It is no longer new to talk about cultural fields colliding. The fever of contamination and the decline in the centrality of American and English music have finally offered visibility and attention to disparate musical realities.
It is actually not an easy task to unite different worlds, but for producer Carmen Rizzo (Coldplay, Seal, Pete Townshend, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robbie Robertson etc.) this undertaking was easy, having already worked with Huun-Huur-Tu , a band from the Far East of the Russian Federation, which has been preserving the art of Tuva guttural singing for over thirty years.
For Dhani Harrison, former art-rocker with Thenewno2 and renowned soundtrack composer, this multi-voiced project is an opportunity to delve into a true obsession with the ancient musical tradition of the countries located on the border between Russia and Mongolia. Fun fact: the first Western musician to show interest in Huun-Huur-Tu was a very young Frank Zappa.
With “Dreamers In The Field”, Rizzo and Harrison take a step forward in the contamination between different cultures. In an attempt to definitively clear the precious art of Tuvan guttural singing and its interaction with traditional instruments such as theigilThe doshpuluurThe khomus (Tuvan harp) and the to sleep (shamanic drum) performed by the Huun-Huur-Tu, project everything into an esoteric and extremely refined sound imagery.
The risk of a purely aesthetic operation was still around the corner, but for “Dreamers In The Field” the musicians rely on a profound spirituality that feeds on mysticism and anthropology and lets everything flow with a series of sound images and vowels that definitely leave their mark.
After Tinariwen's desert blues, the time has come for Mongolian blues. Carmen Rizzo shows off the most elegant and evocative settings to frame the vibrant overtone of the vocalist Russians: the title track it is enchanting, meditative and intense, a valuable introduction to an album with infinite facets. “Remembering Ulatay River” delves even further into the gypsy soul of the Mongolians, the delicate and humid notes and the heavy tone of the settings evoke the profound connection of the Tuvan people with their own bodies and with mother earth.
With “Bodius” the project enters the universe of neoclassicism and the suggestions of artists such as Max Richter: guttural singing merges with that of birds, while poignant sounds elevate its elegant spirituality.
The voice in the foreground and the cadences acoustic folk of “Song Of The Caravan Riders” inebriate the most restless and contagious page of the album; the mastery of Huun-Huur-Tu forcefully takes center stage, to then sing one of the most ancient and enchanting arias of the project, “Kaigal-ool Prayer”, a prayer entrusted only to guttural singing in an almost a cappella structure.
It is not surprising that the Dark Horse label founded by George Harrison was chosen to release “Dreamers In The Field”, a record company that has linked its image to world music. With the aim of capturing the universality of the wise mixture of ancient and modern, the album was recorded between Los Angeles, Russia and around Europe. And it was during the stay in England that the last two tracks of the album were born.
The natural patter of rain can be heard in the sweet melodic lines of “Land Of My Mother,” originally intended to close the album, but Dhani Harrison’s austere, solemn, symphonic-like score, “Mazhalyk,” quickly materialized in the author’s mind, serving as the perfect soundtrack to the rolling credits of an album as gripping as a film.
Ultimately, the intent of Carmen Rizzo, Dhani Harrison and Huun-Huur-Tu (a name that means ray of light) was to communicate the thaumaturgical force of music and “Dreamers in The Field” not only does not miss the mark, but it is a candidate among the most atypical and stimulating albums of the current year.
06/28/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM