Imam Collective – Solitude (World within Worlds)

Solitude is a duo recording, of acoustic guitar and sarod. It’s gentle, subtle music filled with space and stillness. It’s the work of Hasan Imam Hamdani, a US based Pakistan-born guitarist who studied under sarod maestro Alam Khan (son of legendary Indian classical musician Ustad Ali Akbar Khan). He’s joined by Manik Khan (Alam’s brother) on sarod. The music, always still and sparse runs the gamut of folk or perhaps folkloric styles, referencing Indian classical music as much as the rollicking music of Mali or more western folk traditions, which makes sense as the stated aim of the collective is to explore musical disciplines and threads from around the world. The key is how they manage to do it while retaining their own unique identity, where traditions meet more contemporary song structures. This music is so low key, so sparse, so pure, that it almost feels spiritual. It’s something beautiful for sure, where the only criticism you can make is that with a miserly three tracks at 16 minutes this EP is over much too soon.