SIMON THACKER'S SVARA-KANTI - Trikala
Slap The Moon Records STMRCD04
CD1
Simon Thacker (classical guitar); K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira); N. Guruprasad (ghatam); Justyna Jablonska (cello); Japjit Kaur (voice); Afsana Khan (voice); Jacqueline Shave (violin); Sukhvinder Singh “Pinky” (tabla); Neyveli B. Venkatesh (mridangam)
CD2
Simon Thacker (classical guitar); Raju Das Baul (voice, khomok); Sunayana Ghosh (tabla); Sarvar Sabri (tabla); Farida Yesmin (voice)
This is the third album from Simon Thacker and his ensemble, Svara-Kanti, and it is fair to say that it is also the most ambitious and far reaching. The music featured on this double album has taken over three years to record in locations from East Lothian in Scotland to Chennai and Kolkata in India. The thirteen musicians heard are all highly regarded in their respective traditions, yet combine together under Thacker's leadership (he is the only constant on all the compositions heard) to produce music that has instantly identifiable roots, and yet is truly genre defying.
Disc 1 features nine musicians in different configurations in music that is full of rhythmic intricacies and melodies. All the music is composed or re-imagined by the guitarist, and seems to written or arranged with these specific players in mind. The blending of Thacker's guitar with violin, cello and voice on the traditional Punjabi 'Ajj Koi Saade Vehre, Aaya' may initially sound strange to Western ears, but the guitarist is able to build a bridge that allows the listener access to the unfamiliar sounds that are quickly absorbed into the subconscious so that all that is heard is the music.
The relationship between the Western stringed instruments is cemented still further with the cello of Justyna Jablonska, with whom Thacker recorded the duo album, Karmana, on the joyous 'Tappe', and on 'The Fire of Intention' an original composition dedicated to Jacqueline Shave whose playing on this is exquisite to say the least. The piece is played by a trio of guitar, violin and tabla played by master percussionist, Sukhvinder Singh, aka "Pinky". The same trio are heard on the albums centrepiece, 'Beyond Mara' which is played in two distinct parts. A gloriously episodic piece of music that sweeps the listener along, caught up in the both the music and the tale that it tells.
Of the leader himself, the guitarist's single note lines heard on 'MaNN Vasana' are a joy, and with the closer on the Disc 1 'Nirjanavana',Thacker plays a solo piece for guitar in which he uses a digital delay to stunningly imaginative effect. Not looping phrases or rhythms, but creating and reacting to them in real time, to produce music that is not a display of virtuosity but an awe inspiring piece of work that has been undergoing constant change and evolving organically each time it is performed.
Disc Two is a completely different proposition, and draws predominantly on the mystical Baul folk tradition of Bengal. Whilst utilising many of the same compositional devices heard in Disc 1, it is perhaps more directly the music of the Indian subcontinent. Bringing together the prowess of just five different musicians, with only the classical guitar being the only instrument readily identified wit the West, Thacker finds a way to incorporate his sound and concept that feels perfectly natural and fitting to the context of the music.
The instrumental trio of guitar, khormok and tabla on 'Prabhava' from the solo introduction by Thacker is then picked up and developed by the two Indian musicians to create a fascinating soundscape, but for me it is the four pieces re-imagined by Simon Thacker and performed by a quartet of classical guitar, the khormok of Raju Das Baul, Sunayana Ghosh's tabla and the vocal talents of Farida Yesmin. These pieces, three of which were composed by Lalon Fakir (c. 1774 1890) who was a prolific songwriter, philosopher and social reformer, have an immediacy that is at once absorbing and beguiling; and it is perhaps by the time you have reached these beautiful songs that the power of the music has claimed you as its own.
