Roots Revival (project)

This article is about the international project. For the general practice of reviving traditional music, see Roots revival.
Roots Revival
Background information
Genres Music and Cultural Project
Years active Since 2013
Website http://roots-revival.com/

Roots Revival is an international cultural project which reunites professional musicians from different countries in an effort to connect the musical styles, traditions and instruments that are specific to each geographical area they come from, thus creating a bridge between cultures using authentic music. The concept founded by Mehdi Aminian.[1]

History

The concept started in 2013 at the initiative of Mehdi Aminian, a traditional music researcher who spent most of his adolescence travelling to different continents and studying numerous traditional cultures such as Persian, Balkan, South East Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian and Romanian.[2]

His first contact with Romania was during his performances in various festivals[3][4] and soon after his first trip to Maramures, he found Romania very inspiring to put all his traveling and research experience into a concept later developed as Roots Revival.[5] After intensive research collecting information about performing artists all around the world, he invited seven professional musicians from seven different countries, in order to put together a performance in seven days.[6] With a close collaboration with Peter Hurley a traditional culture researcher known as Irish man from Romania, the musicians explored the surroundings of Maramures and spent time with local artists[7] getting to know the Romanian rural environment way of life, customs and beliefs.[8] They transposed this experience into music and seven days later they shared their local inspired music with the North-Romanian people in a concert held at the Merry Cemetery in Săpânța.[9] Later on, they brought the project to Bucharest, performing the Maramures experience in Radio Hall[10] gaining popularity in the Romanian cultural scene.[11] The recording of the concert lead to the release of their first live album called Chapter One: Maramures.[12] The focus on this album was on traditional instruments such as ney, oud, duduk, kaval, bodhran, darbouka, and tulnic.[13] The album was highly appreciated by critics especially in the Romanian cultural scene.[14]

The second project called Colors of Maria[15] was inspired by Maria Tanase and it is said to “reignite her spirit in new colors, a fusion of old and new, artistic emotion and virtuosity”.[16][17] This was an occasion for new collaborations, thus, new names appear on this project’s line up.[18] This chapter was the start of collaboration with Walid Abboud, a prominent business man and a music admirer. His supports and assigning his company Sensiblu as the official sponsor of Roots Revival was the start of series of events. Colors of Maria debuted in February 2014 with a concert held in the Romanian Athenaeum.[19] Similar to the previous album, the second album, Chapter Two: Maria Tanase,[20] was recorded live in the concert held in Radio Hall on March 1, 2014,[21] and gain even more popularity, having critics describing it as “a unique melange of cultures, interpretations and original compositions”.[22]

In 2015 Roots Revival is expanding their understanding upon music, with a new focus on dialogue between cultures.[23] In a press interview,[23] Mehdi Aminian announces two new projects: Doina Revival[24] in collaboration with Maria Casandra Hausi, with an emphasis on Romanian Doina and its allegedly Persian origins,[25] and Aramaic & Sufi[26] in collaboration with Abeer Nehme, a project that brings together new musicians belonging to different cultures – “Aramaic is the language of Jesus and spiritual musical culture in Christianity and Sufi is the inner mystical dimension of Islam, very connected to poetry and music. Bringing these two branches of spirituality together is more than an experiment, is a project that tries to promote dialogue and peace between different cultures.”[27]

Musicians

Roots Revival collaborates with various musicians[28] depending on the context. So far, the project has featured many prominent artists.

