Siwan is an album by pianist Jon Balke

Jon Balke

Jon Balke is a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer currently known for his Magnetic North Orchestra.He began with classical piano, but switched to blues at 12, though today he performs within several genres. At the age of 18 he joined Arild Andersen's quartet. By the mid-1980s he worked on his own...

 recorded in 2007/08 and released on the ECM label in 2009.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars stating "Every track here reveals something unusual, brings something hidden and alien to the fore even as it beguiles the listener with its intimacy of secret histories and knowledge. Siwan is Balke's masterpiece thus far, and will hopefully become as influential as it is groundbreaking".

Track listing

All compositions by Jon Balke with lyrics by Amina Alaoui

1. "Tuchia" - 4:56
2. "O Andalusin" - 2:25
3. "Jadwa" - 5:17
4. "Ya Safwati" - 5:17
5. "Ondas Do Mar de Vigo" - 4:30
6. "Itimad" - 6:43
7. "A La Dina Dana" - 3:27
8. "Zahori" - 4:56
9. "Ashiyin Raïqin" - 4:16
10. "Thulâthiyat" - 10:04
11. "Toda Ciencia Trascendiendo" - 12:23
    • Recorded at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, Norway in 2007/08.

Personnel

• Jon Balke
  Jon Balke
  Jon Balke is a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer currently known for his Magnetic North Orchestra.He began with classical piano, but switched to blues at 12, though today he performs within several genres. At the age of 18 he joined Arild Andersen's quartet. By the mid-1980s he worked on his own...
  
   — keyboards, conductor
  Conducting
  Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
  
  
• Amina Alaoui
  Amina Alaoui
  Amina Alaoui is a Moroccan interpreter of Andalusian classical music. She sings in Arabic, Classic Persian and Haketia.Amina was born in 1964 in an aristocratic family in Fez, Morocco. At the age of six, she started to learn Andalusian classical music in her own family environment...
  
   — vocal
• Jon Hassell
  Jon Hassell
  Jon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.-Life and career:...
  
   — trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  , electronics
• Kheir Eddine M Kachiche — violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  
• Helge Andreas Norbakken — percussion
• Pedram Khavar Zamini — zarb
  Tonbak
  The tonbak or zarb is a goblet drum from Persia . It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music...
  
  

Barokksolistene:

• Bjarte Eike — violin, leader
• Per Buhre, Peter Spissky, Anna Ivanovna Sundin, Milos Valent — violin
• Rastko Roknic, Joel Sundin — viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  
• Tom Pitt — cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  
• Kate Hearne — cello, recorder
• Mattias Frostensson — double bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Andreas Arend — theorboe, archlute
  Archlute
  The archlute is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo, the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music, and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the theorbo...
  
  
• Hans Knut Sveen — harpsichord
  Harpsichord
  A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
  
  , clavichord
  Clavichord
  The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...