Niyaz - Sumud
Niyaz
Sumud (Six Degrees Records, 2012)
With collaborative efforts like the self-titled Niyaz and Nine Heavens under their belts – not to mention solo recordings like From Night to the Edge of Day, Mehraab and Looking Through Leaves – Azam Ali, Loga Ramin Torkian and Carmen Rizzo, the trio behind Niyaz, are back with a new recording called Sumud out on the Six Degrees label.
Meaning steadfastness in Arabic, Sumud is a collection of new and refashioned traditional songs from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Palestine and the Kurdish peoples. Dipping into the poetry of Baba Taher, Ashik Dertli and Kul Nesimi wrapped around musical compositions by Ms. Ali, Mr. Torkian and the Palestinian and Jordanian composer Naser Musa, Sumud finds solace in the steadfastness of the music or as Ms. Ali marks the symbolic philosophy of the title, “every human being should inherit the right to live with dignity and freedom upon the land on which they are born.” In essence, the music of Sumud becomes the plaintive nature of the struggle and the solace.
Ms. Ali explains, “We have now traveled across the world, and those experiences have affected the journey that we are on and the direction we’ve taken on this album. We’ve performed in the Kurdish parts of Turkey during times of major conflicts, as well as other parts of the Middle East. Obviously that has affected this project. We wanted to focus on the ethnic and religious minority groups in these regions, because they have really struggled to maintain their identity. it started from us wanted to tell our story, and it has evolved into this humanitarian social message, embracing regions around Iran.”
There’s nothing light or flirty about Sumud, no this recording is ripe and meaty, deliciously dark and utterly haunting from the opening “Parishaan” to the closing “Arzusun,” a tune from the Malatya province of Turkey.
Steeped in layers of keyboards and electronica provided by Carmen Rizzo and laced with Mr. Torkian’s saz, kamaan, robab, djumbush, lafta and guitar viol and Ms. Ali’s vocals, santoor and percussion, Sumud slides across the senses like a warm, fragrant wind.
Ripe with thick Middle Eastern rhythms tracks like “Sosin” and “Rah-e-vafa” possess an irresistible pull to the listener, of course if you add Ms. Ali’s sultry vocals against a backdrop of dazzling electronic well it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Other gems include the lushly worked “Mazaar,” based on an Afghan folk song from the Dari region, the Turkish inspired “Dertli” with its layered vocals, “Mazooz” from Iran and “Rayat al Sumud,” written by Naser Musa.
Adding to the sound of Sumud are Habib Meftah Boushehri on percussion, flute and vocals; Ulas Ozdemir on saz and vocals; Naser Musa on oud and vocals and Omer Avci on percussion.
Sumud is gorgeously powerful and artfully commanding in both content and intent and there’s not many recordings out there these days that could say the same. Sumud is proof that steadfastness needn’t be spare but utterly sumptuous.
Parishaan (Free download)
Niyaz Tour dates:
Sat 5/19/12 L’Astral, Montreal, Canada
Thu 5/24/12 Festival Mawazine, Rabat, Morocco
Fri 7/20/12 Festival Paleo, Nyon, Switzerland
Sun 7/22/12 Drom (The East Village), New York, NY
Wed 7/25/12 Kennedy Plaza (Venue Subject To Change Pending On Weather), Atlantic City, NJ
Fri 7/27/12 Faerieworlds, Eugene, OR
Sat 8/4/12 Grand Performances (Free Concert), Los Angeles, CA
Sun 8/5/12 Yoshis, San Francisco, CA
Thu 8/9/12 TBA, Irvine, CA
Sat 8/11/12 KP Center, Seattle, WA
WOMAD at night
Organizers of renowned world music festival WOMAD would like to invite artists to take a chance in its WOMAD Band Competition. The winner will perform from 12:15-13:00 on the Charlie Gillet Stage on Saturday, July 28th of 2012 in front of up to 30,000 festival goers.
Submissions can be made onto the WOMAD Band Competition app found on the WOMAD Charlton Park Facebook page between Thursday 17th May and Thursday 7th June 2012. Entrants have the option to copy the embed code from their preferred video or audio. Embed code from Youtube, Vimeo and Soundcloud will work best.
Music fans will be able to vote between Thursday, June 7th until Wednesday, June 27th vote for their favorite act. The votes will decide the winner.
Rokia Traoré
Rokia Traoré will be making an anticipated return to London this summer with two major projects. In June, Traoré is set to present a specially-curated series of three shows based on aspects integral to Malian music and its traditions: Donguili – Donke – Damou (Sing – Dance – Dream). This is followed in July by her performance in the UK premiere of Desdemona, a staged concert co-written with Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and directed by Peter Sellars, featuring an intimate, profound conversation between Shakespeare’s Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary.
Produced by the Barbican, Donguili – Donke – Damou (translated as Sing – Dance – Dream from the Malian language, Bambara) sees Traoré performing in three different venues, bringing her talent to the Barbican and beyond its walls to the beautiful, historic Wilton’s Music Hall and the creative hub of Village Underground.
