Ravish Momin's Trio Tarana: Miren (A Longing)

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2007-08-07
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: kartonowe etui
opis:
Audio Video, 2008/01
Zamieszkały w USA Hindus potrafił połączyć tradycyjną ragę ze współczesną muzyką improwizowaną. Nic w tym dziwnego - grywał z wieloma amerykańskimi jazzmanami, dzięki czemu te tak obce sobie muzyczne światy nie mają dla niego tajemnic. To jedno z najbardziej organicznych połączeń tradycji środkowowschodniej Azji z amerykańskim jazzem z okolic chicagowskiego AACM. Warto by po nią sięgnęli wielbiciele obu tych gatunków - mogą się wiele o sobie nauczyć.
autor: Marek Romański

free.art.pl/nowamuzyka, ocena: * * * *:
Percussionist Ravish Momin comes with a new Tarana Trio : Jason Kao Hwang has been replaced on violin by viool Sam Bardfeld, and Brandon Terzic replaces Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on oud. This change gives the music a totally different color, despite the fact that the same instruments are used. Just like on "Climbing The Banyan Tree", the rhythms and rhythm changes are at the center of gravitation, but just a notch more intense than before. Momin's approach to music is hard to define, world music influences dominate, and then especially Indian rhythms and Middle-Eastern sound flavors, yet sometimes the melody lines are closer to European folk, but the real power of this music are the long improvizations which are definitely jazz-oriented. Bardfeld's violin sounds less abstract, less varied than what Hwang brought, but it's a little more hypnotic, basically because he's not afraid to bring repetitive themes, in which he approaches the same notes with a different intensity, and that doesn't miss its effect on the listener. The oud is also more prominent, because for Blumenkranz bass was his first instrument, and the oud was only used sporadically. And Terzic is good, even if it sounds at times ungrateful to play an instrument with limited natural volume against the hard driving drumkit, like in the title piece. The oud really shines when it can play solo, like at the intro of "What Reward" or when it's just accompanied by light percussion as on "Tehra" or "Fiza". This is a great CD, with strong emotional power and tension, and one that is easy to recommend to anyone interested in the combination of free jazz and world music.
autor: Stef

Editor's info:
This is a new Tarana. The trio recorded here includes violinist Sam Bardfeld and oud player Brandon Terzic occupying Jason Kao Hwang's and Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz's seats on the earlier "Climbing the Banyan Tree." Tanya Kalmanovitch guests on viola on one track. Although changes in personnel inevitable lead to differences in the music, there is a constant: the project leader is percussionist Ravish Momin, expressing his flavor of "world jazz" with Oriental, Middle Eastern, and African motives and free bop stylings in a chamber-like configuration. It's not the exotic as a gimmick, but the expression of the "global village" apparent in today's reality, as experienced in the United States, where many cultures mix or at least coexist. A former pupil of jazz drummers Andrew Cyrille and Bob Moses, Momin has also studied North Indian classical music, and the two traditions are equally present in everything he plays, not crystallized in fixed forms, but as a platform for a continuous search of new musical parameters. He is aware of the pitfalls of eclecticism, but he also believes that if the roots are strong, the direction will be steady. And indeed the roots are solid on this CD. They may feel unfamiliar, but at the same time the music inside has elements you'll immediately recognize, even if you're not sure of the source. This equilibrium between new and traditional is no easy task, but it fulfils a purpose: to connect new sound combinations with the vocabularies of our ancestors.

muzycy:
Ravish Momin: drums, percussion, cajon, talking drum
Sam Barefeld: violin
Brandon Rezic: oud, effects
Tanya Kalmanovitch: viola (only on track 6)

utwory:
1. Tehrah
2. Fiza
3. Ragalaya (Trad. South Indian / arranged by Ravish Momin)
4. Miren
5. What Reward?
6. Fiza (with Tanya Kalmanovitch)

wydano: 2007
more info: www.cleanfeed-records.com