This is a great recording of two groups from widely different cultures & traditions who have worked together for some time & it really works. Saw them play together at London's Barbican last year, brilliant! It just goes to show that great musicianship transcends imagined distances.
"Music is a huge place," violinist David Harrington once said, and no ensemble has explored vaster territories, or returned with more trophies, than the Kronos Quartet. Harrington founded the polymorphous string quartet in 1973 and nearly 40 years later, it is still going strong, even if its members have evolved from revolutionary upstarts to elders of the field. Harrington calls himself "a collector of musical experiences," and by now his ample storerooms contain Medieval polyphony,… more »
The three fascinating new albums on the Smithsonian Folkways imprint that are devoted to the Music of Central Asia (volumes seven, eight and nine in an ongoing series, for those keeping score) might have been titled "Music of the 'Stans." The compilations range from the musics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, into India, and then around the world to expatriate communities in New York and California. One album sets poetry composed hundreds of years… more »
