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CD recommendation: Comoros Island’s Nawal’s new CD is out – a hypnotic prayer for peace!
Artist: Nawal
Title: Embrace The Spirit
Label: JADE/WARNER MUSIC
Genre: Comoros Island “sufi” folk music
Recommended by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Nawal comes from the Comoros Islands, in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. Now based in Paris she is recognized as a key figure from her native islands. Between traditional and contemporary, Nawal’s compositions are an acoustic roots-based fusion, inspired by the light of her Sufi heritage founded on love, respect and peace. When live in concert, Nawal’ powerful voice and message is able to touch her audience’s hearts.
Didge Project didgeridooing for quite a while in NY
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
- Courtesy of Didge Project
Didge Project, a didgeridoo awareness organization, was founded by AJ BLOCK and Tyler Sussman who left California in the summer of 2008 to challenge themselves and see the world outside of their hometown. Both were originally jazz musicians but when they encountered the didgeridoo somewhere on their trip, AJ and Tyler were transformed by the sounds of this ancient Australian instrument. They found out that the didgeridoo with its emphasis on breath and circular breathing was not just an instrument to play with but also a way of life, a path to self-knowing and self-healing. Short after arriving in NY they founded Didge Project as the head organization of many didgeridoo related projects. It has since evolved into a larger community and movement. Towards the end of 2010, the duo was introduced to drummer Chaim Tolwin. They produced two albums and performed and taught at numerous venues and festivals. Through their music, workshops and collaborations with a number of wellness practitioners and yoga teachers, they intend to build a community that connects people all around the world through the universal language of sound. AJ and Tyler currently live in Brooklyn, NY.
In the video below Didge Project perform Joga which was written by Tyler after performing in Costa Rica with Brazilian musicians in 2010. “The swift samba beats anchored by the rock steady didge pushes the flute to fly high in this playful tune.” Featuring AJ Block on didgeridoo, Tyler Sussman on flute and Chaim Tolwin on drums.”
Interview: The Secret Chiefs 3′ Trey Spruance dreams of performing in Iran?
Date: September 13, 2011
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)
Text by Jim Hoey
Video interview and photos by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Interview coordination by April Centrone
For this East Coast tour, members of the Secret Chiefs 3 drove cross-country from Seattle to NYC, thanks to Hurricane Irene, and managed to get it all together with new members, despite little practice time or much sleep. Trey Spruance and his rotating cast of musicians (including April Centrone of NYC on percussion) continue the exploration of cinematic and Middle Eastern (Persian) rhythms, mixing in all elements of western metal, surf rock, and noise, in a harmonic brew that switches and turns and blasts away at every step.
Music listings – 9/26 through 10/2
1. Mount Eerie and Nicholas Krgovich w/ itsnotyouitsme
Date: Monday, September 26, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474)
Ticket: $14
Genre: post rock/indie rock/nu folk
Phil Elverum is Mount Eerie. The 33 year-old multi-instrumentalist has played in other bands, and worked as a producer, but remains best known for this solo project, which began under the name the Microphones in 1997. In 2003, he renamed the project Mount Eerie (and added an “e” to his last name, Elvrum) after returning from a trip to Norway, where he lived alone in a remote cabin for a winter. “Mount Eerie” specifically refers to the mountain on Fidalgo Island, an island an hour and change north of Seattle where you’ll also find Elverum’s lifelong Anacortes, Washington hometown.
Nicholas Krgovich is a 28 year-old Vancouver-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with NO KIDS, GIGI, P:ANO and MOUNT EERIE. He has been releasing records under various monikers since P:ANO’s acclaimed chamber pop debut “When It’s Dark And It’s Summer” in 2002, which has led to his work with the girl group inspired GIGI, the icy displacement of the r’n’b informed NO KIDS and most recently to the singular pop dreams released under his full legal name NICHOLAS KRGOVICH. Even though the material is often wildly diverse there is a unmistakable sense of Krgovich’s deep commitment to exploring the endless possibilities of pop, a discerning ear for sonic detail and quite often an ambition that wilfully borders on the absurd.