With Trikala, Simon Thacker has transcended Western concepts of melody and rhythm and the influences of the music of the Indian subcontinent of Hindustani classical music in the north, the Carnatic in the south, and the folk music of the Bengal and the Punjab to produce music that travels across continents, cultural and musical differences to produce an album that is at once accessible and yet contains a depth and personal expression that is uniquely his own yet as old as the traditions that he borrows from and re-imagines with such empathy and good taste.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
Slap The Moon Records STMRCD04
CD1
Simon Thacker (classical guitar); K.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira); N. Guruprasad (ghatam); Justyna Jablonska (cello); Japjit Kaur (voice); Afsana Khan (voice); Jacqueline Shave (violin); Sukhvinder Singh “Pinky” (tabla); Neyveli B. Venkatesh (mridangam)
CD2
Simon Thacker (classical guitar); Raju Das Baul (voice, khomok); Sunayana Ghosh (tabla); Sarvar Sabri (tabla); Farida Yesmin (voice)
This is the third album from Simon Thacker and his ensemble, Svara-Kanti, and it is fair to say that it is also the most ambitious and far reaching. The music featured on this double album has taken over three years to record in locations from East Lothian in Scotland to Chennai and Kolkata in India. The thirteen musicians heard are all highly regarded in their respective traditions, yet combine together under Thacker's leadership (he is the only constant on all the compositions heard) to produce music that has instantly identifiable roots, and yet is truly genre defying.
Disc 1 features nine musicians in different configurations in music that is full of rhythmic intricacies and melodies. All the music is composed or re-imagined by the guitarist, and seems to written or arranged with these specific players in mind. The blending of Thacker's guitar with violin, cello and voice on the traditional Punjabi 'Ajj Koi Saade Vehre, Aaya' may initially sound strange to Western ears, but the guitarist is able to build a bridge that allows the listener access to the unfamiliar sounds that are quickly absorbed into the subconscious so that all that is heard is the music.
The relationship between the Western stringed instruments is cemented still further with the cello of Justyna Jablonska, with whom Thacker recorded the duo album, Karmana, on the joyous 'Tappe', and on 'The Fire of Intention' an original composition dedicated to Jacqueline Shave whose playing on this is exquisite to say the least. The piece is played by a trio of guitar, violin and tabla played by master percussionist, Sukhvinder Singh, aka "Pinky". The same trio are heard on the albums centrepiece, 'Beyond Mara' which is played in two distinct parts. A gloriously episodic piece of music that sweeps the listener along, caught up in the both the music and the tale that it tells.
Of the leader himself, the guitarist's single note lines heard on 'MaNN Vasana' are a joy, and with the closer on the Disc 1 'Nirjanavana',Thacker plays a solo piece for guitar in which he uses a digital delay to stunningly imaginative effect. Not looping phrases or rhythms, but creating and reacting to them in real time, to produce music that is not a display of virtuosity but an awe inspiring piece of work that has been undergoing constant change and evolving organically each time it is performed.
Disc Two is a completely different proposition, and draws predominantly on the mystical Baul folk tradition of Bengal. Whilst utilising many of the same compositional devices heard in Disc 1, it is perhaps more directly the music of the Indian subcontinent. Bringing together the prowess of just five different musicians, with only the classical guitar being the only instrument readily identified wit the West, Thacker finds a way to incorporate his sound and concept that feels perfectly natural and fitting to the context of the music.
The instrumental trio of guitar, khormok and tabla on 'Prabhava' from the solo introduction by Thacker is then picked up and developed by the two Indian musicians to create a fascinating soundscape, but for me it is the four pieces re-imagined by Simon Thacker and performed by a quartet of classical guitar, the khormok of Raju Das Baul, Sunayana Ghosh's tabla and the vocal talents of Farida Yesmin. These pieces, three of which were composed by Lalon Fakir (c. 1774 1890) who was a prolific songwriter, philosopher and social reformer, have an immediacy that is at once absorbing and beguiling; and it is perhaps by the time you have reached these beautiful songs that the power of the music has claimed you as its own.
With Trikala, Simon Thacker has transcended Western concepts of melody and rhythm and the influences of the music of the Indian subcontinent of Hindustani classical music in the north, the Carnatic in the south, and the folk music of the Bengal and the Punjab to produce music that travels across continents, cultural and musical differences to produce an album that is at once accessible and yet contains a depth and personal expression that is uniquely his own yet as old as the traditions that he borrows from and re-imagines with such empathy and good taste.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
