Few musical news

"Outredore" est le dernier opus d' Ernest Bergez, aka Sourdure (il est aussi 1/3 du groupe Orgue Agnés ). Son approche bricolée et atypique de musiques et chansons traditionnelles de l'Auvergne, où il vit à Thiers, nous fait revisiter les folklores, imaginaires ou non de cette région. Décloisonnant les genres, il nous embarque dans des mélodies et des chansons que tu croies connaître, en s'accompagnant d'un instrumentarium singulier, acoustique principalement mais aussi parfois électronique. "Outredore" sort chez Murailles Music le 18 septembre.

Un renouveau du folk en France! 

Son disque précédent avec Marion Cousin intitulé "Tu rabo par'abanico" mérite l'écoute également: un excellent recueil de romances et chansons de la région d'Estremadure en Espagne. Et toujours atypique!

 

"Outredore" is the latest release from Ernest Bergez, aka Sourdure (who is also one-third of the group Orgue Agnés). His DIY, unconventional approach to the traditional music and songs of Auvergne—where he lives in Thiers—invites us to revisit the region's folklore, whether real or imagined. Breaking down genre boundaries, he draws us into melodies and songs that might seem familiar, all while accompanying himself with a unique array of instruments—primarily acoustic, though occasionally electronic. "Outredore" is being released by Murailles Music on September 18. 

A folk revival in France! His previous album with Marion Cousin, titled "Tu rabo par'abanico" is also well worth a listen: an excellent collection of ballads and songs from the Extremadura region of Spain. And, as always, it is unconventional! 

 

Sortie le 25 septembre sur Murailles Music

 

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L'artiste iranien Saba Alizadeh est un virtuose visionnaire du kamancheh à la croisée des mondes entre tradition persane et avant-garde sonore, à laquelle il a participé. Dans son dernier album "Rituals Of The Last Dawn" il mêle le kamancheh à la guitare. Un univers profond qui nous incite à une douce introspection. A noter son travail musical pour le monde cinématographique, et notamment pour le très beau film "Les filets vides" de Behrooz Karamizade.

Iranian artist Saba Alizadeh is a visionary kamancheh virtuoso who bridges the worlds of Persian tradition and the sonic avant-garde. On his latest album, "Rituals Of The Last Dawn", he blends the kamancheh with the guitar, creating a profound soundscape that invites gentle introspection. Also noteworthy is his work for cinema, particularly for the beautiful film *Les filets vides (Empty Nets)* by Behrooz Karamizade.

 

 sur Karlrecords

 

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"Aeroplane chess" est le nouveau disque, quelques 30 ans plus tard après leur fameux "Mécanologie portative", de Pierre Bastien et Christophe Petchanatz, alias Klimperei : minimales mécaniques qui s'emmêlent et nous évoquent les musiques de Pascal Comelade tout autant que celles de Jean Dubuffet. "Aeroplane Chess", c’est le nom donné à Hong Kong au jeu universel connu chez nous sous le nom de "Ludo". Pierre et Christophe jouent ici ensemble sur seize morceaux simples et dépouillés en se renvoyant la balle — ou plutôt leurs pions faits de mélodies, de sons et de rythmes — pour créer une suite de pièces courtes plutôt réjouissantes.   
  Si Alexander Calder avait enregistré un disque, ç'aurait été celui-ci.

 

"Aeroplane chess" is the new album from Pierre Bastien and Christophe Petchanatz—aka Klimperei—arriving some 30 years after their celebrated "Mécanologie portative". It features interlocking mechanical miniatures that evoke the music of Pascal Comelade as well some of Jean Dubuffet. "Aeroplane Chess" is the name used in Hong Kong for the universal game known in the West as "Ludo". Here, Pierre and Christophe perform together on sixteen simple stripped-back tracks, passing the ball—or rather, their game pieces made of melodies, sounds, and rhythms—back and forth to create a series of delightful short pieces. If Alexander Calder had recorded an album, this would have been it. 

