Improvisations with Bashir Faramarzi and Pedram Khavarzamini

image source: dirjournal.com

Improvisations with Bashir Faramarzi (santur) and Pedrâm Khâvarzamini (tonbak)

I have tried to create a completely personal universe : my own. It is a rather strange universe for I conveyed  images, faces, sounds and scents utterly unfamiliar to many, with all of their mystery. I have been carrying them with me following my many trips to the Maghreb and the Middle East and they have been living in my memory ever since. They are as fragile as desert flowers under samūm and stay alive only as long as my memory lasts. I have also created the original musical language based on altered harmonic, melodic and diatonic scales, motives being exclusively woven around half-tones, tones and augmented tones diffused in a sort of quasi-scriabinesque aura with next to none quotation from the actual sources; all the music being entirely improvised. Although I have no pretention to be accademically correct neither in my approach nor in the way I have chosen my texture to evolve, I have consulted and have been greatly inspired by the landmark " Repertoire of Iraqi maqam" by Prof. Robert Simms of Toronto's York University. I am truly grateful to Jean Francois Zygel (Paris CNSM) for his thoughful insight into the art of improvisation and a constructive criticism of my work. I am proud that Bashir Faramarzi, master santur and dotar player and Persian drum virtuoso Pedrâm Khâvarzamini have joined me on this journey.
What resulted of a fragile encounter, a fertile moment seized instantly is an ephemeral yet completely original and thoroughly contemporary art, full of grace and unsuspected power. It is also a testimony of human and artistic adventure, ad-hoc fusion and exploration of two very different worlds: hypnotic, magic, expansive East and trapped in a profound identity crisis West; all done with genuine passion and within the context of respective classical music traditions and scholarly adequate modes of expression.
Many thanks to Sanaz Khosravi (Iran) for introducing me to her people and culture and Mireille Kassar (Lebanon) for her kindness.

Listen to Bashir Faramarzi and Ensemble Santournavazan : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLotJZoYF74
Listen to Pedrâm Khâvarzamini : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBvHG8quWI

*****      Muzyka21 (Poland) http://www.muzyka21.com
*****         Nowa płyta Józefa Kapustki (wyd. DUX), jest nagraniem, które mnie osobiście zaskoczyło… choć może lepszym słowem będzie zafascynowało… i to od pierwszych dźwięków. Mało spotykamy dziś takich nagrań… nagrań bez dwóch zdań natchnionych, metafizycznych i… intymnych?

read full review at http://miko-only-good-music.blogspot.com/2013/05/jozef-kapustka-improvisations-with.html (Polish)

Der gerne beschworene „clash of cultures“ erweist sich hier als eine fruchtbare Begegnung zweier reicher Musikkulturen, die ohne Probleme miteinander musizieren können. Die Verständigung zwischen dem Polen und den beiden Iranern funktioniert, da man sich bei den hier aufge-nommenen Improvisationen der gemeinsamen Sprache der Musik bedienen konnte.

( Note 1, Germany http://www.note-1.de/v3.php?p=3&a=&i=93&s=0#)

" Wszyscy troje wykonawcy to prawdziwi mistrzowie! Nie tylko w sensie technicznym, lecz najszerzej pojetym artystycznym. Wprowadzaja oni sluchacza w swoisty trans. Wykonaywane prze nich kompozycje - improwizacje, to bowiem utwory utrzymane w nurcie repetytywnym, zwracajace uwage swa ostinatowoscia, statycznoscia, nastrojem medytacji, a takze nieco egzotyczna modalnoscia. Od sluchacza wymagaja skupienia, stanu wewnetrznego spokoju i absolutnego otwarcia sie na artystyczny przekaz.
"Chcialem stworzyc swiat radykalnie osobisty, wylacznie moj, swiat tajemniczy, wypelniony obrazami, twarzam, dzwiekami i zapachami, zupelnie nieznanymi dla wiekszosci" - pisze w komentarzu Jozef Kapustka." I rzeczywiscie cel ten zostal osiagniety. ".

