Pianist and composer Marie Fikry has been called “a rising star of belgian jazz” by Michel Preumont. She creates original, exciting, and highly personal music, which was described as “borderless". Her pianistic work is mainly focused on the dialogue between European jazz and traditional music of North Africa.
Trained with such masters as Nathalie Loriers, Stephane Galland, Christophe Wallemme, Kris Defoor at the Koninklijk Conservatorium van Brussel, she has appeared in countless occasions in the belgian jazz landscape : collaboration, live, radio, or discography publications...
In 2016, she founded her own quartet : “Oriental Jazz Project” and was recognized as a “promising young talent to be followed” by the province of Liège. This project was the starting point of her interest by mixing many types of Oriental percussions and traditional rhythms, with the sound of a piano jazz trio. Passionate about composition and Oriental rhythms, she specialised for two years in South Indian rhythms and arabic music.
In 2018, she signed her first album “Proche Orience" at the label “Homerecords”, album entirely made of her compositions between Jazz and traditional Arabic music, tribute to her Moroccan origins. In piano solo, she offers a repertoire of original composition and jazz standards with special arrangements built around complex narrations and very elaborate grooves.
Considered as a rising star of belgian jazz, the pianist Marie Fikry is born in Liège to a Moroccan father and a Belgian mother, and showed an early interest for music and painting.
At 5 years old, she began the flute and piano. Her teacher advised her to join the jazz section and she began her education in piano and jazz harmony at the Marcel Desiron Academy in Amay at age 12, in parallel with her classical training.
At the age of 16, she received a merit scholarship, granted by her academy upon recommendation of the pedagogical team. The same year, she was selected for a rally organised by the Rotary club and received the public prize.
In 2012, after a successful entrance exam in painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, it is finally in classical piano music studies that she chooses to devote herself for 4 years with famous concert-pianist Dalia Ouziel as teacher.
Besides her classical studies at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons, she continues to perfect herself in Jazz at the Eghezée Academy with the belgian pianist Nathalie Loriers.
After graduate her bachelor diploma in classical, she entered at the Koninklijk Conservatorium van Brussel in the class of Nathalie Loriers and Diederik Wissels. Trained with such masters as Stephane Galland, Christophe Wallemme, Kris Defoort, Daniel Goyone… since late 2015, her pianistic work is mainly focused on the dialog between European jazz and extra-occidental music.
Passionate about composition and Oriental rhythms, she specialised for two years in modern harmony and South Indian rhythms with Arnould Massart.
In 2016, she founded her own quartet : “Oriental Jazz Project” . This band was the starting point of her interest by mixing many types of Oriental percussions and traditional rhythms, with the sound of a classical piano jazz trio(piano-doublebass-drums). The concept was that oriental percussion occupies a key place as a soloist, while the piano, echoes like a oud instrument, which offer the Oriental touch to the project. The double bass and the drums bring the characteristic sounds of jazz, discovering a dialogue North/South, built around complex narrations and very elaborate grooves...
For this particular project she collaborated with the oriental percussionist Simon Leleux (graduated from the Rotterdam Conservatory, Master of Music Codarts, in Turkish percussions), the dutch drummer Daniel Jonkers (EU young Award 2014), and the brazilian bassist Fil Caporali (Toots Thielemans Award 2016). One year later, she was recognized as a “promising young talent to be followed” by the province of Liège and her project was selected in the final of the international competition "Jazz Contest Van Mechelen" which has in its jury Chris Joris (belgian percussionist), Jacques Prouvost (belgian jazz critics), Mik Torfs (De Werf label) among others... In 2017, the price “ça balance" she received, offered to the band a studio recording for an album.
In 2017, the band has played sold out concerts at the International Mithra Jazz Festival in Liège and in many other venues (Musicvillage, Cercle des voyageurs, Samaritaine, Centre culturel de SaintGeorges, Bluesphere...). In 2018, she signed her first album “Proche Orience" at the label “Homerecords”, album entirely made of her compositions between Jazz and traditional Arabic music, tribute to her Moroccan origins.
At the moment, Marie continues her studies with Nathalie Loriers, and her rhythmic improvement and research with the belgian drummer Stéphane Galland. She’s learning arabic music from the Elias Bachoura, a Syrian oudist graduated at the Conservatory of Damascus and currently resident in Belgium.
