MOHAMED ASSANI - Wayfinder
Streaming & Download
Mohamed Assani - sitar;
Accompanists: Ustad Shahbaz Hussain (tabla), Curtis Andrews (mridangam, kanjira, mbira), Jeanse Le Doujet (bass)
Album Release Special Live Stream:
In partnership with Indian Summer Festival, Mohamed Assani will be celebrating Wayfinder's Album Release via a special live streaming event. Hop on to Indian Summer Festival's Facebook page or YouTube channel on Friday, April 24 at 7pm and be transported.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2985669048119235/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/IndianSummerCanada
Mohamed Assani is an award-winning sitar player and composer and a proactive ambassador for his rich musical tradition. He has brought the sitar to new audiences through innovative collaborations that have stretched the boundaries of his instrument. He has performed with classical, hip-hop, jazz artists and as a solo player and co-composed a well-received concerto for sitar and orchestra with John Oliver and the work was a huge success. After graduating from Dartington College of Arts in the UK with a degree in Western Classical and World music, Mohamed went on to learn sitar in the traditional way and is a senior disciple of Ustad Ashraf Sharif Khan of the Poonch Gharana. He has taught at prestigious colleges including the Royal Academy of Music and is a leader in taking world music into the class room. He is currently based in Vancouver, Canada.
Polynesians refer to Wayfinders as the ‘astronauts of our ancestors’. These navigators found their way by watching celestial bodies, listening to winds, feeling the swell of waves slapping on the hull of the canoe. They tried to be like birds, because birds always have a relation with the edges of the horizon. In this album 'Wayfinder' Mohamed Assani tells the story of a musician-explorer who has journeyed the world and now has come home to empty his pockets and share his treasures.
'Awakening' opens the recording and immediately you are transported to a different place; where rhythmic mantras are overlaid with intricate, beguiling phrases, melodic frameworks set up against which the rhythmic pounding of the percussion and accompanying instruments weave in and out, creating an atmosphere which lifts and entrances. The allure of the sitar is clear as the textures and colours are explored, the instrument delivering melodies and chords which engulf and enthral. Intensity builds as the track develops and the result is utterly gorgeous.
"Serendipity" sets off with bass and percussion before string tones are overlaid, creating an orchestral feel. The sitar offers contrast with the bass line and the mbira adds its lyricism and accents. The structure is strophic yet the thematic variations adds lustre and texture to the music in ways which are impossible to describe. The 8 bar phrase which is repeated is delivered in so many variations, it seems almost impossible that the track is only just over 7 minutes long. "Black Sugar" is different again, with expanded, echoed effects from the sitar, the minda technique on the pulled strings adding a warping effect. Different percussion instruments add a variety of spice and flavour to the track and as it develops with electronica added to increase the effects. A fusion of West and East here in a manner which works well. "Lullaby For Guli " is an orchestral arrangement with oboe and string sounds overlaid across a gentle pizzicato and when the sitar comes in, it offers a different element which fits precisely into the structure set out before. This is interesting because it fuses elements of classical with Indian and the two normally juxtaposed styles work so well under the guide of this innovator that the single ground zero origin of musical understanding can almost be sensed - before they diverged to become many genres. Even a bit of rocky guitar sounding sitar work ventures into the mix. Beautiful.
"Khusro's Footsteps" is more like a traditional, Indian continent sitar and percussive accompaniment piece. Well worked sitar themes over some varied and inventive percussive rhythms. The variety of the percussive instruments and the different sounds obtained from them means the music is given additional dimensions, sonic effects and layers. " Darbari Dub" is a modern styled piece fused with ancient and marvellous sitar. Voiced effects, strong, trance-like rhythms and deep bass provide a platform over which the sitar sings and sighs. It is engaging and very easy to become immersed in. "Transit" closes the album and is everything - lots of styles, rhythms and techniques all wrapped into an 8 and a half minute track which travels through so many different styles, tempos, changes and influences, creating a seething ,broiling mix, which includes some impressive voice music.
Mohamed Assani takes his sitar in unexpected directions, bringing together unforeseen musical worlds in an original album that relentlessly pushes at the frontiers of cultural and musical fusion. Using a refreshing, contemporary sound palette, Wayfinder incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including Indian/Pakistani Classical, Middle Eastern music, jazz, funk, Western harmony, ambient & electronic music and more. Both acoustic and electronic, it features sitar, tabla, mridangam, kanjira, mbira, voice and electronic sounds.
Whether you understand microtones, Svaras, shrutis, ghasitas or murkis, fretwork or deflection, or any of the myriad of techniques which sitar playing involves, it does not matter. Just listen and be transported. This album is like finding a gem in a box you thought you had already sorted out many times before. It is beautiful music, sparkly and so strong.
The Indian influence is strong, yet there are links with any number of other genres and styles, which all sit alongside each other in an easy, global concert.
This music is nothing short of bewitching . It surprises, delights and leaves the listener lifted, overwhelmed yet strangely calm. It demonstrates how the sitar can be used to create lyrical, relatively short tracks , with variety and different cadences and textures. . Not only can I understand how people are bewitched by this music, I might be myself.
