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Songlines 20 juin 2016
Asia REVIEWS Arohi Ensemble Ahimsa: Love is the Weapon of the Brave
E-Do Yeominrok
disrepair . neglect and decay . they retained a strong sense of character with smoke-stained corridors leading onto murals of fierce-eyed deities and
Pony
rOdif Although Musicians from Kolkata , Los
ostensibly a fusion outfit , the South
Angeles and Caracas - among
Korean quintet E-Do still sound
them , three disciples of the late sitar legend Ravi Shanicar - have got s new together for the Arohi Ensemble' release, with music composed by sitar player and activist Paul Livingstone. (lute) . They blend sitar with bansuri ( bamboo flute) , cello , tabla and quintessentially South Indian (clay pot) in a way that the
predominantly in their plundering . Two percussionists and an electric bassist provide a foundation for the traditional
contributions
of Kyung-hwa Ryu ( on chulhyungeum and janggu) and Young-sup Lee (on daegeum and taegyeangso) . The chulhyungeum is a
ominous monsters. The description from the booklet accompanying this newly released album could well have applied to
I the kat° piece is pamcular highlight . as koto provides a suitably hypnotic for the flutes and vocals , creating a: oneinc mesmerising effect The album feels like a cubninan. of
Watanabe' s tratectory up until this point having previously collaborated with Kodo and the Sill Road Ensemble . Watanabe' s pnor training jazz makes itself
us as we witnessed the monastical ' rites: we feel overwhelmed: With the gradual dissolution of the monastical system , it is unlikely that anyone will witness a Tibetan monastery chanting at full strength . In the absence of a time machine
this newly released recording from Radio France captures what such an event must have been like . Recorded in 1975 the monks we hear are exiles settled in Dalhousie in
in the freely improvised passages that permeate the album . always returning to swell-defined melodic fragments and coalescing in some stunning composed passages . This a recording that succeeds in being once primal and cerebral: it is cleat the work of a singular mind.
rarely heard iron-stringed zither and the janggu is an hour-glass drum struck at both ends ; the daegetim is flute-like and the taepyeongso a double-reed pipe . Those iron strings
northern India . who would have been raised and educated in Tibet in its
TRACK
isolated , theocratic heyday. What is most striking throughout the intermittent rgyud-skad .
VARIOUS
scales associated with the Indonesian tradition.
ping above an ambient thrum on the ' : almost 14 opening Bird of Oblivion' minutes of suite-like development.
the tantra' . whereby a low-pitched note is overlaid by a tenth harmonic.
The word arohi in their name is the ascending scale in Indian classical music and it is symbolic of 'rising' in general . The title' s ahimsa refers to non-violence: the theme is of love (and music) rising to overcome all obstacles
with both bass and flute providing the sustained notes. A cantering pace predominates on most of the pieces , set by the spread of ' small drums . The second tune Road ) has anthemic qualities that make it
( drums) , the small fibu (bell) ,the kangling (short horns) and the dung then ( great horns) . For greatest effect. brew some salted butter (preferably yak) tea darken the room , set the volume to maximum and enjoy.
by harmonising different musical traditions . The album captivates right from the start with an opening track of meditative vocals from sarod maestro Itajeev Taranath . leading into table
sound slightly stiff and The Brave trounces it with some spiky Moonlight' chulhyungeum picking and a harder
NOMAS
late maestro himself dubbed 'a very ' effective and impressive approach . The album features intricate rhythms of Indian classical music fused with
syllables ushering in a cascading medley of instruments . Although this is East-meets-West fusion it stands our for its seamless . easy-flowing quality with the Indian element in the ascendant . An extended dialogue between table and Eastern drums is particularly ear-catching during the three-movement
suite ' Peloraga'
wind sound on the taepyeongso. Tae-young Kim provides a vocal with vibrato on the nest tune , and vibrato is the key feature with this ensemble , whatever its instrumental conduit. The best piece is tohoeji , ironically because s the simplest and most direct spotlighting those iron strings
which uses a five-note Indonesian scale called pelog: it thrives on being
trotting of background percussion. MRATIN LONGLEY TRACK TO TRY Bohoeja
combined with Indian rhythms and the free-flowing , high-flying energy of jazz . This is addictive listening.
The Monastery of The Voice of the Tan tra
.
.
JAMEEIP
TRACK TO TRY Pelorogo rin9 monastic When I travelled to Tibet in 2005 to record litmgical music , many monasteries were
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In addition we hear the damaru
TRACK TO TRY
Kaoru Neo
Sunda Country: The Art the Gamelan Degung
one of the smalk types of gamelan ensembles This recorded -sten an : ps one ter players and another ot sewn A bamboo flute leads the melody . whil bronze tnetallophones
The title of this recording , the first of original album compositions by Japanese-American instrumentalist Kamm Watanabe , can loosely be translated as ' the beginning of sound: or unified sound .' The suggestion is of a unity between the traditional music of Japan and the contemporary Western musk that formed Watanabe' s initial training , but also of a sense of communion with something higher than oneself As such , the pieces that comprise this album have a distinctly ritualistic quality - the stark instrumentation
destruction
being largely s shinobue and composed of Watanabe' (bamboo flutes) and layered (percussion) . The austerity of orchestration allows the album to be
However despite the outward state of
elevated by the occasional introduction of a new element such as the clustered vocal chants of opening and ' Dreams' and tracks ' Bloodlines'
in ruins after their during Mao' s cultural revolution those still standing retaining sometimes only a 20th of their original number of monks.
ARTISTS
de Consecration
Watanabe
it'
to powerful effect , with a continuing tension provided by the constant
is
and
provide interlocking patterns unfurling without flash or hurry been Traditionally this would coon music The oldest surviving ensembles of instruments date from a where they princes of westiavain a time when all self-nrspecnng
far the a
employed composers and musicians and you could almost see baroque and gamelan degung as of one another . The ernp hasts mirrorimages other words . is on beauty and more than turbulence and revolution This means that what on first hearing can - as it was Intended to - blend into the haaground
with
prolonged exp -Kure . Rut if you wan one example of degung. should probably be this . floara superbly . the leading musicians of the time- a mixture of veterans and vourx tucks - and you' ve go: to be good to sound this WHITTELD
TRACK
TRY Lengser
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