Recording: Kang-Kenney-Timar-Khavarzamini-Salek

Artist: Evyind Kang/Jessika Kenney/Andrew Timar/Pedram Khavarzamini/Araz Salek

Song: unknown title, in two parts^*

Recorded at Jam Factory (Intersection – Day 2), September 1, 2017.

Evyind Kang/Jessika Kenney/Andrew Timar/Pedram Khavarzamini/Araz Salek - unknown title, part 1

Evyind Kang/Jessika Kenney/Andrew Timar/Pedram Khavarzamini/Araz Salek - unknown title, part 2

In recent years, the Intersection Festival would normally consist of a paid concert, usually the night before the day-long extravaganza in Yonge-Dundas Square. This year, however, under the continued guidance of Burn Down The Capital's Tad Michalak the festival expanded to four events, including a pair of concerts at The Jam Factory.

When Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang last came to town, their set included an ad hoc throwdown with some local musicians, including suling player Andrew Timar. This time, that concept was more fully-fleshed out into a full-on new band, bringing in local ace Persian musicians Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak) and Araz Salek (tar). The resulting group mixed its Persian and Indonesian instrumentation with a mix of music traditions (even including some Korean round singing that Kenney & Kang had picked up on a recent trip there). Kenney's vocals (taken from Rumi's poetry and related sources) pulled everything together in the mystic haze of a modal trance. Hopefully this far-flung group will get more opportunities to dig deeper in these veins.

[You can see some footage from this set over at Brandon Caswell Douglas' Intersection playlist.]

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Andrew Timar & Bill Parsons

Artist: Andrew Timar & Bill Parsons

Song: Anjeun Redux in Three Wilet [composers: Bill Parsons/Andrew Timar/Nano S]^*

Recorded at Jam Factory ("The Music Gallery's Departures Series"), July 22, 2015.

Andrew Timar & Bill Parsons - Anjeun Redux in Three Wilet

A return of the Music Gallery's offsite "Departures" series headed across the Don Valley to Jam Factory, home of co-curator Tad Michalak's Feast in The East series. The brick-and-beam loft was a perfectly casual environment to settle in for some serene sounds and this pair of local gamelan experts provided some wonderfully minimal musical relaxation. Playing kacapi and suling (along with some subtle laptop manipulations) the pieces invoked both New Age spareness and Zen parables on the illusion of movement. Absolutely sublime.

^* Thanks to Andrew for passing along the title and instrumentation info for this piece, which you can see in the comment below.

Recording: INTERsection Ensemble

Artist: INTERsection Ensemble^*

Song: [excerpt from an improvisation]

Recorded at INTERsection (New Music Marathon 2011), Yonge-Dundas Square, September 3, 2011.

INTERsection Ensemble - [excerpt]

^* This is just a label for what was an ad hoc ensemble thrown together to fill in a timeslot after a rainstorm threw things out of whack a little, showing that the organizers were just as skillful at improvising as the musicians. You'll hear Andrew Timar (of the Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble) on flute here.