Product Description
Pi Recordings is proud to release In What Language?, the stunning collaboration between pianist-composer Vijay Iyer and polymath poet-performer Mike Ladd. Improvisational in nature and hybrid to the core, this groundbreaking project features an eleven-piece ensemble of musicians and speaking voices. The poems of In What Language? comprise a series of darkly lyrical monologues by people of color negotiating the hyper-globalized setting of a 21st-century international airport. It takes its title from the pre-9/11 experience of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who, transiting through JFK in spring 2001, was wrongly detained by INS officials. Panahi's description of this ordeal was widely circulated online. Sent back to Hong Kong in handcuffs, he wanted to explain his story to fellow passengers. "I'm not a thief! I'm not a murderer! I am just an Iranian, a filmmaker. But how could I tell this, in what language?"
Commissioned by the Asia Society, Iyer and Ladd worked intensely on the material for over a year, and debuted their "song cycle" in May 2003. With this project, they have inspired each other to reach far beyond what either has done previously. Taken together, their influences cover the entire spectrum of modern music. The mesmerizing sonic miniatures range from the ominous funk of "Security" and the luminous jazz orchestration of "Taking Back the Airplane" to the rugged electronic programming of "TLC" and the noble cello-and-piano hymn of "Plastic Bag." A bold first foray into non-instrumental music for Pi Recordings, this project features the creative sonic techniques of versatile engineer/co-producer Scotty Hard (a.k.a. Scott Harding), who has imbued the album with a genre-bending variety and flair.
Review
"Iyer framed Ladd's spectacular libretto with some of his most ambitious and compelling music to date...A revelation!" -- Signal To Noise
"[Ladd] approaches and dissects history with a concentrated vigor...[Iyer's] music swirls with a thick, heartening spirit." -- Village Voice
"[Ladd] is one of hip-hop's most restless minds." -- New Yorker
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