Ara Dinkjian and Night Ark - Treasures
“Night Ark is perhaps the only ensemble to accord pop music and ethnic flavor without sounding superficial or silly, and without relinquishing either authenticity or success at the box office!” - International Herald Tribune
The music of Ara Dinkjian and Night Ark has served as somewhat of a revelation on the international music scene. Before record companies coined the terms “world music” and “new age,” Dinkjian was combining musical idioms from his own Armenian heritage with Western musical forms. Formed in 1985, Night Ark was introduced to a broad audience through its recordings on the RCA Novus series, from which this compilation was made. Reviewers were ecstatic and the group performed at sold out shows throughout Europe and the Middle East, opening the door for Dinkjian to appear at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and for Night Ark performances at the Istanbul Jazz Festival, Yerevan International Jazz Festival and Israel Festival in Jerusalem.
|
Ara Dinkjian - oud
Tamer Pinabasi - kanun
Ismail Lumanovski - clarinet
The Secret Trio is made up of three astounding musicians who came together to create a new type of chamber music, combining the elements of sound, texture and rhythm with new and interesting approaches to their instruments. Not bound to a single tradition, they perform a collection of original pieces and traditional melodies that fuses the microtonal modes and improvisation of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans, and elements of jazz, Rock, classical and world music. The delicate harmonies, rapid-fire synchrony and intricate counterpoint developed by a trio of musicians with separate roots in Turkish, Armenian and Macedonian Roma music is extraordinary. By inventing new ways to play percussively on fundamentally melodic instruments, the ensemble, full of rhythm and drive, harmony and counterpoint, never sounds like only three instruments. In that the energy of live music is essential to the ensemble’s ideology, this recording was made without the use of any overdubs in order to capture the excitement of their live concerts.
|