ABOUT THE ALBUM: "I started working on this album in November 2011, and in the four years it took to complete, I have had the chance to travel regularly throughout Europe, North Africa and the Gulf states. These four years have been filled with magical moments, which have nourished and inspired me. I have also had the great fortunate to meet musicians of all kinds of backgrounds, musically and culturally. They have opened my heart and spirit and infused it with their different cultures and talent. I am conscious that my compositions in this first album reflect the rich world in which I’ve had the honor to participate and which influenced my music in a way beyond words. I have blended together musical genres which particularly speak to me, and the palette is vast: from jazz to rock, from the music of the Andes to Latino, from classical to Oriental, and it goes on." "I am appreciative to have been accompanied by very talented and generous musicians, who have permitted our instruments to be more in service to the different melodies we aspire to achieve as opposed to showing sheer virtuosity. We have lived together through moments of pure harmony, and I think it can be felt through the music. The compositions in this album have seen the light because of the people who believed in me, who have encouraged me, who pushed me to go on, even despite failures and challenges along the way. I am eternally grateful to them. It has permitted me to overcome this first, but essential, hurdle, and has given me the desire and energy to always look further towards new exciting compositions and collaborations. Music has forever been a bridge between many different cultures and Morocco, where I’ve grown up, and it has awakened me to the rest of the world. I invite you to travel with me, to share a musical universe, which is inspired by each one of us." -Mahmoud "Mood" Chouki ABOUT THE ARTIST: Mahmoud “Mood” Chouki (Morocco, 1984) is a master guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. From the age of eight, Mood trained at the Conservatory of Larache in northern Morocco and continued on at the National Conservatory in Rabat, with a focus in music theory and classical guitar. Soon after graduating, he embarked on a journey throughout Morocco with a keen interest in traditional instruments of the Maghreb and Africa. His repertoire started to integrate the sounds and rhythms of various regions, using both the classical guitar and instruments such as the loutar, a traditional instrument of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco; the sintir, a Sub-Saharan instrument from the Sahel region (Mali); the oud, an oriental lute; the Algerian mandole, a steel-string fretted instrument resembling an elongated mandolin; the Bağlama saz, a Turkish long necked bowl-lute; the banjo, and a variety of percussion instruments. His music draws from a number of influences including classical (Europe), Andalusian (Southern Spain), Levantine (Middle East/West Asia), Maghrebian (North Africa), Latin (South America), and Jazz (United States). At the age of eighteen, Mood won first prize in the International Guitar Competition in St. Esteban del Puerto, Spain. His projects led him to travel and perform around the world including the Magic Lutes Concerts with composer Hughes de Courson and the Symphonic Orchestras in Qatar (2011) and Bahrain (2013). Most recently Mood performed at Pireneos Sur Festival in Sallent de Gallego, Spain, at Snug Harbor, in New Orleans, USA, and Cafe de la Danse, Paris, France. Furthermore, Mood is the Artistic Director of Rencontre Orient-Occident at Chateau Mercier in Sierre, Switzerland, where he organizes annual artist residencies bringing together master musicians from east and west. For one week they collectively encounter each others’ styles and cultures through music and experience, culminating in one final concert.