Lisbon quartet incorporate vocals from Maria Radich on two new arrangements.

Al-Jiçç have released their seventh album, Níger Suite. The album was made available on digital platforms on December 5, 2025, with a physical CD edition scheduled for January 2026. It follows the group’s 2023 live recording Metaqam and serves as the studio successor to 2021’s Chants.

Title: Níger Suite
Artist: Al-jiçç
Release Date: 2025-12-05
Genres: Avant-garde, Experimental Music, Jazz, World Fusion
Label: self-release
Description: Al-Jiçç release Níger Suite. The Lisbon quartet's 7th album integrates jazz and Gnaoua rhythms, featuring vocalist Maria Radich. Out now.

Recorded in December 2024, the material on Níger Suite documents compositions that have been in development within a live setting since 2016. Originating from small improvised motifs, the music draws structurally from the Ngoni traditions of Mali and Moroccan Gnaoua rhythms. The pieces began as short guitar loops before being orchestrated for the quartet’s full instrumentation of winds, guitar, bass, and percussion.

For the 2024 recording sessions, new arrangements were codified. These include vocal contributions from Maria Radich, a member of Lantana, who appears on two tracks, the first instance of voice used in the project’s discography. The album contains six pieces in total. “Gnaoua Dance for JL” is dedicated to the musician and painter John Lurie. “Zanana” takes its title from 2024 reports by the journalist Bisan Owda, to whom the track is dedicated. The titular “Níger Suite” operates as a four-part sequence comprising “Delta”, “Worksong”, “Swimming”, and “Aurora”.

Based in Algés, Lisbon, Al-Jiçç functions as a quartet integrating jazz instrumentation with modal frameworks. The group utilizes original compositions by guitarist Nuno Damião, which employ Arab, Jewish, and Gypsy scales associated with Sephardic traditions. These scales provide the basis for improvisation set against rhythmic structures referencing dub, electronic music, and film scores. The ensemble’s output often references the sonorities of the Middle East, North Africa, and the southern Iberian Peninsula.

The project has maintained a consistent nucleus of Damião and clarinetist Gonçalo Lopes for over a decade. The current lineup, stable since 2014, includes bassist Ricardo A. Freitas and percussionist Jorge Lopes Trigo. The group’s discography includes Mostar (2011), Estórias de Kars (2015), Livro de Areia (2015), ٤ (2018), and Chants (2021). Outside of Al-Jiçç, Freitas is credited with work in Interlúnio and GRIP, while Trigo plays with Abztrakt Sir Q.

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