Lukasz Kaczmarek, Muzyka21, Poland http://www.muzyka21.com)

Olśniewająco zabrzmiała, wydana przez Dux, płyta Józefa Kapustki « Improvisations with Bashir ». Brzmienie cechowała organiczna spójność i otwartość bez cienia jaskrawości. Można się nim było delektować i smakować wybrzmienia. Cieszyć się odgłosami, które wyraźnie odrywały się od smoliście czarnego tła. To granie z innego wymiaru. Jeśli ktoś Wam mówi, ze high-end to nabijanie naiwnych w butelkę , to niemal na pewno nie zetknął się z wybitnym dzwiekiem. Takim, z którym żal się rozstawać i do którego tęskni się miesiącami. Nie tylko w fortepianie Kapustki, ale także w duetach Elli Fitzgerald z Louisem Armstrongiem czy chwytającej za serce IV Symfonii Mahlera

Hi Fi i Muzyka, Jacek Klos we wspolpracy z Piotrem Gorzynskim

Le santour persan, (...) le tombak (...) s'associent au piano pour créer une série d'improvisations. Elles réunissent, dans des harmonies inextricables, les traditions et cultures orientales, perses, arabes et occidentales. On songe parfois aux musiques hypnotiques de Gurdjieff et de Hartmann (...) Inspirateur de ce programme, Jozef Kapustka, fait judicieusement alterner la prima voce entre tel ou tel instrument (...) D'autres caractéristiques encore plus étonnantes surgissent de cette musique (lire le livret). Une découverte intéressante.

Luc Nevers " Rarétes à découvrir - Non curieux s'abstenir! " PIANISTE revue (France)

There seems to be a general movement on both sides to try and salvage, preserve and develop the musical culture of the region at a time when war and political strife mitigate against such concerns. Jozef Kapustka’s Improvisations with Bashir, which sets Kapustka’s piano alongside the santur (a hammered dulcimer) and the tonbak (one of the splendidly onomatopoeic names given to the double-pitched hand drum common throughout the region) before closing with an extensive solo piano workout, is a fine example of this, its slowly developing, restrained extemporizations building sonic structures that seem to shimmer like desert mirages (Dux DUX0942, 51minutes).

Roger Thomas " Contemporary Music on CD - New Listening" , International Record Review

Others have said:

Prof. Robert Simms , Toronto York University, Canada
As politicians and the mass media increasingly stoke the fires of aggressive
paranoia between the Western world and Middle East, the work of activists,
artists, and others who seek to emphasize our deep historical and human
connections above our differences play an important role in rebalancing toward
a healthier, more accurate perspective. Such is the case with the present
recording. The Persian santur featured here is a contemporary representative of
the ancient family of hammered dulcimers of West Asia that later evolved into
the piano in Europe. Concert pianist Jozef Kapustka specializes in the
repertoire of East European composers whose music made a huge impact in Western music history. As Peter Van der Merwe demonstrates in his book "Roots of the Classical Music", these composers hailed from and represented the ‘frontier’ of Western and Eastern worlds and their music is imbued with crosscultural
elements. Kapustka’s meditative solo piano improvisations combine impeccable
technique with santuresque stylings of brooding drones and crisp, free-flowing
lines full of interesting modal twists and developments that toggle between
musical worlds. The santur and piano duets--a wonderful family reunion--bring
musical worlds together with unison themes over driving rhythms and shifting
harmonic ground. As our world is directed toward seemingly inevitable conflict
from the top down, it’s reassuring to know that there is peaceful and
attractive resistance to this brutal agenda from the bottom up with artists
like Jozef Kapustka, venturing outside his usual pianistic territory with an
important message.

