PETER FAND
Dedication
(p) (c) 1998 Mother West Records
7tks/56mins

This album by Peter Fand is a rare specimen of mediation music. The musician plays Kora. That ancient and very specifically sounding lute has 21 strings and came to us from West Africa. This instrument, which name is strongly associated with folk musicians (Griots), being very respectable people possessing rather high position in the society, and was passed from generation to generation. Therefore, the sounding of Kora - are the same sounds of the ancient lute, which was heard by our ancestors many centuries ago. There is something fascinating and even mystical in these sounds.

It is interesting, that the album starts from composition "Sarah's Lily", where it seems that the performer tunes his instrument and tunes the listener to his music. At first, having switched on "Dedication", I thought that I hear a set of sounds, but gradually I began to notice that I feel the music. And little by little I began to feel harmony, and observe a very original melodic picture. And so, while the following compositions "Furnace Creek" and "Lea Meditation" are unwrapping, one can feel himself more and more immersed in this play by Peter Fand, and both the saturation of the music and enjoyment from it gradually increase.

Melodies of Peter Fand were born during the studies of yoga and meditation, were the performer's lute served as a musical accompaniment. Nevertheless, Peter Fand's music became more than just some accompaniment. Almost an hour-long album possesses wholeness and completeness. Peter Fand's music is like a river, which carries its waters smoothly and slowly on a fertile plain.

Meditative experience of the performer is very successful, though his music needs to be heard to attentively. "Dedication" can be couragely named "adventurous" (as it is named by the Mother West Records studio). Having heard the album, one should say: "Perfect work!"

Serge Kozlovsky