear ancient melodies from the cultures of Mesopotamia and the Levant in the different dialects of Aramaic and Arabic.

​

The meeting of Wassim and Tomas is a tale of personal inspirations of each, a dialogue of two travellers, either of whom has walked a different road. It is an echo of their artistic experiences building together a universal language, a sign of cultural variety, and joint experience of harmony and beauty. In the context of the lavishness of cultural, ethnic, and religious differences, it is also a constant search for the paths that they could share.

Wassim Ibrahim began his adventure with music at the age of six, by playing the flute and the oud. He studied at the Department of Theory and Composition at the High Institute of Music in Damascus, where he later lectured History of International Music, and at the Academy of Music in Kraków, where he was conferred a doctorate in musical composition. Granted the title of the Kraków Ambassador of Multiculturalism 2019 in recognition of his artistic, academic, community, and educational achievements. Tomas Celis Sanchez is a percussionist of Cuban extraction hailing from Mexico, where he graduated from the Academy of Music, He has lived in Poland for over 20 years, working with such musicians as John Taylor, Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai), Kelvin Sholar, Jarosław Śmietana, Leszek Możdżer, Paweł Kaczmarczyk, Bernard Maseli, and Krzysztof Ścierański.

Wassim Ibrahim – oud
Tomas Celis Sanchez – percussions