Lyrics: Ai Weiwei
Music: Zuoxiao Zuzhou.
Video: Christopher Doyle
Release date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 (in YouTube)
Photo courtesy of Ai Weiwei’s website
About Ai Weiwei
Author: Abolqasem Ferdowsi
Title: Shahnameh – The Epic of the Persian King
Format: hardcover with slipcase
Item#: ISBN 978-1-59372-051-3
Price: Regular Edition: $75.00 / Collector’s Edition: $550.00
Publisher: The Quantuck Lane Press
Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings is a new illustrated edition of the classic work written over one thousand years ago byi Abolqasem Ferdowsi, one of Persia’s greatest poets. This new prose translation of the national epic is illuminated with over 500 pages of illustrations.
Date: April 17, 2013
Venue: ZirZamin (NY)
Review by Matt Cole
I saw The Red Microphone for the first time at their CD release show at ZirZamin for The Red Microphone Speaks!, and was thus happy to see that they were a quartet consisting of four members of the Dissident Arts Orchestra, who had created a fine improvised soundtrack to Eisenstein’s classic Battleship Potemkin a few months back. Specifically, The Red Microphone consists of John Pietaro on vibraphone and percussion; Ras Moshe on tenor and soprano sax, flute, and spoken words; Rocco John Iacovone on alto and soprano sax, and Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic on bass.
It can be a challenge for musicians to play free music in sync with each other, but The Red Microphone manages to be a very tight, cohesive unit. The music started with a driving baseline and ethereal vibraphone sounds, and soon the two saxes came in playing in harmony, at times sounding like they were in different keys that nonetheless created a good sound, not unlike what Charles Ives might have written had he anticipated the free music of the ’60s or the Downtown flowering of the ’80s and beyond. The overall sound was rooted in modern avant-garde jazz, leaning towards the free end; the sounds of rock, hard bop, and even a hint of modern classical also could be heard in the mix. Right away, I noticed that there was a lot of communication between the band members, enabling them to move together as a single unit, changing rhythms, feel, and tempo with ease (or at least it looked that way to Yours Truly, watching from the audience). Themes would appear, bounce around, make an impression, and vanish into the ether like a pair of virtual particles in sub-Planck time. The band members took turns taking the lead, with tenor man/flautist Ras Moshe playing bluesy, uplifting solos with a definite undertone of urgency just beneath (and often breaking) the surface. Throughout the set, the band showed a talent for evolving pieces, with individual instruments coming in and out over time as the music grew.
Date: April 27, 2013
Venue: Nublu (NY)
Review by Matt Cole
On Saturday, 27 April, META played the early set at Nublu, giving a high energy performance to an attentive and willing-to-dance crowd which grew as the show went on. META is a multinational band which consists of frontman Meta on multilingual vocals and occasional percussion, Ari Hoenig on drums, Francois Moutin on bass, and Thomas Enhco on keys.
META‘s sound draws from many influences. While overall, they usually maintain a jazzy sensibility on song structure and improv, often with a predominantly jazz over Subsaharan pop feel, the rhythms often veered into funk territory, and the band occasionally steered into dubby spaces, and even gave a few hints of prog rock (and the jam bands which drew influence therefrom). The band is notably tight and together live, even when mixing styles or melting into chaos, and displayed a talent for grooving well in odd meters. On occasion, two of the instruments (including Meta’s soulful voice) would play in unison together. They tended to stay inside more than a straight-up downtown unit might, but went out sparingly and tastefully; that is, not for show, but in service to the music.
Date: April 30, 2013
Venue: Cornelia Street Café (NY)
Review by Dawoud Kringle
Akshara is a percussion-based group whose compositions and improvisations combine Carnatic and Hindustani classical genres. The group performs original compositions by Bala Skandan, demonstrating the powerful and complex rhythmic structures inherent in South Indian classical music. The leading percussion instrument, the Mridangam, was played by Skandan. The group also featured Sriram Manesh on hand percussion, Mithun Radhakrishna on mandolin, Jay Ghandi on bansurai, and special guest Richard Bennett on piano.
They began with a composition in a 5 beat cycle. The percussionists did a duet within the rhythm; at times bringing triplet phrases into the 5. The percussion and bansurai / mandolin traded back & forth. They would explore all the permutations of the phrases and melodies. Bansurai & mandolin would play variations on the main melody so that it would expand and contract. They came together and wove the piece into several intricate teehais.
