{"id":5450,"date":"2015-10-21T18:05:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=5450"},"modified":"2015-10-21T18:05:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:05:48","slug":"lost-pakistani-roots-rediscovered-song-of-lahore-tells-the-story-of-the-sachal-jazz-ensemble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/21\/lost-pakistani-roots-rediscovered-song-of-lahore-tells-the-story-of-the-sachal-jazz-ensemble\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost Pakistani Roots Rediscovered: "Song of Lahore" Tells the Story of the Sachal Jazz Ensemble"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\n

\"Nijat<\/a>
Nijat Ali plays harmonium in Broad Green Pictures release, SONG OF LAHORE.
Credit: Nadir Siddiquiin \/ Broad Green Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nIn late 2013, I wrote here about\u00a0an unlikely story.
\nA Youtube clip of Dave Brubeck\u2019s \u201cTake Five,\u201d\u00a0as recorded by the Sachal Jazz Ensemble<\/strong> in Lahore, Pakistan, had gone\u00a0viral, attracting nearly a half-million hits. Soon after, the Sachal ensemble\u2019s \u201cTake Five,\u201d from its recording \u201cInterpretations of Jazz Standards and Bossa Nova<\/a>,\u201dshot to the top of the iTunes chart in the U.S. and U.K.
\nAs I wrote then:<\/p>\n

Musically, none of this should surprise us. The 5\/4 rhythm of Brubeck\u2019s 1959 classic, which no longer sounds radical to jazz fans, comes quite naturally to musicians trained in the classical traditions of Pakistan, as are the Sachal\u2019s players: Odd numbered meters are favored in their music. The sitar\u2019s fluid lines and bent tones and the tabla\u2019s nearly conversational rhythmic patterns aren\u2019t exotic to Western ears anymore; by now, they make sense in a jazz context.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Soon the group was performing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) at Manhattan\u2019s Rose Theater. That concert was filmed by Oscar-winning Pakistani director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, for a closing scene to her documentary, which is now complete.
\n“Song of Lahore<\/strong><\/a>,” Obaid-Chinoy’s collaboration with filmmaker\u00a0Andy Schocken is, according to its press release “a\u00a0joyous, musical documentary about the collision of centuries-old cultures” as the group members “find ways of adapting while still retaining the integrity of the music of their ancestors.”
\nIt’s largely the story of reconstructing a culture in a nation that has rejecting its roots and rituals.
\nIzzat Majeed, who assembled the group, explained to me:\u00a0\u201cI want to restore a sense of culture and the joy of music that I remember from my childhood. We essentially lost it, due to the barbaric interpretation of religion and governance that started when a dictator [Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq] began to restrict the arts in the late Seventies. And we\u2019ve had little enlightenment since.\u201d
\nAs one musician,\u00a0Nijat Ali (pictured above) says in the film, \u201cWithout music, man would roam the world with a heart of stone.\u201d Now he and his and bandmates are traveling the globe, playing at festivals and concert halls to heart-warming receptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In late 2013, I wrote here about\u00a0an unlikely story. A Youtube clip of Dave Brubeck\u2019s \u201cTake Five,\u201d\u00a0as recorded by the Sachal Jazz Ensemble in Lahore, Pakistan, had gone\u00a0viral, attracting nearly a half-million hits. Soon after, the Sachal ensemble\u2019s \u201cTake Five,\u201d from its recording \u201cInterpretations of Jazz Standards and Bossa Nova,\u201dshot to the top of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Lost Pakistani Roots Rediscovered: "Song of Lahore" Tells the Story of the Sachal Jazz Ensemble”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[332,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5450"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}