 

sur le label toujours pataphysique "In Poly Sons" 

 

 

¿¬÷∫…>>

 

Tombak & Synth

"Music for tomback & synth" est un projet expérimental du compositeur et artiste sonore Cinna Peyghamy, basé à Paris. Il s'agit d'un dialogue entre le tombak persan et la synthèse modulaire — un morceau de bois et de peau confronté à un système électronique hyper-technologique — qui, grâce à l'utilisation de micros de contact et à l'improvisation en direct, se transforme en une métaphore autobiographique. Superbe ! 

 

 

"Music for tomback & synth" is an experimental project by the iranian artist Cinna Peyghamy based in Paris France. A dialogue between the Persian tombak and modular synthesis , - “a piece of wood and skin” confronting a hyper-technological electronic system - using contact microphones and live improvisation for becoming an autobiographical metaphor. Really amazing!

"My relationship with the tombak is really physical : it’s about how I hold it, play it, touch it. It’s about the contact of my fingers on the skin and how this gesture will create a certain kind of sound. I have multiple different ones made of clay, wood, plastic, metal… They don’t weigh the same, the friction on the skin differs from one to the other. Hence I play differently on each one of them." exerpt of an interview by Gianmarco Del Re for "a closer listen"

 

"Ma relation avec le tombak est vraiment physique : tout tient à la manière dont je le tiens, dont j’en joue, dont je le touche. Il est question du contact de mes doigts avec la peau et de la façon dont ce geste va produire un certain type de son. J’en possède plusieurs, fabriqués en terre cuite, en bois, en plastique, en métal… Ils n’ont pas le même poids et la friction sur la peau varie de l’un à l’autre. Par conséquent, je joue différemment sur chacun d’eux." Extrait d’un entretien réalisé par Gianmarco Del Re pour le  blog "a closer listen" 

 

& don't forget to listen to his previous works as "the skin in between"

 

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TPNY Memory

 

"T.P.NY Memory"

a 2013's musical piece by  Jean Jacques Palix
on a three acts' libretto by Leyli Daryoush

L'atelier de la création - France Culture

Avec :
Eve Couturier, narrator in french language
Niaz Nawab, soprane in farsi language
Karima Nayt, mezzo in english language
Carol Robinson, bass clarinet
Vincent Segal, cello
Jean Jacques Palix, composition, electronic

Composée sous forme de Hörspiel, la pièce de Jean Jacques Palix, par son instrumentation et sa mise en ondes, s'appuie sur le jeu des trois langues - français, anglais et persan (farsi) - présentes dans l'écriture du livret original de Leyli Daryoush.
Dans chacune des trois villes où se situe l'action - Téhéran, Paris, New-York -  se joue la réminiscence flottante  d'une  jeune femme iranienne  – protagoniste du récit - qui  se heurte à une racine originelle; elle observe la souffrance muette de la mère, elle affronte la vérité de l’amant par le trou d’une serrure ; elle découvre le secret troublé dans le roman égaré du père.
Engloutie dans les fils du temps et de l’espace, la mémoire voyageuse traverse l’histoire de sa propre vie pour y trouver un territoire apatride, un plateau vide où s’éparpillent les vestiges d’un passé illusoire.
 

La pièce s'inscrit, par son récit en trois actes,  dans  une réflexion postmoderne  liée aux questions du déracinement et  de l'exil , de la solitude et de la nostalgie.

 

***

 

Composed by Palix in the form of a Hörspiel, through its instrumentation and staging, "TPNY memory" draws on the interplay of three languages — French, English, and Farsi — present in the original libretto by Leyli Daryoush. 

In each of the three cities where the action takes place — Tehran, Paris, New York — the floating reminiscence of a young Iranian woman —the protagonist of the story— plays out as she encounters an original root; she observes her mother's silent suffering, she confronts her lover's truth through a keyhole; she discovers the troubled secret in her father's lost novel. Engulfed in the threads of time and space, the traveling memory crosses her own's history of life to find a stateless territory, an empty set scattered with the vestiges of an illusory past. 

 

The play, through its three-act narrative, is part of a postmodern reflection linked to the questions of uprooting and exile, solitude and nostalgia.



