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!