Home » Stories » Sharon Isbin & Amjad Ali Khan - Strings for Peace is not east-west fusion, but rather a new articulation of Hindustani classical music / CD Hotlist

Stories for June 03, 2020

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    Sharon Isbin, Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash: "Love Avalanche" from 'Strings for Peace' makes NPR Music's No. 1 Albums And Songs Of May
     
    Posted At : June 1, 2020 12:00 AM

    At the end of every month, the NPR Music team picks their favorite albums and songs. Everyone has their passions and they vary widely, from the Atlanta rapper Deante' Hitchcock to the Australian ambient artist Madeleine Cocolas. On this week's show, we hear the No. 1 albums and songs of May as picked by our staff. There's the Portland band MAITA, which features a singer who entered our Tiny Desk contest in 2018. We also have the 20-year-old Eve Owen (who released an album produced by The National's Aaron Dessner), a team-up between classical guitarist Sharon Isbin and Indian sarod master Ayaan Ali Bangash, and Buscabulla, a duo from Puerto Rico who met in New York City and returned to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to rediscover their home. And then there's brilliant jazz guitar playing from the Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio and joy from Scotland's Vistas. "Love Avalanche" a cool East-meets-West raga featuring multiple Grammy-winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin paired with the Indian sarod master Ayaan ali Bangash. - Tom Huizenga

  • 'The Dream' from Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons featured on Punto Radio - animajazz
     
    Posted At : June 1, 2020 12:00 AM

    In episode 921 of "ANIMAJAZZ", conceived and conducted by BRUNO POLLACCI , broadcast on TUESDAY 2 June at 20.30, on PUNTORADIO, also streaming on www.puntoradio.fm and in an immediate podcast on http: // animajazz. eu will be the protagonists of the evening, which include; "The Dream"; by ODED TZUR from "Here Be Dragons"  Here Be Dragons is the ECM debut of New York based, Tel Aviv born tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur, one of the most strikingly original musicians to have emerged from Israeli's creative jazz scene in recent years, and the leader of an outstanding group.  Oded Tzur has found a new and personal sound for the tenor saxophone. Inspired by his extensive studies from 2007 onward with bansuri master Hariprasad Chaurasia, he has mastered the graceful slides of Indian classical music and brought raga's sense of pitch fluidity and microtonal shading into a jazz context. His pieces elegantly explore and unfold their melodic and atmospheric implications in a context of subtle group interaction. Structurally, each of Tzur's compositions on Here Be Dragons sets out to develop a "miniature raga" over a moving bass, juxtaposing two musical concepts. Oded: "The dialogue between these dimensions takes us wherever it takes us." The ragas deployed in the pieces "Here Be Dragons", "20 Years" and "The Dream" are of Oded's creation, while "To Hold Your Hand" uses an Indian scale called Charukesi and operates on similar principles. He stresses, however, that "raga is, for me, a universal concept. I hear its connection to synagogue prayers, or to the blues – a marvellous creation – and to music all around the world." Ancient and modern traditions are referenced in Oded's work, including traditions of storytelling. "If music has the ability to tell stories," suggested All About Jazz, "saxophonist Oded Tzur proves himself one of the jazz world's premier storytellers." Tzur's concept is also broad enough to embrace some unexpected song choices, and the album concludes with a tender interpretation of "Can't Help Falling In Love", made famous by Elvis Presley.  We remind you that "ANIMAJAZZ" can be heard on TUESDAY at 20.30 in immediate podcast on http://animajazz.eu and the "DOWNLOAD" of the episode can be made, free of charge, from the podcasts area. Happy listening. "ANIMAJAZZ" in collaboration with the PISA ACADEMY OF ART.  SEE THE PAGE

  • Lara Downes plays npr: tiny desk home
     
    Posted At : May 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit - stripped-down sets, an intimate setting - just a different space. Lara Downes thrives on collaboration. Her new album features Toshi Reagon, the vocal ensemble MUSICALITY and the string quartet called PUBLIQuartet. But in this intimate piano recital from her home in Sacramento, Calif., her only collaborators are her son Simon, who takes on cinematography duties, and her beloved pooch, Kona. The songs, all from her recent album Some of These Days, might be old, but they are strong statements that resonate in new ways. From Margaret Bonds, one of the first celebrated African-American women composers, there's "Troubled Water," a poignant riff on the spiritual "Wade in the Water" that Downes says takes a "journey from classical virtuosity to gospel, jazz, blues and back again." Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's arrangement of "Deep River," for Downes, now represents "crossing over" the coronavirus crisis, while Florence Price's "Some of These Days," is a vision of better times ahead. In a moment of vulnerability, Downes admits that not being out on the road – performing, embedded in communities and working with young people – makes her feel "not very useful." But in these performances there's a sturdiness and purpose that provide both comfort and the strength to carry on. Very useful, indeed. SET LIST "Margaret Bonds: Troubled Water" "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Deep River" "Florence Proce: Some Of These Days" LISTEN

