Born in Ethiopia and based in Washington since the early 1980s, Hailu Mergia is a legendary keyboard player who was a key member of the extraordinary golden era of Ethio-Jazz that first graced the African music scene between the late 1960s and 1970s. “Tche Belew”, his seminal record as a leader with the Walias Band […]
Jazz
Medeski Martin & Wood with Alarm Will Sound: Omnisphere
Originally formed in the late 1990s by two students from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, Alarm Will Sound is a 20 piece chamber orchestra dedicated to the performance of newly composed contemporary classical music. Ever since their initial formation in 1991, jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW) has been synonym with groove. […]
Anouar Brahem: Blue Maqams
The fear of repetition is probably what underpins Anouar Brahem’s entire recording career. “C’est ma hantise” (It’s my worst nightmare) said the Tunisian-born oud player in a recent interview. Since his début for the Munich-based ECM record label in 1991, the musician has performed in solo or shared the studio with a different formation on every […]
Seán Mac Erlaine: Music for Empty Ears
Seán Mac Erlaine is a Dublin-based reed player, composer and electronic musician who has released two solo albums to date, Long after the Music is Gone (2012) and A Slender Song (2014), both on the Ergodos record label. He is also a master improviser who thrives on eclectic and multi-disciplinary collaborations. Over the years, the […]
Olivier Bogé: When Ghosts Were Young
This is a recording that can be heard as on ode to the innocence of childhood […] that manages to reconnect with the ghosts […] we once were and with which, as adults, we sometimes fleetingly come into contact again. Vincent Bessières – CD liner notes Born in Toulon in the south of France, Olivier […]
Francesco Turrisi: Northern Migrations
For a musician, whatever his background, improvisation is the most direct form of communication with the listener […] The music we use to express our emotions is the mirror of our soul. Christina Pluhar Franceso Turrisi is an Italian-born and Dublin-based pianist, percussionist and composer constantly hovering between the two seemingly disparate worlds of early […]
