ED MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY
Turning Jewels Into Water
The Intersection of Ritual, Improvisation, Global Rhythms and Music-Technology
Turning Jewels into Water, a beat-and-ritual-based project from percussionist Ravish Momin (founder of Tarana) in collaboration with Haitian experimental electronic artist Val Jeanty (Val-Inc), began with a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY, while Momin was artist-in-residence there in September of 2017.
Their collaboration, rooted in improvisation shaped by ritual, evokes the esoteric realms of the creative subconscious. Drawing from the voodoo religion, Val recreates the ancient rhythm and pulse of Haiti through digital beats, while Momin, whose own musical background is rooted Indian, North African and Middle-eastern traditions, has developed an original blend of electro-acoustic beats, drawing together the improvisational traditions in Jazz and South Indian classical music. Together they explore the capabilities of new technologies to create a seamless blend of multiple electronic and acoustic instruments.
Turning Jewels Into Water’s debut EP, Which Way Is Home, will be available from FPE in spring 2018.
ED MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY
“From her Brooklyn loft, Haitian musician Val-INC. (Val Jeanty) mixes traditional drumbeats with mechanical gears, creating a funky fusion that she calls “voodoo electronica.” The music is her way of connecting with her roots and her ancestors, Jeanty says. Drawing from the voodoo religion, Val recreates the rhythm and pulse of Haiti through ancient beats.”
Leigh Patterson, BBC
“Watching Ravish Momin play is a bewildering experience. Drums are supposed to be a non-melodic instrument, yet as he sits alone onstage playing his kit, you can hear eerie, spectral tunes emanating from somewhere. There are vocal samples and looped beats flying through the air, too, but by now the average music fan knows what a musician can do with effects and pedals to create those elements. This is something different. It’s a percussionist creating his own musical world, triggering electronic effects in a way that works them into his relentlessly propulsive playing.“
Vincent Harris, Columbia Times