Madar Ensemble

‘In orbit, you’re keyed up and aware of everything going on, every little noise, anything that may have special meaning because of where you are.’– John Glenn

Madar (literarily an ‘Orbit’) is a group of five musicians from the Netherlands, Palestine, Jordan and Tunisia. With genuine curiosity for and understanding of each other’s musical language, they have come together with the purpose of creating something new, built on a deeply shared respect for the qualities of their various musical worlds.

Acamar, from the Arabic Ākhir an-nahr, meaning "the end of the river", is a star located in the constellation Eridanus, variously associated by ancient astronomers with rivers across the Mediterranean and Middle-East, including the Nile, Po and Euphrates. The music in this album is inspired by the classical civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, and which relied in daily life upon an understanding of the cosmos.