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ISHK BASHAD "LIVE AT WOMAD 2001"

                                Italian

Giuseppe Grifeo - piano, voice

Mouna Amari -voice, oud

Enzo Rao - violin

Peppe Consolmagno - voice, percussion

“Ishk Bashad” is one of the many forms of greeting used among some Sufi brotherhoods, the religious mystics of Islam.  It’s a greeting of peace and love.  The idea of forming a small ensemble that could unite musicians coming from different geographical areas (the Tunisian singer Mouna Amari, the Sicilians Enzo Rao and Giuseppe Grifeo and the percussionist Peppe Consolmagno whose musical bent starts from Brazil arriving in Africa, passing through the sounds of the world) was born both from the desire to build a virtual bridge between different and apparently distant musical experiences and from the common wish of the four musicians to translate into music the idea of peace and love expressed by the concept of Ishk Bashad.  Through joining the sultan of Arabic music, the oud, and the king of western music, the piano, wisely uniting the sounds of percussion and those of violin, Ishk Bashad embarks on a journey of distant cultures and musical traditions but that are bound by a profound oneness in a particular and unique dimension.  Most of the music presented in the CD, recorded live at the Festival Womad in August 2001 in Palermo , was composed by the pianist Giuseppe Grifeo.  The other tracks, rare compositions of Arab musicians and of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff  were arranged by the pianist and interpreted by the group. 

  1.  CHE VI SIA PACE  (Giuseppe Grifeo) 

Music as an instrument of peace and interaction between diverse peoples and cultures.

2.  SAMARRA   (Giuseppe Grifeo)

A homage to one of the historical cities of Iraq which today is partly destroyed by the stupidity of men and tomorrow forgotten because of their continued carelessness towards the wonders of the world. 

3.  YA  QALBI  KHALLI  ELHAL   (Mohamed Elkourd, arr.Giuseppe Grifeo)

One of the rare Arabic classical music compositions for the piano, written in the twenties, by the Algerian composer Mohamed Elkourd  and which shows clearly how such a rigid instrument like the piano is able to create atmospheres which are far from its structural capacities.

4.  ZINKOLAH  (Mamdou Bahiri) 

An unmistakable Arabic composition based on a specific Maqam, namely the zinkolah used as a game among various instruments in a decidedly strong and rhythmic atmosphere.

5.  GIANUB  (Mouna Amari)

A composition that follows the dictates of Arabic musical patterns but which makes room for an interpretation for pianoforte with marked creative connotations in a modal dimension.  In other words a correct union between Arabic and western musical cultures.

6.  DERVISH  (Giuseppe Grifeo) 

A small homage to the music of Georges Ivanovith Gurdjieff, a mystic dance teacher who lived in the first half of  1900s.  His composition, Exercise 1924 no. 6 from which the piece is taken, forms a moment of exploration towards atmospheres based on mixed rhythms that end up in a sweet and evocative Arabic song.