Label : imd-zabmusic
Digital release date : 18/06/2021
Distribution : iMusician for imd-zabmusic
Genre : ambient - contemporary classical - alternative - world - soundtrack
Number of tracks : 14 | Duration : 60:51
Musicians : Thierry Zaboitzeff, cellos, pianos, bass, programming, samplers, keyboards
Composition : Thierry Zaboitzeff
Artwork: imd-zabmusic
Photo: Editta Braun
℗ 1998 Thierry Zaboitzeff
2021 Thierry Zaboitzeff - cover design by AD - photo © Editta Braun 1998
INDIA (1998)
India was the soundtrack of the choreographic project of editta braun company (A) composed and recorded by Thierry Zaboitzeff in 1998.
Choreography: Editta Braun
Dramaturgy: Doris Harder
Dancers: Céline Guillaume, Bernard Baumgarten, Loulou Omer, Kashyap Tripura, Santosh Nair Kumar, Murali Rajappan
Lights: Albert Haderer / Stéphane Vérité
Mask: Alois Elmauer
Production-management: Petra Herglotz
This show was produced with the support of the Austrian Ministry of Culture, the City of Salzburg, the Salzburg Region, SZENE Salzburg,
Festival des Capucins Luxembourg.
India original CD
Atonal ACD 3029 : 1998
Booster 2009
Traverses (F) - Exposé (USA) - Babyblaue Seiten (D) - Zillo (D)
India
We had already noted, on his previous album (Heartbeat, reviewed in Traverses No. 2), a certain affinity for European folk heritage. But here’s the thing: by veering ‘ever further east’, Thierry ZABOITZEFF has ended up on the Indian subcontinent! A mystical crisis or a quest for Indo-European roots? Be that as it may, the compositions on this new CD provide the soundtrack for a dance performance by the Austrian artist Editta BRAUN. You’ll have to get used to it: ZABOITZEFF and she are now one and the same! Thierry has written everything, plays all the instruments and even lets us hear a hint of his voice. I’m not sure whether the performance is based on a linear narrative, but there’s no evidence that Thierry ZABOITZEFF followed such a progression for his album anyway. However, the album does have its own underlying thread, despite its seemingly disordered and exuberant nature.
For the purposes of the project, a wealth of samples – all authorised! – of Indian vocals and instruments (flute, bansuri, sitar, tablas, harmonium, tampura…) have been utilised. But to further blur the lines, Thierry ZABOITZEFF has also drawn on other Asian regions: the Chinese erhu, Tibetan cymbals, bells, gongs and so on pop up from time to time. (I even think I recognise a sample of the voice of the Tibetan singer Yungchen LHAMO!) The India that ZABOITZEFF takes us on a journey through is far from uniform and is instead characterised by stark contrasts: meditative in *Shakti & Aphrodite*, mystical in *The Bodies of the Goddesses*, colourful and overcrowded in *Claustrophobia in Madras*, sweltering in *Heat & Suffocation*; it is also the distant and hostile India that breeds the desolation of the lost pilgrim (Loneliness, Nostalgia in Bengalore) and soon his anger (Rage & Domination), but it is also the India of transformation on the cusp of the new millennium, embodied by the delirious Holi Trance Final Cut – a vision of Goa – which sets the sitar, devotional chants and even the sacred cows dancing to techno!
Nevertheless, the Aryan ties have not been completely severed, as a few touches of European folklore resurface here and there. ‘Austrian Jungle Raga’, for instance, combines sitar, female Indian vocals, mechanical beats, tablas and a Tyrolean male choir! Finally, the album concludes with a lullaby whose title leaves no room for doubt: Schlaf Kindlein Shlaf. This time, there’s no question about it: Thierry ZABOITZEFF has literally broken free from Artzoyd’s structural and stylistic constraints, at the risk of ruffling the feathers of the self-proclaimed devotees of the cause of new European music. But even with a track like ‘India’, this album doesn’t hide its origins. Borders just aren’t what they used to be, that’s all!
