Re: Concert

Much too much emotions and thoughts involved to write a normal entry. Let me remind myself that this blog is for my practice purposes and not much more. But this is one of the more daring moves since last year: I left the Chakavak Ensemble that I helped build up. Tonight I went to their second concert (first without me). So you get the idea, these lines are possibly heavily biased.

Musically speaking, the ensemble was very well-rehearsed, and well-balanced and the technique was quite excellent. The tone of the ensemble (with the presence of the lower range instruments, Oud and Bass-Tar as well as violin) was similar to Takht (like Arab sound), and was good.

Also the mood (hal, spirit), the creation, the urge, the thrust was missing, the performers were playing their lines perfectly for most of the time, but in the faces seemed bored, unmoved, unexcited.

One wonders if the amazing vocalist that I know, would have done much better had he been given time to warm up. The little (about 5 minutes) bit of Avaz was quite good, and uses of human voice, and declamation were very good ideas, which didn't get anywhere. That is, they were not followed through organically, and one felt unsatisfied.

There was a rhythmic ("percussive" as written in the program) that was not nearly as cleanly done as the other pieces, and was lacking, thought the percussion players were good. But there were lots of little gestures (say finger cymbals and clave and tambourine) that wasn't quite clear what their musical function was.

In any case, not to forget my reasons for the blog, I was left unmoved by the music, despite the appreciation of the hard work. It was also a good reminder to me what being part of the Chakavak Ensemble was like, (headaches of differnent sort and a great deal of ego clash) and was reassured that I had made a move in the right direction. Glad I made it to the concert!