Beginning the series on Monday 18 June, Damou (Dream) is an intimate acoustic evening of music and traditional Malian and Manding storytelling , featuring kora, ngoni and voice, in the atmospheric surroundings of Wilton ’s Music Hall.
For the second concert on Friday 22 June, in the Barbican Hall, Traoré is joined by a group of UK, European and emerging African artists. Donguili (Sing) centers on the collaboration between these musicians, featuring reinterpretations of existing songs and repertoire developed at the Music Institute Traoré founded in Bamako which works with emerging young musicians.
In the final show of the series, Donke (Dance), Rokia Traoré performs music from her forthcoming album, with award-winning Polly Harvey producer John Parrish at the helm. This celebration of “rock & Manding” , will feature Parrish on guitars, drummer Seb Rochford (Polar Bear) and bassist Nicolai Munch-Hansen plus some of the same musicians from the previous night in a club gig at Village Underground in Shoreditch on Saturday 23 June.
Explaining her inspiration, Rokia Traoré says: “As I have listened and appreciated the epic of the Mande, embroidered with beautiful melodies, I also felt the desire to learn and interpret it my way from the Manding epic of griots.”
Rokia Traoré returns to the Barbican Hall on Thursday 19 & Friday 20 July for the UK premiere of Desdemona . In response to Peter Sellars’ 2009 staging of Othello, Rokia Traoré and Toni Morrison (both women of African and African-American origin), collaborated to create a work inspired by an ‘invisible’ character from one of Shakespeare’s most racially charged plays: Desdemona’s African nurse Barbary. Moving beyond centuries of colonialism and racism, the two characters share stories, songs and hope for a different future, against a backdrop of African and Western musical textures. Traoré herself sings the role of Barbary and the part of Desdemona is played by actress Tina Benko who performed the role in the production in Paris, Berlin, New York and Berkeley.
Desdemona is part of The World Shakespeare Festival, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012 Festival, the spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from 21 June until 9 September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.
Donguili – Donke – Damou (Sing – Dance – Dream)
18–23 June 2012, Tickets £15-25
Monday 18 June, 8pm, Wilton’s Music Hall: Damou (Dream)
Friday 22 June, 7:30pm, Barbican Hall : Donguili (Sing)
Saturday 23 June, 8.30pm, Village Underground, Shoreditch : Donke (Dance)
Part of London 2012 Festival
Desdemona
Thursday 19 & Friday 20 July 2012, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Tickets from £15
Part of the World Shakespeare Festival and part of London 2012 Festival
Barbican Box Office: 0845 120 7550
www.barbican.org.uk
Lassine Kouyate - Dugu Wolo
Lassine Kouyate
Dugu Wolo (Cowboy Angel Music CAM015, 2012)
American singer-songwriter and guitarist Adam Klein has adopted the artistic Malian name of Lassine Kouyate. His music crosses boundaries, with a mix of American roots music (blues, bluegrass) and traditional Mande music.
On Dugu Wolo, Adam Klein collaborates with Malian musicians. The vocals are the Bambara language and Malian musical instruments are used throughout the album.
The line-up includes Lassine Kouyate/Adam Klein on acoustic guitar, vocals; Souleymane Tounkara on guitar, jeliya on “Maliyo”; Abdoulaye ‘Kandiafa’ Kone on ngoni; Djeli Mory Tounkara on kora; Lassine Dembele on calabash; Drissa Diabate on tama; Abdoullaye Koussoube on jembe; Aiche Kouyate on vocals; Baba Simaga on karanyan; Bocar Sissoko on bass; Zoumana Tereta on njarka and Judith Gilbert on flute.
The CD version of Dugu Wolo comes in a digipak with CD and booklet. The booklet includes details about Adam’s musical experience in Mali, the instruments used and the meaning of the songs.
Dugu Wolo is a satisfying album that will be enjoyed by fans of Malian blues.
There are still spaces available for our Lisbon tour of the ‘Home of Fado’ and the Gnawa and World Music Festival, part of this year’s Songlines Music Travel itinerary. Set your summer in motion and delve deep into the roots of fado in Portugal’s capital, or round off the holiday season in the idyllic setting of Morocco’s coastal port town, Essaouria. With such a wealth of cultural discovery within European shores, neither trip is to be missed.
Lisbon, PortugalEach venue has its own atmosphere and character so you’ll get a good taste of the city’s scene. We’ll visit the excellent Museum of Fado and the Portuguese Guitar, the former home of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), and enjoy a walking trip through the historic fado districts of Alfama and Mouraria. And don’t forget, Lisbon is also a fantastic place for Brazilian and Cape Verdean music. Drop by the website for a full itinerary and details.
The Gnawa and World Music Festival, MoroccoEssaouira is a picturesque port town on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. Built by the Portuguese it is full of narrow whitewashed alleyways and beautiful squares. It’s also an artistic community and a centre of Gnawa music. In June each year, it hosts the extraordinary Gnawa and World Music Festival showcasing top Gnawan musicians along with a vast array of musical styles from around the world.
