Artist: Arifa
Title: Anatolian Alchemy
Label: Mundus
Genre: oriental jazz
Review by Matt Cole
Anatolian Alchemy is a new CD from multinational band Arifa, which consists of Alex Simu (Romania) on clarinets and laptop, Mehmet Polat (Turkey) on oud, Franz von Chossy (Germany) on piano, and Sjahin During (Turkey/Holland) on Afro Anatolian percussion. It is a gentle group effort which relies mainly on subtlety, space, and communication to make its points.
Artist: Michael Harrison & Maya Beiser
Title: Time Loops
Label: Cantaloupe Music
Genre: modern-ambient-minimal-indian music
CD Review by Dawoud Kringle
One day, out of the blue, a package arrived in the mail. It was a CD: Time Loops by Michael Harrison & Maya Beiser. I imagine being a music writer has such perks. I’m no stranger to the work of Michael Harrison (and have even had the pleasure of studying with him). So, I waited for the right moment to properly listen to and savor this latest musical offering from the maestro.
Date: October 27, 2013
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)
Review by Dawoud Kringle
On an early Sunday night, Le Poisson Rouge was packed to the rafters for a performance of Armenian jazz. The show was billed as “Armenian Jazz with Arto & Friends.” The concert was dedicated to Paul Motian, and Armenian American whose musical legacy barely requires an introduction.
Arto & friends is Arto Tunçboyaciyan (percussion, drums, vocals, guitar), Lucy Yeghiazarayan (violin, vocals), Tatev Yeghiazarayan (piano, vocals, percussion), Michael Sarian (trumpet), and Noah Garabedian (bass).
Date: October 18, 2013
Venue: Spectrum (NY)
Review and videos by Dawoud Kringle
Friday afternoons are an unusual time of the day to hold a concert. CMJ was holding a big shindig at Arlen’s Grocery and you get your occasional concert in the park. But it’s still not conventional: at least not for music venues. However, Spectrum (a music/art/science venue on Manhattan’s lower east side that combines a fearless urge to present the best of New York’s underground elite in a comfortable home-like setting) had other ideas. One Friday I ventured to attend the performance of Tom Chess‘ ensemble Bandit Hat (Tom Chess; oud/ney, Jimmy Mngwandi; bass, and Daniel Kurfirst; drums/percussion).
The music started with some free, atonal smokiness from the bass, which was shattered by a scintillating punch in the sternum from the oud, and directed the formless sounds toward its own tonality. The percussion eased in, and it all coalesced into a Moroccan sounding 6/8 groove. From there, the audience was swept up in a modern magic carpet ride.
![Suwon_230_385[18204]](https://doobeedoobeedoo.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Suwon_230_38518204.jpg)
Venue: Alice Tully Hall, at Lincoln Center (NY)
Date: October 19th, 2013
Concert Review by Dawoud Kringle
When I was offered a ticket to attend the performance of the Suwon Civic Chorale at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Centre, I was intrigued. It has been my experience with Koreans (South Koreans, that is) that they devote a great deal of their energy to mastering the arts and music of the west. And while there is nothing inherently wrong or blameworthy about this, I cannot help but wonder if Korea has done this at its own expense. I cannot, in my entire life, recall hearing traditional/classical Korean music.
