Vedaki
Gombi Zor
Vedaki Records/ Netherlands(www.xs4all.nl/~vedaki)

Vedaki is a compression of the band's previous name, Vershki Da Koreshki, Russian for "roots and leaves". How do they explain themselves? "Vedaki is a meeting of different cultures, rhythms, languages, energies, forces of the world ... joining them together in search of natural understanding and communication, link between traditional and modern, roots and improvisation (Not without humour and hope)." It works. Their good-natured humor has dissolved all tension and pretense between musicians from different cultures. Many Euro-Jazz/World combinations flounder in awkwardness, projects that "looked good on paper" alone. Other fusion projects discover common musical ground that's so tame it sucks the vitality right out of them. This is definitely not the case with Vedaki.

"Toksikolom"

On this latest release, Gombi Zor (named for a toy bear found in their farmhouse/studio), the mixture is heavy on hybrid Afro-Indian grooves, jazzy improvisation, European and Indian folk melodies. The flexibility of their improvisation (their "leaves") is anchored by the traditional grooves (their "roots"). Mola Sylla, originally from Senegal, provides the African root with vocal and percussion.

The leaves, Alexi Levin (on keyboards, accordion, mouth harp and reeds) and Vladimir Volkov (double-bass) are Russian jazz players. New to the mix is Sandip Bhattacharya, Indian tabla player and singer. Sami artist Mari Boine joins on one especially jazzy track, as does Sergey Starostin on another (singing in Old Russian). I miss the heavy Tuvan flavor of their last album, but there are still musical echoes from the Siberian steppes. (Throat-singer Kaigal-ool Khovalyg is still associated with the band, toured with them recently, but is not on these sessions.)

While their focus sometimes slips a little, Vedaki creates something exotic, surprising and so seamlessly organic it sounds derived from an ancient tradition all its own; from some land where their Russian, Indian and West African ancestors forged a common musical language centuries ago. They say, "It was planted as an experiment; it stayed alive; it keeps giving its fruits." - Brent Wilcox

CD available from cdRoots

Audio ©1999 Vedaki Records/ Netherlands

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