Kronos Quartet
KRONOS HITS THE ROAD
Snapshots from the Fabulous Foursome's Intrepid Musical Expeditions
The Kronos Quartet have made a career out of surprising their audience, ever since they first came to attention with their unorthodox concert garb and Jimi Hendrix encores. But it's their adventurous musical spirit, rather than any savvy gimmickry, that has made each Kronos release an essential listening experience for almost two decades now. Besides working with nearly every major composer of our time -- from Steve Reich to Alfred Schnittke -- they've surveyed the world to uncover new music that demands our attention. They brought us Astor Piazzolla before he was a household name, and took us on tours of Africa (Pieces of Africa) and the former Soviet Union (Night Prayers). With Kronos Caravan, they surprise us yet again, charting a path from the Balkans through Portugal, Mexico, and Lebanon, to name just a few of their camping grounds, before ending up in the California surf. Kronos violinist David Harrington talked about the quartet's latest journeys with Scott Paulin, bn.com's Associate Editor for Classical Music.
bn.com: The first thing that's apparent about Kronos Caravan is its diversity. What guided you in putting the record together?
David Harrington: We were in Czechoslovakia after finishing the Early Music album. At that point I felt really empty; I wasn't sure what I was hearing inside. I'd go out to record stores and get a bunch of stuff to listen to. In one case it was an album of Czech Gypsy string orchestra music, and some of it sounded incredibly, ecstatically happy, and at the same moment it sounded unbearably sad. I thought, "That's what I'm hearing inside, only I didn't know it until I heard it outside." And that became the guiding idea for Kronos Caravan.
bn.com: The whole record conveys an aura of exploration and discovery. For me, one of the major finds was the music of Carlos Paredes.
DH: Yeah, what an amazing musician, a fantastic guitarist! His role in Portuguese life is unlike any musician in the United States. He would be a combination of someone like Pete Seeger, and maybe Bob Dylan, Malcolm X, and Billie Holiday. His "Cançao Verdes Anos" is just one of the most beautiful pieces. Depending on your mood, the music amplifies it. If you're really happy when you hear it, it adds to that; if you're melancholy, it definitely adds to that. It's like a mirror for the listener.
bn.com: Most of the pieces here were arranged for you by Osvaldo Golijov, who has composed some wonderful music for you in the past. What do some of the originals sound like?
DH: Paredes plays an instrument called the Portuguese guitar -- it's an instrument very specific to Portugal -- and the recordings actually include a second guitar. The ensemble is so fantastic that sometimes you're not even sure whether you're hearing one amazing mega-instrument or two instruments. These pieces have never been notated. They were thoroughly composed, but they were never written out. So Osvaldo did that and then arranged the music for us. He's a fantastic composer himself, and it's a central part of his thinking to be involved with music that he loves.
bn.com: Rahul Dev Burman's piece is from an Indian "Bollywood" musical. What's the music from these films like in the original context?
DH: I was first introduced to Indian film music about ten years ago, and "Tonight Is the Night" is one of my very favorite Indian film songs, especially the version sung by Asha Bhosle. To me, it's the sexiest -- I just love the sound and the flavor. The music in these films is generally some form of love song, but I also hear elements of James Bond film soundtracks, among other things. The original of "Tonight Is the Night" has some Western instruments and also some really beautifully cheesy sound effects!
bn.com: It sounds like you had a lot of fun playing with the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks on "Turceasca." How did this collaboration come about?
DH: I'd wanted to work with them for many years. We first performed together in London in 1998 -- we played in concert with all the artists who joined us on Kronos Caravan before we recorded with them. The accordion player was just so amazing, and the cimbalom player is a wild man! One of our favorite violinists of anybody we've ever heard is Caliu, their lead violin player. He is just beyond belief. We had a fantastic time. They don't read music, but their music is incredibly crafted and completely worked out. So it's not improvised or thrown together in any sense.
One important image for this record is the point of friction between the bow hair and the string, and Taraf de Haïdouks play with lots of friction! Their music is a contact sport. Playing with them enlarged our appreciation of the force of bowed instruments, as did working with Kayhan Kalhor, who plays the kamancheh, a Middle Eastern fiddle. We explored those points of contact and the flying rosin dust more in Kronos Caravan than ever before.
bn.com: This is your first recording with Jennifer Culp as cellist, since Joan Jeanrenaud left after 20 years with Kronos. What were you looking for in a new member?
DH: We were looking for the most exciting cellist that we could find: somebody who lit up the group and was able to continue the tradition of fine cello playing that Kronos has had. It's amazing how Jennifer has jumped right into the music that we're playing as well as the relationships that we have with composers. I think her playing on the record speaks better than I can. It's nice for us to rediscover our music with her, and we're energized right now.
bn.com: The record ends with a tune a lot of people will recognize: Dick Dale's "Misirlou." Is there really a secret Armenian and Lebanese history behind surf guitar?
DH: Those heritages are definitely in Dick Dale's family, and the music he grew up hearing in his home probably led to his interest in "Misirlou." He didn't originally write "Misirlou," but he made it famous, and he made it his own, which in my opinion is the definition of a great performer. When I first heard it in the '60s, I thought it was American pop music.
bn.com: Most people probably still think it is.
DH: And, well, it is! There's a connection there with Rezsö Seress' "Gloomy Sunday." I grew up thinking that it was a Billie Holiday tune, a blues tune. Only recently I learned it was composed in the early '30s in Hungary, traveled to Paris, and was picked up by various orchestras there. It even ended up in Japan. The other night we were in Tokyo, and someone handed me a recording, in Japanese, from the '50s, of "Gloomy Sunday"!
You could make connections like that about any one of the tracks on the album. Terry Riley mentioned that he thought of the electronic part of his piece, "Cortejo Fúnebre," as a mixture of New Orleans music and Tibetan music. Who else could do that but Terry Riley? "Turceasca" means "Turkish Song." Kronos is an American group, playing with a Romanian group, performing Turkish music, recording in Germany, and it was arranged by Osvaldo Golijov, who's from Argentina with a Russian heritage.
bn.com: Now that you've played music from every corner of the globe, what's next?
DH: It's an amazing time for music, and we continue to follow our ears and trust our instincts. Almost all of the relationships that are a part of Kronos Caravan are continuing on into the future. At the same time we're working with people we haven't worked with before. On the tour that we just did to Korea and Japan, we were performing with an incredible Korean group called Samul Nori. At the moment we're trying to absorb the lessons that we've learned from Kronos Caravan, but having said that, I have ideas for 17 new albums!
© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC