le trio Samarah

The magic of song, oud and violin, blended with the subtle rhythms of percussion, carries us to the shores of the Mediterranean.

Come and discover Samarah, a trio of world music musicians made up of Françoise Ruscher on violin, Soraya Sehili on oud and vocals, and Lucie Louvrier on percussion and vocals. Starting in Egypt, following the footsteps of the composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab, a pioneer of the revival of "classical Arabic" music, the journey continues to Lebanon with the diva Fairouz and on to Syria with Sabah Fakhri. The programme also weaves in flamenco, airs by the Tunisian composer Hedi Jouini and pieces by the Malian singer Salif Keita. This event forms part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Naguib Mahfouz library and of its efforts to showcase the cultures of the Arab world, in connection with its thematic collections.

Biographies

Violinist and violist Françoise Ruscher holds diplomas from the conservatoires of Chambéry and of Paris's 13th arrondissement, as well as from the École normale de musique de Paris. She has performed with many ensembles, chamber orchestras and chamber music groups, and has also collaborated with live performance companies. She was introduced to South Indian music and, through the Samarah trio, to Oriental music.

Soraya Sehili trained in Paris at the CMI jazz school before returning to Tunisia to learn the oud and singing with the great Oriental music master Ali Sriti and to study at the Tunis conservatoire. Back in Paris, she performed solo on oud and voice for readings and exhibitions, before forming the Samarah trio in 2022.

Lucie Louvrier is a multi-instrumentalist and lyric mezzo-soprano. She began her musical training with piano and singing in Sens. A graduate of the Sorbonne (Paris IV) in English, medieval studies and musicology, she went on to study lyric singing in England. There she discovered percussion, the Iranian daf and Persian music, which marked a turning point in her journey.