PROLOGUE
Les prophétesses du temps
ACTE UN

Paris: L'exil (perte du jardin idyllique pour l’univers béton d’un appartement parisien.)
ACTE DEUX

Téhéran: La Lune (rencontre amoureuse et bassidjis qui débarquent avec les matraques, fuite de tout le monde.)
Paris: La Porte (monologue devant une porte de salle de bains. Drogue et fumée derrière cette porte.)
New York: La Table  (oubli de tout et fuite en avant. Traces de la mémoire dans le marc du café.)
ACTE TROIS

Paris: Le Téléphone (Père qui n’a existé qu’à travers une voix de téléphone.)
New York: Le Roman (Découverte du roman du père, roman qui révèle la vérité de l’histoire à venir.)


La première diffusion de cette pièce a eu lieu le jeudi 2 mai 2013 sur France Culture.
Ce projet a bénéficié du soutien de l'association Beaumarchais-SACD et des éditions Radio France.

to listen to  >>>here<<<

 

 

ce post était initialement publié en avril 2013 

 

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Summer news

 Matana Roberts - "In the garden" - sept 2023

"Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden…" is the latest instalment in composer, improviser, saxophonist, and visual artist Matana Roberts’ visionary project exploring African-American history through ancestry, archive and place.

"The full album is a warning.  These times are returning.  Women are being stripped of their humanity, context removed, reduced to talking points, caricatures and placards.  Even Genesis contains two creation stories, dueling views of what happened in the garden.  The Coin Coin project challenges assumptions, saying, don’t always believe the narrative you’ve been taught."  - Richard Allen 

Each part of  the complete "Coin Coin" opus (5 parts) explores radically different musical settings, from the free jazz and post-rock eruptions of Chapter One to the solo noise collage of Chapter Three. Featuring a new ensemble steeped in jazz, improvisation, new music and avant-rock, helping to expand the project’s existing sonic palette, Chapter Five is no exception with folk and spoken word. Matana Roberts is joined by fellow alto saxophonist Darius Jones, violinist Mazz Swift (Silkroad Ensemble, D’Angelo), bass...

from "Coin Coin suite" chapter 2

& Matana Roberts'  interview on Tone Glow

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Siavash Amini - "Eidolon" - july 2023

Siavash Amini is an iranian electronic composer who connects microsound, noise and sketch of melodies, drifts between the concrete and the abstract, drones, discussions of tuning in the maqam system,  collective subconscious, intoxicating abastraction,

"Eidolon", un disque composé de trois titres, qui approfondit ses recherches autour de l'accordage, des timbres. Il se dit obsédé par la théorie de Safi-Al-Din Urmavi (musicien érudit mort à Bagdad, connu pour sa division de l'octave en 17 tons) sur l'accordage, le rythme, le maqam, ce qui le conduit vers une musique microtonale, spectrale. 

" Siavash Amini has consistently provided room for reflection through creation of space – set between both buoyant and melancholy planes of noise in amicable juxtaposition. " The Quietus

 

"Instantia" in the 2017 "Eilodon" 

"...Comme une corde, un tressage serré, pour monter ou rester suspendu dans le vide... Un rideau bouge lentement, dévoile d'autres sons, des hurlements de loups électroniques avec échos. Nous sommes entrés dans une caverne, habitée par des créatures inconnues. Quelque chose nous happe, menace de nous submerger, une force tellurique à peine tourbillonnante, elle irradie dans le noir, et c'est au fond très doux." - source: inactuelles.over-blog

"rivers of tar" in the 2017 "Tar"

 

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FFYG - "Cependant"- oct 2023

 Filipe Felizardo and Yann Gourdon's duo, called FFYG, releases its third opus as a 100 copies limited cassette recorded during their last live shows in Brussels. Filipe plays electric guitar and Yann hurdy-gurdy.  After "La langue de l'Ophiolite", first meeting in 2020 with our friends of Trás-os-Montes Records, they persist to commit hypnotic drones resulting from a study of duration, harmonic thermodynamics, and the delicious errors that come from endurance and stubborn repetition, but always converging the density of the timbric and poetic languages of both their very idiosyncratic instrumentation into a point of all returns. 