  • Laila Biali discusses 'Out of Dust' with 88.9WUCF
     
    Posted At : May 28, 2020 12:00 AM

    JUNO Award winner Laila Biali's new album, Out of Dust features not only contributions from the singer/pianist's husband; Ben Wittman and son, but also multiple GRAMMY nominees and winners including Lisa Fisher, Alan Ferber, John Ellis, and Larnell Lewis. "There's a line from a song by the indie gospel group, Gungor, that has become like an anthem to me," Biali says. "‘He makes beautiful things out of dust.' That's where the title for the album comes from, and as a songwriter and musician, my ultimate intention and hope is to spread a little more love." Listen to the attached Laila Biali - 88.9WUCF: Orlando FL Interview with Kayonne Riley 

  • Michael Whalen inteviews with 88.1WMBR
     
    Posted At : May 27, 2020 12:00 AM

    Michael Whalen's "Sacred Spaces" is an epic recording nearly ten years in the making. "I have been pursuing a spiritual ‘awakening' for most of my adult life. Over the past decade, I realized that I am 100 percent responsible for whatever my relationship with a ‘higher being' might be," says Whalen. Filled with sonic landscapes built from hundreds of layers of sound, "Sacred Spaces" is Michael's tour-de-force electronic project, which seamlessly blends his natural gift for melody with fresh textures and percolating rhythms. Deeply inspired by Michael's film and TV work and his love for progressive rock, "Sacred Spaces" is the ambient recording of the year. MW spoke with 88.1WMBR: Boston, 'New Edge' host; Ken Field. Listen to the attached file

  • Mark Abel's 'The Cave of Wondrous Voice' is straightforwardly intricate, expressive and inventive in the best ways / Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review
     
    Posted At : May 26, 2020 12:00 AM

    I've covered the music of Mark Abel on these pages before (see articles from April 13, 2012, June 13, 2014, August 20, 2018). I never consciously sought to cover so many. It was one-at-a-time and I've found myself liking and posting on each. Now there is another one, a new one of chamber works, entitled The Cave of Wondrous Voice (Delos DE3570). It features a song cycle and three instrumental works for small chamber configurations. Generally speaking this is not music that overtly seeks to call attention to itself by being extroverted-Modern or Avant Garde, nor is there a rock or pop influence in any obvious sense. Nonetheless it is inspired and very well put-together music that would not be mistaken for the music of the past nor perhaps as the music of some future utopia, either? It is straightforwardly intricate, expressive and inventive in good ways, in the best ways. READ THE FULL Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

  • Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, collaborate with Sharon Isbin - strumming together in unique teaming / REPUBLICWORLD.COM
     
    Posted At : May 25, 2020 12:00 AM

    Legendary maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangaash will be collaborating with multiple Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin. The new album will give viewers a unique teaming of two classical music instruments strumming together. The album, "String For Peace", is scheduled to release on the 22nd of May on the ZOHO label (ZM 202004).  Strings For Peace is a perfect blend of various classics. Viewers will get to listen to a melodious eclectic east-west fusion of sarod and classical guitar. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Sharon Isbin have been contemplating about the east-west fashion and finally, their fusion will come to fruition. The album will contain four tracks and cover various ragas composed by Amjad Ali Khan.  SEE THE FULL REPUBLICWORLD.COM PAGE

Top 10 for Jun

  • Ludovico Einaudi :

    12 Songs From Home

     Ludovico Einaudi today releases a special 12-track digital collection, ‘12 Songs From Home', out digitally on Decca Records on 8thMay 2020 with artwork drawn by the composer.
  • Owen Pallett :

    Spaceship Earth

     Milan Records announces today's release of SPACESHIP EARTH (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by composer, violinist, keyboardist and vocalist OWEN PALLETT.
  • Uno Helmersson :

    The Painter and the Thief OMPS

     Milan Records today releases THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by award-winning composer Uno Helmersson.
  • John Scofield :

    Swallow Tales

     Guitarist John Scofield celebrates the music of his friend and mentor Steve Swallow in an outgoing and spirited recording, made in an afternoon in New York City in March 2019 - "old school" style as Scofield says, acknowledging that more than forty years of preparation led up to it.
  • Grigory Sokolov :

