February 15 - 22, 1 9 9 6

STRUNZ & FARAH: EXPLORING NEW WORLDS

In an age of overhyped rock-guitar gods who fly across the fretboards with agility but without much emotional conviction, acoustic six-stringers Jorge Strunz and Ardeshir Farah offer music with passion and soul. Respected by such guitar legends as Paco De Lucia and John McLaughlin, the duo are keeping alive the traditions of their respective Latin and Middle Eastern heritages -- and offering a progressive fusion of worldbeat sounds with a distinctive flavor. Heat of the Sun (Selva) is their long-awaited follow-up to 1992's Grammy-nominated Américas and its predecessor, Primal Magic (both on Mesa), albums of fiery guitar playing in Spanish, Middle Eastern, and Latin modes backed by a strong Afro-Latin rhythm section. Their seventh release, Heat of the Sun is more subdued, but the guitar duo allow their music greater room to breathe, concentrating on individual melodies as much as pervasive fingerwork.

"On Primal Magic, we decided to focus completely on rhumba and merengue, and other forms of Afro-Latin, and we put the guitars on top," explains Strunz, the group's principal composer. Their driving acoustic-guitar work coalesced wonderfully with the Afro-Latin rhythmic base provided by their two percussionists, bassist, and pre-Columbian wind-effects player Coro Selva Bruja (he's credited on the new album with "birds and leaves").

Américas continued in this direction. "When you get into Afro-Latin, you could spend the rest of your life with it," says Strunz. "It's a huge area of work, a very rich world of rhythm. One of the richest on the planet. With Heat of the Sun, we started using some rhythms we had never used before. But we also decided to give each of us as players more individual expression on the melodies, not just the improvisations." Accordingly, they chose as their recording engineer Stephen Stewart-Short, an Englishman who was for numerous years the owner (and often main engineer) of the illustrious Trident Studios in London and has worked with numerous pop bands.

Despite a dose of production slickness, the music has maintained its integrity: Heat of the Sun is a dazzling blend of myriad styles and moods. The duo explore the romantic Cuban comparsa of "Recuerdo," the moody Cuban guajira-son of "Dark Fire," and Farah's subdued Middle Eastern/Mediterranean blend on "Damask." Cuban pianist Ibrahim Parreño was brought in on "Anaconda" and "Terremoto" to play guajeo, that bouncing arpeggio common to much Afro-Cuban music. "Pura Vida" alternates between two main sections: a syncopated, rock-oriented groove over which dances a melodic, upbeat guitar duet; and a smoldering Afro-Latin passage where the acoustic six-strings conjure more delicate melodies. "Anaconda" presents delicate, serpentine guitar melodies underpinned by a snaking bass line and simple yet effective percussive rhythms. But even amid this seeming placidity, one of their trademark solos enters -- an intricate, amazingly fluid guitar run which flitters at rapid speed, executed with power and control.

The title track moves at a fast tempo, but rather than let loose on the frets, Strunz and Farah pull back and leave spaces. It's a celebratory, up-tempo piece that contrasts with the percussion-heavy textures and intricate moments of similar material on recent albums -- suggesting that, after all this time, there may still be new worlds for Strunz and Farah to discover.

-- Bryan Reesman