Steve Lehman's Sélébéyone: Xaybu: The Unseen

Avant Jazz / Outer Limits / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2024-03-22
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Gatefoldowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com - ocena * * * * *:
Oto druga płyta grupy Sélébéyone, której debiutancki krążek szturmem zdobył serca opiniotwórczych mediów. Opisany przez Pitchfork, jako "objawienie", debiut grupy z 2016 roku został okrzyknięty przełomową syntezą undergroundowego hip-hopu, nowoczesnego jazzu i live elektroniki. Międzynarodowy kolektyw składający się z MC HPrizma (Nowy Jork) i Gastona Bandimica (Dakar) oraz saksofonistów Steve'a Lehmana na alcie (Los Angeles) i Maćka Lasserre'a na sopranie (Paryż), uzupełniony o niezwykle zwinnego drummera - Damiona Reida, prezentuje porywającą, oryginalną i wielogatunkową narrację, obejmującą jazzową awangardę, undergroundowy rap i abstrakcyjną elektronikę i sample.
Na "Xaybu" Sélébéyone – co w języku wolof oznacza "skrzyżowanie" – rozwijają swoją wielogatunkową narrację pełną gęstych, ekspresyjnych pulsacji. Efekt artystyczny jest porażający, to już nie jest wielokulturowy dialog, to zwarta, co rusz eksplodująca porywającą energią jednorodna narracja. Niebywałe, jak płynnie muzycy łączy surową, uliczną energię undergroundowego hip-hopu, awangardowe zacięcie i akademicki sznyt. Steve Lehman, współpracownik Anthony'ego Braxtona, Dave’a Burrella, Olivera Lake’a, Vijay'a Iyera, czy Jasona Morana i Meshell Ndegeocello jest nie tylko kompozytorem i szeroko rozumianym jazzmanem, ale również wykładowcą i badaczem, który aktywnie działa w ramach eksperymentalnych stylów muzycznych. Tutaj daje o sobie znać czujność dramaturgiczna mistrza zmianowości, jakim bez wątpienia jest Lehman.
Muzycy z pasją zapuszczają się w sferę duchowości i mistycyzmu, przefiltrowując to doświadczenie przez pryzmat muzyki eksperymentalnej.
Słowo „xaybu” w języku wolof odnosi się do koncepcji al-Ghaib w islamskim mistyce – tego, co jest niepoznawalne i niewidzialne. HPrizm, Gaston Bandimic i Maciek Lasserre są sufickimi muzułmanami, a duchowa więź pomiędzy muzykami oraz wyzbycie się artystycznych ograniczeń były kamieniem węgielnym powstania tej grupy. Senegalskiego reżysera Djibrila Diopa Mambéty’ego można usłyszeć w utworze „Djibril”, opisującym proces twórczy, który bezpośrednio odzwierciedla artystyczny etos Sélébéyone.
autor: Jarosław Lisiak
Copyright © 1996-2024 Multikulti Project. All rights reserved

freejazzblog.org :
When Steve Lehman’s Sélébéyone project debuted in 2016, it was widely recognized as a pathbreaking advance in merging jazz with innovative currents in underground rap. With an intercontinental ensemble drawing on the talents of well-established avant-garde jazz musicians and the artistry of rappers Hprizm and Gaston Bandimic, the recording bridged not only musical divides, but linguistic and cultural ones as well. The juxtaposition of Hprizm’s English and Bandimic’s Wolof (the dominant Senegalese language) was integral to the music’s boundary-challenging nature, as was its insistent exploration of Sufi religious themes over more time-worn topics. As impressive and challenging as that first outing was, its follow-up, Xaybu: The Unseen represents a fuller realization of the group’s concept, and an even more dizzying array of beats, textures and wordplay.
It's tempting at first to see this release as moving a greater distance from the jazz world; the first album employed the talents of keyboardist Carlos Homs and bassist Drew Gress, neither of whom are present here. So this is a “stripped down” ensemble, with soprano saxophonist Maciek Lasserre, drummer Damion Reid and Lehman (on alto saxophone) working alongside the rappers as a quintet, essentially. But the debut relied so heavily on samples and studio layering that it was frequently impossible to determine where the “live” musicianship ended and the produced elements began. Xaybu is in the same way a producer’s record, with Lasserre and Lehman each composing and producing half the tracks. To be sure, there isn’t much to be found by way of conventional jazz rhythms, although there are instrumental voicings, particularly from the saxophones, that retain a tenuous tie to idiomatic jazz elements. Moreover, there are spoken word clips from Billy Higgins and Jackie McLean woven throughout the album, which bear not only on the music’s connection to jazz but to the Islamic tradition as well, as both musicians were Muslim converts. But regardless of its diverse stylistic and cultural touchstones, this release has successfully created a musical world of its own—one that demands to be appreciated on its own merits, irrespective of its antecedents.
Like all significant music, this is art. That can be engaged on multiple levels. The musicianship is superb, with dazzling contributions from both saxophonists. Lehman’s meticulous, angular lines on “Liminal” pave the way for the questing flights of Lasserre, who like Lehman seems energized by the track’s expansive yearnings. And Damion Reid is once again astonishing, able to take a bewildering variety of rhythms and shift, fracture, and reassemble them at will. The rhythmic multiplicity on this release seems a definite leap over what was on offer on the group’s debut. Tracks like “Djibril” and “Gas Akap” possess kaleidoscopic range, with unsettled beats that are transformed well before one can ever get completely comfortable with them. And the assorted sounds and textures introduced at the production stage are themselves something to marvel at; a nice set of headphones is an asset in helping to unravel some of these mysteries.
There’s also a spiritual integrity to the music that is worth mentioning. If Higgins and McLean saw their artistic creations as emanations of their religious pursuits, Bandimic and Hprizm are certainly making the same acknowledgement here. “Go In,” after McLean’s voiceover, sees Hprizm asserting that “It’s harder to connect to the source/Amid the chaos the signal wasn’t lost/But across time to find the through line it took a lot of work/Uncovering, unlocking, unblocking, maneuvering, not stopping/Trekking through the rumble of a crumbled empire/My legacy was buried underneath all of that/And it’s still there.” Bandimic’s vocals (translated into English on the Pi website) are just as potent, delivered with invigorating urgency and energy.

In the end, analyzing the music only takes us so far, as it can get in the way of what is, when all is said and done, a very engaging musical experience. In the liner notes describing the album’s creation, Lehman says that “ultimately the way that things come together to imbue a piece of music with meaning and substance remains largely elusive and mysterious.” It’s an apt description of the listening process as well, one exemplified by this captivating recording.
By Troy Dostert

Editor's info:
Xaybu: The Unseen is the highly-anticipated sophomore release from Sélébéyone, the international avant-rap collective comprised of MCs Hprizm (New York City) and Gaston Bandimic (Dakar), and saxophonists Steve Lehman (Los Angeles) and Maciek Lasserre (Paris). Described as “legitimately new” and a “revelation” by Pitchfork, the group’s eponymous 2016 debut was hailed as a game-changing synthesis of underground hip-hop, modern jazz and live electronic music. On Xaybu, Sélébéyone – which means “intersection” in Wolof – continues to build on its groundbreaking work with shifting rhythms and state-of-the art… Sound design, now with a newfound sense of effortless fluidity. The result is a profound musical statement that deftly explores spirituality and mysticism through the lens of experimental music.
The word “xaybu” in Wolof refers to the concept in Islamic mysticism of al…-Ghaib – that which is unknowable and unseeable. Hprizm, Gaston Bandimic, and Maciek Lasserre are all Sufi Muslims, and that spiritual connection and sense of abandon and giving in to the unknown has been a cornerstone of the group since its inception. The Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty is heard on the track “Djibril” describing his creative process, which directly reflects Sélébéyone’s own artistic ethos:

It’s very simple. You must close your eyes.
Have you closed your eyes?
You see points of light. Close them tightly.
Each time that you want to see the light, you must close your eyes.
(Translated from French)

