Piano Music of Jaloul Ayed

About Piano Music of Jaloul Ayed

I had known Jaloul Ayed’s name for many years before meeting him, through my good friend and 88 International board member David Rosensweig. While serving as Peace Corps members in Tunisia in the 1970s, David’s parents met Jaloul who was working on the first Tunisian Arabic-English dictionary.  The story of their meeting had particular resonance for me, as I grew up hearing stories from my mother who served in the Peace Corps in Malaysia.

A few months after the Tunisian Revolution in July 2011, I received an invitation from the formidable Kamel Lazaar to perform a concert at the launching of an initiative to encourage east-west trade in North Africa.  Mr. Lazaar asked that I perform a few of Jaloul’s pieces, including Jasmins, so I could surprise him with a performance during the concert.   Just before the concert, I met Jaloul, who, at the time, was the interim Minister of Finance.  He had been called in, with urgency, to fill the post as part of an interim government formed directly following the revolution in January . 

Several months later, on October 16, 2011 at the Palace of the Baron of Erlanger, I performed all the pieces in this album, and more, for a concert for this interim government and other invited guests, hosted by Jaloul.  Following this concert, Jaloul and I subsequently organized events of live performances of his music at the Terrace Theatre in Washington D.C., in Tunis, Sousse, Sfax, Gafsa, and Beja as well as the festival of El Jem.  In an effort to represent Tunisia during my Carnegie Hall concert in April of 2015, I selected to perform Jasmins in recognition of my friendship with Jaloul and Tunisia.