The txalparta is a percussion instrument from the Basque region of Spain. It appears to be a somewhat cruder version of the vibraphone, one or more wooden planks supported by wooden stands, that are then banged with thick wooden sticks. Perhaps most interestingly you need two players to play, thus enforcing collaboration. Oreka Tx is the project of collaboration between two Spanish musicians who have played with the likes of Taraf De Haidouks and Pat Metheny, and collaboration is an important component of their work. This disc is only a small part of a much larger canvas that also includes a documentary film and live performances. It’s a multicultural journey with the duo traveling to various countries to jam with the locals. It begins with some Mongolian throat singing, on a piece that also includes a txaparta made of ice, recorded in an igloo, a horse headed fiddle and Saharan, Berber, Indian and Basque vocals all mixed together in an exotic fusion that somehow works despite the geographic inconsistencies. It’s entirely representative of the remainder of this album, in which sitars, mandolins, slide guitar, violin, lute, clarinet, Moroccan castanets, jews harp, tabla, kalimba and all manner of indigenous voices and instruments all weave around ice, cardboard, stone, and wooden tx’s of our heroes. These jams whilst incredibly well produced have a fly by the seat of your pants feel, and it’s curious to hear how each cultures music attempts to work with the melodic rhythms of the tx. Many of the instruments like the sitar, the throat singing or even the castanets are so culturally distinctive that it’s impossible to imagine how anything, particularly an ancient Basque instrument could find a way in. Yet this is never a problem, nothing feels forced, this is highly composed otherworldly world music, a true meeting of cultures, with each offering a gift, yet none emerging on top.
Bob Baker Fish
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