Born September 25, 1981, to musicians, UNESCO Artist for Peace (Paris, 2005) Marcel Khalif? and vocalist Yolla Khalif?, amid the rough and tumble of civil war in Beirut, Lebanon. Rami Khalif? found his armor from the walls imploding around him under the hood of the piano. He recalled, "I was on the terrace on my bike. I left my bike and went inside to play piano. No more than a minute later a car bomb exploded right under the terrace. The bike was gone, and with it the innocence of a child."
The music lived long after the ringing of the bombs and the smatter of bullets. His evening's reprieve would be in front of transistor radios, where he would sit, legs crossed, eyes to the ceiling, and hum symphonies from beginning to end. While the piano could not travel, Rami Khalif? escaped the mounting tension and fled to Syria, before finding a refuge, of sorts, in Paris, France. He would frequent Lebanon regularly over the years that passed, mostly to pay homage to his old piano and take in the new sounds.
Rami Khalif?'s evening reprieve has evolved from humming symphonies in front of old transistors, to writing them for the world to hear.
He resumed his musical training in Paris, France at the Conservatoire National de R?gion de Boulogne-Billancourt under the direction of Alfred Herzog, who described Rami Khalif? as a prodigious talent, "one is struck by the contrast between the attenuated silhouette on the one hand, and the rich and coloured sound on the other. His musical imagination and his extraordinary improvisations are a joy to those who listen to him."
It was at the conservatoire that Rami Khalif? studied under the likes of Louis Claude Thirion and Marie Paule Siruguet, He enriched his studies with private tutelage at the hand of international pianist Abd El Rahman El Bacha.
Rami Khalif? pursued his higher education at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Hungarian pianist, Gyorgy Sandor, B?la Bart?k's disciple, mentored the young student. It was at Juilliard that he acquired a taste for improvised performances. He began to break away from the archetype of a 'classical pianist' and emerge as something more. Rami Khalif? began playing alongside Juilliard alumnus, pianist and fellow renegade Francesco Tristano, forging an enduring collaborative relationship and friendship. Together they performed several improvised concerts for piano-duo, a first in Juilliard's history.
Tracks:
1. Birth 7:11
2. Destruction 20:05
3. Unnamed 9:56
4. Chaos 8:13
5. Rebirth 14:33
