Enver Izmailov Trio - "Minaret" 1999 - ETHNO GUITAR TAPPING INVENTOR !!!

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• published: 07 Jul 2012
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Enver Ismaïlov Naissance 1955 Ferghana Pays d'origine Ouzbékistan Enver Izmailov is an unique musician who invented "tapping" - a highly original technique of the electric guitar playing (he plays guitar with his both hands on the neck as if it were a keyboard) - knowing nothing about Stanley Jordan who invented the same in US at the same time. His music is a combination of many elements - jazz, Mediterranean and oriental folklore, classical harmony and astonishing virtuosity. Enver lives in Crimea, Ukraine (paradise-like giant peninsula in Black Sea) but was born in Ferghana, Uzbekistan. His two albums - "Eastern Legend" (solo work) and "Minaret" (trio recording) have been released by Boheme Music, Russia's only Jazz label. Enver Izmailov's is a world of sound meditation. In India it would be called dynamic meditation. His music is meditative and devoid of internal conflicts, which makes it so natural and close to nature. To put it in a nutshell, folk music is part of mother nature itself. It has always been and it will always be. I'm pretty certain about that. Enver Izmailov's music is indisputably rooted in the oriental instrumental tradition. Sometimes it sounds very much like passionate silence, often explosive in the oriental sense of the word. Its authenticity does not impede the musician's desire to experiment, although the opportunities classical tonal music playing offers are rather limited. Enver Izmailov is a 20th century person, and his compositions owe a great deal to modern improvisational chamber music, to jazz, if you wish. His is authentic whenever he wants to be so, but in other cases he easily goes beyond the bounds of what is already well known to him to create his own oriental eclecticism a professional ear will hardly notice. In music Izmailov can contemplate dancing and weep smiling, and from time to time he finds himself in the company of his "lonely guitar voice" alone. His ethnic roots are quick to manifest themselves. His manner and style of playing, the way he handles his instrument, and his arrangements of traditional Tatar, Uzbek and Bulgarian tunes sometimes take the listener to the Middle Ages, or let one feel the hot breath of the desert or rejoice at a wedding in South Moldova or Bulgaria with fresh wine, nuts and sheep's milk cheese and endless dances to the beat of the traditional bass drum. Some will probably recall, however odd this analogy may seem, For a very long time, Crimean two-handed tapping guitar virtuoso Enver Izmailov has worked as a soloist. Then some duets appeared - with Turkish drummer Burhan Ocal, French keyboard player Xavier Garcia, British sax player Geoff Warren. This album, "Minaret", is the next milestone of Izmailov's creative career. Both Narket Ramazanov who plays sax, clarinet and flute, and percussionist Rustem Bari are Izmailov's old partners ad friends. They are working together since 1995, but it was only 1998 when they decided to record their project choosing Kiev recording company Arcadia Sympho. Trio's repertoire mainly follows its leader's ideas, but Izmailov aims to create a group where everybody plays equal roles. He tends to regard the whole trio as one instrument for which still no name is invented. The Minaret project that musicians suggest you to listen, includes seven pieces based upon musical folklore of Causasus, Middle Asia, Bulgaria and India and, as usual by Izmailov, mixed with elements of Tartar folk music. The musicians' technical skill allows them not to just affect folk instruments, but to actually reconstruct the original sound. The appeal of this trio's music is universal and hard to define. This is the sort of music Jazz musicians highly appreciate. An apposite definition of Izmailov trio's music was made by French musicians from Lyon - they called it "Imaginary Folk". As for me, this is a very accurate definition! From the other side, when you are listening to this recording, you have not to go deep into theoretical analysis of the music and, above all, you have not to try to understand everything at once. Izmailov, Bari and Ramazanov are very airy, cheerful and gifted persons. Maybe this is the source of their lightness, musical affinity and assertiveness. Arkady Vikhorev, sound engineer who made this recording, could tell you stories about how these musicians danced before him to explain some musical moments instead of finding words! In short, you are about to hear very interesting, spectacular and unique music which can be described as "borderless" or "global" (cp. "global music", "World Beat" etc.). Don't forget that this is Asian music which is so trendy today. And things Eastern, as Russian proverb says, is not a simple matter..