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CLE 067CD
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After being tortured for the fourth time, Wassim Mukdad realized that he had to leave his country, Syria. Arrested ten years ago on the occasion of a protest against the government of Bashar Al-Assad, together with thirty other protesters, Mukdad, who has been living in Germany for four years where he resumed his activity in music, has become, with the support of the European Center for Constitutional Rights. In Berlin, after a residency in Istanbul, Mukdad began a career that spans studies in musicology and commitment through music to support Palestinian and Syrian children who are victims of war. He is currently involved in a variety of musical and theatrical projects. For once, instead of the music, let's start from the musicians' story, without fear of ending up off topic, because the human and social events in which Mukdad was involved find precise confirmation in the construction and emotions that his music, like that contained in this CD manages to evoke. Here the oud player is in good company. David Rothenberg is an American naturalist clarinetist, who manages to establish meaningful dialogues with both humans and animals, as demonstrated by the previous experience of the trio in question in the work "Nightingales in Berlin," played live with birds singing in a Berlin park. Volker Lankow is a percussionist and tablas player, a role that combines with that of project manager of Doctors Without Borders, constantly engaged in areas affected by war situations such as the Syrian one. The music often has trance-like accents, trembling on the strings of the oud and on the heads of the tablas, with Rothenberg's clarinet underlining the pathos, delving into feelings that are almost too painful to talk about, or supporting the most intimate moments or moments aimed towards the hope. Among the eleven tracks is the meeting between Middle Eastern musical idioms and a Western vision, where the processional rhythms and the hypnosis of the oud riffs are combined with echoes of blues, with a recognizable melodic style, to the freedom of jazz improvisation. An hour of great music, far beyond the great symbolic value of the testimony.
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CLE 034LP
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LP version. Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow translates years of experience into music that unfolds in a sense of hope. Says Volker Lankow, "It comes from everywhere and nowhere." First meeting at David Rothenberg's "Nightingales in Berlin" project, the three musicians recorded this improvised fusion of experiences with oud, clarinet and percussion. A meditation on survival and resilience, on empathy and love. Each musician, a master of his instrument, seamlessly interweaves phrases and nuance each expressing pain and joy, expectation and relief. Wassim Mukdad is a refugee from Syria who escaped torture first to Istanbul now in Berlin. Volker Lankow worked with Medecins sans Frontiere in crisis torn zones and now with mentally ill criminals. Rothenberg, an author and philosopher, brings an exploration of the idea of sound to this trio. This is an album of music from an entire region of the world, crossing cultural barriers and tribal sides. An accomplished percussionist Volker Lankow performs on frame drums and tabla among other instruments. Wassim and Volker share years of rough experiences in conflict regions and in their playing together one hears a path toward clarity and beauty out of terrible shadows. "It is a delight to play with Volker, a percussionist who does not need to show off, who has nothing to prove." Wassim Mukdad met Volker Lankow as part of David Rothenberg's "Nightingales in Berlin" project which documented a group of musicians' attempts to play live with the birds in the dark parks of Germany's capital city. Clarinetist and author, Rothenberg was inspired by the rapport these two offered to each other and got the trio into Berlin's Studio Wong for one perfect day when all this music was improvised. Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow translate years of experience into music that unfolds with a worldwide sense of hope.
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CLE 034CD
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Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow translates years of experience into music that unfolds in a sense of hope. Says Volker Lankow, "It comes from everywhere and nowhere." First meeting at David Rothenberg's "Nightingales in Berlin" project, the three musicians recorded this improvised fusion of experiences with oud, clarinet and percussion. A meditation on survival and resilience, on empathy and love. Each musician, a master of his instrument, seamlessly interweaves phrases and nuance each expressing pain and joy, expectation and relief. Wassim Mukdad is a refugee from Syria who escaped torture first to Istanbul now in Berlin. Volker Lankow worked with Medecins sans Frontiere in crisis torn zones and now with mentally ill criminals. Rothenberg, an author and philosopher, brings an exploration of the idea of sound to this trio. This is an album of music from an entire region of the world, crossing cultural barriers and tribal sides. An accomplished percussionist Volker Lankow performs on frame drums and tabla among other instruments. Wassim and Volker share years of rough experiences in conflict regions and in their playing together one hears a path toward clarity and beauty out of terrible shadows. "It is a delight to play with Volker, a percussionist who does not need to show off, who has nothing to prove." Wassim Mukdad met Volker Lankow as part of David Rothenberg's "Nightingales in Berlin" project which documented a group of musicians' attempts to play live with the birds in the dark parks of Germany's capital city. Clarinetist and author, Rothenberg was inspired by the rapport these two offered to each other and got the trio into Berlin's Studio Wong for one perfect day when all this music was improvised. Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow translate years of experience into music that unfolds with a worldwide sense of hope.
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