Refuge’ released on 11 December 2019, on Subcontinental Records as a CD, a high-quality digital release, as a limited-edition poster that comes bundled with the digital release, and on all streaming services.
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| Photo: Tejaswini Shashidhar |
SEGUEING
FROM COMPOSITION TO IMPROVISATION AND BACK. SEAMLESSLY
Having heard
the pianist, composer and improviser Aman Mahajan live a few times before in
different formats—duos, trios, and other ensembles—as leader and sideman,
playing an array of musical styles from jazz, new age, contemporary, and his
own distinctive compositions that defy classification, it is interesting to
note that Refuge, his first ten-piece piano album, also transcends genre, and
though it’s his debut solo piano venture, it is still as vibrant and
stimulating as his live performances. And, it's cool. It's innovative. It's
entertaining. It's rhythmic. It's wonderfully melodic. And it's got depth.
From Aman's
notes —
"REFUGE is a reflective set of musical themes exploring ideas of home and
paying homage to inward journeys. A work in progress since 2005, this album is
also a musical scrapbook that documents the composer’s life, his exploration of
philosophical frameworks, intellectual ideas and personal themes alongside his
study of music, and the connections between them".
"Although created through an intensely personal process, the music deals with
the human condition, and finds resonance with listeners across the globe. Equal
parts structured and improvised, Refuge has been performed in various
configurations, featuring a diversity of instruments. This is essentially a
collection of pieces that originated at the piano, travelling across continents
on various collaborations, meeting a multitude of musicians and audiences along
the way, only to return to the piano in this avatar".
Aman Mahajan,
the pianist/composer is a philosopher. A philosopher-musician and
musician-traveller who through his music takes you along on his journeys in the
search for the core of human existence, and its realisation.
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| Photo: Sangeeta Agnes Hosea |
Aman's
compositions are worthy of attention, they are concept-driven, inspired by
both, traditional and contemporary music and influenced by a diversity of
musical expressions from around the world. And though his strong, organised and
complex compositions are deceptively simple-sounding, his music is that of a
canny craftsman. Tricky, but it doesn't show. There's a lot going on in the
pianist/composer/philosopher's rhythmically inventive and melodically
innovative compositions that clearly reveals his thought process as he applies
his distinctive aesthetic, textures, resonance and ingenuity to his thoughtful
narratives, which though meditative, are not dense introspections but enjoyable
declarations that brim with intellectual energy.
As a pianist,
Aman is indisputably accomplished, easy-going and erudite, seamlessly
improvising on these well-designed compositions with his vast interdisciplinary
vocabulary contributing to his
own musical voice which is without unnecessary puffery and
superfluities. And with his solid
technique, he ripples through the melodies with sure-fingered poise,
insistently repeating his energy-filled emphatic chords while he elegantly
segues from the composition to improvisation while maintaining the same sound,
emotion and vibrance, and then smoothly segues back to the composition without
the listener knowing when he did what.
The first
piece, Where Is It? is a yearning call to seekers — “What are you
looking for? Where is it?” It is in the form of a cyclic chant; an incantation
of repeated rhythmic phrases. The Ten Thousand Questions is a quest for
the one question that would substitute and answer the ten thousand questions.
This is an example of Aman's complex, yet simple-sounding explorations, which
employs unusual jazz chord progressions and an Eastern-sounding scale. More
Than You Know is an interplay between Raag Des and certain harmonic and
melodic fragments found in gospel music. It’s a tribute to Boston, the home
away from home, where Aman studied music for a few years. Sitaphalmandi,
i.e. custard-apple market, is a place in Hyderabad. The rhythm of the first
section is based on Dappankuthu, a South Indian folk-dance beat, with the
second section loosely based on a jazz waltz. Connections is a subtle
and nuanced acceptance of the mystery of the unending cycle of the universe
with the main motif repeated like a reflection on itself.
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| Photo: Luiza Sales |
Beginningless is another circular motif, repeated
throughout but reframed by changing rhythms. Leifmotif, a witty
misspelling of the word Lietmotif, was inspired by a falling leaf. It is in the
rhythm cycle of 7 beats, and the melody is devised from Coltrane chord changes
combined with Raga Yaman. Where Is It? (reprise) // Refuge begins like
an alternative take of the first tune, with melodic and rhythmic variations on
the theme. Unnamed is the only live recording in this album, recorded in
Graz, Austria. Aman shows his strong sense of how to frame his soloing. We find
no difference in Aman's focus and performance in his live recordings from his
first solo studio recording. Sun Dance with its catchy melody line and
constant rhythm is an attractive composition that raises your spirits and makes
you want to dance.
The music on this album defies genre. Composed between 2005–2018
the tunes synthesise jazz, Indian music, European classical music, East Asian
themes, West African music, and folk music from around the world. The music is
engrossing, whether you are, or are not, a fan of classical music, jazz, or
world music, the music is sure-footed, entertaining and engaging as each tune
goes forward, layer over layer. On top of that, it's been recorded and mixed so
well, with a perfect tonal balance that sounds true and immediate.
You can follow
the album and artist on amanmahajan.bandcamp.com
More Than You Know
Refuge
The Ten Thousand Questions - Trio
Sun Dance
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