Hear guitar in unconventional duo, trio and quartet settings: a trio of guitarist Ben Monder, vocalist Sunny Kim, and pianist Vardan Ovsepian; a duo called Titanic featuring Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta, and lap-tapping guitarist Yasmin Williams with singer-songwriter Aoife O'Donovan.
Listen to a collaboration between Korean-born vocalist Sunny Kim, Armenian-born L.A. pianist Vardan Ovsepian, and the N.Y. guitarist Ben Monder, Liminal Silence is a sonic reflection on life’s silent spaces. Kim says, “In silence, we embody our most vulnerable selves, yet it is this vulnerability that propels our innate abilities for deep transformation.” Hear “Ink Silence” from the recent album.
There’s chamber guitar with jazz overtones in music from the duo called Titanic, (Guatemala-born and Mexico City-based cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and Mexico City multi-instrumentalist Hector Tosta). Then, listen to new music from lap-tapping guitarist Yasmin Williams, who combines finger-style techniques and provides her own percussion, when playing solo. Hear, listen to her song, “Dawning”, featuring Aoife O’Donovan on vocals, Kafari on rhythm bones, and Nic Gareiss’ percussive dancing. As Williams describes one of the meanings of the song for her in a Nonesuch Records interview, it is her “smiling to myself with dawning recognition that I get to create music that I love for a living and share it with the world.”
Plus, hear work from Dublin Guitar Quartet which references the Zimbabwean popular music Chimurenga, music from the chamber band Oregon, featuring guitarist Ralph Towner and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4852, Guitar Chamber Ensembles (First aired 2/28/2024)
ARTIST: Oregon
WORK: Waterwheel [1:13]
RECORDING: Out of the Woods
SOURCE: Elektra/Asylum
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, YouTube, Amazon.com, Spotify
ARTIST: Ambrose Akinmusire, feat. Bill Frisell
WORK: Flux Fuelings [5:03]
RECORDING: Owl Song
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, YouTube, Amazon.com, Spotify
ARTIST: Clogs
WORK: Red Seas [6:13]
RECORDING: The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
SOURCE: Brassland HWY 021
INFO: brassland.org | clogs.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Titanic
WORK: Te Evite [3:46]
RECORDING: Vidrio
SOURCE: Tin Angel Records
INFO: tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vidrio
ARTIST: Yasmin Williams, feat. Aoife O'Donovan
WORK: Dawning [6:35]
RECORDING: Dawning
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records
INFO: https://yasminwilliams.lnk.to/dawning
ARTIST: Sunny Kim, Vardan Ovsepian, and Ben Monder
WORK: Ink Silence [7:50]
RECORDING: Liminal Silence
SOURCE: Earshift Music
INFO: https://sunnykimmusic.bandcamp.com/album/liminal-silence
ARTIST: Fabiano doNascimento & Sam Gendel
WORK: Capricho [4:26]
RECORDING: Room
SOURCE: Real World
INFO: https://samgendel.bandcamp.com/album/the-room
ARTIST: Dublin Guitar Quartet
WORK: Dave Flynn: Chimurenga [4:08]
RECORDING: Contemporary Irish
SOURCE: Crooked Water
INFO: https://www.dublinguitarquartet.com/recordings
ARTIST: Oregon
WORK: Waterwheel [3:21]
RECORDING: Out of the Woods
SOURCE: Elektra/Asylum
INFO: Available at AppleMusic, YouTube, Amazon.com, Spotify