A musical journey across the Mediterranean, Asia, improvisation and memory

Pentaktē present "Songs from Distant Shores", a new album born from the encounter between four musicians and four distinctive sonic worlds: Edward Feldman's tablā, Salvatore Morra's ʿūd, Fabio Rambelli's Japanese shō, and Marco Sannini's trumpet and flugelhorn.

The album is part of GENS – Centre for Global Encounters of Sounds & Music, involving ISMEO – The International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (Rome), the Università di Napoli L'Orientale, and the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella in Naples.

Songs from Distant Shores began with a real encounter: a concert at the Castello Ducale in Sessa Aurunca brought the four musicians together for the first time, creating a dialogue between different experiences, instruments and musical traditions. What began on stage continued beyond the concert, gradually developing into a process of research, listening and experimentation that eventually took shape in this recording.

Pentaktē creates a musical space in which traditions from different geographical and cultural backgrounds can meet without losing their individual identities. Tablā, ʿūd, shō and Western brass instruments are not simply placed alongside one another; instead, they enter into a process of mutual listening in which rhythm, timbre, melody, improvisation and memory become elements of a shared musical language.

The album moves across materials of different origins, from traditional music to original compositions, from reinterpretations of historical repertoire to collective improvisational exploration. The result is a recording in which tradition and contemporaneity, composition and improvisation, the Mediterranean and Asia meet within an open and deeply dialogical musical environment.

At the heart of the project lies a simple but significant idea: making music together can be both a creative practice and a form of research and knowledge. Each instrument carries its own history, geography and musical system; their encounter becomes an opportunity to explore what happens when different languages enter into sustained dialogue while remaining attentive to one another.

THE MUSIC

The album opens with “Sea Cross”, a composition by Marco Sannini that immediately introduces the ideas of crossing and encounter suggested by the album's title. The programme continues with “‘Sto core mio”, Orlando di Lasso's composition in an arrangement by Sannini, followed by “He Loved Him Madly, Too”, composed by Fabio Rambelli. “Oshun Song”, from traditional repertoire and arranged by Sannini, further expands the musical dialogue towards other cultural territories.

A central piece in the ensemble's identity is “Sound Atlas”, jointly composed by Edward Feldman, Salvatore Morra, Fabio Rambelli and Marco Sannini. The piece encapsulates the exploratory approach of Pentaktē and the research dimension underlying the project. The album concludes with “Samaʻi Sakura” by Salvatore Morra and “‘A capillara” by Marco Sannini, bringing the journey back towards Mediterranean repertoires and sound imaginaries.

PENTAKTĒ

The name Pentaktē identifies an ensemble founded on the encounter between different instruments, musical cultures and individual experiences. Edward Feldman is a tabla player and percussionist from Philadelphia, based in Naples. He has studied North Indian classical music and tabla since 2001, principally with Samir Chatterjee, and has also worked with musicians including Shankar Ghosh, Zakir Hussain, Anindo Chatterjee and Pooran Maharaj. His musical practice spans Hindustani music, jazz, contemporary music and improvisation.

Salvatore Morra is an ethnomusicologist, ʿūd player and music curator. A British Academy Post- Doctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge and Postdoctoral Research Associate at Trinity Hall, his research focuses on Arab music, musical instruments and the historical and cultural relationships between the Mediterranean, North Africa and Southern Europe. Fabio Rambelli is Distinguished Professor of Japanese Religions and Cultural History and holder of the International Shinto Foundation Chair in Shinto Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A scholar and practitioner of Gagaku, he is one of the few Western specialists of the shō, the traditional Japanese mouth organ, which he performs in both classical repertoire and contemporary and improvised music.

Marco Sannini is a trumpet player, composer, arranger and producer whose career since the 1980s has moved across jazz, contemporary music and European art music. He has collaborated with artists including Roberto De Simone, Jerry Bergonzi, Kenny Burrell, David Murray, Michael Brecker, John Surman, Louis Sclavis, Keith Tippett, Norma Winstone, Marc Ribot and Evan Parker. He currently teaches Jazz Composition and serves as Director of the Jazz Department at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples.

GENS – CENTRE FOR GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS OF SOUNDS & MUSIC

Songs from Distant Shores is part of the activities of GENS – Centre for Global Encounters of Sounds & Music, a project dedicated to exploring encounters between cultures, musical practices, instruments and forms of knowledge. Through performance, research and interdisciplinary collaboration, GENS approaches music as a privileged space for dialogue between different traditions and as a means of investigating processes of mobility, migration, cultural exchange and transformation. Pentaktē embodies this approach: an ensemble in which the diversity of four individual musical paths becomes the starting point for a shared practice of listening, composition and improvisation.