The wind breezes through a park lined not with streetlights, but with chimes. Winding paths curve into themselves in a non-Euclidean fashion. A pleasant stroll for a nomadic mind.

about the record

"African music is remarkable for its polyrhythms. Not only are there simultaneously several rhythmic motifs, sometimes as many as ten, but furthermore it may be that the part played by each musician has its own starting point and its own pace, all combining to form a cycle. All cycles progress at the same time according to a single metrical structure which functions as a reference point, but it is not played by any one person from beginning to end. The structure emerges out of the multi-level parts.

With the Shona, the musical system is based on the polymelody: one performs simultaneously several melodic lines which are superimposed, each having its own rhythmic organization. It is truly captivating. In Western classical music, one four-beat rhythm induces some precise temporal framework and regular reference points, which come on the strong beats 1 and 3. But in the logic of the Shona musical system, and in other African music, the melody can begin in the very middle of the cycle and be continued up to some other place in an autonomous manner, as if it had its own personality. It’s very rich."

- Midori Takada