Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm not even a fan of this kind of music, December 4, 2002
In fact, I didn't even know such music existed until I stumbled on these guys while surfing the net. And it took me a while to figure out what was happening. When I first heard it, I was baffled; it sounded so strange, like some kind of weird Middle Eastern music that you might hear as the soundtrack to a movie by an Iranian filmmaker.But I stuck with it, and am I glad I did. There's some kind of deep mystery thing happening here that just ended up totally hooking me. Now, I can scarcely go a day without putting this on to get my musical-spiritual fix. Really, this stuff is strangely compelling, even, gulp!, addictive (but in a good way?).
|
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatest world jazz album ever?, November 26, 2002
Boy, did this come out of left field for me. Francis Houle, French avant-garde clarinetist in the company of neo-trad tar and setar player, Amir Koushkani, augmented by the jaw-dropping contributions of percussionist Sal Ferreras equals musical transcendence of the first order. The key here, I believe, is each musician's deep grounding in his particular tradition, yet with big enough ears to open out that tradition into brave new musical provinces of felicity.Koushkani also graces the proceedings with some mesmeric Persian singing, adding a further air of mystery. It's interesting to compare this to, say, Book M by Secret Chiefs 3. Whereas Safa, completely immersed in ancient traditional music, manages to rework its received music into something that transcends its musical heritage, crafting an amalgamation that sounds strikingly new, even unique, Secret Chiefs 3 tries to map faux-Middle Eastern sounds onto its Post-Modern musical esthetic with strikingly problematic results. Which only goes to show that one can't simply EVOKE an authentic world-jazz vibe simply by desiring to do so without having first completely imbibed, drunk at the well of, the masters of the tradition one seeks to make manifest. Really, this stuff annhilates all recent efforts to romp in this addmitedly rich musical playground. Pass it by at your own peril.
|
|
|
|
~ Milt Jackson
~ Ray Brown Trio
~ Cannonball Adderley
~ Bob Dylan
~ Nik Bärtsch
by Safa 