    Beethoven * Brahms

     Typically, one half of a Sokolov programme enters his concert repertoire in October, the other half in February.
  • Aska Matsumiya :

    Betty

     Milan Records and HBO today release BETTY (HBO ORIGINAL SERIES SOUNDTRACK) with music by composer ASKA MATSUMIYA.
  • Nicola Benedetti :

    Elgar Violin Concerto

     GRAMMY award-winning Nicola Benedetti's new album on Decca Classics explores music by Britain's best loved composer, Edward Elgar.
  • Bear McCreary :

    Outlander

     Sony Music today releases OUTLANDER: SEASON 5 (ORIGINAL TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK) with music by EMMY® and BAFTA award-winning composer BEAR MCCREARY.
  • Tom Holkenborg :

    White Lines - Music From The Netflix Original Seri

     Milan Records announces the release of WHITE LINES (MUSIC FROM THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES) with music by multi-platinum producer, musician, composer and educator TOM HOLKENBORG aka JUNKIE XL.
  • Vox Clamantis :

    Cyrillus Kreek - The Suspended Harp of Babel

     Vox Clamantis, under the direction of Jaan-Eik Tulve, has established itself as Estonia's foremost small vocal ensemble, at home in the worlds of both old and new music.

Sharon Isbin & Amjad Ali Khan - Strings for Peace is not east-west fusion, but rather a new articulation of Hindustani classical music / CD Hotlist

Posted: May 5, 2020 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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Sharon Isbin has been a world-famous classical guitarist for decades. Less well-known has been her dedication to transcendental meditation, which she has practiced since her teens, and her concomitant longstanding interest in the classical music of India. On this album she joins a distinguished family of sarod players and an equally eminent player of the tabla for a set of ragas written for her by the patriarch of that family, Amjad Ali Khan. (He and his two sons take turns playing alongside her on these performances.) The combination of sarod–a plucked but fretless stringed instrument–and classical guitar is not an obvious one, and before cuing up the disc one immediately wonders how Isbin is going to make this work. And the answer is: with impressive good taste and skill. Notable here is not only her ability to use a chromatic instrument effectively in the context of the famously microtonal elaborations that characterize Indian music, but also her ability to complement (if not exactly match) the tone of the sarod. She also subtly uses her guitar to take the place of a tambura, quietly playing tonic-dominant drones (and, slyly, the occasional triadic chord) while the sarod solos. The result is not an East-West fusion, but rather a new articulation of Hindustani classical music. For all libraries.

SEE ALL CD HOTLIST REVIEWS

Crossover Media Projects with Sharon Isbin

  • Sharon Isbin

    Affinity

    On this historic ZOHO release, legendary guitarist Sharon Isbin performs multi-faceted and virtuosic new works for guitar, written for her by four leading composers. From the Africa-influenced El Decameron Negro by iconic Cuban guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer, through the Chinese and Spanish-inspired Seven Desires for Guitar by Tan Dun, to Richard Danielpour's sensual song cycle Of Love and Longing (with multiple Grammy winner Isabel Leonard) and the  jazz and world music-influenced Affinity: Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra by Chris Brubeck with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra/Elizabeth Schulze, Sharon Isbin gives her inimitable imprint to, and vastly enriches major new repertoire for guitar. The four world premieres also include a two-guitar arrangement for her by Colin Davin of Antonio Lauro's Waltz #3 Natalia.   The recording will be available May 22, 2020 on the ZOHO label (ZM 202005).

    All Press Secured By Genevieve Spielberg & Jazz Promo Services

  • Sharon Isbin

    Strings for Peace w/Amjad Ali Khan, Am&Ay Bangash

    Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin's new recording, Strings for Peace, with sarod master, Amjad Ali Khan, and his virtuoso sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, is a groundbreaking release steeped in the tradition of ragas and talas of North Indian classical music.  Available May 22, 2020 on the ZOHO label (ZM 202004), it was recorded in New York following a successful joint 2019 tour in India. Strings for Peace features four Khan compositions based on popular ragas specifically written and arranged for Sharon Isbin: By the Moon - Raga Behag, Love Avalanche - Raga Mishra Bhairav, Romancing Earth - Raga Pilu and Sacred Evening - Raga Yaman.  The four artists are joined on the tabla by Amit Kavthekar, a disciple of Indian drumming giants, Alla Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain. They will tour across the US in 20/21 beginning in Tanglewood and Caramoor festivals this July.