 

 

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Radian - "Distorted rooms"- sept 2023

Radian is Martin Brandlmayr (drums, electronics), John Norman (bass), and Martin Siewert (guitars, electronics), who have been influenced by and shaped Vienna's vivid scene of electronica in the early 2000s. Vienna is currently a wide open creative home to many new music composers and innovators. Today, the members of Radian are pillars of that community. The trio’s collective experience finds an expansive and egoless outlet in "Distorted Rooms", uncovering new sonic universes. After nearly 30 years of making music together, their excitement for sonic experimentation is palpable.

"Radian is a machine, their music the sum of body hydraulics and fuzzy logic."
Will Montgomery, The Wire

!_-_!

Naghib Shanbehzadeh

Naghib Shanbehzadeh

Né en 1993 à Boushehr en Iran, Naghib Shanbehzadeh a commencé à jouer de la musique dès l’âge de trois ans en faisant de la musique aux côtés de son père Saeid. Ayant reçu une double transmission orale (percussions traditionnelles du sud de l’Iran -Dammam, Doholgap, Pipe, Kesser, Timpo, de sa propre région et Zarb de la musique traditionnelle iranienne) et écrite (percussions occidentales au conservatoire de Créteil), il peut se prévaloir de plus d’une décennie d’expérience scénique en solo et aux côtés de musiciens de renommée internationale: il a partagé la scène avec de nombreux grands musiciens de différents genres tels que Manu Kodjia, Billy Cobham et Trilok Gurtu, etc. Il est membre permanent de l'Ensemble Shanbezadeh depuis l'âge de 10 ans. 

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Born in 1993 in Boushehr, Iran, Naghib Shanbehzadeh began playing music at the age of three, making music alongside his father Saeid. Having received a double oral transmission (traditional percussion from the south of Iran -Dammam, Doholgap, Pipe, Kesser, Timpo, from his own region and Zarb from traditional Iranian music) and written (Western percussion at the Créteil conservatory), he can boast of over a decade of stage experience both solo and alongside internationally renowned musicians: he has shared the stage with many great musicians from different genres such as Manu Kodjia, Billy Cobham and Trilok Gurtu, etc. He has been a permanent member of the Ensemble Shanbezadeh since the age of 10.

a pure jewel

!!!!!

The wind

The iranian master of kamancheh Kayhan Kalhor with the turkish baglama player Erdal Erzincan exploring improvisation at the nexus where Persia and Turkey meet, live at Millenium Stage in january 2013.

a pure jewel...

 

 

 

this post was first published on august 2014

 

'!''-I-''!'

Dastgāh Šur

 

Persian classical "dastgāh Šur" (modal system) performed by Lloyd Miller on oud with Azar Hashemi on santur on National Iranian TV in the 1970s.
The dastgāh system has been a major influence in the maquam system of arabic music.
Šur is one of the 12 dastgāh.

*I-I*

Nasim Kushnawaz & Afghan rubab

Residing in exile in Iran, Nasim Kushnawaz is a master of the Afghan rubab. He is the son of Ustad Rahim Khushnawaz, a well-known master of the instrument who helped to put the rubab and the musicianship of Herat (nicknamed the “pearl of Khorasan”) on an international stage.

"Songs From The Pearl of Khorasan" is its first single which takes influence from traditional Herati folk pieces and three classical Afghani pieces - with Ramin Ahmadi playing tabla. With Afghanistan once more falling to the Taliban, it’s a good opportunity to continue to hear Afghan folk and classical music.

a review on the blog  "a closer listen"

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Nasim himself sits as the subject of a documentary directed by Michel Gasco and titled "Nasim, the Territory of Memory". His journey is truly unique: after surviving a car accident that left him in a coma for weeks, Nasim suffered from an amnesia that forced him to relearn both his family and the rubab once more. 

