JARO-NEWSLETTER 1/2009

Dear Jaro friends

our Newsletter with information about our new releases in 2009:

Sarband & Fadia El-Hage / Modern String Quartet – The Arabian Passion According To J.S. Bach – JARO 4294-2

Nobody ever has pictured human suffering, represented by Jesus Christ, as impressively and as fervently as J. S. Bach in his Passions. An Arab-European cast of musicians and masters of European jazz transforms sound icons of classical music into a present-day statement on humanity.

In a world marked by differences, this musical collaboration creates an intense and contemplative space for peace and respect. Adapted from Bach’s Passions, the spirit of Baroque is intertwined and reinterpreted with the living musical traditions of the Middle East together with the improvisations of Jazz. One of the most famous singers of the Arab world, Fadia el-Hage, reprises Bach’s arias as healing songs bridging the conflicts and differences between the Arab world and the West, between different faiths, between believers and non-believers, between modernists and traditionalists.

"An Arabian Passion" evokes a musical plea for peace, with projections of photographic art depicting the ordinary people of Iraq taken by ‘unembedded’ photographers Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Kael Alford, Thorne Anderson and Rita Leistner (unembedded.net). They serve as a pressing reminder of the human ordeals of our contemporary times. The suffering of modern-day Iraqis gives new context and coontent to Bach's Passions.

For more information:
http://www.jaro.de/php/endex.php3/page/content:flypage/artist_id/da743e8e075da235b176afc1f8dc6b0f/cd_id/317


Jasper van’t Hof / Fredy Studer – Pangramm – 264-0808

Voted a decade ago as Europe's best keyboard player, Jasper Van ' t Hof has hauled his multifarious keyboards out of the garage. These include the Korg M1, Kawai CD5, Roland M-CD1, Korg P3+SDD and the DRV 2000 among others - a veritable historic collection! Out of love for experimentation, beyond the melodiousness of calculated music-making, he's joined with Swiss drummer Fredy Studer to create a couragious, joyously experimental CD - "Pangramm".

Impossible to pigeonhole, this recording could be compared to a book which cannot be read in one sitting. "Pangramm" stands in contrast to the contemporary musical world of computerized artifice - an orgiastic absurdity of sounds which nonetheless fit perfectly together like a puzzle - a refreshing contrast to the over-saturated and gleaming perfection of today's music industry.

For more information:
http://www.jaro.de/php/endex.php3/page/content:flypage/artist_id/c14f827039cc7d2b49d53aa07d951fd7/cd_id/315

For more information about our wonderful Cds, Tourdates, Soundfiles, Videos and Fotos @ www.jaro.de

Many thanks for your attention and with greetings from Bremen,

Joerg Werner