Kamal Kassar of AMAR ( Arab Music Archives and Research) Foundation, Lebanon:
... the right hand executes sort of taksim improvisations over a seductive left hand.
Definitely oriental in primary aspect, although not specifically Iraqi, the uninterrupted melodic flow reminds me of Indian raga. The whole concept is not entirely new: scores of oriental pianists tried to improvise on piano from the beginning of the 20th century and the Cairo conference on musicology in 1932 has definitely institutionalized the presence of piano in Arab music, the most recent to date I have heard being Antoine Zabita playing taksim and that is not to forget Arab musicians from the Americas.
What I like in Jozef Kapustka pieces is a mantra like, repetitive side, highly addictive the way certains works of Terry Riley or raga itself are, and this sentiment is amplified by a fabulous left hand fingerwork. They make me think of Keith Jarrett Köln concert or certain works of Gustavsen Trio.
Very interesting and beautiful.

William Penn, University of Arizona Recordings (USA):

Outstanding talent and a recording of excellent quality

.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction and public performance prohibited
Bashir Faramarzi (santur), Pedram Khavarzamini (tonbak), Jozef Kapustka (piano)
sound,mixing and mastering: Thomas Vingtrinier
executive producer/artistic director: Sanaz Khosravi
producer/sole distributor: Dux (Poland)
distribution: Naxos America/Naxos Japan
recorded at Sequenza Studio, Paris.2012
http://www.sequenza.fr
Piano Fazioli concert grand

Flavia Mounaji, singer ( Morocco / Switzerland):
It is stripped of all superficiality, profound. It appears out of nowhere and takes you very far with infinite tenderness, wrapped in a totally fluid and incredibly powerful movement.
I love it !

Robert LaPorta, (MSR Classics), former Director of Classics at the Angel-EMI-Virgin Classics-Blue Note label group, Marketing and Production Manager with London-Decca Records, Deutsche Grammophon and Philips Classics of the PolyGram label group and Publicity and Contracts Associate at ICM Artists management in New York, member of Grammy's Classical Commitee (USA):

I watched and I listened, and I was fascinated ...

Excerpts of comments from www.tracktesting.com

This is a beautiful improvisational piece. The left hand rhythms set a mysterious mood while the right hand create an "un-easy" feeling over it. The interpretation is absolutely stunning. Bravo Mr. Kapustka, this was a truly inspirational work. I hope you continue to write more pieces like this.

A fantastic piece of work, really well done, I love it!

source: www.tracktesting.com

Sources:

Read about Persian classical music enjoyed today by people of Greater Persia/Iran :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_traditional_music

http://en.iransong.com/category.htm?r=t&id=4&

http://www.astaneh.com/Music/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Iran

Rob Simms "The Art of Avaz and Mohammad Reza Shajarian" http://www.amazon.com/The-Avaz-Mohammad-Reza-Shajarian/dp/0739172115

Read about and listen to the Arab classical music:

The AMAR (Arab Music Archiving and Research) Foundation page: http://www.amar-foundation.org/

Traditional and classical Arabic music: http://www.traditionalarabicmusic.com/

Classical Arabic music: http://www.classicalarabicmusic.com/

Arabic Music Archives: http://www.arabicmusicarchives.com/

Arabic classical music - Medieval Music and Arts Foundation page: http://www.medieval.org/music/world/arabic.html

Suleman Taufiq (Syria) Arabic music and its development, an overview (published by Goethe Institut): http://www.goethe.de/ges/phi/prj/ffs/the/a96/en8626486.htm

Arab music genres: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/music/genres.htm

Persian music after the Islamic conquest

from : Classical Persian Music by Ella Zonis
Islamic conquest and cultural influence

With the coming of Islam to Iran there occurred a most important confluence of two musics, Arabian and Persian. A closeness between them persisted for at least two centuries, especially during the Golden Age of the Abbasid caliphate at Baghdad.
Historians of Persian art are fond of the doctrine that the Arabs, coming straight from the desert to a more advanced civilization in Persia, adopted
the art and music of the vanquished culture. Moreover, Persian musicians claim that Persian music must have strongly influenced Arabian
music because Persian musicians were favored in the Arab royal courts, Persian instruments were introduced, and a great deal of Persian musical terminology came into Arabic music. Arab musicians, on the other hand, feel that their music was the basis for Persian music because there are equally as many Arabic words used in Persian music terminology.
The Islamic period produced more writings on music than any other.
The monumental Kitab al Aghani by Abul Faraj al-Isfahani (897-967), now in a twenty-one volume edition, lists the virtuosi of the period and the music they played—a sort of Grove's dictionary of the day.
During the twelfth century, many works of Farabi (873-950) and Avicenna or Ibne Sina (980-1037), translated into Latin, were used in European Universities. Among his several works on music, the greatest is the Kitab al musiqi al Kabir (Grand Book on Music) in which Farabi discusses every known aspect of music.

