Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble

Songs: Makam Ussak [excerpt]^* + Makam Toronto

Recorded at Aga Khan Museum, April 15, 2023.

Labyrinth Ensemble - Makam Ussak [excerpt]

Labyrinth Ensemble - Makam Toronto

It's always a delight to be able to catch the Labyrinth Ensemble in full flight. Once more, this concert was based on the principle of bringing in a world-class expert (in this case, Greek mandolinist Evgenios Voulgaris) to spend some intensive rehearsal time with the group before presenting what they've learned to the public. Voulgaris brought a selection of 17th-century works collected by Romanian prince Dimitrie Cantemir, showcasing the cultural connections being forged in the court of the Ottoman Empire. The show was presented as a pair of suites, each united by a particular makam, or mode, with the ensemble seguing from one piece to the next by honing in on individual members, giving everyone space in the foreground before showing how their sound is woven into the larger perspective. The first piece here highlights MFS fave Naomi McCarroll-Butler's saxophone work while the latter is a brand new piece (in the combiniation-of-things "Toronto mode") that Voulgaris wrote for the group while in the city.

The full ensemble for this show was: Evgenios Voulgaris – oud and yaylı tambur; Sadaf Amini – santur; Yang Chen – riqq, bendir; Burak Ekmekci – baglama; Michael K. Harrist – yayli tanbur; Pedram Khavarzamini – tombak; Roa Lee – gayageum; Naomi McCarroll-Butler – saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet; John McKinnon – electric bass; Scott Peterson – upright bass; Araz Salek – tar; Marta Solek – cello and greek lyra; Tev Stevig – tanbur and oud; Aysel Taghi-Zada – violin; Amely Zhou – erhu.

[Labyrinth Ontario will be hosting an instrument library at City Hall as part of Doors Open Toronto next weekend (May 27th + 28th). Visitors are welcome to come by all weekend and explore the space and hear demonstrations!]

^* As mentioned above, this is a segment of the set-long suite of ussak music. Please leave a comment in you know the name(s) of the partricular piece(s)!

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared

Song: Layali el wasl

Recorded at the Aga Kham Museum, November 13, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared - Layali el wasl

An auspicious beginning to this new phase from Labyrinth Ontario, debuting their full ensemble for the first time. This concert (and the ones slated to follow) expand on Labyrinth's mandate to foster cultural exchanges and musical education, bringing in an esteemed artist-in-residence — in this case vocalist/oudist Lamia Yared — for a period of extended rehearsals to give the musicians a chance to really dig into the material. The results were excellent across the board as the group stretched out in a series of traditional Turkish and Arabic musical styles, finding space to give each of the members a chance for their own instrument to stand out.

The full ensemble for this show was: Sadaf Amini (santur), Yang Chen (percussion/hand drums), Burak Ekmekci (baglama), Michael K. Harrist (yayli tanbur), Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak), Roa Lee (gayageum), Naomi McCarroll-Butler (saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, sallow flute/konvovka), John McKinnon (bass), Scott Peterson (bass), Araz Salek (tar), Marta Solek (cello, Greek lyra, plock fiddle), Tev Stevig (tanbur, oud), Aysel Taghi-Zada (violin), and Amely Zhou (erhu).

If you have access to facebook you can (at this writing) still watch the excellent-sounding archived webstream.

screenshot from Aga Khan webstream.

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble (II) [Araz Salek, Amely Zhou, Yang Chen]

Song: [edited excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble (II) - [edited excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

The day was bookended by a pair of trios drawn from the larger Labyrinth Ensemble, joining musicians of different backgrounds together in deepening their understanding of modal traditions. This final grouping saw Labyrinth's Artistic Director Araz Salek (tar) joined by Amely Zhou (erhu) and Yang Chen (percussion). (The latter was a special delight, especially in the overlapping transition from the previous set that saw a two-note synth pattern matched by bowed vibraphone tones.) This was a quiet set to ease out the long day's droning (because of which my recording is accordingly a little lo-fi, by the way), and perhaps the most formally meticulous — exploring small incremental changes within a rigourous rhythmic framework. A reminder that "drone", so casually used as a catch-all musical category, has deep, deep roots in many musical traditions, based on centuries of joyful experimentation in how to keep humans entranced.