The “Raga/Folk/Drone” Axis" of Ilyas Ahmed
Ilyas Ahmed Albums Re-Released on Immune Recordings
Back in September, Immune Recordings re-released Ilyas Ahmed's first two records. Originally recorded in 2005 and released to CD in 2007 by Digitalis, both have gotten the fuzzy sweater treatment here with new art and a heavy-duty vinyl pressing. More importantly, packaged as a pair, the Immune release provides a loving ingress to the early worlds of this folk-drone-raga pioneer.
As alike in atmosphere as these two are, as kindred in their melodic language of accumulation, open questions, and surprise answers, the textures and tonal colors differ. Where the second record Towards the Night is a solo guitar rambler of a lineage with John Fahey's less old-timey improvisations, Between Two Skies is a one-man ensemble piece, haunted by sustained vocals, and elegant squalls of electronics. With its larger sonic palette, it's nevertheless the more restrained of the two. The figures sketched by the constant guitar picking are answered or amplified by tiny piano chords, or a slight snarl from a fuzzed-out electric guitar. The non-linear repetitions, the minor changes and augmentations, the wordless singing and shadow-sounds that give life to these songs provide an easy setting for narrative.
Delving Deeper Into the Early Albums of Ilyas Ahmed
For example, listening in with the tracklist as your guide, you could imagine a king, cursed with the unhelpful power of turning everything he touches into black smoke. He reigns over a valley, but, up above the cloudcover is another, maybe differently cursed kingdom. A few smoke-mutated youths float up there, past the fogline. They enjoy sunshine and stars and gray and white and black real clouds. They get sunsets and the ability to see for miles and miles because every day is a clear day in the cliffs.
[caption id="attachment_1867" align="alignright" width="347"] Towards the Night[/caption]
Side B starts with a dance, or else a sacrifice. “Silence the High,” the only piece with percussion, is definitely more of a sacrifice song than a dance number. Maybe the sacrifice is interrupted by our smoke teens. Maybe, victorious, they drift to the edge of the rocks and watch the sun rise. A light breeze blows dust from the cliff down onto the black clouds of home. The breeze grows into a strong wind and the cloud-teens are caught by it. Amajan (one of the smoke teens) calls to Samanjhna (another smoke teen). They are in love, but the wind dissipates them anyway. They coo gently into absence. Very tragic.
Of course, the music sustains many narratives.
It's no different with Towards the Night. The voices and electronics are absent, but the dramatic guitar phrases, the wistful character, the arid geography are all still very much in place. It's a different record, more grounded, even subterranean. It feels close, like a secret society, like you've stumbled down dusty stairs, or woken up, or happened suddenly to exist in the shadows of a room built of stone, and in the ring of light provided by a dozen sconced torches, the robed figures there do something.
What do they do? You can't see. You're in the shadows, and you are comfortable there. The world Ahmed builds is one where all the doors are always locked, the gloved hand hides a claw, and what beauty exists is small and rare, and heart-breaking. As with Between Two Skies, repeated listening is rewarded, as the intricate and locked melodies must be known intimately before they can be known at all.
Excitingly, Immune's re-release appears to be inspiring others to take up the mission. Ahmed's third CD-R, Century of Moonlight as well as his most recent, Goner are both slated for LP/CD reissue by Time-Lag Records and Root Strata, respectively. With luck, 2011 will put into steady circulation some of the most elegant guitar music of the last decade.
-Reviewed by Tom DeBeauchamp