In a collection of all original material, IFRIQIYA will bridge Tunisian rhythmic traditions to the language of modern jazz connecting Tunisian music and it’s sub saharan African roots via the Jazz idiom as an attempt to reinvent an Afro-Tunisian musical identity.

In order to implement this project, a Jazz quartet including  saxophonist Yacine Boulares, drummer Nasheet Waits, bassist Simon Tailleu and pianist Maxime Sanchez will travel to Tunisia for 10 days. The quartet will travel with an audio recording engineer and a videographer in order to document the process leading to the recording of an album in New York.

Each work session will be focused on one specific rhythm and will result in an original composition. At the end of the residency the quartet will fly back to NYC and spend 4 days in a recording studio to record an album of original compositions informed by their encounter with Tunisian percussionists, some of whom will be featured as guests artists on the album.