Jazz Darwinism: Rez Abbasi

Was out enjoying a pint of dark ale yesterday afternoon with a friend who plays a bit of jazz guitar. Just a pick up group of elderly Sri Lankan emigres–doctors, accountants–who love Miles Davis and Monk. And my friend Rob. An Aussie public servant who just wants to make music. They don’t perform publicly, preferring the casual camaraderie of doodling and grooving a couple times a month.

As the hot wind blew through our hair Rob mentioned that he was finding it hard to find inspiration in the same old jazz music. As good as it is and as genius as Monk, Davis and Oscar Peterson are, Rob was lamenting his being in a rut. Not knowing where to look for more contemporary or at least different jazz sounds. I shared a similar predicament, one that has bothered me for a number of years and had me listening to less and less jazz.

The way I unblocked the sink was to go on to Reddit–that truly amazing platform of information (and of course dis-information; you got to check your sources)–and shout into the void, “I’m bored with jazz. Help!” Within minutes the replies came back in echoing waves, “Try this!” “You gotta check this out!” “How about some Polish trumpet playing?'” “Its all happening in the UK.” “Nubya Garcia’s the bomb!” “Yazz Ahmed and Kokororo are the best.”

It worked. I followed some of those rabbit holes and they of course led to others and within a few weeks I was fully immersed in a whole new world of Jazz. One that had little to do with Milt Jackson (whom I adore) or Miles or Sonny or Ella. The centre of my jazz world shifted from New York and Chicago to London and Beirut.

I immediately offered to send a few files Rob’s way and included Natural Selection a 2010 album by Pakistani-American guitarist Rez Abbasi. Abbasi has been at the critical forefront of American jazz guitarists for many years now and continues to release music in a variety of styles and with a changing guard of collaborators. Known primarly as an innovative electric guitarist, in this album he plays (primarily) the acoustic, and is accompanied by a small group that includes drum, bass and vibes. The latter is particularly interesting and affective here.

The album offers a several covers of other’s work like Punjab (Joe Henderson) Personal Mountains (Keith Jarrett) and a gorgeous Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers) to close out the album. The opening track Lament too is an homage, if not straight cover, to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Overall the album shimmers with sound and the cover art that depicts water drops against glass is an apt visual representation for the sound. Light yes, but not superficial or simple.

Track Listing:

01 Lament

02 Pakistani Minor

03 Personal Mountains

04 Up On the Hill

05 When Light Falls

06 Bees

07 Blu Vindaloo

08 New Aesthetic

09 Punjab

10 Ain’t No Sunshine

Abbasi

Soul Brothers: Ravi Shankar and George Harrison

The friendship between the ‘quiet’ Beatle, George Harrison and India’s greatest cultural ambassador, Pandit Ravi Shankar, was deep, genuine and enduring, if (on the face of it) improbable.

In the early 1970s, The Beatles were simply an ex-rock and roll band. Individually though, each member of the group was riding high as a solo artist, enjoying almost as much success as sole trader as he had as a co director of the most illustrious cultural firm in the world. Paul‘s new band, Wings was churning out huge world wide hits. Ringo, for the first time was garnering fans of his own and praise for a series of bouncy, light-hearted pop hits such as Backoff Boogaloo and You’re Sixteen. John’s Imagine album was already recognised as one for the ages even though people were still sceptical of his wife Yoko Ono.

It was George who really blossomed after the break up of the world’s greatest rock and roll band, though. All Things Must Pass and its super duper smash My Sweet Lord, his hymn to Lord Krishna, pioneered a blatant strain of spiritual-pop and gave him the cash, cache and confidence to step fully into the limelight. He organised the iconic all star benefit shows to support Bengali refugees and released the proceedings as an ambitious triple disc box set, Concert for Bangladesh, something unheard of in the pop world of the time. It was a huge seller.

Harrison seems to have had the best business mind of the Fab Four too. Despite the debacle that was Apple Records, George jumped back into the record business and set up Dark Horse Records which proved to be not only profitable but sustainable. Early this year it signed a global distribution deal with the German behemoth BMG.

In 1974 Harrison got a bunch of his music mates together and hooked up with a smaller but equally stellar group of Indian musicians headed by Ravi Shankar to produce a bemusing hodge podge of an album called Shankar Family and Friends. According to Harrison’s wife, Olivia, “Around 1973, Ravi had composed music for a ballet. With the help of George, he was able to assemble a group of Indian classical musicians to record it at A&M Records in Los Angeles. George provided the Western band, and ‘Shankar Family and Friends’ became one of the first two albums released on George’s newly formed Dark Horse Records label. That was my first exposure to the group of people who would become lifetime friends. None of us knew we would be working together for the next two years. The process was full of youthful enthusiasm and venerable creativity.”

The wider global Beatles brotherhood no doubt has strong views about this album, indeed, every album ever released by any of the four members of the group. I’m not aware or really concerned about what the concensus view of this group is about this record, but I find it to be a curiousity. It is neither fish nor fowl. Neither pop nor art. Neither West nor East. And while that never really bothers me in this case, well…I’m not overly impressed.

