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| Joe Higham's Al-Orkesta "Where are we now?" Hearing a singer such as Sabri Moudallal in the Great Mosque of Damascus, Maria Aranda with LHam De Foc and Folk singers from the British Isles such as Martin Carthy, Nic Jones or Norma Waterson and many other performers the perceptive listener will be aware of the conscious and unconscious influence – both historic and contemporary – of Jewish and Arabic music from the Languedoc and Spain and Balkan music played by gypsies. This music within its multiple layers emanates magical tension with echoes of what the public and musicians alike might perhaps choose to call The Blues. Nevertheless this kind of music retains its distinct links to its European origins when compared with tap-roots of the American blues and for Joe Higham in consequence it is music related more directly to his own European antecedents and experience.‘Al Orkesta’ is also influenced by the many rockoriented sounds from groups that Joe Higham listened to in the 70s such as King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, Caravan and Gong. Groups with a more bluesy direction like Little Feat or Free. Even more importantly jazz groups such as Elton Dean’s Ninesense and Harry Miller’s Isipingo that led Joe Higham to discover the more mainstream and progressive sounds of jazz - Ellington to Ornette and beyond! Using such diverse genre as the initial point for development a traditional tune can be adapted or used to create a work written using the compositional rules found within these musical cultures. Wherever possible Joe Higham strives to retain and present core ingredients from the original source music - rhythm, melody, tempo, mood and ambience. Al Orkesta fuses folk and ethnic styles with rock and jazz to produce a series of ‘off centre’ musically interesting pieces that provide creative space for the soloists. |
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