Hello dear friends and fans,
I am back with a new episode of whats happening in my life 🙂
I’ve had a beautiful holiday, hope everyone had one too! I always get back to work recharged, after spending some time with family and great friends. This year is going to be very busy with lots of different things. As a continued work, I had some shows with Emilio Solla and his Quintet, Tentet, Tangotet…etc. 🙂 as well as had the opportunity to play with the great Paquito Rivera. 
As a tradition, this January I went to the NAMM show again. Its like Disneyland for musicians! I’ve seen so many and so good things, I can’t even start naming them. All new percussions, drums, softwares and so many friends. During the week I’ve had the first of many planned concerts with a more traditional trio of Sax-Bass-Drums. This particular show was featuring Bob Reynolds on sax, Edwin Livingston on bass and it was a blast! I used to play a lot with bass and sax but with time, somehow it faded out of my life. I am really happy to get back and start this tradition again with a new direction, using some electronics, playing new songs. I also continue touring with my regular trio of Greg Tardy and Tzumo Arpad. We had an amazing tour in November and can’t wait to tour again in March. We will be in Italy, France and Hungary. Check my schedule for the complete tour dates. 
As Lionel Loueke’s new album is about to be ready, we are hitting the road again and this time we are hitting it hard! We start a European tour in February, then a US tour in April and more things are coming in for the rest of the year. Interesting fact: we’ve known each other for almost 20 years now and pretty much started to play together as soon as we met. We’ve recorded 10 albums together between his and my music and 3 of those were for the legendary label, Blue Note – EMI. Looking forward to be on the road again with him and the great Massimo Biolcati! Here is a photo of us rehearsing. (Even when Lionel is not around) 🙂 
I am also going back on the road with the amazing Dhafer Youssef. I am starting my 5th year with his band and its been quite a trip 🙂 We’ve traveled around the world (a couple of times) and its always a lot of fun both musically and personally.
I wish everyone a Happy Year ahead!
Ferike