India
Dr. Zab strikes again, with his second release already (the fourth of his whole career) since calling it a long day with Art loyd back in 1997. On this soundtrack to a modern ballet project of the same title, it's difficult to tell how much comes from the gut, rather than is merely done to spec., but I assume Thierry had rather a sizeable amount of leeway. Due to the subject matter though it should be known that there is practically nothing resembling what you would hear from Art loyd. Neither does it fit any pattern of composition that I'm aware of, nor is it iconoclastic and out to smash all tradition under its thumb. What Thierry seems to be doing is pushing the fringe as far as it will bend before breaking, leaving the listener in a state of indecision: do I like this, or am I annoyed by it? If this is the goal then "India" is a success, for I am quite honestly stumped in a way that I can't remember being in a good long time. On 14 different selections (most of which clock in under five minutes) he uses sampled sounds of mainly sitar and tabla, synthesizer, vocalizing in French (both solo and chorus), and percussion, to deftly capture the moods of stark loneliness, claustrophobia and mania. At times the music can be almost shocking; at others pleasant and bountiful. His singing is even more lyric-oriented than on "Heartbeat," and a particular sitar motif recurs intermittently, conferring a sense of unity and structural foundation. This is not some form of crass culture, nor faux-ethnic forgery-out to blend various disciplines for their own sake-but a particularly European form of expression. I say European, not French, as the French haven't really been known for being world explorers. Thierry however is Magellan! A true master. Make up your own mind whether you like it or not; but the man is in a category of his own design.
Mike Ezzo
India
The split was now apparently complete. At the bottom of the cover of *India*, Thierry Zaboitzeff’s fourth solo album, the words ‘Ex Art Zoyd’ can be seen. Stylistically, however, this split has left no trace. Like its predecessor “Heartbeat” (on which Zaboitzeff still appeared under the name “from Art Zoyd”), “India” doesn’t sound all that different from what the northern French chamber prog band produced in the 1990s. The music is structured somewhat more simply, occasionally makes concessions to contemporary tastes with a few dance beats, and this time has a distinctly exotic atmosphere.
Like “Heartbeat”, “India” is also music for a dance theatre piece directed by Editta Braun. As one might easily guess, the piece is about India. In the music, this is naturally reflected in all manner of ethnic sounds (sitar, tablas, Indian string sounds, elegiac flute tones, etc.) and in corresponding vocal interludes and snippets of speech. These are embedded in Zaboitzeff’s characteristic Zoyd-style soundscape – flowing from solemn to turbulent – a neoclassical-electronic soundscape generated by a variety of keyboard instruments, bass, guitars and cello. Added to this is a myriad of sampled noises, snippets of voices and sounds, programmed percussion – at times bursting quite fiercely from the speakers – and all manner of bizarre electronic sounds. Now and then there is also singing or spoken word, by Zaboitzeff in French and by various ladies and gentlemen – not named in the booklet – who are presumably from India. However, not all of them are from India. In ‘Austrian Jungle Raga’ (and repeatedly thereafter) a male choir can be heard which is certainly based in a German-speaking Alpine region.
Every now and then, Zaboitzeff incorporates dance beats into the music (in ‘Such is My Dream’, for example), which, whilst entirely appropriate for a non-classical dance performance, might perhaps go down a bit badly with the conservative prog fan. ‘Holi Trance Final Cut’ is rather rough around the edges in this respect, featuring all manner of ‘Umz-Umz-Umz’ sections, but its chaotic mix – particularly the Alpine choir that keeps tumbling in here and there – even manages to raise a smile from this reviewer.
‘India’ is a thoroughly successful album of ethno-electro-chamber prog that is sure to appeal to fans of Art Zoyd’s electronic phase. Here, Zaboitzeff creates some very dense, otherworldly soundscapes and, occasionally, some deeply moving, melancholic moments (“Loneliness”) that captivate the listener, even if the album as a whole doesn’t quite match the sonic power and complexity of his main band.
Achim Breiling
India
Thierry Zaboitzeff, the former Art Zoyd musician, has already impressively demonstrated with his latest solo album, *Heartbeat*, that he is one of the new avant-garde figures among the current generation of composers, by combining traditional classical techniques with experimental electronic arrangements and fresh ideas.
His multifaceted musical background, ranging from classical and jazz to ethnic, electronic and rock music, also comes together in his new work *India*, featuring the exciting music created in collaboration with the Austrian choreographer Editta Braun
.
Following her two trips to India, she created a piece performed by Indian and European dancers, to which Zaboitzeff provides a musical accompaniment that is equally intercultural in nature.
In the process, Far Eastern, partly authentic folk elements meet, quite unabashedly, with unconventional electronic arrangements and playful acoustic accents.
A highly varied album that breaks with every musical convention and yet sounds coherent in its own right.
Dirk Hoffmann
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