Discography

Roots Revival, Second Album
Album Title Release date Production
Chapter One: Maramures February 18, 2014 Quartz Media; Sensiblu
Colors of Maria, Chapter Two: Maria Tanase September 2, 2014 Mehdi Aminian; Twin Arts; Sensiblu

Rehearsals (documentary)

In 2014, Romanian director Ana Maria Vijdea made a documentary[29] about Roots Revival, capturing how the artists who didn’t know each other until then were brought together by music in the process of creating the concept Colors of Maria[30] “Without knowing each other in advance, seven musicians from around the world spend time together, improvising and composing, in order to create a homogenous musical act and this film is a intimate portrait of that effort. Their starting point closes on the discography of Maria Tănase, a Romanian folk singer from the 20th century and a major cultural icon.”[31] The director followed them for two months, assisting them in the rehearsals for their first tour.[32] The documentary was selected in multiple film festivals, having its world premiere at Kraków Film Festival, in the DocFilmMusic competition.[33]

References

  1. ↑ www.roots-revival.com, about.
  2. ↑ Mehdi, the Iranian who weds old Romanian and Persian music: “All roots are connected.”, Mehdi Aminian, interview for Romania Insider.
  3. ↑ "Grigore Lese si muzicile nemasurate de pe drumul matasii, cu artisti din Romania, Siria, Pakistan si Iran - cristina nichitus roncea photography". cristina nichitus roncea photography.
  4. ↑ GRIGORE LEŞE ŞI TINERII MUZICIENI IRANIENI, Festivalul "George Enescu", 2011
  5. ↑ Iranianul care doinește, an interview for Digi24, 2013
  6. ↑ Martisor Muzical. O lansare inedita de CD, Adevarul Newspaper, 2014
  7. ↑ www.youtube.com, First Jam in Sapanta, Maramures
  8. ↑ O calatorie jazzistica in inima muzicii traditionale, Sensiblu Romania
  9. ↑ Festivalului de cantec si dans traditional Stan Ioan Patras, www.traditia.ro
  10. ↑ "Roots Revival - Bilete - Roots Revival". Roots Revival.
  11. ↑ Tanar Maramures, Multiple articles about Roots Revival in Romanian newspapers
  12. ↑ Chapter One: Maramures, First album presentation
  13. ↑ Se aud timbrele a şase instrumente specifice ţărilor de provenienţă ale muzicienilor, review in a press release by Liternet, February 2014
  14. ↑ Martisor Muzical. O lansare inedita de CD, Adevarul newspaper, 2014
  15. ↑ Roots Revival Romania – o poveste despre cîntec, în culori. Colors of Maria, Article in Dilema Veche, September 17, 2014
  16. ↑ Roots Revival second album "Colors of Maria, Chapter Two: Maria Tanase", CD booklet
  17. ↑ Roots Revival Romania – Colors of Maria, Sensiblu Romania
  18. ↑ Roots Revival|Artists|Maria Tanase, spring 2014, names featured on the first Maria Tanase tour
  19. ↑ ROOTS REVIVAL ROMANIA - o uluitoare revizitare a rădăcinilor, review of Oana Marinescu, February 27, 2014
  20. ↑ Colors of Maria, Chapter two: Maria Tanase, second album presentation
  21. ↑ Roots Revival first tour, recording of the second album
  22. ↑ Lansare de album Roots Revival Romania - Colors of Maria, Muzaholic.ro review
  23. 1 2 "Mehdi, the Iranian who weds Romanian and Persian music". Romania-Insider.com.
  24. ↑ Doina Revival, Un spectacol în premieră pe scena Balkanik Festival, rfi.ro, August 20, 2015
  25. ↑ Iranian music interfuses with Romanian doina, Romania Journal on Balkanik Festival, August 19, 2015
  26. ↑ Urban Mystic. Aramaic & Sufi, Hermitage concert in collaboration with the Embassy of Lebanon in Romania and The French Institute in Bucharest
  27. ↑ Mehdi Aminian on Aramaic&Sufi in an interview for Romania Insider , September 22, 2015
  28. ↑ "Roots Revival - Artisti Archives - Roots Revival". Roots Revival.
  29. ↑ Rehearsals, 2015, IMDB
  30. ↑ Rehearsals trailer
  31. ↑ Mário Gajo de Carvalho, producer
  32. ↑ A film that follows Roots Revival, Ana Vijdea on social media
  33. ↑ Krakow Film Festival, DocFilmMusic competition
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