Life as Is

Themes of uncertainty and impermanence run deep throughout this album, itself a product of an unlikely chance encounter between Syrian oud master Issam Rafea and leading Chinese pipa player Gao Hong. The two met while the former was an artist-in-residence at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where Gao Hong happens to teach. Recorded in a single day, each of the tracks on this album is an unrehearsed one-take improvisation – a detail made more surprising by how fully realised and emotionally nuanced the music is. The ephemeral quality of this recording lends it a heightened sense of longing, evoking the shared feeling of displacement between the two players having escaped intense political strife in their respective countries.

Given the starkness of instrumentation and the spontaneity of the recording, each musician is forced by necessity to draw upon every technique and sound colour of their instrument. Rafea manipulates the oud's depth of sonority beautifully, often conjuring long flowing lines that create a range of harmonic patterns seldom explored on the instrument. Gao Hong contrasts this perfectly, with intricate countermelodies that belie their improvised nature. Even when the pieces begin to meander, the duo are able to mutually find their way back to a strong theme, resulting in a recording that is consistently engaging, deeply contemplative and culturally resonant.