Not Two, by Amir ElSaffar / Rivers of Sound

Not Two

by Amir ElSaffar / Rivers of Sound

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minyasthemooch This Album is Fantastic. And the Group was Amazing at the Newport Jazz Fest! Favorite track: Shards of Memory/B Half Flat Fantasy.

Bertrand Redon This one put me into the trumpet since 2021, and i didn't even listened to it through more than ten times yet. I Love these improvisations. It just sticked. I am glad it exists.
Favorite track: Shards of Memory/B Half Flat Fantasy.

more...

	Ya Ibni, Ya Ibni (My son, my son) 00:00 / 12:25

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

Beautiful double CD comes with a 12-page booklet with extensive liner notes, including a long essay by Amir about the creation of and ideas behind the album.

Includes unlimited streaming of Not Two via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

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Double 12" Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Beautiful double LP comes with a full-size 12-page booklet with extensive liner notes, including a long essay by Amir about the creation of and ideas behind the album.

Includes unlimited streaming of Not Two via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

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1.	Iftitah 11:14
2.	Jourjina Over Three 07:13	buy track
3.	Penny Explosion 12:45
4.	Ya Ibni, Ya Ibni (My son, my son) 12:25	buy track
5.	Layl (Night) 10:40	buy track
6.	Hijaz 21/8 09:39	buy track
7.	Shards of Memory/B Half Flat Fantasy 16:14	buy track
8.	Bayat Declamation 06:14	buy track

about

Not Two is from Iraqi-American trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and composer Amir ElSaffar, who has mastered disparate musical styles and created a singular approach to combining aspects of Middle Eastern music with American jazz, extending the boundaries of each tradition. Described “as a rising star-[trumpeter] and rising star-arranger,” (Downbeat Magazine), ElSaffar’s project involving Rivers of Sound Orchestra presents 17 musicians from a broad spectrum of traditions; together, the group creates an entirely new musical language that transcends established notions of style and convention. In performing Not Two, a composition by ElSaffar, each musician in the Rivers of Sound orchestra interacts with the group to create a new approach to transcultural music through the combination of improvisation and composition, the merging of musical languages, maqam and polyphony, and the novelty of the sound.

Using resonance as its governing principle, Not Two incorporates elements of maqam modal music of the Middle East with jazz and other contemporary musical practices to create a unique microtonal musical environment that moves beyond the notions of style and tradition into a realm of uninhibited musical communication.

The highest ideal in maqam music is to reach a state of tarab, or “musical ecstasy,” which results from the melting away of borders between a notion of self and other, as performers and audience revel together in the music. As pitches and rhythms become fluid, so do cultural boundaries: elements that traditionally divide musicians and genre-specific modes are re-contextualized in a fresh transcultural soundscape. Appropriately, All About Jazz described the experience as one “that flows naturally, a musical picture after another, enveloping you like a warm south wind.”

This ideal is central to the music on Not Two.

credits

released June 16, 2017

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