LP, 180g vinyl, a Pallas-product.
Post-war music history was written in Germany with the MPS label: fine music productions with many international greats came from the Black Forest - The HGBSBlue label from Villingen continues this tradition with new and archive recordings on high-quality vinyl, some from the MPS archive.
What are these sounds? They are idiosyncratic, almost addictive. They are stirring, wistful and don't fit into any of the usual categories: Georgian polyphony mixed with minimal music, a dash of jazz and sparkling electro-pop. This music knows no borders. Is there anything like it? Hardly. Bjork, maybe.
It's all about Russudan Meipariani, a pianist, composer and singer from Tbilisi who has been living in Stuttgart for a good 20 years. Together with her sister Natalie and brother-in-law Giga, they form the Russudan Meipariani Ensemble and play beyond the usual musical boundaries. This is reflected in the title of their new project: "Beyond The Boarders, which will be released on vinyl in October on the Black Forest label HGBSBlue.
Coming from a family of musicians, composer Russudan Meipariani is naturally drawn to the polyphony of her native Georgia. In the 1990s she played in a classical trio with her sister Natalia (violin) and brother-in-law Giga (cello) before moving to Germany. Here they continued their musical education and then worked as musicians. Russudan was even a student of the legendary composer Wolfgang Rihm (1952-2024).
The new album by the Russudan Meipariani Ensemble is a musical reflection on origins and homeland, music of longing and memory. The trio brings worlds together and creates a unique sound space at the interface of classical music, jazz, Georgian polyphony, post-minimalism and improvisation. The music is full of sentimentality and expansiveness, then again stirring or wistful. Many unusual facets emerge, but never boredom.
Their music is full of narrative power and evocative poetry. You don't want to stop listening to it," writes Julia Neupert, editor for jazz and new music at SWR in Stuttgart, who wrote the liner notes for this LP.
An extraordinary listening experience!