ORIENTAL ORBIT - Pilgrims
Leo Records CD LR802
JOHN WOLF BRENNAN: piano, Arco-piano, accordion, voice, melodica, American zither, tingsha (Tibetan bells) and lotos flute; TONY MAJDELANI: voice, santur and various percussion instruments; MARCO JENCARELLI: acoustic and electric guitars
Recorded and mixed April/May 2017 at Soundfarm Studio, Obernau/Lucerne
Kaleidoscopic sounds invite us to join an expedition into diverse resonances and places with their own traditions, even more miscellaneous than the cultures of this trio – Irish, Palestinian and Swiss. These soundscapes may seem familiar, palpable perhaps, whether from Africa, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Ireland or Zanzibar, produced by instruments both ancient and modern, which also can be said of the techniques applied to their playing.
Arco-piano is not an instrument but a contemporary technique of playing the piano with bow-hairs, developed by musician and media artist Se-Lien Chuang from Taiwan. It which allows control of polyphonic sounds and projected overtones. Also heard, and very different, is the santur, an Iranian hammered dulcimer originally of 100 strings. By way of wind we find a lotos flute, also known as a slide whistle or piston flute, which has an air reed like the woodwinds, but the pitch is varied with a piston slide.
In case you thought that you were anywhere other than in the land of the Snark, Brennan signs off from the album with a final-track recitation from Finnegan’s Wakethat should leave you quite clear that this is the 21st century, that Joyce was writing before his time and that the music of the moment cannot stand too much triteness. Here is Avant Garde at its loveliest, its history reawakened.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR802
JOHN WOLF BRENNAN: piano, Arco-piano, accordion, voice, melodica, American zither, tingsha (Tibetan bells) and lotos flute; TONY MAJDELANI: voice, santur and various percussion instruments; MARCO JENCARELLI: acoustic and electric guitars
Recorded and mixed April/May 2017 at Soundfarm Studio, Obernau/Lucerne
Kaleidoscopic sounds invite us to join an expedition into diverse resonances and places with their own traditions, even more miscellaneous than the cultures of this trio – Irish, Palestinian and Swiss. These soundscapes may seem familiar, palpable perhaps, whether from Africa, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Ireland or Zanzibar, produced by instruments both ancient and modern, which also can be said of the techniques applied to their playing.
Arco-piano is not an instrument but a contemporary technique of playing the piano with bow-hairs, developed by musician and media artist Se-Lien Chuang from Taiwan. It which allows control of polyphonic sounds and projected overtones. Also heard, and very different, is the santur, an Iranian hammered dulcimer originally of 100 strings. By way of wind we find a lotos flute, also known as a slide whistle or piston flute, which has an air reed like the woodwinds, but the pitch is varied with a piston slide.
In case you thought that you were anywhere other than in the land of the Snark, Brennan signs off from the album with a final-track recitation from Finnegan’s Wakethat should leave you quite clear that this is the 21st century, that Joyce was writing before his time and that the music of the moment cannot stand too much triteness. Here is Avant Garde at its loveliest, its history reawakened.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
