It may be my age, but those moments when a piece of music really hits me in the solar plexus seem to get rarer and rarer. But during my recent extended travels in India I was metaphorically punched time and time again when listening to ECM's Codona recordings on headphones. Recent posts have touched on the potential of virtual concert halls and the fact that no one mixes for speakers these days , and the Manfred Eicher produced Codona sessions from between 1978 and 1982 really demonstrate the impact of the up close and personal sound of headphones . The line up for Codona was African-American trumpeter Don Cherry, Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, and Colin Walcott on sitar, tabla, hammered dulcimer, sanza, timpani, and voice. The band took its name from a circus trapeze act of the early 20th century called the Flying Codonas , and the three albums packaged by ECM for CD as The Codona Trilogy capture the peerless musicians-beyond-frontiers performing their creative hig
Comments
I really do not understand why those Londoners are programming Hugh Masakela. I’ve listened to his Music and frankly speaking : I didn’t like it.
Threre’s much better in South Africa. Take for instance Dollar Brand , i e Abdullah Ibrahim. A great artist.
Just listen to “ Good News From Africa”. A masterpiece. It’s http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/2048.htm
He’s very serious. He wants his Music to be respected. He doesn’t start playing as long as there is noise in the concert hall.
My guess is that he’s not that well known in the UK. When he was in exile ( apartheid) he lived in Germany. He keeps playing all over Europe ( mostly in Germany). He now has a small institute at the Cape Town University.
You can find info on pianist Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Ibrahim
and most of all : http://www.abdullahibrahim.com/indexf.html
The Guardian said : http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2001/dec/08/jazz
I think you’ll like this Music.
BT