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MUSIC
The Asylum Street Spankers made old songs sparkle Thursday at Iota.
(Asylumstreetspankers.com)
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Upcoming performances at the festival, which runs through Monday afternoon, will feature Andrews and fellow vocalists Vanessa Rubin, Giacomo Gates and Ronnie Wells, guitarist Russell Malone, reedmen Frank Morgan and David "Fathead" Newman, plus a tribute to the late bassist Keter Betts.
-- Mike Joyce
Oriental Music Ensemble
If you listen to the Oriental Music Ensemble expecting to hear the strains of Asia, you'll be surprised.
The Palestinian quartet from Jerusalem, whose name refers to the Middle East rather than Far East, brought music from Tunisia, Egypt and Iraq, as well as from its own culture, to the Freer Gallery on Thursday night as part of its first U.S. tour.
Each player in this tight and lively band excelled at his craft. It was amazing to hear percussionist Yousif Hbeisch make so much of a simple riqq (tambourine), daff (frame drum) and tabla. Using the tips and flats of his fingers, his open palm and heel of his hand, Hbeisch produced an impressive range of pitches and timbres.
Ibrahim Attari was graceful and delicate as his fingers fluttered over his qanun (zither) like a deft typist. Ud (lute) player Ahmad al-Khatib at times jammed as fervently and indulgently as an electric guitarist, and at other times nimbly skimmed the fingerboard. And Suhail Khoury smoothly parsed out melodies on his nay (flute); his airy approach to the clarinet had the instrument sounding as gossamer as a butterfly's wings.
The gently undulating performances showed the range -- and the similarities -- of classical and popular music from various areas of the Mideast. The blue notes in "Solaf," by Iraqi composer Ghanem Haddad, gave that piece a boogie-woogie groove. With Khoury playing the clarinet, catchy Ottoman tunes by Kawthar Hanem (the program's only female composer) had a foot in the klezmer tradition. And the most moving passages and inspired improvisations of the evening occurred in compositions by Khoury and al-Khatib, written during a stay in a political prison and a siege, respectively.
-- Gail Wein
