AirMax 2011 The Ziur Movement Album Review - East

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The tracks on [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]The Ziur Movement
Spirit Lingers makes subtle use of percussive effects and has a gentle and affectionate tone. A pleasantly languid piece.
2 has a different mood. This is an intense piece with a strong eastern flavour. The recording has both clarity and a rich resonnance. In contrast to the more rhythmic tracks, this consists of a series of bursts of sound. This piece and Behazin Memorial, both short intense works, demonstrate Jamal's playing style, originality and production expertise to particularly good effect.
Behazin Memorial is played upon a Persian setar. This instrument has a much brighter sound than an Indian sitar, and its clear [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], incisive timbre is recorded particularly well. Jamal should make further use of this instrument as its sound suits his style and musical temperament particularly well. This short piece has an overwhelmingly eastern flavour and evokes images of intense sunshine and heat.
Javun is track six and is a gentle evocative piece with a sweet, lyrical opening and close. The contrasts with a middle section which has a rich reverberant sound and snatches of American folk-music. This is followed by Southern Magnolia which also has snatches of folk music together with Spanish guitar-style flourishes. Undulating arpeggios and fretboard squeaks give this composition a pleasantly rustic feel.
Maneli Jamal was born in Belarus to Iranian parents but is now a Canadian citizen. Accordingly, his compositions show the influences of both eastern and western music. Jamal is clearly ambitious, as is shown by his high-quality YouTube videos of Maneli Jamal and the fact that he has produced his debut album almost single-handedly. The Ziur Movement (Ziur is the backwards spelling of the name of Jamal's fiancee) presents an opportunity to evaluate his skills as composer, guitarist and record producer.
Lucid Drawl has a gentle but intense opening. This gives way to a main section with a relaxed rhythm and a meandering theme which could indeed be said to drawl.
Cold Arrival has a manic bustle [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a heavy beat and some of the bright harmonic chimes familiar from earlier pieces.
Most Glorious Day is the first of the fourteen tracks. This is a good solidly optimist track with which to begin an album. It consists of an ambient wash of D major chords and has a bracing rhythm.
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Next come a series of four-tracks named Movement I to Movement IV that form a kind of EP within the album. Movement I - (subtitled Norym) has a series of hard-driven bass notes with bright melodic harmonies. Movement II - Vasat is a slower and more contemplative piece. It features innovative use of sustained harmonics as an ambient background against which a wistful melody is set. This piece has an introspective tone and a classical feel. It flows organically into Movement III - Ziur, a piece with a similar theme but a more intense mood and driving rhythm. Movement IV - Finale has a more urgent mood and features a flurry of notes and much use of rhythmic raps on the guitar body.
The hallmarks of Jamal's guitar style might be described as richly textured sound with much innovate use of percussive sounds from the guitar body and a pronounced and unusual use of harmonics. The influence of eastern music is clear from Jamal's picking style and his use of modes.
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Morning in Adanac (Canada spelt backwards) is another gentle piece with a relaxed rhythmic drive and a mood of gentle optimism.