The composer writes: “When I received the commission from David Heyes to write a piece for Double Bass Trio in an Arabic style for Bass-Fest 2014, the first word that came to mind was ‘Al-Andalus’. The name more generally describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims between 711 and 1492.

The legacy of Al-Andalus continues today in what we know as Spain, my home country. Many of the words in use today in the Spanish language are of Arabic origin (in addition to Latin and Greek languages) plus numbers and many advances in science (astronomy, mathematics …), agriculture or architecture, and the essence of Arabian music still lives in musical genres such as flamenco.

Al-Andalus was a state where Muslims, Christian, and Jewish people lived in harmony throughout centuries and many of the descendants of those citizens are living today where was the old Al-Andalus.

With this piece, I want to pay tribute to those people and for this, I wrote a “Samai” – a very elegant Arabic dance with a time signature of 10/8 (10/4 in this piece) and musical form like a Rondó.”

Al-Andalus was premiered at Shouwberg Almere (Netherlands) on 26 August 2014 by Dan Styffe, Hagai Bilitzky and Simón García. It received its UK premiere at Wells Museum (Somerset, UK) on 28 September 2014 by David Heyes, Joe Prindl, and Matt Green.