Customer Reviews

Siwan (Ocrd)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A wise man once said "cross-cultural pollination is the life blood of music". He could have had Jon Balke's "Siwan" featuring the remarkable Moroccan vocalist Amina Alaoui in mind.

The ensemble includes Norwegian Jon Balke who conceived the project and arranged the music, Amina Alaoui who sings poetic texts in Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese from the Al-Andalus period of Muslim Iberia (730 to 1492), John Hassell (trumpet, electronics)lives for this kind of cross-cultural synthesis, and 12 baroque soloists (Bjarte Eike's Barokksolistene) with strings and lute and harpsichord. The most soul stirring sounds come from the artists newest to me: Algerian violinist Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche and Amina Alaoui.

I'm fascinated by Amina. She is a virtuoso singer and musicologist. Born in Fez, she was originally schooled in the Moroccan Gharnati tradition. Gharnati derives from Al-Andalus, where it spread from Granada to North Africa. Amina continues to research connections between flamenco, fado and the music of Al-Andalus. On Siwan much of the music was originally composed to Spanish translations of the poetry. Alaoui then helped to reshape the material around original Arabic versions.

The inspiration for this project stemmed from Balke observing similiarities between two beautiful traditions represented by the voice of Amina Alaoui and early music, as explored by Bjarte Eiike's Barokksolistene. But it goes deeper.

Excerpting from the cd liner notes and ECM's website:

"The title Siwan means in balance, or equilibrium, in a mixed language called Aljamiado, spoken under the Inquisition in Spain.

This is a fascinating blend of Arabic and European music and poetry, which is very poorly documented in European music history. This project is not a musicological research, but rather a tribute to musical freedom. Andalus was a beacon of learning in the so-called Dark Ages, and unique in the degree of exchange between Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars. Balke points out there are striking correspondences in the writings of the Sufi poets and the Catholic and Sephardic mystics.

Siwan also raises questions about what was lost in the bonfires of the Inquisition, and points to the catastrophic costs of religious intolerance."

Siwan gathers nourishment from the cooperative spirit of Al-Andalus and creates an exquisite mosaic where the unlikely elements are integrated into an atmospheric whole. The results are not only sublime but a revelation.

Jon Balke does it again with another great album. This one isn't as overtly 'modern' as say Divergent Travels, but it is certainly 'new,' in the sense that it is blend of various traditional music genres with a bit of an electronica twist. If you are looking for something with electronica beats though, I suggest checking out Terje Rypdal's Vossabrygg. The percussion on this latest Balke almbum is pounding and flashy but it leans toward an acoustic feel. If your contemplating getting the mp3 version, I'd like to point out that the linear notes for this record contain full translations of each song and a short essay with pictures on the project and its intention. For some this may not really be worth the extra money and the lack of instant gratification but at least you can feel confident that having a hard copy of CD has a small perk.

Siwan is a tantalising ECM project emerging from an eclectic literary and musical constellation. Amina Alaoui is a formidable scholar and artist, and one of the most gifted interpreters of the Gharnati tradition: the songs that survived at the Granada court, the last holdout against the Reconquista, and have survived centuries through oral transmission. Jon Balke is a Norwegian composer and jazz/folk/fusion pianist who won fame with his Magnetic North Orchestra. It is Balke who composed the music for the Siwan album, with Alaoui stepping in for poem adaptation and melodic co-composition. Jon Hassell is an American experimental trumpetist. Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche is an Algerian violinist and long-time accompanist of Amina Alaoui. They are backed up by a full-fledged baroque ensemble led by Bjarte Eike. Moorish and Iberian poets from the turbulent 11th and 12th centuries offer the literary raw material for Alaoui's songs. There are two excursions to 16th century Spain with Lope de Vega and St John of the Cross, the mystic who established the order of the barefoot Carmelites.

The journey starts with a purely instrumental invocation led by Kheir Eddine's mysterious violin. The following, short song 'O Andalusin' connects most poignantly. Richly harmonised it opens a vast and colourful panorama on a world that was on the verge of disappearing. Alaoui's voice is powerful and strikingly husky. The unfolding music is generally in a slow tempo, mournful (Ondas do mar de Vigo), longing or pensive (Ashiyin Raïqin) in tone, with discrete ostinato percussion sometimes lending an air of inevitability (Itimad). There are more lively intermezzos too with songs that sound strikingly contemporary (Jadwa, A la dina dana). Alaoui switches from Arabic to Spanish and Portuguese with admirable facility. The unfamiliar blend of sonorities (baroque orchestra with harpsichord, lute, theorbo and recorder, Balke's synths, Hassel's nasal trumpet, oriental percussion) works wonderfully well. The hypnotic finale is built around two long extemporations (10 and 12 minutes long, respectively): Thulâthiyat ('trilogy') is based on a poem by the great Sufi mystic Husayn Mansour Al-Hallaj (857-922) that describes the stages of the ascetic's path. Alaoui writes in the liner notes: "At first the consciousness remains external to the essence of ecstasy. It becomes an astonished spectator, then becomes disoriented, and finally joins the paroxysm, dispossessed by the ego in ecstasy: a ceaseless transformation through vital alternation without ever achieving permanent stability." The song opens with a percussion-underpinned recitation and steadily gathers momentum to a hypnotic climax.

'Toda ciencia trascendiendo' is based on a gentle, sombre march rhythm wrapped in adventurously modulating unisono strings and M'Kachiche's melancholy violin. Alaoui recites in an almost matter of fact way St John's 'Couplets written in a state of transcendental contemplation' in which he gives an account of how he found his way to a 'perfect realm of holiness and peace (...) beyond all science'. Only in the final line of each couplet, 'toda ciencia transcendiendo', Alaoui lets the voice soar to spine-tingling effect. A lively instrumental coda with Hassel's stratospheric trumpet hovering over insistent percussion, brings the album to an end.

