Review
by Willard Manus
Nana Simopoulos
explores her wide-ranging musical interests in SKINS, her latest and seventh
recording. Working with such world-music stalwarts as Ustad Sultan Khan
(sarangi), Greg Beyer (percussion, berimbau), and Solis Baki (percussion),
Simopoulos has converted the Sufi poetry of Rumi and the songs of the
Native American shaman, Owl Woman, into tender, haunting compositions
with a universal appeal.
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Simopoulos, who not only sings but plays guitar and bouzouki on the CD,
has also contributed a love song to the mix, Anases. Written
in Greek for the birthday of her husband, Caryn Heilman (a background-singer
on the album), it is Sappho-like in its warmth and sensuality. Simopoulos
has also set to music poetry by Kojiju, a Japanese Buddhist nun from the
12th century. It goes:
Merely to know the flawless moon
dwells pure and clear
Inside the human heart
is finding that the darkened night
will vanish
under clearing skies
Several first-class jazz musicians, such as saxophonist Dave Liebman and
drummer Royal Hartigan, are heard on SKINS. The CDs eight compositions
were recorded in various studios around the world--Athens, Brooklyn and
Pennsylvaniaover a 15-year period. The long wait has been worth
it; SKINS is without question one of the most captivating releases of
2016.
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