Infiné, easy music for the hard to please

Born in Beirut, Lebanon on September 25, 1981, Rami Khalifé exhibited a passion for music very early on. After a short initiation on the piano, seven-years-old Rami left Lebanon for France and the conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt and later the prestigious Juilliard School of Music of NYC. Studying piano under Bela Bartok's last student and professors of the likes of Bruce Brubaker or Joel Sachs. Rami as quoted by The Detroit News is “An intellectual, free-wheeling musician of our time who is at home throughout the world.”

Leaving classical etiquette in the wings Khalife plays like no other, moving with his entire body, he stands, crouches and bends into the piano with powerfully harmonious, yet curiously jarring synchronicity. Khalife wrings music from every surface area; the innards plucked and tweaked like the strings of a lute, the frame transformed into a percussive sound board, the Piano rendered a one-man orchestra. His performance-art is unrestrained theatricality born from the depths of unbridled conviction.

Both his intense ability and artistry have enabled Rami Khalifé to create compositions and improvisations in a variety of styles and genres ranging from classical to contemporary, jazz and world music, continuously expanding his musical repertoire and accomplishments, while venturing into new territory.

Together with Francesco Tristano and Aymeric Westrich, Rami started to organize parties in NYC. Touring the world solo or with his father after graduating, Rami recorded a fistful of critically acclaimed records (Live in Beirut, Scene from Hellek Concertos). The story Aufgang started at the Sonar festival in june 2005 and will give birth to “1”, the first album of the band released in October in France.

Rami has recorded “Pop up” last year with Francesco and released this year his last album “Chaos”. In  ‘Chaos’ the sounds of Lebanon under siege roar to life through the majesty of a grand piano. The wail of sirens, the detonation of shells, the whirr of tanks and war-crafts, the full-scale destruction are undercut with the quiet, resilient hope for peace …his latest masterpiece is an explosive amalgam, representing the dynamism of war and its after effects, woven together with finely nuanced pathos, creating the hauntingly monochromatic tapestry that is CHOAS.

Rami Khalife will be performing cinemix (Live soundtrack) for Murnau's cinematic classic 'Faust' with his brother Bachar Khalife 23/11/2009 @ Cinema Balzac, Paris France. 'Faust' will be also performed on the 23/1/2010 @ Ankara, Turkey.

Official website here