Salma Har

Lloyd Barde- Backroads Music, January 2005
Rossi brings a personal approach, with distinctive music imagery, to a style that speaks to so many traditions.

Product Description
World orchestral grooves and wordless hymns

Salma Har

Tracks:

Oiseau
MoonFlower
Agni
Salma Har
Cherisa
Resolutions
D Meditation

Album Description

World orchestral grooves and wordless hymns

Customer Reviews:

Very interesting, and growing on me by leaps and bounds.......2005-10-24

This is music I really wanted to like a lot. And initially, I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed--I was only going to give it three stars. But the more I've listened to it, the more I'm becoming a fan: the sheer beauty and breadth of vision, not to mention attention to the tiniest sonic details, make this a very special disc.

Tom Rossi certainly has what it takes to pull something like this off--world travel to places like Togo, Ghana, Turkey, Cuba, Salvador, Bahia, and Brazil; proficiency on a wide ranges of instruments, including piano, guitar, various flutes, bass, clarinet, kalimba, and about a dozen different percussion instruments; study under such masters as Mustapha Tetty Addy, Giovanni Hildago, and Papa Ladji Camara; not to mention study at Berklee, scoring films and composing for theatrical and dance productions, and accompanying a wide variety of world-music ensembles in and around New York.

And, truth be told, there's really not anything quite like it out there. This is certainly one of the most eclectic discs ever recorded, blending everything from exotic world-percussion to ravishing wordless SoCal harmonies to lap steel guitar stylings to Malian kora to bata drumming to dreamy faux Middle Eastern musings.

Once you get on board with the vibe--for me, after an initial response of being somewhat skeptical that it was all too poppish/New Agey--it generally works quite marvelously. If there is the occasional lapse into sentimentality and cheese, Rossi can be forgiven for the conceptual scope and the generally pulled off uniquely beautiful soundscape.

About the only criticism I have is that it sometimes sounds a little too slick. I believe this could be corrected if he actually recorded with a working band, because the tracks most prominently featuring a number of different players work best. Yes, he plays enough instruments to be a one-man band, but nothing beats actual interaction with fellow players in real time.

In any case, this is a really good first recording. The aesthetic reminds me of Fraser Fifield's great disc, Honest Water, even though it sounds little like that album. Interestingly Fifield, another hugely talented multi-instrumentalist, has been gigging with his own band for about the last year or so, and has a new recording (not yet heard by me) with that new group.

I'm anxiously looking forward to the next offering by Tom Rossi.

The best album of the year!.......2004-12-30

From start to finsh this album is full of great relaxing and inspirational music. I think that Tom Rossi simply out did himself. I extremly recomend this album to anyone interested in experiancing a new cultural experiance.

Music to Stir the Heart & Soothe the Soul.......2004-12-17

Unique & versatile -this album can serve as soothing meditation music or good listening that reaches out to touch your soul. The blend of harmonics & rhythmics is a result of the melding of the essences of the music of many cultures skillfully woven into an original art form that is uniquely Rossi's.

Rock Music:

Rock Music

rock music

Recommended Music:

A Return to the Inner Experience

The Artistry of Hans Fagius: A Collection of English, German and French Organ Music

That Train

Down Home Music

The Firm [Soundtrack]

Star Gala [Import]

Streets of Philadelphia Ep

Sticks & Stones + 4/Japan

The Best of Bellydance from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon...

Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustral/Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3

This Time Around

Sayonara Soritia [CD-single] [Import]

That's the Joint [Import]

Panorama: Trumpet Prism

The Best of Harry James