Khomsa is an old Tunisian female name meaning "the five fingers of the hand", symbolic of good luck in the Tunisian bedouin tradition. It is also the name of the heroine in Nouri Bouzid's film Bezness– the  music for which was composed by Anouar Brahem.

On the basis of his ECM recording to date – Barzakh, Conte de l'Incroyable Amour and Madar – Brahem has been recognized as a masterly interpreter of the Tunisian and pan-Islamic music traditions and as an exceptional improvisor able to build on those traditions. Inside his home country, however, Anouar also has a long history of working with film and theatre, and Khomsarevisits and quite freely reworks material he has written over the last decade for these contexts. "These pieces", he notes, "have remained within me as the image of a collection of sensations quick to vibrate." They emphasize Brahem's compositional skills as much as his soloistic abilities. 

Cinematic references abound in the track titles. Nouvelle Vague (for accordion and piano) and E La Nave Va (for bass, piano and accordion) are, obviously, named after films by Godard and Fellini respectively. Regard de Mouette (in a solo violin version here) was the title music for a film by Kalthoum Bornaz. Aïn Ghazel (meaning "eye of the gazelle", and played by the whole ensemble minus Béchir Selmi) is named after the first film in the history of the Tunisian cinema, which was produced in 1924 and recently rediscovered and restored. 

The musicians brought together on Khomsa – the album's dramaturgy calls for continually shifting permutations of the personnel – include three players Brahem has often worked with over the years (Selmi, Couturier and Larché) and three whom he encounters here for the first time (Galliano, Danielsson and Christensen). 

Keyboardist Couturier played with Brahem in Tunisia in 1985 in an experimental project that also included Turkish musicians Kudsi Erguner and Barbaros Erköse (both of whom were featured on Conte de l'Incroyable Amour) and has often collaborated with the oud virtuoso since then – for example, at the Festival de Carthage in 1992, where they were joined by saxophonist Jean-Marc Larché. Couturier's extensive credits include work with Robin Kenyatta and Eddy Louiss; he currently plays in the groups of violinist Dominique Pifarély. Béchir Selmi was prominently featured on Brahem's ECM debut Barzakh, immediately impressing as a most sensitive player, keenly attuned on the music's flow. Selmi specializes in both ancient and modern Arab forms and has toured the Gulf countries as a soloist and ensemble player. He joined the Musical Ensemble of the City of Tunis, the group directed by Brahem, in 1987, and has since played on the majority of Brahem's Tunisian concerts. 

Richard Galliano makes a particularly strong showing on Khomsa, his composition Comme un Départ establishing the atmospheric tone of the album. A first rate improvisor, he is one of very few accordionists to have made a significant impact in jazz contexts from the modern mainstream to the avant-garde, partnering artists as different as, for example, Chet Baker and Steve Potts. Galliano approaches the accordion as a keyboard instrument on a par with the organ or piano. Encouraged by his friend ans mentor, the late Astor Piazolla, he has developed a concept he terms "new musette" which seeks to combine influences drown from Tango Nuevo and the jazz of Bill Evens, Keith Jarrett, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, and from the impressionist composer. This blend has found a warm response in Galliano's native France where he has a considerable following. 

Brahem, who had closely monitored ECM's history long before he became one of its artists, had always hoped for an opportunity to record with Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. The Swedish bassist and the Norwegian drummer have, of course, made innumerable creative contributions to ECM recordings throughout the company's 25 year history, both individually and in tandem. Their mutual compatibility was established in the early 1970s with the Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson Quartet and Keith Jarrett's "Belonging" band and found further expression on sessions with Enrico Rava and Charles Lloyd. Danielsson, whose profound bass playing has recently been showcased on Lena Willemark/Ale Möller's Nordanand Peter Erskine's Time Being, once again has a central role to play on Kohmsa. His is the dominant voice on E La Nave Va, for example, where his bass solo is set against tender piano and accordion. The Danielsson/Christensen axis is also of crucial importance in the shaping of the album's two long, exploratory group impovisations, Souffle un Vent de Sable and Des Rayons et des Ombres. 

Brahem himself continues to reveal new aspects of his oud playing. If Claquent les Voiles, a duet with Danielsson, intensifies the Andalusian strain hinted at on the Barzakh album, En Robe d'Olivier suggests West African colours, the oud taking on some of the bright, percussive quality of the kalimba. In these pieces, as on his subtle, extended solo on L'Infini Jour, Brahem – who is often praised for his virtuosity – shows his ability to transcend mere "technique" to get to the essence, the heart, of the music.

4★, "DownBeat" (USA) 
4★, "The Guardian" (United Kingdom) 
"Choc", "Le Monde la Musique" (France)