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 &

"Sahargah"  (means "sunrise")

 

<>III<>

Summer' strings

 

 

 

"Nemāno Gaona"

Iranian violist Kimia Hesabi releases an album of music by composers of the Iranian Diaspora, featuring works for solo viola, viola and electronics, viola and voice, and viola and piano. This issue offers a sharp look at recent contemporary music from her homeland, along with a 1960s piece from veteran composer Alireza Mashayekhi that she premiered in 2019. In the Avestan language of ancient Iran, “Nemāno Gaona” means “colors of home”. In collaboration with several composer colleagues, Kimia Hesabi brings together a debut album of works that are each uniquely inspired by her home country. As a collective these works represent various qualities from Iranian folk, classical, and contemporary music, and display a unique identity, sound, and story.

 

L'altiste iranienne Kimia Hesabi  joue les musiques de compositeurs de la diaspora iranienne, comprenant des œuvres pour alto solo, alto et électronique, alto et voix, et alto et piano. Cet album offre un regard pointu sur la musique contemporaine récente de son pays, incluant une pièce des années 1960 d'Alireza Mashayekhi qu'elle a créée en 2019. Dans la langue avestique de l'ancienne Perse, “Nemāno Gaona” signifie "couleurs de la maison". En collaboration avec plusieurs collègues compositeurs, Kimia Hesabi rassemble ce premier album d'œuvres inspirées, chacune de manière unique, par son pays d'origine. Ces œuvres représentent divers champs de la musique folklorique, classique et contemporaine iranienne et affichent une identité, un son et une histoire uniques.

  

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"Canti di guerra, di lavoro e d‘amore"

 

Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker have emerged as one of the most interesting duos in contemporary improvised music. First introduced to Unseen Worlds through their performance on the Philip Corner recording "Extreemizms: early & late", Tarozzi and Walker elevated recent recordings of Eliane Radigue's piece as well "Infra" composed by Pascal Criton. With "Canti di guerra, di lavoro e d‘amore" the duo add folk music to their contemporary classical and improvised music roots, reinterpreting songs from their youth in rural Emilia that originated from the emancipation of working class women and the partisan Resistance in World War II.

 

Silvia Tarozzi et Deborah Walker se sont imposées comme l'un des duos les plus intéressants de la musique improvisée contemporaine. Introduits pour la première fois à Unseen Worlds grâce à leur performance sur l'enregistrement de Philip Corner "Extreemizms: early & late", Tarozzi et Walker ont joué des pièces d'Eliane Radigue ainsi que "Infra" composée par Pascal Criton. Avec "Canti di guerra, di lavoro e d‘amore", le duo ajoute la musique folklorique à ses racines musicales classiques, contemporaines et improvisées, réinterprétant des chansons de  l'Émilie rurale qui ont pour thème l'émancipation des femmes de la classe ouvrière et la résistance partisane pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale.

>>!0!<<

Hossein Alizadeh

 

Hossein Alizadeh is a famous Iranian composer and Tar and Setâr  instrumentalist. Born in 1951 in Teheran, he also is a teacher and great preserver of the persian Radif tradition, a musical corpus of old melodic figures preserved through many generations by oral tradition. 

The Setâr is a stringed instrument, a type of lute played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the Tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by the mid 19th century.

 

Here is a fascinating Setâr improvisation in concert with Dariush Zargari playing the Zarb.

You can also check the amazing setâr player Khorshid Dadbeh. 

& the Iranian master of Kamancheh Kayhan Kalhor who uses as well to practice the Setâr.

_OIOIO_

Khorshid Dadbeh & setar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Khorshid Dadbeh is a great Iranian Tanbour, Setar and Tar's player. She grew up in an artistic family and started at seven years old her musical journey playing Setar with her father. She uses to teach music.

More music to listen to HERE

 

 

& in trio with her father and a brother : Jansouz Ensemble

 

& ...

 

 

 

 

 *O<!>O*

Mohammad Reza Lotfi

Mohammad Reza Lotfi (1947-2014) is an persian maestro of classical music playing tar and setar. He worked at the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Traditional Persian Music, both as a soloist and a conductor. He researched folk music for Iranian National Radio and Television, and appearing at the Shiraz Arts Festival. After graduating in 1973, Lotfi joined the faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University. 