Wonderful mixing of the ancient and contemporary. Be prepared for an almost mystic CD. The vocals, use of trumpet and minimal percussion weave a sepia-toned mood that quickly draws the listener in for a soothing, introspective listen.

Jon Balke is primarily a keyboardist, but on the 2009 album SIWAN he steps back from his customary role to conduct a rather usual ensemble: European jazz players, a Baroque orchestra and, most prominently, the Moroccan vocalist Amina Alaoui singing Arabic or the Iberian languages. Balke and Alaoui wanted to explore together the possible resonances between the Arabic music of Al-Andalus and early European classical music. As the liner notes explain:

"This project is not a musicological research, but rather a tribute to musical freedom, by drawing upon the ideas and sounds of pre-renaissance and baroque music and developing a contemporary totality, rooted in the musical practices of these traditions. SIWAN also raises questions about what was lost in the bonfires of the Inquisition, and points to the catastrophic costs of religious intolerance."

The sound that results from this motley crew is difficult to describe, although it does fit in with the "ECM mood" in that its tempos are generally slow and even the faster material seems restrained. Some tracks like "Jadwa", "A la dina dana" and "Thulathiyat" are upbeat, with prominent percussion and the only comparison I can think of is the last couple of albums by Dead Can Dance. Other songs, such as "Ondas do mar de Vigo", "Ashiyin Raiqin" and "Zahori" are slow, even mournful. What might prove most memorable of all is the closing track, "Toda ciencia trascendiendo", a long setting of poetry by Juan de la Cruz that rises to ecstatic heights. The liner notes include the lyrics of most of these songs in Arabic, Spanish or Galician with English translation, as well as photos of the musicians.

I must admit that I don't always find this album a smash success, and I nearly rated it 3 stars, but when I'm in the mood I think SIWAN is moving and well-played. Projects like this risk seeming like crossover gimmickry, but that kind of kitsch is thankfully absent here (the synthesizer on "A la dina dana" can be a bit jarring, though). Check this out if you generally enjoy ECM's recent explorations of Middle Eastern sounds.

Siwan is what you get when you mix a Norwegian pianist (Jon Balke), an early music ensemble (Barokksolistene), a Moroccan singer (Amina Alaoui), an Iranian percussionist (Pedram Khavar Zamini), and an American jazz trumpeter (John Hassell), working with medieval Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish texts -- often mystical. Beyond this, Siwan is nearly indescribable. At first listen, many of the pieces sound traditional, but they are all new compositions of Jon Balke, working closely with Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui. Siwan is unique and fits into no existing musical genre -- it transcends in many ways.

In Autumn 2006, or so the album pamphlet tells me, Jon Balke invited singer and musicologist Amina Alaoui, the incomparable Jon Hassel (why don't any of these Jons have an H in their name?) and many other wonderful musicians to create "a pure sound fantasy".

The premise can you make you nervous, yes- so many times fusion ideas end up as some inedible "New-Age" yawn, without the many styles and sounds connecting together into something of value.

But the result is NOTHING of the sort- it's a unique blend of European Classical, Modern percussion, and ancient Andalusian music (which in itself is a fascinating blend of European and Arabic influences)- a sound that is amazingly rich, ethereal, mystical and strange, all laced with Amina Alaoui's archaic-sounding vocals, and all under ECM's excellent production.

As if drawn from the cold depths of time, Siwan has the echoes of music that historically never was, but could have been. Just imagine it. Better yet- Listen to the sound samples!

Highly recommended, an absolutely stunning and powerful album. Anyone who enjoys Classical, Arabic or Andalusian music, or anything in between, should try it for size.

Also recommended, in a similair vain: Rolf Lislevand's Nuove musiche.

Jon Balke (or is it Amina Alaoui? Can't quite remember) states in the booklet that this was not a musicological research, but rather a tribute to musical freedom. For me this is the big point about this work. When you hear it, you might realize what he or she was talking about. It speaks for itself. This work is alive imagination, not just a set of compositional rules which results in some organized sound that these composers around call music. This is really alive music. It breathes. In a time when pop music is coming to such a stardardization, with so many uninteresting acts, and when composers can't quite touch Music outside their own compositional logic, Siwan came up with this fresh piece, congregating barroque, jazz and arabic music in a very natural, proper, mystical and heartfelt way. I recommend it, no shadow of a doubt.

I love this music and enjoy explaining the roots of the music and the words. It takes me to other places, and stimulates the imagination.

toda ciencia, trascendiendo. That tune is, hands down, the best. It examplifies what the record is about: a blend of genres by norwegian Jon Balke.

"De paz y de piedad / era ciencia perfecta / en profunda soledad / entendí vía recta", the song continues. It makes me think of the novel "The Elementary Particles" by Michel Houellebecq, the story is about 2 half-brothers, one a professor and the other, a scientist (de ciencia perfecta -of perfect science). The professor is very sexually active (in a gross way) and the scientist a sexual reclusive. At the end of the novel, it is revealed that the lonesome scientist's research gave the basis to creating a new form of life. One that didn't need sex to procreate. Yes, he helped create asexual beings.

So, it's only natural to connect the two: the scientist's "profunda soledad" (deep loneliness) made him think clearly (with thoughts of sex not getting in the way), finally "entendí vía recta" (understood via straight line) the way to progress.

The fact that we have sex (male or female) is the source of all our issues. Until we find a way to change that, psicology, sociology and anthropology can only offer limited options to solving our problems. It works in the same dynamic as in: the issue is not little things of our civilization, it IS civilization.

This is a very visionary record.