Abdullah Miniawy - Peacock Dreams (أحلام الطاووس) Abdullah Miniawy

After the resounding success of his project Le Cri du Caire, whose eponymous album was awarded a Victoire du Jazz in the “World Music Album” category, Abdullah Miniawy returns with ‘Peacock Dreams’, the first opus of his new trio formation released on the label PPL Songs Aghani Al-Khalq.

Accompanied by trombonists Robinson Khoury (2024 Django Reinhardt Prize from the Academy of Jazz) and Jules Boittin, Abdullah Miniawy presents an unconventional combination of three tenor instruments. The lyrical depth of the voice of the Egyptian poet, singer, and composer merges with the bold expressive capabilities of the two trombones, allowing him to explore unprecedented sound ranges that connect Western and Eastern musical traditions.

The Trio performs Abdullah Miniawy's latest musical compositions, as well as adapts former work stemming from the Egyptian revolution and his previous formation Le Cri du Caire, while highlighting collaborations by inviting trumpeter Erik Truffaz, flamenco singer Niño de Elche, and danish-indian producer Hvad on some tracks.

‘Peacock Dreams’ engages the audience in a unique musical experience that freely combines baroque and operatic influences, Sufi and Coptic themes, and musical motifs from the Arabian Peninsula, infused with the jazzy cacophony of Egyptian traffic jams, once more revealing the transcendental and communional power of Abdullah Miniawy's music.

A peacock dreams of being a poet. It concentrates, trying to shed its colors, turning its feathers into a gradient of flesh. On the other hand, a poet longs for the peacock’s colors—a galactic blend of earth, forest, sea, and sky, seen from a high vantage point.

A poet can close their eyes and absorb the knowledge of the finite, and absorb the knowledge of the finite, yet miss much, trapped in monotone concentration, eyebrows plucked down to 111.

The peacock, dipping in the ink drops from the poet's pen, sails through a tube into the poet's body. A fluttering storm erupts, reversing the roles: the peacock finds itself under an arrest warrant, while the poet, reducing his expression to a roaring "Wak-wak," struggles to describe the world.