Quarterly Critic’s Choice
The best and most interesting new releases of the previous three months are awarded a place on the Quarterly Critic’s Choice. Evaluation criteria are artistic quality, repertoire value, presentation, and sound quality. From 2014 onward, the Long Lists are stored directly with each Quarterly Critic’s Choice.
NEW: Long List 2/2024, published on 5th April 2024
Traditional Ethnic Music
Misagh Joolaee, Sebastian Flaig: Qanat
CD/DL, Pilgrims Of Sound 0098931636306 (direct sales)
Qanat – Googling this word is worthwhile, even if you limit it to pure musicality: it refers to an ancient irrigation system, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A source of life, inspiration, incredible tonal cascades, and finely graded ornaments. Magic of a lamenting and cheering stringed instrument. Misagh Joolaee corresponds with fabulous rhythms that spring from electrically charged fingers. Sebastian Flaig has learned intercultural percussion in Leipzig and Istanbul, amalgamating it with melodic formulas from the folk music of Khorasan or from the hidden depths of Iranian classical music. The result is a fascinating document of intense West-Eastern dialogues. For the jury: Jan Reichow