‘Shajara’ by Shajara Ensemble | Album Premiere
Exclusive album premiere of ‘Shajara’ by Shajara Ensemble, out February 23, 2024 via SAC Recordings.
Giorgio Debernardi is a Syrian-Italian musician and composer, professionally engaged in the social field, who tries, through his first work of immersive acoustic music, to explore his personal relationship with the figure of the tree. The result is an album titled ‘Shajara’ (“tree” in Arabic), consisting of eight tracks, where rhythmic cyclicities, cultural contaminations and persistent melodies try to lead the listener into a form of listening apt to recover a slow and generative time.
Shajara Ensembleis formed by Giorgio Debernardi (acoustic guitar, weissenborn, daf, sansula, chromatic calimba, choirs), Marco Bellafiore (double bass), Alan Brunetta (1986-2023) (percussions, marimba, rhodes) e Matteo Cigna (vibraphone, marimba, balafon). They were joined by the collaboration of several artists from different cultures: Guy Buttery (guitar – South Africa), Nadine Jeanne (voice – Germany/France), Luca Benedetto (trumpet – Italy), Elena Russo (kora – Italy), Carla Azzaro (calabas – Italy). The album was recorded mainly at the studio “Attimo Recording” in Cafasse (TO) by sound engineer Dario Mecca Aleina and at the studio “Bonzo the Cat” by musician and composer Alan Brunetta in San Mauro Torinese. The recording master was curated by Gianni Vallino.
Can a single tree save us? Syrian-Italian musician and composer Giorgio Debernardi’s debut album explores the relationship between man and tree, re-appropriating a slow, generative listening time. ‘Shajara’ full of world and jazz contaminations, is out February 23 on SAC Recordings. Can a single tree save us? What kind of call invades us when we watch it? Can it show us a way forward to integrate the personal inner world with the outside world?
Shajara Ensemble Official Website / Instagram
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