Tarab Cuts evolved from a request by the Paris-based Lebanese electronic musician, Tarek Atoui. In 2011 he invited several composers, including English saxophonist John Butcher, to create short pieces that responded to music in the collection of Kamal Kassar, who owns one of the world’s largest vinyl and shellac collections of Arabic classical music. Butcher, who is much more strongly identified with free improvisation than composition, edited snippets from Kassar’s 78s into a new piece of music, and then finished the piece with real-time saxophone responses to his construction.
This became “Between the Skies,” which is side one of the album under consideration. Butcher went on to expand the work into Tarab Cuts, a set-length piece that includes more reconstructed recordings as well as improvisations by Butcher and drummer Mark Sanders. He performed Tarab Cuts six times in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Spain and the USA. Curiously, while these presentations enjoyed some acclaim, the recorded iteration is barely known. The LP, which has “Between the Skies” on one side and an early performance of the material with Sanders called “Under the Walls” on the other, was pressed up as an audiophile 45 rpm 12”.
Whilst it takes inspiration from early Arabic classical, secular and Sufi music it is not an attempt to copy these musics.
It is an interaction across decades and cultures that throws an intriguing light on the contemporary musical practice of Butcher and Sanders. A meeting of distant voices with their own, in pursuit of both common and unfamiliar ground.
These pieces were later expanded into a 50 min concert presentation also called Tarab Cuts.
LP purchase includes a free download code for a live performance of this.
Photo: Tarek Atoui's Visiting Tarab in Sharjah, UAE.
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Side A Between the Skies - 13:56
John Butcher / saxophones and sound files
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Side B Under the Walls - 14:08
Mark Sanders / drums & percussion
John Butcher / feedback, sound files
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Butcher is well known as a saxophonist who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of time and place. His music ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and unusual acoustics. Since the early 80s he has collaborated with hundreds of artists – including Derek Bailey, Rhodri Davies, Andy Moor, Phil Minton, Christian Marclay, Eddie Prévost, Magda Mayas, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Sophie Agnel, Gino Robair, Mark Sanders, John Tilbury, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Chris Corsano, Polwechsel and Steve Beresford.
Alongside long term projects he values occasional encounters; from large groups such as the WDR Sinfonieorchester & Butch Morris’ “London Skyscraper”, to duo concerts with Joe McPhee, Fred Frith, Akio Suzuki, Paal Nilssen-Love, Keiji Haino, David Toop, Angharad Davies, Otomo Yoshihide and Matthew Shipp.
Recent compositions include “Penny Wands” for Futurist Intonarumori, three HCMF commissions for his own groups, “Good Liquor Caused my Heart for to Sing” for the London Sinfonietta and “Tarab Cuts”, a response to recordings of early Arabic classical music which was shortlisted for a British Composer’s Award.
“English saxophonist John Butcher may be among the world’s most influential musicians, operating at the cutting-edge of improvisatory practice since the ‘80s. Whenever an acoustic musician starts to sound like a bank of oscillators, a tropical forest, a brook or an insect factory, Butcher’s influence is likely nearby.” – New York City Jazz Record.
