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Carl Weingarten - Blue Faith
1. Illumina
Suite (7:19) 2. Spirits of the ID (4:10) 3. China March (4:14) 4. Shanghaiway
(4:02) 5. A Sacred Sleep (0:37) 6. Red Night (5:54) 7. Descend to Light
(0:49) 8. The Dream Unfurled (3:26) 9. Harvest (3:25) 10. The Old Stone
Path (4:12) 11. Pedro's Lament (1:22) 12. The Shadow Returns (5:33)
13. Pandora's Children (3:29) 14. Come With Me (4:49) 15. Angel's Fever
(2:26) 16. Blue Faith (4:30)
Total
Running Time: 59:00
I've always been someone that enjoys traveling and learning from new
cultures and musical traditions, trying to find that certain something
that grafts itself to one's heart as soon as it is finally understood
and fully absorbed. It is, for lack of a better expression, a joyous
process of enlightenment and, in a sense, a spiritual elevation. Unfortunately,
however, I don't exactly have the funds necessary to travel all over
the world and see places that fly around in my mind like distant tempting
ghosts, like, for instance, China.
That is why composers such as Carl Weingarten are to be so effusively
thanked, as they bring what is inevitably unreachable at the moment
to our very doorsteps or, better put, ears. With a musical environment
that is cinematically textured and designed to evoke a sense of exoticism
within the listener, Weingarten has discovered precious drops of Oriental
music essence and sprinkled his latest album, Blue Faith, with
what is a moving comprehension of light, space, and dynamics. This is
the soundtrack of the Orient and a reasonable encounter with Western
traditions, in sharp contrast to the clash of cultures that took place
when Japan was forcibly opened up to foreigners or China flooded with
opium by the British.
Forget about riff-driven progressive rock though, because this is an
entirely different approach, and one that in fact has, if anything,
very little to do with rock at all. Blue Faith is literally close
to being the perfect soundtrack for a movie such as Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon or, if I may be so bold, Akira Kurosawa's classic
Ran. The album isn't confined to such distant Oriental traditions
only, however, and other elements of world music, Asian in their vast
majority, are adorned with Weingarten's unique use of dobro and electric
and slide guitars.
Even then, however, the Western nature that is inherent to Weingarten
keeps appearing throughout the album's course, whether it is in the
bizarre and ghostly guitar sounds of "Spirits of the Id" or
the sweetness of "Come With Me." It must be added, however,
that Blue Faith is also a result of a stellar cast of musicians
who accompany Weingarten throughout the regal proceedings, including
bassist Michael Manring, erhu virtuoso Jie-Bing Chen, celloist Dan Reiter,
flutist Kat Epple, and a number of other artists which I unfortunately
cannot mention for the sake of brevity, but who are just as important
as their counterparts.
Up to this very day I still wish to see the Chinese fields, intense
Indian/Moroccan rites, and the sober exquisiteness of Ancient Japan.
It is something that will hopefully not elude me forever, and maybe
I'll even let you know when I actually do it. In the meantime, I can
share something else with you, and that is the profound sentimental
effect that Blue Faith has on its listener. As time passes by,
it becomes harder to find music that soothes one's troubled mind and
flows dreamily with honesty and true identity. You just found it. Don't
let it go.
-by
Marcelo Silveyra
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