Volume 26 Issue 6 - March and April 2021

African Routes
Al Qahwa Ensemble
Independent AlQahwa02 (alqahwa.ca)
! Talented world
music group, Al
Qahwa Ensemble,
has just released
their third exceptional
recording.
The diverse musicians
are all based
in Toronto: Maryem
Toller on vocals and riqq (Arabic tambourine)
and qanun (Arabic table harp); Ernie Toller on
wind instruments; Greek/Canadian Demetri
Petsalakis on oud (Arabic fretless lute) and
Iranian/Canadian Nagmeh Farahmand on
Middle-Eastern percussion. The group’s
esteemed special guests include Waleed
Abdulhamid, Fethi Nadjem and Roula Said.
The program begins with Marrakesh
– which was inspired by the all-female
ensemble, B’Net Marrakesh. Having seen
them perform, Maryem utilized their unique
chant “Hey Hey Hey Hey” in this piece, which
instigates an incendiary energy through
call and response, hypnotic rhythms and
dynamic, mesmerizing vocals. Also thrilling
is The Rain/Il Matar – a musical telling of the
story of a sudden, brief storm across the land,
driven mercilessly by the relentless 12/8 of
the dumbek as well as interlacing, dynamic
vocals and funkadelic bass lines, moving
in unison.
Another delight is Bahia Out – a traditional
Egyptian folk song about a woman
with beautiful dark eyes who kills a man
with those same eyes while riding a camel
– a sensual, provocative trip, where one
could easily imagine the air filled with exotic
spices. Precise and thrilling vocals propel this
caravan through the oasis!
Peace/Issalam has a euphoric intro, which
segues into the deep groove of Mother Earth
herself. Cairo/Al Qahira is the dynamic
closer – composed by Petsalakis with lyrics
by Cairo-born Maryem, this delightful tune
includes the hilarious insertion of a little
excerpt from an old Egyptian movie, Khally
Balak Min ZouZou. The ensemble explodes
into a wild pentatonic jam with the sheer joy
of the music. The track ends with a primal
percussion segment that could restore us all
to the very dawn of time itself.
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke
Something in the Air
Guitar-oriented Sessions String Together
Sounds in Varied Fashions
KEN WAXMAN
Despite the growth of computer and Internet-related sound production, the guitar in all
its manifestations arguably remains the world’s most popular instrument. But its
universal appeal also creates almost boundless opportunities to use the six-string
instrument in unique ways. This is especially true when it comes to creating alongside other
players, most frequently in jazz and improvised music, as these sessions demonstrate.
The most straightforward application of the electric guitar as a
sound-colouring agent occurs with the improvisation on the Lisbonrecorded
Anthropic Neglect (Clean Feed CF 551 CD cleanfeedrecords.com)
where Jorge Nuno adds his psychedelic, contorted string
motifs to what otherwise would be extrapolated jazz-like instigations
from saxophonist José Lencastre, electric bassist Felipe Zenícola and
drummer João Valinho. The result is a program midway between free
and fusion. Prime instance of this synthesis is on the concluding
Concept 3 where the saxophonist’s high-pitched horizontal exposition
is interrupted by jagged string stabs and buzzing frails from the guitarist. Backed by bass
thumps and cymbal echoes, Nuno’s and Lencastre’s output moves in and out of aural focus
with jet-plane-barrier-breaking flanges, pressurized strums abut snake-charmer-like reed
trills and split tone variables before reaching a final confluence. This arrangement is broached
on earlier tracks as the guitarist’s flying jet plane-like noises frequently interrupt irregularly
vibrated reed bleats or hulking saxophone multiphonics which swirl, echo and vibrate against
guitar frails and fills. Finally loosened, arena-rock-like note shredding from Nuno reaches a
climax alongside shaking altissimo spews from Lencastre. Still the expansion into multitimbres
during singular solos signals that this is a head-expanding not head-banging meeting.
Coming from another angle is a trio made up of French guitarist
Serge Lazarevitch plus Belgians, drummer Teun Verbruggen
and saxophonist/flutist Ben Sluijs on Still Three, Still Free (Rat
Records Rat 046 teunverbruggen.bandcamp.com). It balances on
the thin lines separating pop, jazz and even notated music, with
interpretation of themes by Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman,
François Couperin and György Ligeti mixed with light swing
originals, either composed by Lazarevitch or group improvisations.
Although all three have experience in big band, combo and
even rock-designated projects, the CD’s 12 tracks are probably lighter than they imagined.
Unlike Nuno, Lazarevitch, at least here, is a finger-styled guitarist whose pacing owes more
to Jim Hall than Jimi Hendrix. Overall the most rhythmically moving tracks are Monk’s
Evidence and Coleman’s Law Years, with the first a jumping foot tapper amplified with
low-pitched string strums, hurried drums pops and slippery saxophone vibrations that
extend to a slowed-down ending. Law Years maintains its blues bass through multiple
variations contrasting the guitarist’s supple fingers and the saxophonist’s heavier slurs.
Meanwhile, the bows toward concert music are given unique arrangements; Couperin’s
Les Baricades Misterieuses becomes an exercise in folksy smoothness, not unlike the
other brief tone poems on the disc, while Lazarevitch’s homage to Ligeti, Georgy on My
Mind (sic) is most notable for how the crackle of Verbruggen’s electronics makes a languid
connection with the simple theme expansion from saxophone and guitar. The other
originals are most notable for how Verbruggen tempers his usual rock-like energy to fit
in with the guitarist’s more delicate comping that atmospherically expands and contracts
riffs. The three turn Lazarevitch’s It Should Have Been a Normal Day into a gracious bossa
nova whose lilt comes as much from the saxist’s logical and light blowing as the expansive
string patterning. Even when the trio touches on atonality, as on the improvised Empty
Space, rim clanks and reed squeaks are secondary to guitar plinks, with the piece ending
as a call-and-response connection between strings and reed.
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