The trio’s name, Soora Gameela means “beautiful picture”, which is what the band offers. Not only can they play but they have the chops, grooves and instrumentation to get your head and body to a mellow place. They offer intriguing, soothing, trance-endental (sorry) composite of wonderful influences ranging from Morphine to minimalist Steve Reich to Angelo Badalamenti and to Argentine tango virtuoso Astor Piazzolla. It’s Asheville revivalist, Egyptian trip-hop, where their silences often speak loudest.
Begun five years ago in Asheville, NC, they fuse jazz, folk, world and improvisation. Band members are August Hoerr playing squeezebox and Egyptian spiked fiddle, called a rebaba (two strings, bowed and held upright in your lap). Joe Burkett plays upright bass and Gwendolyn plays percussion (frame drum, dumbek, bendir, kanjira).
Speaking with bassist Joe Burkett recently – via email– he explained the band’s origins, “August and Gwen were already playing music together here in Asheville. They were both very interested in the musical traditions of the Middle East and were learning andexperimenting with those scales and rhythms. At the time I was still in school and mostly playing jazz and improvised music, so we would get together, often on the street, and improvise using these rhythms and scales as a starting point. Then gradually it became this whole other thing as we incorporated more elements into the sound.”
Speaking with bassist Joe Burkett recently – via email– he explained the band’s origins, “August and Gwen were already playing music together here in Asheville. They were both very interested in the musical traditions of the Middle East and were learning andexperimenting with those scales and rhythms. At the time I was still in school and mostly playing jazz and improvised music, so we would get together, often on the street, and improvise using these rhythms and scales as a starting point. Then gradually it became this whole other thing as we incorporated more elements into the sound.”
As to seeing them live or on tour anytime soon, unless you’re in Asheville, it may be a while. According to Joe, “We keep trying to get a tour happening, but life seems to get in the way.” “The Thread” is the trio’s second recording. The band’s first is no longer available, as they tired of hand printing it all. Their latest is available at Harvest Records, a shop in Asheville. Concluding, Joe implores readers to “Support live music with your wallet AND your ears.”
Here's the new North Carolina music zine that published this gem:
Look on page 15.
1 comment:
Soora Gamela is a band I dream of hearing someday live before they blow up. I heard their music in a framing shop in Asheville while on vacation and I asked someone who they were. The next stop I made was up to Harvest to buy "Thread." I listen to it obsessively for three months at a time, then put it away and come back to it with renewed awe and appreciation. Every cycle I hear more brilliant moments. Sometimes I think of moving to Asheville just because Soora Gamela plays there.
Post a Comment