Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Gordon Grdina: Ejdeha

Gordon Grdina: Ejdeha

By Mike Jurkovic
August 9, 2018
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Fifteen years into his study of Arabia's mysterious and resonant oud, Vancouver, Canada-based guitarist

Gordon Grdina

oud
b.1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Gordon Grdina has released Ejdeha, with his equally mysterious and resonant ensemble, The Marrow.

Expanding out from his debut, Think Like the Waves (Songlines, 2006), recorded with

Gary Peacock

bass, acoustic
1935 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Peacock and

Paul Motian

drums
1931 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Motian, Grdina takes his jazz improvisations further into the poetic exoticism of the Middle East. "Telesm" pulls the veil back on Ejdeha, as The Marrow—bassist

Mark Helias

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Helias, cellist

Hank Roberts

cello
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Hank Roberts, and Hamin Honari, playing the tombak (a goblet shaped drum) and daf (frame drum)—draws the music out from the desert shadows.

The rhythmic counterpoint of "Idiolect" evolves from these persistent shadows into a frenetic chase. Helias' dark bass and Grdina's assured, hypnotic picking being the engine around which the others conjure. The title track finds Roberts the featured dancer, with Honari's percussive dynamics and reverberations holding ground.

Throughout, Grdina's oud lingers on the palette ("Full Circle"), despite the instrument's natural inclination for the notes to fade soon after they are played. Ejdeha, Kurdish for dragon, is a compelling work of contemporary and ancient telepathy, a sure sign that humans can talk to each other.

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Track Listing

Telesm; Idiolect; Ejdeha; Bordeaux Bender; Wayward; Full Circle; Boubacar.

Personnel

Gordon Grdina

oud

Gordon Grdina: oud; Mark Helias: bass; Hank Roberts: cello; Hamin Honari: tombak, daf, frame drum.

Album information

Title: Ejdeha | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Songlines Recordings

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