Dunya

Convened and led by Javid Afsari Rad, a santur (hammered dulcimer) player with Iranian roots, ComboNations capitalise on a variegated posse of musicians currently living in Oslo. The band unites players with backgrounds in Senegal (Solo Cissokho), Morocco (Aissa Tobi), Ivory Coast (Diom De Kossa) and India (Jai Shankar and Harpreet Bansal), bringing along kora, rabab and sintir (lutes), violin, tabla and upright bass, as well as their mélange of singing voices.
Most of the tracks hover around the ten-minute mark, allowing ample time for the deeper exploration of these diverse traditions. An important element is the blend of shimmering strings when kora meets zither and the violin subsequently sweeps in smoothly. Each composition tends to have a primary leader, with the remaining players following that tune's framework, elaborating using the vocabularies of their native traditions. The result is a successful fusion, despite the potentially crowded jostle of differing styles. ‘Sparkle’ leads with Indian violin and tabla, but the santur adds a sympathetic solo after a few minutes. The album's slick production presents all of the instruments on a very level sonic platform, the dominant vibration being one of positive optimism.