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Mazen Kerbaj
Giancarlo Nino Locatelli: A Decent Run
by Mark Corroto
Who needs poetry in an age of internet memes, infinite scrolling and artificial intelligence? Poems ask us to linger over words, to discover meaning in silence as much as in language. Memes, by contrast, are consumed in an instant and forgotten just as quickly. We live in a culture that increasingly prizes immediacy over reflection, image over text and distraction over contemplation. So who still needs poetry? Italian clarinetist Giancarlo Nino Locatelli makes a compelling case that we all do. ...
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Maurice Louca: Saet El-Hazz
by Neri Pollastri
Un disco davvero assai singolare questo Saet El-Hazz (The Luck Hour), il quarto del multistrumentista e compositore egiziano Maurice Louca, che vi sintetizza gli esiti della sua multiforme ricerca nella musica sperimentale, elettronica e tradizionale del suo paese, guidando una formazione con strumenti quasi esclusivamente occidentali (a parte dei metallofoni di origine indonesiana) senza tuttavia concedere quasi alcunché alla nostra sensibilità armonica e melodica. La formazione messa assieme da Louca--che qui si limita a dirigere e suonare una ...
Continue ReadingDas B: Canopy
by Mark Corroto
The free improvisational quartet Das B releases its first recording Canopy, taken from a live performance at the Festival Konfrontationen, in Nickelsdorf, Austria 2017. Formed in 2015, the 'B' refers to Berlin, the nexus of activity for the four musicians heard here. The two Australians, drummer Tony Buck and bassist Mike Majkowski, join the Beirut-born trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj and Berlin-native pianist Magda Mayas in what is a natural development of the musicians' ongoing Berlin collaborations. Buck, maybe best known for ...
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