Tag Archives: ney

CD Review: Mehmet Polat Trio (Turkey/Mali)…a spiritual yet adventurous meeting of three masters of their magical instruments (ney, kora and oud)

Mehmet PolatArtist: Mehmet Polat Trio
Title: Next Spring
Label: Homerecords
Genre: world/maqam/kora music

CD review by Dawoud Kringle

Collaborations between musicians of different traditions are a peculiarly modern phenomenon. Sometimes this produces nothing more than a contradictory hybrid. Yet, many times, the masterful and insightful blending of different cultures produces a balanced and complete aggregate greater than the sum of its parts that enriches all culture and the traditions and spiritual vision that emerges from it. The later is exemplified by the work in the Mehmet Polat Trio’s CD Next Spring.

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Concert Review: TomChess Bandit Hat… a band of virtuosos whose music must be experienced!

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.

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Three Generations of Persian Masters In NYC!

 

 

Master Musicians of Persian Music (photo by Mohammad Kheirkah)

Master Musicians of Persian Music (photo by Mohammad Kheirkah)

Presented by: World Music Institute – WMI CONCERTS

At NYU’s Skirball Center, February 18th, 2010

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