    All Press Secured By Genevieve Spielberg & Jazz Promo Services

  • Sharon Isbin

    Bach for Guitar: Lute Suites

    Bach for Guitar is now available at retailers nationwide – including Amazon, Arkiv Music, Barnes & Noble – on the Erato/Warner Classics label (cat. #2564617518).   Ms. Isbin calls the Suites "among the most challenging and musically rewarding works in the classical guitar repertoire."   The first  classical guitarist to perform and record Bach on guitar with baroque performance practice techniques, Isbin collaborated with noted Bach scholar and keyboard artist Rosalyn Tureck on the editions performed on the disc. The CD includes all four lute suites by Johann Sebastian Bach, including Suite in E Major, BWV 1006a, Suite in G Minor, BWV 995, Suite in E Minor, BWV 996, and Suite in C Minor, BWV 997.

    14 NEW  135 TOTAL
    SYND:     Classical 24, CBC, TRH, Sunday Baroque
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD, Stingray, AccuRadio
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Denver, Baltimore, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Albuquerque, Columbus OH, Madison WI, Honolulu
    Online: Taintradio, The Washington Post, pancakesandwhiskey.com, IDOLATER, Consequence Of Sound, Stereogum, Billboard

  • Sharon Isbin

    5 Classic Albums

    Sharon Isbin - Troubadour is a one-hour documentary portrait of the world's premier classical guitarist, shows us a trailblazing performer and teacher who over the course of her career has broken through numerous barriers to rise to the top of a traditionally male-dominated field. The film, produced by Susan Dangel, explores what it takes to nurture a dream against all odds to become a world class musician. It will be presented by American Public Television for broadcast on nearly 200 public television stations throughout the US this November-December 2014, and released on DVD/Blu-ray by Video Artists International.

    In coordination with the documentary broadcasts, Warner Classics will release five of Isbin's most popular albums in a single box. The set brings together cornerstones of the guitar concerto repertoire by Rodrigo and Villa-Lobos, arrangements of perennial Baroque favorites, concertos by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun that were written for Isbin herself (and featured in the documentary) and two imaginatively-programmed recital discs including the GrammyTM Award-winning Dreams of a World. 

    20 NEW -  93 Total
    SYND:     Classical 24, CBC
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Portland, Detroit, Baltimore, Denver, Pittsburgh, Austin, New Orleans, Memphis, Albuquerque, Louisville, Columbus, Madison WI, Honolulu, Canada
    Online: Huffington Post, Taintradio, MusicGuy

  • Sharon Isbin

    Journey to the New World

    Recognized as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time" The Boston Globe and "the Monet of the classical guitar" Atlanta Journal Constitution, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin makes her Sony Masterworks debut with Journey to the New World. The extraordinary recording follows a musical progression from 16th century England, Ireland, and Scotland to the shores of America, with the music of the New World represented by Joan Baez, Isbin's first music hero, and violin virtuoso and composer Mark O'Connor.

    13 New ON this week: 124 Total
    Synd:     NPR/ATC, APM/PT, PRI/Classical 24, Sunday Baroque, Sixty Second CD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Wash DC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Portland, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Long Is. NY, Indianapolis, Berkeley CA, Orlando
    Online: Taintradio, Folk Image, Guru, RadioIO/Classical Favorites, io4business/Piano Guitar, MusicGuru

  • Sharon Isbin

    Guitar Passions

    Renowned classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, whom critics have acclaimed as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time" (Boston Magazine) and "the Monet of the classical guitar,"(Atlanta Journal) is following her Grammy-winning 2009 Sony Masterworks debut album Journey To The New World with another extraordinary musical exploration, Sharon Isbin & Friends: Guitar Passions. Available August 30, the new album has a definite Latin American flavor, but the journey this time is focused more on her musical mentors. "I'm paying tribute to my guitar heroes," Isbin says. "These are artists whom I admire greatly, who are also heroes in their own realms." The artists include fellow guitar greats who are also great friends with whom she has collaborated. "Steve Vai has been a dear friend and duo partner for years," Isbin says, singling out the rock guitarist/composer, who improvises with her on La Catedral by famed Paraguayan composer Agustin Barrios Mangore. "Stanley Jordan is another hero and great friend," she adds, and the innovative jazz guitarist joins her in his stunning arrangement of Sonidos de aquel dia, by the Argentinean guitarist/composer Quique Sinesi.

    4 New 'ON' this week 118
    Synd: PRI/Classical 24 & Jazz After Hours
    Direct: SiriusXM
    Markets include: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Memphis, Tampa, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Canada
    Online: KING FM Evergreen, Taintradio