I'll be posting some more material and extracts of the album later on this week as well as a first look to a music video of the trio to be released
soonkatakofka - 2-22-2010 at 08:06 AM
Jeremy is a great musician and very nice guy, you should hear him doing bayat taqsims on his double bass, he has it and got it.
He immersed himself in the cultures of the Orient, he has also learned to speak, read and write Arabic.
What I like about this album is that Ziad took a year to meditate and write a music that reflects his own personality unlike the first 2 albums who
were influenced by producers wanting him to ride the shallow and ugly "Oriental Fusion" wave.
This is not Fusion, it is simply a music written by an oriental composer who happens to love many musics and who is also an oudist, Jay and Jeremy
brought their own personalities to the album and they were not just here to "give depth" to the oud.
I like how they play the Bashraf Nahawand of Osman Bey. (attached)
The CD is on sale online on forward music and there are also extracts of the pieces:
Looks like Miles Jay to me.ALAMI - 4-12-2010 at 10:04 PM
You're right Sasha, we got it wrong Katakofka and I.
Miles Jay is the bass player, the tall guy with long hair, he's american.
Jeremy Chapman plays sax and flute and he's english.
Sorry for the mistake.Sasha - 4-13-2010 at 03:27 PM
That's quite alright - Miles is an acquaintence from Mendocino camp - when I first met him, he was a student at UC Santa Barbara, and playing with the
Middle Eastern Ensemble.
He was usually to be found playing in most of the nightly concerts, and has played with some of the best.
I am extremely happy that he continues to make his mark in the greater world, as he is an amazing musician - and a very nice guy.Luttgutt - 5-3-2010 at 12:18 PM
This was the headline of the article of the Daily Star I linked to.
(Btw it seems that the link to the newspaper site is not working anymore)
Well, I can't speak for the journalist but I can speak for Ziad who is a close friend.
I think that Ziad used this term to point out a different intention from the kind of "Fusion" that was a la mode in the last decade, at least in the
Lebanese production scene where producers were putting together musicians that did not really know each other to produce quickly an Album that sells,
tens of these albums were produced and very few survived.
The "cliche defying" side is not by putting together a oud a sax and a double bass, it is rather in the way of composing a music that is natural to
the personalities and techniques of the musicians and the instruments and that is not done in a way to please to a maximum number of people.
I think that Ziad wanted to mark a departure from what he did himself in his 2nd CD "Beyond Tradition" that was quickly produced the way I described
above and where he played with Japanese percussions, a piano and did a Flamenco piece and played "Caravan" and cut the 4th khana of a samaii bcs the
producer thought it is too complicated.
For this CD he took a full year of preparation and I believe it is his best work till now and a good artistic direction to take.
Of course he couldn't find a producer for this CD "that won't sell" and it was produced by him and some friends, Forward music took the distribution
later on and are not the "label".
This side was also a challenge.
Luttgutt - 5-4-2010 at 02:05 AM
Totally agree with you ALAMI!
Good music, and good "mix" comes NOT from the instruments, but from the "people" playing the instruments.
I had know the two guys in Tiar for many year, and played with both occationally a couple of times, before we decided that we have a commen "vision".
So the coalission oud-base-sax was a by product of the fact that WE "found" each other as musicians, and not the aim!!
And as I said, I really liked two of the songs on Ziads CD
(not many CD's have TWO good songs!)
Best Regards
p.s. I'll be in Beirut from 17 july til 14 august! And would love to meet.ALAMI - 5-4-2010 at 03:01 AM
Looking forward to meet you this summer. MatthewW - 6-3-2010 at 11:15 PM
lovely music, thanks for bringing it to our attention Alami. I've always been a fan of Ziad's compositions and style, this CD seems to offer a
beautiful musical journey....just ordered a copy! best, MW
