The Back to Our Roots ensemble
whole process was really very helpful and we toured the project for a couple of years in the US. While we were preparing the songs for the suite I came across a new musical instrument, the sazuki. This instrument was created by a French luthier named Herve Prudent, and it is a cross between the Turkish saz and the Greek bouzuki. Although these instruments have nothing to do with Lebanon, that was the closest thing in appearance to an Arabic instrument that I could have dreamed of, while having the advantage of being fretted. I could play it from the first day I had it.
The program we built (with my daughter Clarice, vocal and piano; Odair Assad, guitar; Christiane Karam, vocals; Jamey Haddad, percussion; and myself playing the sazuki) had many other pieces with the same kind of orientation, but the Back to Our Roots Suite was the highlight of the evening, and always well received. We toured this project in the US during the years 2010 and 2011. We stopped due to many other different engagements that we had individually. However, Clarice and I prepared an instrumental version of the Suite for clarinet, flute,