Dawn of Midi is Indian contrabassist Aakaash Israni, Moroccan pianist Amino Belyamani and Pakistani percussionist Qasim Naqvi. Based in New York and Paris, the group’s debut record ‘First’ (Accretions) has garnered a startling amount of critical acclaim for an album of completely improvised music. Dawn of Midi’s sound-world draws from a variety of musical idioms: from minimalism, to musique concrète through romanticism, the leaderless trio breathes rigor, lyricism, and silence.
Dawn of Midi’s sound-world is one of effortless juxtaposition; from the harmonic language of Debussy to the clammer and rattle of extended techniques evoking Cage’s piano preparations. In the global art music setting, one can sense a paradigm shift that veers towards an appreciation of timbre, color, and the silences that frame a musical offering. This new sensibility is immediately recognizable within DoM’s language.
“Improvisationally gifted musicians with chemistry, the cats can play.”
– Mark Dresser
“…gorgeous…a bizarre yet completely natural sounding amalgam.”
– Frank J. Oteri, New Music Box
“Dawn of Midi are storytellers, though unconventional ones, creating their own plots out of wisps of smoke and the musical substance at hand, in the moment.”
– Art Lange, Point of Departure
“…it’s a sheer delight from beginning to end. Wonderful free lyricism and suspense at the same time…Dawn of Midi is something else.”
– Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz
www.dawnofmidi.com
www.accretions.com