Throughout the album, the voices of master musicians like Billy Higgins (on “Gagaku”) and Jackie McLean (“Go In”) – both of whom converted to Islam – are heard speaking to the complex relationship between their spiritual and creative practices. The nuance of those connections is reflected in the otherworldly sonorities and intricate compositional structures that permeate the record. Nearly unheard of for projects of this scope, Lehman and Lasserre not only handle all of the instrumental writing, but also every aspect of the production on their respective pieces, including drum programming, sampling, and overall sound design. The result is an unprecedented integration of complex compositional forms, pre-recorded samples, and electronic sounds. And after multiple tours throughout the United States and Europe, the group has also cultivated a repertoire of hard-won performance strategies that make radical shifts in tempo and texture feel organic and inevitable.
An award-winning saxophonist and composer, Lehman – who holds a doctorate in composition from Columbia University – is widely celebrated for his “sure-footed futurism” (New York Times) in the domains of modern jazz and contemporary classical music. Here, he showcases yet another side of his astonishing creativity in producing and overseeing nearly every aspect of Xaybu. The project makes frequent use of advanced compositional techniques and cutting-edge improvisation: Each aspect of Lehman’s musical identity is an inextricable part of this artistic statement. Pulling this off requires enormous trust and commitment among the musicians, which is only possible through Lehman’s longstanding musical relationship with the members of the group. Hprizm (a.k.a. High Priest), a legend of New York’s underground hip-hop scene and a founding member of Antipop Consortium has been one of Lehman's closest collaborators for almost two decades. Saxophonist Maciek Lasserre, began studying with Lehman in 2005 and introduced him to the burgeoning Senegalese hip-hop scene in 2010. Lasserre later urged Lehman to include Gaston Bandimic – one of Senegal’s most distinctive young rap stars – as a founding member of Sélébéyone. Drummer Damion Reid has also been an integral member of Lehman’s ensembles since 2006. His innovative drum set adaptations of J-Dilla beats on Robert Glasper’s In My Element (2007), are often cited as the beginning of the “drum set as MPC” wave amongst the current generation of young drummers. True to form, Reid’s playing on Xaybu is remarkably adept at moving back and forth between electronic and acoustic textures – check out his work with brushes at the beginning of “Dual Ndoxol.” Pieces like “Gagaku,” “Zeraora,” and “Gas Akap” highlight Reid’s improvised interactions with both saxophonists in a series of explosive duets.
Tracks like “Djibirl” and “Lamina” feature unconventional sonic landscapes that throw Hprizm and Bandimic’s searing lyricism into relief. Both integrate contemporary notions of Islamic mysticism into their rhyme schemes, and frequently mine profound connections between spirituality and artistic practices. On “Liminal” they calmly navigate a meticulously-crafted quagmire of polyrhythms and Lehman’s characteristic razor-sharp saxophone lines. Percussive accents drift in and out of time, ebbing and flowing one moment, and snapping into the grid the next. On “Souba,” Lehman’s experience in the contemporary classical music realm comes to the fore, with the subtle orchestration of harp, strings, flutes, and percussion, deftly shadowing the rhythmic nuance of Gaston’s rapid-fire verses.
Lehman reflects on the evolution of Sélébéyone: “When we first came together in 2016, I think we really had to work hard to see if this thing could even work, not just in terms of finding a way to perform together on stage, but even the artistic viability of it all. But, this time around, it really felt like we already know how to do this and we know what we’re about. And for that reason, there was very little discussion about how we were going to bring the second record to life. And even the guiding principle of xaybu/al…-Ghaib emerged almost on its own. That fascination with the invisible, the imperceptible, the kind of concealed elements of spirituality and creativity is what really ties us all together. And I think this album kind of represents that on-going search for music that we haven’t heard before and that doesn’t sound like anything else."

muzycy:
Steve Lehman: Alto Saxophone
Maciek Lasserre: Soprano Saxophone
Gaston Bandimic: vocals (Wolof)
HPrizm: vocals (English)
Damion Reid: Drum Set

utwory:
1. Time is the First Track 01:23
2. Djibril 03:57
3. Lamina 04:38
4. Gas Akap 02:58
5. Liminal 06:16
6. Gagaku 06:02
7. Poesie I 03:36
8. Poesie II 01:41
9. Go In 02:44
10. Navigation 03:23
11. Dual Ndoxol 02:55
12. Dual HP 01:40
13. Zeraora 03:31
14. Souba 01:57 video
15. Time is the First Track 04:20

wydano: August 26, 2022
more info: www.pirecordings.com