Often (in case you hadn’t noticed) I stumble into the topic of a weekly jazz jam diary by what some would call random chance, and others (who would say “nothing ever happens totally randomly”) by synchronicity. I tend to side with the latter, if for no other reason than that it’s emotionally comforting to think one’s life is not totally random, LOL.
This week’s installment of destino is after the fold…
Which is a lot of words to say that I’m going to revisit a current jazz artist that I’ve mentioned a while back, namely 32 year old Vijay Iyer. The synchronicity comes into play in that I checked out a CD of his, “In What Language?” from the library this week, and then while noodling around on line at Wikipedia looking for a topic I ran across his name again. At which point I more or less said “Aha! This is the sign I’ve been looking for” and the pieces of this diary started to come together. When I found out he had a CD, “Raw Materials,” that recently (May 23, 2006) was issued, that clinched the deal. So here we are…
The micro-biography
Born and raised in Rochester, NY to immigrant parents from India, with a master’s in physics from UC-Berkeley and a training in classical violin, pianist Iyer has what the Boston Globe describes as “a gripping, thought-provoking sound and a body of work that includes straight-ahead post-bop efforts, avant-garde collective improvisation, and collaborations with poets, rappers, and DJs.” (more details at diary linked above)
“In What Language?”
I’m giving the biography short shrift because I want to tell you about the music. The CD from the library is the 2004 album “In What Language?” which turned out to be a surprise, as from the outside you can’t tell much about what’s inside. What’s inside is a CD that likely will raise eyebrows if the watchers are monitoring your library or buying habits. Here’s the advertising blurb description:
Vijay Iyer’s genre-defying collaboration with poet/hip-hop artist Mike Ladd is a series of monologues by people of color negotiating the hyper-globalized setting of an international airport. Featuring an eleven-member ensemble of musicians and speaking voices, this is the album version of the acclaimed multi-media performance piece of the same name.
…Which sounds progressive, but not subversive… So try these reviews out:
“…it’s that elusive thing, underground political music that sounds good… a breakthrough hip-hop-jazz fusion… it’s one of the smartest I’ve heard, and one of the few that really works.” – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
“…an ambitious protest for a belittling time… The airport, with its relentless energy of coming and going, is the perfect site for the pair’s commentary on lives in transition… In What Language? succeeds by not wearing its political views on its sleeve but offering them slyly, through the feeling the performance evokes.” – The Village Voice
What could have been the inspiration for this work? You can read the entire liner notes here, but here’s the gist of it:
This project takes its title from a pre-9-11 experience of the Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, in spring 2001 while traveling from a festival in Hong Kong to one in Buenos Aires. Transiting through JFK, he was detained by INS officials, shackled to a bench in a crowded cell for several hours, and ultimately sent back to Hong Kong in handcuffs. Panahi’s description of this ordeal was widely circulated online. He wanted to explain his story to fellow passengers: “I’m not a thief! I’m not a murderer! … I am just an Iranian, a filmmaker. But how could I tell this, in what language?” (a more detailed description of the incident is available here)
As fellow brown-skinned travelers, we could not ignore this tale. It became a point of departure for what this project became: a song cycle about people in airports, narratives of lives in transit. Filtered through our hyphenated perspectives, these stories are airport myths, documenting the experiences of the new global worker.
I find it noteworthy that Panahi’s experience was pre-9-11. It’s easy today to forget that while 9-11 may have been the start of a sad chapter in our history, from another perspective it was just the culmination of a storm that has been brewing since at least 1980, more likely 1945 or earlier; the bitter fruit of generations of toxic relations between the US and the Muslim world. But back to the music. This is a powerful CD; and not always an easy listen (nor should it be). The music, however, is very well done, adding powerfully to the lyrics and never distracting form them.
“The great success of ‘In What Language?’ can be measured by the seamlessness with which Ladd’s verse meets Iyer’s music. The strength of their collaborative efforts can hardly be overstated… The marriage of sound and word are so complete that it becomes impossible to imagine one component of the project without the other… a tour de force… Steeped in the language of South Asian and pan-African culture but trafficking in universal impulses…” – JazzTimes
“…a monumental work that seamlessly combines sound and voice for an artistic statement that should reverberate for years to come… simply a masterpiece” – Signal to Noise
4 1/2 stars, out of 5 – Downbeat
Here’s a sample of the lyrics; the song is “Inanna After Baghdad.” As described in the Village Voice: The poem is named after the Mesopotamian goddess of life, and is narrated by someone seeing her appear, disappear, and reappear throughout history. As if to suggest that divinity has been defeated by human folly, the poem, which is the only one that is explicitly about the war, ends with Inanna trudging through deserted Baghdad streets, tears trailing behind her righteous steps. Go find this CD and check it out for yourself.
I saw her in the market
Her skin and dates in her wax palm
Matched in shaded sunUruk or Nippur, impossible to recall
They are sand and wind that mound to tells(1)
Yet she was thereAnd here below the innards of a ghost
That was earth, these black clouds of oil
I see her walk in the road in the absence of dunesIn this deceived Eden of grass and palms
She like I has no tongue, no limbs
To gesture tired historyThe horror is in brown pools of song
That wail where her eyes once were
A well of time over providence
[(1) a “tell” is a hill containing the remains of a buried ancient village or city]
“Raw Materials”
“Raw Materials” is Iyer’s latest CD, a disk of duets with long-time collaborator saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.
The piano-sax collaboration led to a profile of both musicians in the Wall Street Journal (yes, you can access this bit of the WSJ for free) that I recommend if you’re interested in learning more about these artists.
A (favorable) review focused more on the music itself is available here.
MP3s of a selection of pieces from several Iyer CDs are available at his website, here, including the two CDs discussed above. Four tracks from “Raw Materials” can also be heard here. Go have a listen and come back to share your impressions.
And there’s other work from Iyer, in trios, quartets, solo… I don’t have space to profile all the albums, but you can find out more about all of them here, and it’s well worth an explore. This is one musician we’ll be hearing a lot from in the future.
One last thought – while exploring Iyer’s website I found a link to a new performance piece, “Still Life With Commentator,” which recently had its world premier at UNC-Chapel Hill [Great school, great town. Full disclosure: Got my masters there, and met and married Mrs. K. P. there, so I’m a bit partial. And I can’t forget to add that UNC-CH is in the College World Series finals this weekend!! – Go Tar Heels!!]. Anyway, “Still Life With Commentator” is in Europe now, and will come to New York in December. It also sounds like something of interest to BooFrogs:
A collaboration between composer-pianist Vijay Iyer, poet-librettist-performer Mike Ladd, and conceptual artist-theater director Ibrahim Quraishi, Still Life with Commentator is a lyrical, darkly comic transmedia performance-opera examining the role of the audience and the media in modern warfare.
Have a good week, and keep cool.
