Nicolas Meier: From Istanbul To Ceuta With A Smile

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Gilad Atzmon (ts, ss, cl, bcl, f)
Bernard Gregor-Smith (clo)
Demi Garcia (perc)
Asaf Sirkis (d)
Lizzie Bell (vln)
Pat Bettison (b, hca)
Nicolas Meier (g, glissentar)
James Pearson (p)

Label:

MGP Records

March/2013

Catalogue Number:

MGPPC009

RecordDate:

May-June 2012

For nearly a decade, Meier has worked joyously towards mixing Turkish, Arabic and various Eastern musics within a jazz-fusion medium. It may sound a curious smörgåsbord of musics, but it's not a facile quest: Meier's own family heritage is wide flung, and his Turkish wife remains his muse. Indeed, as the title suggests, this is Meier's most ‘Turkish’ release yet, featuring his talents on glissentar and baglama. His electric guitar is virtually absent, and instead he revels in the luscious bent notes and microtones available on the acoustic instruments. Meier's sound palette is as wide as his influences: Atzmon, who by his own admission is freer, more ecstatic on the recordings of others, plays an Eastern blues as only he can on the evocative requiem ‘Memories’, while pizzicato strings complement the tango-touched ‘The Gate’. But the recipe's never over egged: much of the fusiony fussiness has evaporated over the years, and Meier's solos, though still bogglingly full of notes, are now placed with a sense of drama and purpose that gives his voice a greater clarity. While some may mutter about ‘authenticity’, there's no doubting that this is authentic Meier music: in a world where difference is increasingly met with fear and aggression, the guitar man's celebratory embrace of all that is different in world music deserves a resounding hurrah.

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