Reviewed by Sammy Stein
Streaming & Download
Mohamed Assani - sitar;
Accompanists: Ustad Shahbaz Hussain (tabla), Curtis Andrews (mridangam, kanjira, mbira), Jeanse Le Doujet (bass)
Album Release Special Live Stream:
In partnership with Indian Summer Festival, Mohamed Assani will be celebrating Wayfinder's Album Release via a special live streaming event. Hop on to Indian Summer Festival's Facebook page or YouTube channel on Friday, April 24 at 7pm and be transported.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2985669048119235/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/IndianSummerCanada
Mohamed Assani is an award-winning sitar player and composer and a proactive ambassador for his rich musical tradition. He has brought the sitar to new audiences through innovative collaborations that have stretched the boundaries of his instrument. He has performed with classical, hip-hop, jazz artists and as a solo player and co-composed a well-received concerto for sitar and orchestra with John Oliver and the work was a huge success. After graduating from Dartington College of Arts in the UK with a degree in Western Classical and World music, Mohamed went on to learn sitar in the traditional way and is a senior disciple of Ustad Ashraf Sharif Khan of the Poonch Gharana. He has taught at prestigious colleges including the Royal Academy of Music and is a leader in taking world music into the class room. He is currently based in Vancouver, Canada.
Polynesians refer to Wayfinders as the ‘astronauts of our ancestors’. These navigators found their way by watching celestial bodies, listening to winds, feeling the swell of waves slapping on the hull of the canoe. They tried to be like birds, because birds always have a relation with the edges of the horizon. In this album 'Wayfinder' Mohamed Assani tells the story of a musician-explorer who has journeyed the world and now has come home to empty his pockets and share his treasures.
'Awakening' opens the recording and immediately you are transported to a different place; where rhythmic mantras are overlaid with intricate, beguiling phrases, melodic frameworks set up against which the rhythmic pounding of the percussion and accompanying instruments weave in and out, creating an atmosphere which lifts and entrances. The allure of the sitar is clear as the textures and colours are explored, the instrument delivering melodies and chords which engulf and enthral. Intensity builds as the track develops and the result is utterly gorgeous.
"Serendipity" sets off with bass and percussion before string tones are overlaid, creating an orchestral feel. The sitar offers contrast with the bass line and the mbira adds its lyricism and accents. The structure is strophic yet the thematic variations adds lustre and texture to the music in ways which are impossible to describe. The 8 bar phrase which is repeated is delivered in so many variations, it seems almost impossible that the track is only just over 7 minutes long. "Black Sugar" is different again, with expanded, echoed effects from the sitar, the minda technique on the pulled strings adding a warping effect. Different percussion instruments add a variety of spice and flavour to the track and as it develops with electronica added to increase the effects. A fusion of West and East here in a manner which works well. "Lullaby For Guli " is an orchestral arrangement with oboe and string sounds overlaid across a gentle pizzicato and when the sitar comes in, it offers a different element which fits precisely into the structure set out before. This is interesting because it fuses elements of classical with Indian and the two normally juxtaposed styles work so well under the guide of this innovator that the single ground zero origin of musical understanding can almost be sensed - before they diverged to become many genres. Even a bit of rocky guitar sounding sitar work ventures into the mix. Beautiful.
"Khusro's Footsteps" is more like a traditional, Indian continent sitar and percussive accompaniment piece. Well worked sitar themes over some varied and inventive percussive rhythms. The variety of the percussive instruments and the different sounds obtained from them means the music is given additional dimensions, sonic effects and layers. " Darbari Dub" is a modern styled piece fused with ancient and marvellous sitar. Voiced effects, strong, trance-like rhythms and deep bass provide a platform over which the sitar sings and sighs. It is engaging and very easy to become immersed in. "Transit" closes the album and is everything - lots of styles, rhythms and techniques all wrapped into an 8 and a half minute track which travels through so many different styles, tempos, changes and influences, creating a seething ,broiling mix, which includes some impressive voice music.
Mohamed Assani takes his sitar in unexpected directions, bringing together unforeseen musical worlds in an original album that relentlessly pushes at the frontiers of cultural and musical fusion. Using a refreshing, contemporary sound palette, Wayfinder incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including Indian/Pakistani Classical, Middle Eastern music, jazz, funk, Western harmony, ambient & electronic music and more. Both acoustic and electronic, it features sitar, tabla, mridangam, kanjira, mbira, voice and electronic sounds.
Whether you understand microtones, Svaras, shrutis, ghasitas or murkis, fretwork or deflection, or any of the myriad of techniques which sitar playing involves, it does not matter. Just listen and be transported. This album is like finding a gem in a box you thought you had already sorted out many times before. It is beautiful music, sparkly and so strong.
The Indian influence is strong, yet there are links with any number of other genres and styles, which all sit alongside each other in an easy, global concert.
This music is nothing short of bewitching . It surprises, delights and leaves the listener lifted, overwhelmed yet strangely calm. It demonstrates how the sitar can be used to create lyrical, relatively short tracks , with variety and different cadences and textures. . Not only can I understand how people are bewitched by this music, I might be myself.
Reviewed by Sammy Stein
