TIM RAYBORN: Qadim

Tim Rayborn

Qadim

© 2004 Kalamindar Productions (782478912329)

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Music and improvisations for solo instruments, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and the Ancient World. 14 pieces played on 14 instruments for taksim dancing, meditation, and enjoyment.

notes

Tim Rayborn: 'ud, psaltery, dutar, simsimiyya, saz, kithara, lauta, qanun, tar, krar, sehtâr, kinnor, robâb, santur

The art of performance by a solo instrument has a long and honored tradition in the regions of the world explored on this recording. The intimate focus of a single source of music provides a very different aesthetic to what modern listeners in the Western world are accustomed. Middle Eastern dancers prize such pieces (often played in a free rhythm and known as taqasim); solo instrumentals are used as a part of spiritual devotion, and can also be enjoyed purely as art or folk music.

Qadim is an Arabic word referring to music performed in an "old style", according to traditional concepts. Indeed, two of the works here are among the oldest known music to survive: two songs from Ancient Greece invoking the muses, and a 3,500-year-old hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal, from Ugarit, an ancient city (located in modern Syria) connected to the Babylonian Empire.

The other pieces are original compositions, mostly improvised at the time they were recorded, and created in various styles from a wide range of geographical locations. Though I always try to reflect an authentic feel in each piece, I have also added my own ideas and musical motifs to put my individual "stamp" on them.

Of the 14 pieces on this CD, seven are played on lutes, and seven on harps and zithers, alternating with each other for contrast.

reviews

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  • Beautiful solo instrumentals
    author: DrummerBoyJason

    When you play solo music on an acoustic instrument subtle sounds and feelings, that are often missed in larger arrangements, come out. The music never feels lacking, even without the drone or percussive backing that often accompanys solo instrumentals. Speaking for the music itself, it spans many different regions and traditions from Africa, to the Middle East, to Greece. It is played on instruments from the lute and harp/zither families alternating from one to the other by track, thus creating a contrast. The music is just all around good music, and the fact that it in no way feels "westernized" at any time is a plus.

  • Excellent Variety
    author: Arianna Azure

    I love the variety of rythmns on this cd. I feel like I am transported back in time. I dance to every song.

  • Excellent!
    author: Aquablood

    I belly dance and this is some amazing music.. very well done. Got this CD and popped it in right away! Listened to it for hours and hours, great stuff!

  • author: CD Baby

    Performing on the families of lutes, harps and zithers, including the 'ud, psaltery, dutar, simsimiyya, saz, kithara, lauta, qanun, tar, krar, sehtâr, kinnor, robâb, and santur, Tim Rayborn gives us a transcendental look into the heart, culture and beauty of the Middle East through these evocative, moving pieces. Among these works are striking originals as well as two of the oldest known pieces to survive: two songs from Ancient Greece and as Rayborn points out in the album, "a 3,500 year-old hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal, from Ugarit, an ancient city located in modern Syria, connected to the Babylonian Empire." This is an album that captures the imagination and takes the heart and mind back in time to the fertile crescent, from where so much of our modern world owes its origin.

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