From Violinist Layale Chaker, Two Ensembles, Two Superb Albums

Lebanese-American violinist and composer, Layale Chaker starts off 2024 with a pair of releases with two different ensembles. These coincide with the premiere of Chaker's first opera Ruinous Gods at the Spoleto Festival USA . The albums are equally enchanting—there is not a more suitable adjective than that—and they are both in Chaker's signature style that is an elegant fusion of Western classical, Arabic and spontaneous music..

Layale Chaker and Sarafand
Radio Afloat
In the Circle
2024.

On Radio Afloat Chaker fronts her band Sarafand, the same one that appeared on her critically acclaimed Inner Rhyme (In A Circle, 2019). It also features all of her original compositions that Lebanese modernist poet Onsi El Hajj's work inspired. Opening with Chaker's haunting vocals "Intro....and From the Dove I Raised Myself" sets the ambience for this nine-part suite. Chaker's voice floats over keyboardist Phillip Golub's microtonal chords and cellist Jake Charkey's and bassist Sam Minaie's emotive drone.

The contemplative and dramatic mood continues on "Anatomie of Titus-I-Fall of Rome." Chaker plays the melody, infused with Levantine lyricism, with agility and grace. The others join with overlapping lines creating a dense and buoyant backdrop to the violinist's fiery phrases. Drummer John Hadfield lays down a distinctly Middle Eastern cadence with his sonorous beats and thrums. This rhythmic framework drives "Anatomie of Titus -II -Quasi Samai" as the violin sashays with sensual poetry while the piano introduces cooler and distinctly Western tonalities. The result is a sublime melange of musical heritages. Hadfield's unique and energetic solo bisects the tune.

Meanwhile "Ocean to Ocean" opens with Chaker singing ElHajj's poignant words with a wistful touch over Golub's sparse chords. The contrast between Chaker's undulating chant and the piano's resonant notes creates an undercurrent of mysticism that carries over to the next track. "Sketch-Unraveled" that follows is another successful mix of the various styles with Golub's improvisation, that Minaie and Hadfield support, being distinctly jazz rooted while Chaker and Charkey's con arco work sways between Arabic and American music.

The moving and forlorn "Nocturne" closes Radio Afloat on a melancholic note. The piece is a, five-way, musing with each musician demonstrating her or his individuality while maintaining an exquisite synergy. The collective performance, with its many parts, is an apt conclusion to this sublime work. Whoever said "East is East and West is West and the twain shall not meet" had not listened to Chaker and Sarafand.

ETHEL and Layale Chaker
Vigil
In the Circle
2024

Vigil is the first collaboration between Chaker and the contemporary string quartet ETHEL. The music here is significantly closer to the Western tradition laced with folk influences than it is to an improvisational paradigm. Extemporization, however, remains part of the group's creative process. Sandwiched between originals by ETHEL members is the centerpiece, Chaker's five-movement title composition.

Inspired by the Lebanese popular uprising of October 2019, that brought down the government but, alas, failed to make any lasting changes, "Vigil" expresses the mix of emotions that Chaker felt during those fateful days.

The first movement "Of Thirst" is uplifting and energetic with an expectant mood. The violins bounce their sharp, crystalline refrains off of the viola and cello's resonant vamps The melody meanders over martial pizzicato beats as a dramatic ambience ensues. The second, "Vigil," opens hauntingly as long drones overlap and maintain the tension of its predecessor. It has almost a crepuscular quality, an eerie and modern nocturne like a city at night where a major event is brewing.

The energetic and buoyant "Of Fire" follows with passion and crackles with spontaneity. The overlapping individual voices paint a colorful picture of anger mixed with hope and exuberance. The wistful "Later that night..." finds Chaker soloing with introspection with occasional collective refrains giving this penultimate part a cinematic atmosphere. The lyrical interplay between the Arabic-influenced bowing and softly thumping plucked strings makes this the most expressive of the suite. The "Interlude and Epilogue" concludes this singular work on a hopeful note reflecting human resilience.

Violinist Kip Jones contributed the effervescent and fiery "Teen Mania." The rise and fall of the ensemble performance at times is akin to an Irish jig. Indeed Celtic influences abound throughout the track. It is refreshingly exciting and intriguingly complex and multilayered. In contrast, cellist Dorothy Lawson's tense and gripping "The Demon Within" is deftly constructed out of collective string drones and silent pauses. The sonic swells add a delightfully ominous layer to the ebb and flow of the music. The violist Ralph Farris penned the impressionistic "Novembers" that consists of a sinewy core melody of repeating motifs. Opening and closing with darker hues, the tune nevertheless becomes almost symphonic in character with, at times, Eastern hints. Meanwhile, as expected, "Salla Fina Llahdu" by the ill-fated composer Sayyid Darwish (considered the father of popular Egyptian music) is replete with Arabic themes. Chaker's arrangement maintains the buoyant intro and coda and expresses with vibrancy the mournful and emotive middle.

Violinist Corin Lee wrote the dynamic "Sketka." Its poignant violin solo, occasionally flirting with dissonance, and percussive backdrop thrill and move. With its Levantine influences is the apt conclusion this provocative and captivating recording. Chaker and ETHEL have found kindred spirits in one another, hopefully more will come from this shared creative vision.

Tracks and Personnel

Radio Afloat

Tracks: Intro -..."and from the dove I raised myself"; Anatomie of Titus -I -Fall of Rome; Anatomie of Titus -II -Quasi Samai; Khab Nisan; Interlude; Ocean to Ocean; Sketch -Unraveled; Southern Sky; Nocturne.

Personnel: Layale Chaker: violin, voice; Jake Charkey: cello; Phillip Golub: piano, microtonal keyboard; Sam Minaie: bass; John Hadfield: drums

Vigil

Tracks: Novembers; Vigil -I. Of Thirst; Vigil -II. Vigil; Vigil -III. Of Fire; Vigil -IV. Later that night, I held an atlas in my lap; Vigil -V. Interlude and Epilogue; Teen Mania; Salla Fina Llahdu; The Demon Within; Sketka.

Personnel: Layale Chaker: violin; ETHEL: Ralph Farris: viola; Kip Jones: violin; Dorothy Lawson: cello; Corin Lee: violin.

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