His innovative approach of combining the classical with folk elements, both in terms of music and technique, has injected a new vitality into a very old tradition. 

 

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Sahba Aminikia

"Shetàbàn", a piece for viola solo played by  Hannah Nicholas.

 

Sahba Aminikia  is an Iranian-American composer born in Tehran in 1981. 

Trained in music by Persian pianists as Safa Shahidi and Gagik Babayan, in Russia at the St. Petersburg Stat Conservatory by Boris Ivanov Tishchenko, and in England by Sir Michael Tippett, he is now living in California.

"Life in Tehran taught me to appreciate hardship and beauty at the same time, and this is something that, due to heavy media propaganda, is mainly obscured in Western minds. I was brought up with the poetry of Hafiz, Rumi, and Saadi, and with Persian classical music, but was also largely exposed to the music of Pink Floyd, Beatles, Queen, and various jazz musicians. This conflict between the morals of a theocracy and Western cultural imports also exists in my mind, and I see it as a life process towards finding a common ground for communication and dialogue in my music."  Sahba Aminikia

He wrote numerous orchestral, vocal and solo pieces  performed all around the world, with famous orchestras and musicians.
He has been commissioned by theater companies, contemporary classical ensembles, film scores, Persian traditional music groups as well as jazz bands including Kronos Quartet, Symphony Parnassus, Mobius Trio, San Francisco Conservatory of New Music Ensemble and many others. 

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The amazing CD "Miniatures" was published by the iranian Hermes Records. 

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recent works here

 
interview here
 
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Recently in 2017 he was invited as artist-in-residence at Kronos Festival.

"Tar o pood" with the Kronos Quartet 

Avaz

"Avaz": un projet autour des mystiques persans et des gwerziou bretonnes initié par Keyvan Chemirani et publié par Innacor
"Avaz" unit les mystiques persans des 12ème et 13ème siècles (Hafez, Rumi, Khayam, etc.) au répertoire traditionnel breton des gwerzioù. L’amour y est chanté entre complaintes méditatives et envolées lyriques, par Annie Ebrel et Maryam Chemirani, en perse puis en breton.

Annie Ebrel & Maryam Chemirani: chant
Hamid Khabbazi: târ
Sylvain Barou: flûtes traversières en bois, bansuri, balaban
Keyvan Chemirani: zarb, daf, udu, santoor, percussions

Mêlant morceaux traditionnels et compositions originales, cette fusion réussie entre rythmiques, mélodies et langues croisées nous embarquent dans une dérive d'épopées et de mythologies  légendaires d'un passé disparu.

"Avaz" is a project uniting Persian mystical poets (12th & 13th centuries : Hafez, Rîmî, Khayyâm, etc.) and traditional Breton gwerzioù (laments). The subject of love is developed by Annie Ebrel and Maryam Chemirani, between meditative laments and lyric inspirations, alternately in Persian and Breton.
To accompany these songs, Keyvan Chemirani (percussions), Hamid Khabbazi (târ) and Sylvain Barou (flutes) form a subtle settings of crossed rhythms to emphasise the unique characters of the two repertoires, playing traditional pieces and original compositions.

« Two cultures, two languages »
« The virtuosity of an incredible dialogue between East and West in a new contemporary form ! »
« A V A Z : a meeting alchemy ! »

Chemirani & The Rythm Alchemy

Dans un décor somptueux, une rencontre musicale à écouter.

Chemirani & The Rythm Alchemy au Cosmo Jazz Festival 2014

Keyvan Chemirani a souhaité cette fois-ci confronter l’édifice rythmique oriental au violoncelle de Vincent Segal et à la viole du violoniste Jasser Haj Youssef, tout en ajoutant les tablas de Prabhu Edouart ou les baguettes jazz du belge Stéphane Galland.

Autant de musiques ainsi réunies, ancrées dans des traditions fortes, ottomane, indienne, iranienne ou jazz, jouées par des musiciens généreux, curieux et ouverts, le Cosmo souhaitait accueillir ce nouveau projet de Keyvan, oscillant entre méditatif et festif, entre contempaltif et explosif, tout en groove, plaisir et jubilation.