Oud and Guitar
Piano
Violin
Tombak, Daf
Percussion
Vocals
RU’YA—which means “foresight” or “vision” in Arabic—is a world-premiere ensemble that brings together diverse musical traditions, with vocalist Ghalia Benali (Belgium/Tunisia), pianist Matt Mitchell (U.S.), violinist Eylem Basaldi (Türkiye/U.S.), percussionist Hamin Honari (Canada), and drummer Christian Lillinger (Germany).
It is the culmination of 20 years of musical exploration that started with my debut album, Think Like the Waves, recorded with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. This continued compositional development has led to projects examining the edges of tonality and including elements of Persian classical music and Arabic maqam. This new program uses an inclusive focus while creating space for each of these incredible musicians to freely express themselves in their unique voices.
This concept is taken further in collaboration with Ghalia Benali’s idea of poets as the true chroniclers of human history, capturing emotional truths, love, longing, trauma, and memory, unlike the narratives written by victors of wars. This work transforms poetic texts into universal artistic forms, proving that the deeper we dig into our roots, the more we resonate with others. By aligning differences, we discover shared emotions and end up speaking the same language, one of humanity, connection, and beauty.
RU’YA demonstrates how music and poetry can transcend borders and blend seamlessly with diverse contemporary artistic expression while we honor our origins.
—Gordon Grdina
Canadian oud player and guitarist Gordon Grdina continually explores an ever-expanding range of styles and contexts, combining avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, contemporary rock, and Arabic and Persian music. He has performed and collaborated with a wide range of artists including Gary Peacock, Paul Motion, Marc Ribot, Mark Helias, and Mats Gustafsson. In addition to RU’YA, his current bands and projects are the Gordon Grdina Quartet with Oscar Noriega, Russ Lossing, and Satoshi Takeishi; The Marrow with Hank Roberts, Mark Helias, Hamin Honari, and Josh Zubot; Square Peg featuring Christian Lillinger, Mat Maneri, and Shahzad Ismaily; the Nomad Trio with Matt Mitchell and Jim Black, and the Gordon Grdina Septet. His recordings have won several awards, including multiple Canadian JUNO Awards.
Violinist and composer Eylem Basaldi studied music at Boston’s New England Conservatory. She is at home in a variety of musical traditions from the Balkans to the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia and is a member of various ensembles such as Dolunay and Sandaraa. As an improviser, she performs with rock bands as well as jazz formations and has worked with Snarky Puppy, Dave Brubeck, and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Born in Brussels and raised in Tunisia, Ghalia Benali studied graphic design in Brussels and in 1992 began her international career as a singer, writer, composer, visual artist, and actress. She has released ten albums to date blending different kinds of music and artistic influences. She is also a highly successful actress, appearing in films such as As I Open My Eyes by Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid and Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud’s Fatwa, for which she won the Best Actress award at the 2018 Écran Noirs film festival in Cameroon.
Born into a family of musicians in 1983, Iranian-Canadian percussionist Hamin Honari began his musical training on the Persian hand drum tombak in his childhood. Today he works with a wide range of artists, including Gordon Grdina, Kayhan Kalhor, Saeed Farajpouri, and Itamar Erez as well as his trio Les Arrivants. His music, which he has released on several recordings, combines classical Persian rhythms and techniques with elements of jazz, European classical music, and other traditions. He passes on his experience to young musicians in masterclasses worldwide.
Born in Brandenburg, Christian Lillinger studied at the Dresden College of Music with Günter Sommer, Sven Helbig, and Michael Greiner. In 2011, he founded the Dell-Lillinger-Westergaard trio together with Christopher Dell and Jonas Westergaard, which was joined by pianist Tamara Stefanovich in 2018 to form a quartet. He also works with Petter Eldh and Kaja Draksler in the trio Punkt.Vrt.Plastik. His studio project Open Form for Society premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival in 2019 and was honored with the German Record Critics’ Prize. He has won the German Jazz Prize several times, including as Artist of the Year.
Pianist and composer Matt Mitchell works at the intersection of acoustic and electronic, composed and improvised music. In addition to his own ensembles Phalanx Ambassadors and Snark Horse, the latter of which he co-leads with Kate Gentile, he regularly collaborates with artists such as Patricia Brennan, Kim Cass, Jon Irabagon, Ava Mendoza, and Miles Okazaki and is a member of Dan Weiss’s Starebaby, Ches Smith’s We All Break, Anna Webber’s Simple Trio, and many other groups. He received a fellowship from Philadelphia’s Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in 2012 and was awarded a Doris Duke Impact Award in 2015.