To be more precise the first part (Track 1-5) seems not to be connected in any meaningful way with the rest of the album. The ‘pop-bhajan’ I am Missing You is one of the dumbest songs I’ve ever heard. As my kids would say, totally cringey! And as such, it colours the entire project with a certain hue of scepticism.

The second part, the Ravi Shankar ballet, like many of the maestro’s other works is certainly more substantial and interesting. If I listen to this album more in the future I’ll start at track 6. And probably thoroughly enjoy it.

If you want to read a comprehensive review of the album and get a complete run down of all the great musicians (David Bromberg!!!??) who played a part in producing it, for once Wikipedia is the best source.

Classify this in 1970s kitsch.

Track Listing:

01 I Am Missing You

02 Kahan Gayelava Shyam Saloné

03 Supané Mé Ayé Preetam Sainya

04 I am Missing You (reprise)

05 Jaya Jagadish Haré

06 Dream, Nightmare & Dawn – Overture

07 Part One – Dream – Festivity & Joy

08 Part One – Dream – Love – Dance Ecstasy

09 Part Two – Nightmare – Lust (Raga Chandrakauns)

10 Part Two – Nightmare – Dispute & Violence

11 Part Two – Nightmare – Disillusionment & Frustration

12 Part Two – Nightmare – Despair & Sorrow (Raga Marwa)

13 Part Three – Dawn – Awakening

14 Part Three – Dawn – Peace & Hope (Raga Bhatiyar)

Bromance

Mystic Orb: Sufi Moon

Now here’s something interesting.

Sufi Moon is a fusion of Qawwali Music and Alphorns, composed of three Swiss jazz musicians and two Pakistani qawwals.

One of the more interesting musical performances at the Sufi Soul World Music Festival in Lahore, Pakistan, the Sufi Moon project explores the spiritual symbolism of the moon, which Anna Grichting sees as ‘a universal symbol as well as the symbol of Islam – the crescent.‘

The Swiss group was first exposed to subcontinental Sufi philosophy three years ago and ‘Sufi Moon’ was created with Pakistani qawwal Sher Miandad Khan and tabla nawaz, Waris Ali Balu Khan, whom they met at the first Sufi Soul Festival in 2000. The fusion has also been performed during the Urs at Pakpattan (the yearly celebrations that take place in the sufi shrine on the birth date of the saint) and at venues across Switzerland and the Punjab.

Jean-Jacques Pedretti and Robert Morgenthaler’s wonderful bass performances, mostly with wind instruments, (the trombone, alphorn and didgeridoo and conch shells), were complemented by the rhythm of Balu Khan’s tabla and the spiritual voices of Anna Grichting and Sher Miandad Khan, and their performance left the audience enthralled.

I really enjoy listening to this album. And while at first a bit surprising, the prominence of the trombone, used here more as part of the rhythm section–a steady metronomic presence–than a melody maker, is actually quite effective. Lyrics switch between English, French and Urdu and apparently performers of the world famous Rafi Peer Theatre Group contributed to the production of this fine experimental album.

Track Listing:

01 Moon Chant [Ali Ali Keyan Gham Taldey]

02 We Three  [Rumi]

03 Gem of the Night  [Haq Farid Ya Farid]

04 Moon and stars [Iqbal]

05 Reason and Love [Dorey Baba Bulleh Shah]

06 Haq Mollah Ali Mollah

07 Voyage dans la lune [Cyrano de Bérgerac]

08 Lost in Space [Chiryan Boldiyan]

09 New Moon [Iqbal]

10 Tides. Ishiq Nachaya

11 Sufi Moon

12 Autour de la Lune [Jules Vernes]

13 Moon [Dil Dey Ander Tu]

Moonshine

Desert Silk: Reshma

The Lok Virsa Institute, situated on a campus in the woods at the feet of the Margalla Hills in Islamabad, is one of those public institutions that governments like to create and forget. ‘We should have some appartus,’ they reason, ‘that preserves and promotes our unique national cultures.’ An Act of Parliament is passed. A new building or two are constructed. A semi famous person is installed as the Director and then the budget is cut year after year until ultimately the Institute is barely able to pay staff salaries let alone maintain a website, fund research or publish books, reports or release recordings.

When I lived in Pakistan I was quite familiar with the leadership of the Institute. This was the mid 80s. Budgets were always tight but there was still some breath in the thing. Concerts were quite regularly sponsored, their range of cassette tapes of folk music from every corner of the country was widely available and very affordable and often Lok Virsa connected with international scholars to do some amazing research. The long jagged knives of politics were always flashing (they always are in a country where sinecurism is both a personal economic and a national political strategy) but Lok Virsa seemed to be liviing up to its founding principles–promoting and preserving the folk cultures and especially the music of Pakistan.

In the intervening years my friends who worked there kept me appraised of the shenanigans but also, more damaging, the utter neglect of the Institute by the government. Its funding dwindled to a trickle and its campus became overgrown, if not literally then spiritually, by weeds and dead wood. Given the material it had to work with and the relatively untapped sources of culture in that amazing country, Lok Virsa was gutted; offering little and broadly unknown.

