ktlight
6th August 2011, 17:19
The rich strains of eastern music have for centuries wafted across the rooftops of old Lahore. Now you might hear something new: jazzy riffs and a bossa nova beat.
An ensemble of veteran Pakistani musicians has pulled off an unlikely coup – storming western charts with an innovative jazz album and prompting comparisons with Buena Vista Social Club's rediscovery of a lost generation of Cuban musicians.
The Sachal Studios Orchestra has captured imaginations with a cover of Dave Brubeck's Take Five blending sweeping classical violins with sitars, tablas and other eastern instruments.
The piece has brought praise from jazz greats – Brubeck, 90, says it is "the most interesting" version of Take Five he's ever heard – and propelled the orchestra's album towards the top of the iTunes jazz charts in the US and UK. The album, which includes versions of The Girl from Ipanema, Misty and Desafinado, reached the top 10 in both countries.
"I'm so excited," said Riaz Hussain, the 55-year-old violinist who arranged the music. "I don't have words to express how I feel."
Recording at premises on the edge of Lahore's walled city, the 60-strong orchestra mixes local legends with musicians recently enticed out of retirement, some from lives of poverty. Few knew much about jazz before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLF46JKkCNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLF46JKkCNg
source
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/pakistan-musicians-top-western-charts-jazz
An ensemble of veteran Pakistani musicians has pulled off an unlikely coup – storming western charts with an innovative jazz album and prompting comparisons with Buena Vista Social Club's rediscovery of a lost generation of Cuban musicians.
The Sachal Studios Orchestra has captured imaginations with a cover of Dave Brubeck's Take Five blending sweeping classical violins with sitars, tablas and other eastern instruments.
The piece has brought praise from jazz greats – Brubeck, 90, says it is "the most interesting" version of Take Five he's ever heard – and propelled the orchestra's album towards the top of the iTunes jazz charts in the US and UK. The album, which includes versions of The Girl from Ipanema, Misty and Desafinado, reached the top 10 in both countries.
"I'm so excited," said Riaz Hussain, the 55-year-old violinist who arranged the music. "I don't have words to express how I feel."
Recording at premises on the edge of Lahore's walled city, the 60-strong orchestra mixes local legends with musicians recently enticed out of retirement, some from lives of poverty. Few knew much about jazz before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLF46JKkCNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLF46JKkCNg
source
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/pakistan-musicians-top-western-charts-jazz