Volume 27 Issue 8 | July 1 - September 20, 2022

standing alone holding an alto saxophone.
Intriguing. In that concert Lake chanted,
shook beads and other percussion, hummed
and spoke a few words between long soliloquies
on his horn. The evening was a meditation
that moved from one mood and thought
to another and it was entrancing. Since then,
Oliver Lake has performed and composed
with an incredibly diverse range of musicians
including the World Saxophone Quartet, and
released over 40 albums as leader and more
as a sideman.
The Sonic Liberation Front invited Lake
to write for their unique instrumentation of
violin, tenor sax, acoustic bass and drums
with a vocal quartet. Lake wrote eight pieces
which include two poems. This album has
a great energy, which moves freely amongst
all the players. What is funky and has an
uplifting and syncopated melody played
together by saxophone, violin and vocalists.
It then moves into a scrappy but swinging
sax solo by Elliot Levin while Veronica
Jurkiewicz’s phased violin solo reminds me a
bit of Jean-Luc Ponty. Dedicated’s beautiful
flute line, combined with the smooth vocals,
sounds like a strange and misplaced Burt
Bacharach composition. I love it!
Ain’t Nothin’ Real BUT Love is one of
the two pieces based on Lake›s poetry
and has only some delightful a cappella
background vocals accompanying the
emphatic statements about how love
«moves independently of our fears and
desires.» Justice manages to be loose, edgy,
groovy and heartfelt all at the same time.
Ted Parkinson
POT POURRI
Confluence – Balkan Dances and Tango
Neuvo
Zachary Carrettin; Mina Gajić
Sono Luminus DSL-92256 (sonoluminus.
com/store/confluence)
! Confluence
marks the second
release for the
acclaimed Sono
Luminus label by
husband-and-wife
duo, pianist Mina
Gajić and violinist
Zachary Carrettin.
The pairing of Marko Tajčević’s folky Balkan
Dances with the contemporary tangos by Ray
Granlund may seem risky at first glance but
it works very well and is a reflection of the
cultural influences that are meaningful to
these two performers. Here we have a flowing
together, a merging of two different compositional
languages, coming from regions that
are geographically distanced but complementary
with their distinct rhythmicity and
melodic flavour.
The selected tangos were written for
Carrettin and it is obvious how much he
enjoys playing them. The passion and lyricism,
mixed together in both the writing and
interpretation, are truly engaging. Granlund
leaves room for improvisation and plenty of
interpretative choices, and Carrettin thrives
on the explorative freedom the tangos are
providing. His sound is mellow and intense at
the same time, as if he is daring us to get up
and join him in dance.
Tajčević’s Balkan Dances, written for solo
piano, are not as exuberant but they have an
absolutely relentless rhythmical drive, reminiscent
of Bartók, and the melos and sturdiness
of Balkan music. Gajić brings the percussiveness
to the forefront and she does it with both
grace and conviction. TangoNometria, one of
the pieces on the album, easily links all the
aspects of the music and performances on
display here – ever-shifting rhythms, visceral
melodies and thrilling interpretations.
Ivana Popovic
Ottoman Spendours
Lamia Yared; Ensemble Oraciones
Analekta AN2 9176 (analekta.com/en)
! Diverse does not
begin to describe
the musical heritage
of the Ottoman
Empire. Full credit
then to Lamia
Yared, who has
assembled a suitably
diverse CD, drawing
on Sephardic,
Turkish, Hebrew and Greek music. Full credit
to Didem Başar for her plaintive settings of
most of the songs on the CD.
The backbone of the collection comprises a
group of Ladino songs, some of which feature
melodies that would not be out of place
among the courts of medieval Europe; Dicho
me habian dicho is a case in point with the
haunting singing of Yared and its vivacious
string accompaniment.
Ensemble Oraciones’ interpretations of
the Turkish songs bring home the liveliness
of this tradition; for example, Niçin
gördüm seni highlights all the Ensemble’s
players, one by one, in a spirited performance
enhanced by Yared’s yearning voice.
Perhaps the most eccentric tracks on
the CD are the songs written by Greek
composers. Kouklaki mou (My Doll) begins
with a clarinet intro by Yoni Kaston in full
accordance with the rebetiko tradition of
the Greek underworld. The tune may have
been borrowed by Judeo-Spanish musicians
but Kouklaki mou has its own place in
Greek music – performed by women singers
delivering their song within the hashish dens
of Athens (the little doll is not the sort of
woman you would want to bring home to any
Jewish mother.)
Mention should certainly be made
of the instrumental contributions, for
example the staccato drumbeats of Tres
morillas eventually interweaving with the
urgency of the kanun part. The versatility of
the kanun is in fact proven by Başar’s own
playing.
The performers were very brave in
condensing music from a whole swath of
Europe onto one CD – which demonstrates
how right they were to amalgamate their
exceptional talents.
Michael Schwartz
Home
Les Arrivants
Analekta AN 2 9175 (analekta.com/en)
! Les Arrivants is a
positive COVID-19
pandemic creation.
The three musicians
-- Amichai Ben
Shalev on bandoneon,
Abdul-Wahab
Kayyali on oud,
and Hamin Honari
on percussion -- independently settled in
Montreal between the summers of 2019 and
2020 where they met and found a musical
common ground playing together as an
ensemble. They each draw on their personal
backgrounds, resettlement experiences and
respective musical expertise of Argentinian
tango, classical Arabic music and traditional
Persian rhythms with Montreal contemporary/traditional/improvised
music and life
during COVID to make unique music
Each musician is also a composer. Title
track Home (Chez Soi) by Honari has his
repeated percussion rhythm grounding the
bandoneon’s modern wide-pitched, held
notes and chords midstream, then an oud solo
and a closing upbeat group build. Kayyali’s
Burkaan (Volcan/Volcano) is fast and fun,
more traditional oud music, with the band
members doubling and answering the oud
lines. Each member performs a solo track.
Shalev’s bandoneon composition Solitude is
a musical contemporary storytelling take on
the tango genre with swells, held notes and
wide-pitch ranges. Special guests Reza Abaee
on gheychak, and Pierre-Alexandre Maranda
on double bass, appear on select tracks like
the closing Nava by Parviz Meshkatian, showcasing
the band’s world, improvisation and
popular style musicianship.
Special thanks to artistic residency
support from the Montreal-based Centre des
Musiciens du Monde in collaboration with
Analekta for this album. Les Arrivants’ tight
seamless blending of styles and instrumentals
creates accessible, colourful, world/popular
music for all to enjoy.
Tiina Kiik
thewholenote.com July 1 - September 20, 2022 | 59