I’m delighted to share with you the full performance of ‘When Paths Meet’ recorded live at the Holland Festival. To give my live audiences a unique experience I almost always launch new material at my concerts, and so this album has never-before-heard content. I’ve drawn on a rich palette of sounds of different traditions here, and it represents my most sophisticated work to date.
In it you’ll hear instruments from lands stretching from China to Spain, and vocalists from three continents featuring an acclaimed European choral group. In my compositions there are references at times to Middle Eastern modal systems, at times to flamenco rhythms and Andalusian melodies. At other times early Western choral music is front and center.
Two of the new compositions I launched in Amsterdam include ‘Veritas’, a piece that opens with distinctly Central Asian tones and ethereal vocalizations that evoke a time before time, before shifting in mood to awe at the fiery majesty of creation. A second new work, ‘Karitas’, expresses the pure love that flows through the heart of all things. It is the very love that shines through every note and every word of the traditions heard here. And my composition ‘ONE’ transitions from Western Europe to the world of Andalusia and North Africa as it engages with sounds of the ney, violin, qanun, santoor and percussions, before reaching the dramatic and euphoric outro.