Artist: Music of Central Asia Vol.10: Borderlands:
Title: Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route
Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Cat.#: SFW40529
Genre: Music of Central Asia
Buy the CD here.
Recommended by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Artist: Andra Kouyaté
Title: Saro
Label: Studio Mali
Genre: Malian traditional and pop music
Release date: July 31, 2012
Recommended by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
In some musically vibrant corners of the world, innovation is the tradition.
Artist: Kmang Kmang
Title: Drifting
Label: self release
Genre: classical guitar music with a good dose of jazz and instrumental fusion
“The most important thing is that it’s viscerally powerful,” states Barmey Ung, the classically trained guitarist and composer behind Chicago’s avant acoustic rock collective, Kmang Kmang.“I don’t like to intellectualize things too much, and don’t like to attach meanings where there doesn’t have to be meanings. I just want the music to be aesthetically powerful.”
Artist: Amir ElSaffer and the Two Rivers Ensemble
Title: Inana
Label: PI Recordings
Genre: Oriental Jazz/Jazz
Review by Matt Cole
Inana is a new release from Iraqi-American musician Amir ElSaffar and the Two Rivers Ensemble. ElSaffar is one of a number of musicians, notably including Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa, who are finding new and creative ways to combine modern jazz with the music of their respective cultural backgrounds. In ElSaffar’s case, the background is Iraqi Maqam, a rich tradition which is considered the most perfect form of maqam. Maqam is highly modal, and mainly melody-oriented; rhythm is fluid and harmony, like in Indian music, is secondary at best.
Artist: The Mast
Title: Wild Poppies
Label: Channel A Records (self released)
Genre: psychedelic indie rock
Review by Dawoud Kringle
Every now and again, a CD comes my way that ends up dominating my CD player for a time. Every now and again, a body of music crosses my path that insinuates itself into my psyche, and speaks to me.
