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Stellamara – The Stellamara has been stalking
me. For several years now, I would hear or read about them and think, now
there’s a band I should check out – I would probably like them. Recently, they
finally caught up with me – I saw them perform live at the Harmony Festival and
have now received their current release, The Seven Valleys. Simply put, they are
astounding – a group of world music master musicians that makes you proud to
live in the Bay Area. Centering on the phenomenal vocals of founder and arranger
Sonja Drakulich, Stellamara is a new breed of world music band that combines
its members’ deep roots in Turkish, Arabic, Balkan, Medieval European and
Persian music to make new music of a new, higher and richer level. Drakulich describes their
music as devotional, and it is – devoted to the drone, the ever-loving, Mother
drone that scours out your skull, opening up your sinuses and your chakras. If
you were to imagine your life as an exotic oriental adventure in a time long
ago or a planet far away, this would be the soundtrack to the movie of that
life. You can’t help but see dancing girls dressed in velvets, silks and cloth
of gold swirling in clouds of intoxicating incense. Drakulich’s voice is a
wonder. Years of singing have left her voice a pure clarion instrument, capable
of seemingly effortless melisma, ululation, and soaring, arching lines. Lyrics
are all in non-English languages, including Latin, Portuguese, and Bulgarian –
thus the Western listener is free to simply listen to the sound of the voice
instead of the words, which further enhances the consciousness-changing effect
of the music. Drakulich’s workmanlike performance ethic is refreshing as well –
she simply gets down to the business of singing, without pretense or overt
showmanship. One reason I prefer a good
world music band like Stellamara over mainstream American recorded product is
the rich timbre of the traditional instruments. Orbiting around Drakulich’s
vocals, frame drumming and dulcimer, are oud, cello, clarinet, violin and a
constellation of traditional drums. Each member also plays several additional
instruments, all in such a masterful manner as to make other musicians want to
give up and become ditch-diggers or realtors. The ensemble sound is further
enhanced by “sound design”, meaning the processing and creation of sounds
within the digital domain – synthesizers and effects, we used to call them in
the 80s. These subtle additions give the compositions texture and more of a
cinematic quality, and aurally seem to move the horizon a little further away. Rhythmically, a majority of
the album references the inexorable, plodding gait of beasts of burden. The
huge frame drums speak, deep as the earth beneath you. Long caravans of
elephants, camels and donkeys slowly pass you by. Other tracks have greater
velocity, gracefully loping along, but always with a solemn, solitary kind of
joy. One may be moved to dance, but with a vertical, not a horizontal
orientation – this is devotional, not party, music. Fans of Loreena McKennitt
will probably really enjoy The Seven Valleys. This album is well worth
acquiring – every time I listen to it, I realize that it’s actually better than
I had previously thought. There is something so pure and in-tune about it that
it seems to sweep the dust off one’s spirit and clarify the mind – an
incredible accomplishment, and ultimately a kind of miracle to be able to
encapsulate such a thing in a little silver disc. Hearts of Space Records HOS
11417 |