What a surprise then to find in recent years a whole series of music releases of some of Pakistan’s greatest singers and musicians. Nicely produced and often in multiple volumes, the Lok Virsa Series of (mostly) live recordings are such a treasure.

Reshma

Today I share a set of folk songs by the outstanding singer Reshma, one of my favorite South Asian artists, and someone whose music I’ve shared many times before. This double CD set includes her most famous song Lambi Judai as well as a nice mix of Rajasthani folk melodies and Punjabi lokgeet. The only weak (ish) cut here is the final one, a rather uninspired version of the Sufi standard. But throughout the album, Reshma’s strong alto voice is melodic and untrammeled by artifice or unnecessary adornment. Its simple, beautiful, life-giving singing by a supremely gifted artist.

I never grow tired of listening to Reshma. And I think you’ll enjoy this collection as well.

Track Listing:

01 Rajasthani Lok Geet

02 Bandra-Rajasthani Geet

03 Ve Main Chori Chori

04 Sade Wal Mukhdra Morr

05 Aksar Shab-E-Tanhayee Mein

06 Na Dil Dendi Bedardi Nu

07 Kithey Nain Na Jordi

08 Naeo Lagda Dil Mera

09 Meri Hum-Jolian

10 Lambi Judai

11 Akhian Nu Rehn De

12 Mayaa-Lok

13 O Lal Mari Pat Rakhio Balla

Reshma Lok Virsa

Qual – ity: Susheela Raman

Sharabi is a one of those words difficult to translate precisely into English.  On the face of it, the word means ‘one who indulges in wine’; a drinker.  But when used in everyday conversation in India and Pakistan it generally is pejorative: drunkard. A boozer.  In the clinical language of the modern age, a “sharabi” is an alcoholic.

In Urdu poetry there is a whole sub-genre known as sharabi shairi that extols the virtues and pitfalls of drinking, usually in the context of an intimate relationship. Sharab, wine, is the reliever of the pain of a broken heart but also the revealer of inner and hidden charms. It is admitted to be a narcotic and an addiction, but usually some attempt is made to gloss the word and scene with a spiritual meaning.   In the Islamic mystical tradition the term itself, as well as a host of other related words and phrases, has represented the spiritual state of ‘fana’ or divine intoxication. That point in spiritual practice and devotion where self is ecstatically obliterated with the realisation of the Oneness of all things is ‘fana’.

This state of ecstasy, which feels so much like being high or drunk, is the aim of qawwali, South Asia’s unique form of spiritual trance music. So it is appropriate that Susheela Raman’s 2014 release Queen Between opens with a cover of the controversial Aziz Mian hit, Main Sharabi (I’m a Drunk).   The original song forever cemented Mian as the ‘bad boy’ of Pakistani qawwals for its embrace of one of the greatest taboos in Islam—the consumption (and obvious enjoyment) of sharab (wine, booze). And the rousing opener sung by Pakistani qawwals Muazzam and Rizwan Mujahid Ali Khan, is the perfect starting point for what is in effect a qawwali album in spirit.

Queen Between explores the intersection—that between place—of the cosmic and earthy, of divine love and hot carnal sex, of compassion and passion, of personal identity and spiritual anonymity. It’s a tour de force by a South Asian artist that has to be ranked as one of the most vital on the music scene today.

Raman, a Tamilian born in London, raised in Australia, brings such knowing to this album. She knows not just of what she is singing but also how to bring together strands from her myriad identities—South Indian, South Asian, woman, a child of a globalised world, a rock ‘n roller—to create an album that is compelling from start to finish.  I say it is a qawwali album, not to be cute, but because it taps directly into the spirit, the dum, the breath of the form, especially its tight rope walk between the visible and that which is unseen.  In addition to the two overt qawwali numbers (Sharabi; Sajana) the Muazzam and Rizwan qawwali party contribute their voices throughout the album. Like the caulk that keeps a window in place it is their singing that holds this album together and is such a treat.

Raman’s sonics, especially on Riverside and the closer, Taboo, bring to mind that other giant straddler of cultures, Rachid Taha. Both inject their music with massive attacks of guitars and bass that are somehow integrated into a giant, thick wave of sound. You feel you want to be absorbed into the vibration and transported to another plane.  And yet Raman’s  voice is supple and chameleon-like. Changing hues and intensity in sync with the mood and atmosphere.  Compare Corn Maiden, a song that hails the Pueblo grandmother of the sun and the light (in a musical style Steeleye Span could dig) with Karunei a beautiful hymn of compassion sung in Tamil.

It’s easy these days to get overwhelmed (and underwhelmed) by the vast number of acts that claim to ‘fuse’ musical and cultural traditions.  But for what its worth, Susheela Raman dances a full several meters above that crowd. Do yourself a favour and become a fan!

Track Listing:

01 Sharabi (Alcoholic)

02 Corn Maiden

03 Riverside

04 Sajana (Beloved)

05 North Star

06 Queen Between

07 Karunei (Compassionate)

08 Taboo

QueenBetween