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Balke's CD Negotiates Boundaries
A new CD by Norwegian composer Jon Balke draws its inspiration from the mixture of religions and ethnicities found in medieval Spain. But the album, Siwan,, is really about negotiating boundaries in our own time.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
The word Siwan means balance or equilibrium in a language used hundreds of years ago by Muslims in southern Spain. It's also the title of a new CD. It comes from the Norwegian composer and pianist Jon Balke and the Moroccan singer Amina Alaoui.
As our reviewer Banning Eyre found, the music connects traditions of North Africa and Europe and blends old music with a contemporary sound.
(Soundbite of music)
BANNING EYRE: When Jon Balke was asked to compose a work bridging classical jazz and world music, he hardly knew where to start. He wanted something new, not just a layering of disparate elements. Eventually, Balke took inspiration from the cultural equilibrium found in medieval Moorish Spain, or as it was known: Al-Andalus.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. AMINA ALAOUI (Singer): (Singing foreign language)
EYRE: That's the voice of Amina Alaoui of Morocco. Alaoui's family traces its ancestry back to Al-Andalus, a world in which Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures mingled deliciously. But after Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain some 500 years ago, people and traditions scattered. Morocco's Andalusian music has remained vibrant, while Europe mostly tried to forget its Arab-tinged past. Remnants remain in the form of instruments like the violin and the lute, but we have little idea what the real music of Al-Andalus sounded like.
(Soundbite of song, "A La Dina Dana")
Ms. ALAOUI: (Singing foreign language)
EYRE: On the CD "Siwan," the feeling of early music comes through clearly on "A La Dina Dana," an onomatopoetic praise song to a divine queen. Soon, though, Alaoui shifts the vocal to create cross rhythms that feel almost improvised.
(Soundbite of song, "A La Dina Dana")
Ms. ALAOUI: (Singing foreign language)
EYRE: Jon Balke has no interest in reconstructing Andalusian music. For him, the era is a jumping-off point to new imaginings. The album's strongest link to the actual Al-Andalus is the period poetry that Alaoui interprets with her plainchant vocal. Balke's consort renders this hedonistic ode to drinking wine at sunset as a spare tone poem.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. ALAOUI: (Singing foreign language)
EYRE: This CD makes a daring approach to controversial history. The music evokes medieval Spain, but it's performed by musicians with radically different ethnic backgrounds and training. In the end, "Siwan" is really about negotiating boundaries of genre, faith and culture in our own time.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. ALAOUI: (Singing foreign language)
SIEGEL: Banning Eyre is senior editor at afropop.org. The album is called "Siwan" by Jon Balke and Amina Alaoui.
(Soundbite of music)
Ms. ALAOUI: (Singing foreign language)
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