Aiskander

AISKANDER is a Polish jazz composer, arranger, reharmonizer, as well as guitarist, improviser, and music producer. He founded the Wrocław-based vocal and instrumental ensemble Mistrz Allegro, and is also the owner and founder of the Polish independent record label illumination Music. The artist mainly performs instrumental jazz-funk, jazz fusion, and world music.

The willingness to improve the creative process inspired Aiskander to work on his own material. In mid-2009 Aiskander recorded his first solo album Tysięczna część radości. The opening songs Róża wiatrów, Fantazja and twelve other compositions woven around the melodic sound of a classical guitar announced the direction continued in the next two albums. His third long-play and the albums: Idylla, Furta and Nostalgia stand out because of the multitude of instruments used to record them. Apart from the well-known ones it is worth to mention: the marimba, the English horn, the Chinese violin - Erhu, or the Persian santoor. According to Aiskander the use of unconventional instruments is inspiring and has a significant impact on the audience.

The variety of musical techniques and forms, visible in the composer's recent works, clearly fit into the movement of avant-garde and pop art. Aiskander goes beyond the constraints of tonality. As he says himself: Resigning from the tonal system offers more freedom when working. The repetitiveness of musical forms and the tonal understanding of melody and harmony limit the emotions and imagination of both the composer and the audience.

A musical analysis of his previous albums made Aiskander think of them as a kind of study for his current artistic activity. Just as at the beginning of his activity, the author returned to the use of irregularly compound metric schemes, a groove and a syncopated rhythm in his compositions. This had a direct impact on the character of the contemporary sounding compositions. Aiskander currently performs mainly instrumental jazz-funk. In his music, he uses various techniques, including harmonization and reharmonization, voicings, alterations, close and open structures, groove, syncopated rhythm, irregular or compound metres, and polymetry. The result is music that is rich in diversity, with a whole range of musical forms. Aiskander intricately plans each layer of the piece in order to achieve a compact arrangement, the main feature of which is and has always been to get closer to the high culture. Drawing inspiration from folk music of various cultures, from classical - mainly modernism - music, as well as from avant-garde jazz, jazz fusion, and progressive rock, has significantly influenced his current style.

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