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| Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Music > Global Mvission by Pedro Eustache Around the World on WindsWriter : Dawn Fung   Global MvissionEustache's versatility is so evident that I can't help dropping names. Produced using some of his 400 flutes (and growing), he creates the title track with the following mix : "Custom Bb Didgeridoo, tunable-'telescopic' SlideDidge, Bansuris [north-Indian classical bamboo flute], Chinese bamboo flute, custom Fujara [Slovak six-foot-tall, giant shepherds overtone flute], Sop. Sax, and Electronics". This is because Global Mvission is really a world summary for Eustache, who is himself an international musician. Maybe I can begin with the dreamy "Celtic Hymn". The melody is nostalgic, as if an inward recognition of words that cannot be explained - the sopranino recorder floats the celtic tune that permeates that belief. The Irish low whistles cries on top of the synthetic keyboard chords, and joins with another flute. They dance and twist in poignant harmony. In "Raga Shahazadhi", we travel to North India. Composed in four parts, it features the King Bansuri. The King Bansuri is a custom made Northern Indian bamboo flute created by Eustache that has 15 holes. The normal one has six to seven holes. "Raga Shahazadhi" is a traditional "jugal-bandi" that slowly glides into an animated conversation, its melodies influenced by Eustache's Indian music masters which included Ravi Shankar. The moving piece is a tribute to Ginette Esther Eustache-Boruszko, Eustache's daughter who passed away when she was three years old. The most charming sound you might be drawn to at night could be the Armenian Duduks that Eustache lends his breath to in "Veni, Emmanuel". Eustache turns this well known hymn away from choirboys and Christmas, to a kind of medieval lullaby well suited to reflect early church devotion. It is the haunting tone that drifts in and out of a single note that creates the mournful sonority. For this reason, I overlooked the drum loops that I felt were more than unnecessary. Global Mvission invites the listener to gather interpretations from flutes of every tribe and tongue, and dream a world journey on winds, made possible by an artist who believes that every breath brings life to instruments that imagine that for us. You can read more about Global Mvission at http://www.pedroflute.com.
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