Music in Iran today

The situation of music in Iran since the Revolution, British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol.9, No. 2, 2000: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3060645?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103012758221

Somayeh Ghazizadeh ( Islamic Azad University),Cultural changes of Iranian music after Islamic Revolution: http://www.ipedr.com/vol20/74-ICHSC2011-M20058.pdf

Ameheh Youssefzadeh, The status of music in the Islamic Republic of Iran: http://fis-iran.org/en/irannameh/volxix/iran-status-music

The Guardian article "Something inside so strong": http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/16/popandrock-freedom-of-speech

Iran's Supreme Leader bans music: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/02/iran-supreme-leader-music-islam

read Sasha von Oldershausen blog for personal perspective on contemporary and future Iran

در این پروژه من تلاش برای خلق دنیای شخصی‌ خودم کرده ام. "سموم" باد بیابان است، فضای عجیبی‌ است به خاطر همین برای بیان عجایب تصاویر، چهره ها، صداها، بوها و اشیاء که آنها به شکندگی گلهای بیابان هستند، در عین حال برای بسیاری از ما کاملا ناشناخته اند و در خاطر من به دنبال سفرهایم از مغرب تا خاور میانه، از زمان‌های دور
زنده هستند. من را بر این داشت با الهام از "مجموعه ی مقام های عراقی" و مشورت با پروفسور رابرت سیممس دردانشگاه یورک تورنتو ، نقطه ی عطفی‌‌ برای بیان و ارائه آن دوران خلق کنم . همراه داشتن دوستان ایرانی‌، استاد سنتور، دوتار بشیر فرامزی و استاد تنبک، پدرام خاورزمینی باعث افتخار من در به حقیقت رساندن این پروژه می‌باشد. و شما را برای همراه شدن در این سفر فرا می‌خوانم.

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"Jozef Kapustka: Improvisations with Bashir" are available for sale in these selected retail stores worldwide:

producer/ sole distributor: Dux Record Producers, Poland

http://www.dux.pl/wyszukiwanie_pelne/wyniki/podglad/?pid=653

in the US:

Collector's choice http://www.ccmusic.com/music/cd/2636605/jozef-kapustka-improvisations-with-bashir

http://entertainment.sears.com/kapustka-faramarzi-khavarzamini-improvisations-with-bashir/5902547009421

http://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php?pid=2568758

http://entertainment.kmart.com/kapustka-faramarzi-khavarzamini-improvisations-with-bashir/5902547009421

http://www.heartlandmusic.com/music/2636605/jozef-kapustka-improvisations-with-bashir

http://www.blowitoutahere.com/kapustka-faramarzi-khavarzamini-improvisations-with-bashir/5902547009421

http://www.tfront.com/p-342976-improvisations-with-bashir.aspx

http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=1896117

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=994892

also on Naxos Canada: http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/Naxos_USA/vp_08.13_can1/2013072602/29.html#28

listed on Canada Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
page: http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Jozef-Kapustka

in Australia: http://www.bookworld.com.au/cd/jozef-kapustka-improvisations-with-bashir/42908958/

more links here: http://improvisationswithbashir.yolasite.com/

Buy "JOZEF KAPUSTKA: Improvisations with Bashir" on CD Universe http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8980865

More reading in Persian (Farsi):
http://www.jarchi.ir/up/Impros-with-Bashir-Faramarzi-and-Pedram-Khavarzamini-Jozef-
http://article.wn.com/view/WNATbfa8f0b1f94fc42345847db92da903c7/#/related_news

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