Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow – Just leave it all behind (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow – Just leave it all behind (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:54 minutes | 384 MB | Genre: World Fusion
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Clermont Music

Three years after their debut recording In the Wake of Memories, Wassim Mukdad, David Rothenberg and Volker Lankow went back into Studio Wong, Berlin to reflect musically and spiritually on the power of beauty in a time of war. Wassim Mukdad is an oud master and medical doctor from Syria. An activist, he escaped the Syrian regime where he had been captured and tortured and made his way to Germany where he has a career as a musician. Mukdad was also an important witness in the case against Anwar Raslan, the man who had tortured him. In one of the rare instances of post conflict justice Raslan was sentenced to life in prison. Volker Lankow has worked for many years for Doctors Without Borders. His percussion playing and ambient music is a direct response to all the violence he has seen in Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. David Rothenberg, known for his live music with birds, whales, and landscapes joins these two courageous human rights workers and musical artists to create timeless music blending the worlds traditions. Their improvisations represent a belief that art can help us get beyond the darkest impulses of humanity. More than ever, music is necessary in this time of war.

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Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow – In the Wake of Memories (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow – In the Wake of Memories (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:00:01 minutes | 594 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Clermont Music

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow translates years of experience into music that unfolds in a sense of hope. Says Volker Lankow, “It comes from everywhere and nowhere.” First meeting at David Rothenberg’s “Nightingales in Berlin” project, the three musicians recorded this improvised fusion of experiences with oud, clarinet and percussion. A meditation on survival and resilience, on empathy and love. Each musician, a master of his instrument, seamlessly interweaves phrases and nuance each expressing pain and joy, expectation and relief. Wassim Mukdad is a refugee from Syria who escaped torture first to Istanbul now in Berlin. Volker Lankow worked with Medecins sans Frontiere in crisis torn zones and now with mentally ill criminals. Rothenberg, an author and philosopher, brings an exploration of the idea of sound to this trio. This is an album of music from an entire region of the world, crossing cultural barriers and tribal sides. An accomplished percussionist Volker Lankow performs on frame drums and tabla among other instruments. Wassim and Volker share years of rough experiences in conflict regions and in their playing together one hears a path toward clarity and beauty out of terrible shadows. “It is a delight to play with Volker, a percussionist who does not need to show off, who has nothing to prove.” Wassim Mukdad met Volker Lankow as part of David Rothenberg’s “Nightingales in Berlin” project which documented a group of musicians’ attempts to play live with the birds in the dark parks of Germany’s capital city. Clarinetist and author, Rothenberg was inspired by the rapport these two offered to each other and got the trio into Berlin’s Studio Wong for one perfect day when all this music was improvised. Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow translate years of experience into music that unfolds with a worldwide sense of hope.

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