Marmoucha Orchestra feat. Antonio Lizana & Ahmad Joudeh

Antonio Lizana—born in San Fernando, Cádiz, the cradle of flamenco singing—is a rarity: a virtuoso jazz saxophonist who also sings authentic flamenco. With more than three hundred concerts in thirty countries, an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, and Grammy-winning collaborations with Arturo O’Farrill and Alejandro Sanz, he is among the most exciting voices in contemporary flamenco-jazz. When he first heard the music of Turkish composer Omar Faruk Tekbilek as a child in Cádiz, a longing for the East was born that has never faded. 

That fascination led him to Arin Keshishi—an Iranian-Armenian bassist, composer, and artistic director of the Marmoucha Orchestra. As a bassist in Lizana’s quintet, Keshishi knows her musical language inside out. In Carried by the Wind, the roles are reversed: Keshishi places Lizana’s flamenco and saxophone at the heart of the Marmoucha Orchestra, where they are interwoven with strings, oud, percussion, and melodies from the SWANA region. An unexpected instrumentation that gives flamenco an entirely new sonic world. 

 

And then there is Ahmad Joudeh. Born stateless in a refugee camp in Damascus, he taught himself ballet while bombs were falling. He danced in the Roman theater of Palmyra when the area was under IS control. His documentary Dance or Die won an International Emmy. The Dutch National Ballet brought him to Amsterdam; he danced at the Eurovision Song Contest and is a UNHCR ambassador and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. In Carried by the Wind, he brings the mystical Sama dance from the Sufi tradition to the stage—a whirling meditation in which exile, resilience, and surrender become visible in every movement. 

Together, Lizana, Keshishi, Joudeh, and the Marmoucha Orchestra create a performance in which flamenco, Eastern sounds, and Sama dance are no longer distinct genres, but a single shared language. Carried by the Wind is music and movement as a mystical experience—intense, boundary-breaking, and unforgettable. 

Carried by the Wind is a production by Marmoucha and was made possible in part by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts) and the Performing Arts Fund. The premiere took place at the BIMHUIS as part of the Flamenco Biennale Netherlands 2025.