World music, with: Dutch Jazz, Canadian Gypsy and Belgian Sitar music.
1– HOT: Het Orgel Trio.
Through the album ‘Bird & Beyond’ it’s contemplated whether there is a future for the compositions of alto saxophonist Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker. They are harmonic master pieces, but at the same time so ‘perfect’ and ‘finished’, that they leave little room for innovation. However, HOT, consisting of Steve Kemperman on saxophone and clarinet, Berry van Berkum on the pipe organ and Dion Nijlad on double bass, saw the possibility to be innovative through the sound of the pipe organ. Melodies and fragments are torn apart and reassembled. What remains is this transformation: surprisingly accessible music, with engaging rhythms and melodies. CD. ‘Bird & Beyond’, HOT: Het Orgel Trio. Label: LopLop Records (2016), code: LLr044. Distributie: XANGO music. Video
2– Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra.
The group Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra is one of the best findings of modern day Montreal. Led by violinist Anit Ghosh, from India, and driven by the tuba of Julie Richard, this happy group of 18 musicians and dancers play music from the Balkan, the Carpathians, Israel and South America in a perfectly coordinated chaotic way. Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra even call for civil disobedience and sees the dance party as a revolutionary weapon. CD. ‘Revuelta Danza Party’, Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra. Label: Girovago Productions (2012), code: 23339-1812-2. Distributie: XANGO music. Video
3– Sitardust Octet.
Sitar player and composer Joachim Lacrosse is the founder of the ‘Sitardust’ project. The Belgium-Indian formation of the Sitardust Octet takes us on a long journey from Varanasi in North India to Bangalore where you’ll meet the refined South Indian rhythms, only to travel to Brussels and blend these with European classical folk and jazz aromas. It’s quite a journey for the listener, to take in al those stimulating, sensitive, insane and soft sounds of the instruments. CD. ‘Sitardust’, Sitardust Octet. Label: Homerecords.be (2016), code: 4446754. Video
