The Magic Ground - Musique

The Magic Ground by John Berberian And The Rock East Ensemble

John Berberian And The Rock East Ensemble

Biographie de l'artiste pour John Berberian And The Rock East Ensemble

One Of The ‘classic’ Albums That Bridge Classical Arab Lute Playing With Rock Music And Beyond Is This One Partly Because Of The Involvement Of Joe Beck And His Fuzz Guitar. He Did The Same For Flamenco With Sabicas Around 1966 Adding Electric Guitar Skills Grounded In Blues And R&B Trying To Open Up One World And Bridging With The Other. Other Members Were Bill LaVorgna On Drums And Peter Spargo And Harvey Cowen Not Really Knowing Who Was Responsible For The Groovy Sax And Mix Of Arab/Middle Eastern And Rather Jazz Drumming. Armenian Born John Berberian Is A Masterly Oud Player Something Which Also His Other More Traditional Albums Prove While This Album Might Still Be His Most Rewarding Performance Although I Must Mention Some Excellent Spoken Word Tracks Based Upon The Writings Of Khalil Gibran On Rosko's "Music And Gibran A Contemporary Interpretation" One Of The Lesser Known Recordings Of His . But Besides The Excellent Oud/fuzz Opener Most Tracks With Some More Peaceful Calmed Down Moments Quickly Build Up It’s Groove Through Rhythmical Drives From 4/4 To 6/8 On The First Few Tracks . Strangely Enough The Original Rhythmical Modes Mentioned On The Original LP From The First 5 Tracks Are Not Mentioned On This Reissue 4/4 6/8 6/8 2/4 9/8 . They Build Up Brilliantly Like Complex Jazz Rock Even When They Are In Fact Based Upon Traditional Middle Eastern Folk With Fusing Sax And Guitar And A Rock Energy. The Middle Eastern Melodies Span From Armenia Over Turkey The Arab Nations And Greece But Are Mostly From Armenian Origin.