Mohamed Ali Farhani

« Le nom de Mohamed Ali semble désormais évoquer à lui seul le combat des hommes, l’insoumission. Comme si la vie était un ring. C’est pourquoi il fascine tant jusqu’aux générations qui n’étaient pas nées, et jusqu’au bout du monde.
Il y a deux ans, France Culture me demandait de le raconter sous la forme d’une Grande Traversée, une série documentaire de dix heures. Je me suis mise en quête de témoins directs et nous sommes partis sur les routes américaines à la rencontre d’un journaliste sportif du New York Times en retraite, d’un Imam d’Indianapolis, …

Mohamed Ali (1942-2016), né Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., est un personnage hors du commun. Premier boxeur à devenir triple champion du monde poids lourds, il est autant connu pour un style de combat qui n’appartient qu’à lui, incarné dans son célèbre slogan « flotte comme un papillon, pique comme une abeille», que pour ses prises de position et ses déclarations fracassantes. …

This double-album presents Amjad Ali Khan’s compositions for Sarod and Violin as a collection comprising the works previously premiered in three separate albums. The recordings included in this collection represent the culmination of a collaboration that came about through a serendipitous meeting of the artists in 2014 – Amjad Ali Khan, the Titan of the sarod, straddling two centuries, universally venerated as one of the greatest living Indian musicians in any genre; his sons, disciples and widely acclaimed sarod virtuosi in their own right, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash; and the distinguished American violinist Elmira Darvarova, herself a historical figure as the first ever (and so far only) woman-concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York.

Some people would quickly run away from the music of someone who claims to admire the music of Berg, Crumb, and Cage. Franguiz Ali-Zadeh admires all of those composers and uses similar techniques in her composition, but she also finds inspiration in the music of her native Azerbaijan. With all of this, she creates especially evocative, picturesque works that invite listening more than once. Oasis, the opening work on this disc of her music featuring the Kronos Quartet, begins extremely quietly with water droplets, and then the quartet enters with desolate harmonics, depicting the desolation of the desert. Later in the piece, voices of those taking refuge in the oasis are heard. Ali-Zadeh's music is full of sounds beyond that of the traditionally played instruments of the string quartet and the piano, sounds that enhance and become part of the music. Sometimes it is techniques such as pizzicato, harmonics, col legno, or preparing or playing the strings of the piano; other times it is added instruments, as in Mugam Sayagi, or recorded sound, as in Oasis.

By the mid-'90s, Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré was expanding his signature acoustic African blues by changing his instrumental palette and collaborating with Western musicians like Ry Cooder (as on 1994's Talkin' Timbuktu). While Touré gained prominence during this period, many die-hard fans tout the artist's earliest work as his strongest. The double-disc set Red & Green brings together two albums originally released by the French label Sonodisc between the mid- and late '80s. The original vinyl versions were long out of print and difficult to find, until their issue here on World Circuit/Nonesuch. Both albums are entirely acoustic (Touré didn't introduce an electric guitar until 1991's The Source), with minimal accompaniment on calabash and ngoni (a traditional four-string guitar), which perfectly complements Touré's percussive guitar style and plaintive, keening vocals.