Sung in Italian, Sardinian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, English and Pygmy, with a guest brass band and guest chorus, Scrambled blurs the boundaries between jazz, world music, irony, ferocity and tenderness.

1. Non C'è Niente da Lavare (There is nothing to wash) ~ a joyous romping bassline provides the foundation for this battle between logic and habit, romanticism and hilarity. Featuring solos by Andrea Pesce on piano and Amy Denio on clarinet.

2. S'Ou Abbattadu (Scrambled Eggs) ~ the egg gets down and gets funky! Performed with expanded horn section and 'preacher' Keni Cohen describing the world through the eyes of a hard-boiled egg. In English and Sardinian.

3. Nochdenada (Night of nothing) ~ a dialogue between gentle and ferocious, from anthemic jazz to the wild abandon of energetic rumba. In Spanish.

4. Destiny Sneezed ~ composed by Amy Denio and based on Mexican rhythm 'son jarocho', this whimsical song evokes the beauty of dissonance. In English.

5. Deificação ~ featuring Ersilia on ukulele, this rhythmic piece mixes the tenderness of a lullabye with the passion of tango, and echoes of Weimar Germany. In Portuguese.

6. Gallone Bocca Larga (Big Mouth Gallon Jug) ~ commencing with the abandon of samba, then moving forward with the tick-tock of minimalism, this composition is a tribute to the deep love and respect between OU and producer Amy Denio, inspired by their wild adventures on the road. In Italian.

7. I Like You ~ featuring Denio on Jew's Harp, this piece is destined to be an underground disco classic!

8. Andiamo a Conoscerci Meglio a Parigi ~ a tender, evocative illustration about the beauty and illusion of love. Featuring Denio on clarinet. Sung in English.

9. Jengi ~ a wistful song about ups and downs transforms into mesmerizing and gorgeous trance music. Sung in Spanish and Pygmy.

Around The World is the 14th solo album from Slovenian music producer and multimedia artist Stana Špegel aka Monom. This album is for the people who like rhythmic groovy music, but don't want to listen to the same samples and same ideas again and again.

This time, Monom introduces ethnic elements into his electronic music and delivers to you some hot chillout and house music blended with a lot of ethnic percussion and instruments from around the world to create stylish and elegant tracks for you and your projects.

New sounds, new mixtures, new blend.
The world is full of instruments and sounds, it's time to listen to them!

THE FUTURE OF MUSICAL EXPRESSION

Due to an dissatisfaction with the directions in which modern classical music had been going since the beginning of the 20th century, the 1980ies and 1990ies saw many serious musicians starting to search for alternatives. This is why our Special Music School started offering special lessons with composition teacher SN Evtushenko, in which we aimed at redefining the future of musical expression. We rethought the rules which constitute the basis of Western music and probed to compose music in entirely different ways. Through this work, it became obvious to me that, if we want to create something entirely new which is suitable for listening, we have to change more than just a few rules; it's the fundamentals of the Western approach to music and its entire philosophy that need to be revised and changed.

ANCIENT VOICE OF HELP

The solution came from an unexpected direction. In 1988, we listened to some records of the great Indian musician, Ravi Shankar. His music was unusual but at the same time incredibly attractive. Wanting to know more, I began to explore this realm and found an intriguing world, which harmoniously combines a philosophical understanding of reality with a completely new musical system. What particularly inspired me was how this system allowed the performer to express himself (or herself) in the most confidential language I've ever seen. My soul was ready for the journey.

JOURNEY IN THE UNKNOWN WORLD

As I read more and more about the Indian culture and philosophy, I started to feel that theoretical knowledge is not enough. This is why, in 1992, I decided to try and go dive deep into this culture. I spent the next 3 years living in authentic Indian Asramas (monasteris), visiting India, and hearing hours and hours of ancient vedic sounds, which mostly consist of incantations of the holy names of the Supreme. In 1995, my learnings led me to Germany, where I tried to find ways to transmit my new understanding of music to the broader public. Experiments consisted of performances of meditative piano concerts, sometimes as a soloist, sometimes in the form of musical therapy with fairy tales narrated live by expert psychologists. In 2002, I participated as a musical director in an experimental theater project in Berlin, in which two groups of demented persons were engaged in scenes of different levels of complexity. Although the theater was a success, I felt that something was lacking and that the treasure I had received from the ancient masters of sound was still undiscovered by the public. I had to find something simple to help transmit that knowledge. I was looking for a new language of music.

"NOW I WILL PLAY RAGAS"

Then, all of the sudden, I had an Aha moment. Eureka! I realized that looking for new dimensions was itself the fundamental idea of Indian Ragas! For me, the only new thing about it was that I returned to those origins. Yes,to just play Ragas as they are, as the tradition prescribes, not adding any modern New Age attitude or something the like. It meant that I had to learn the rules, find out if piano playing would imitate the classical Indian instruments, and go ahead. And that's exactly what I did. And it worked! People were inspired, I was inspired, and therefore, I have been playing Piano Raga ever since. But that was just the beginning of my journey, which has no end. I feel that I found the place where all our modern music and art can find their future, shelter and refuge. At least I hope so.

One of the first things that a concert guitarist considers when contemplating making a recording is doing a 'recital' program. I have avoided this temptation for some time, preferring to create recordings that follow some sort of theme. A well planned concert program will also have certain 'themes' often following a chronological order, including established and well known repertoire as well as new works, perhaps even premiere performances, and be designed to carry the listener on something of a musical journey. This program is based on the music presented in a pair of recitals at The University of British Columbia in Kelowna, B.C. held in the 2012-2013 academic year.

The music of Aragonese guitarist Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710) has an immediate melodic appeal. Originally for a 5 course baroque guitar, his music adapts very well to translation to the modern concert guitar. Villanos (village dance), Espanioleta and Canarios (dance from the Canary Islands) are from his 1697 method book.

Both Luis Milan and Alonso Mudarra left substantial bodies of music for the vihuela, a 16th century Spanish ancestor of the guitar that was tuned like a lute. Fantasia 12 and Pavana 2 are from Milan's huge 1536 volume El Maestro. Mudarra's three books of music include music for the four course guitar and six course vihuela. Fantasia 18 foreshadows a baroque fugue with well developed counterpoint based on the four note motive G-F#-D#-E.

Santiago de Murcia was active in the first half of the 18th century. Little is known of his life apart from his having a respected career that may have even included time spent in Mexico. His music shows a considerable skill with styles popular at the time. He played a 5 course baroque guitar.

Fernando Sor (1778-1839) and Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849) were pioneers in the development of the modern guitar with six single strings. They were both students of Padre Basilio, a legendary guitarist and instructor in Spain, and they both enjoyed active careers as performers, composers and teachers throughout Europe. The varied fandango is reminiscent of a famous fandango by Boccherini. The popular tune/chord progression 'las Folias de España' was often used as a subject for variations.

Few composers produced music more closely associated with the guitar than Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909), a curious fact considering he never wrote for the instrument. His Asturias-Leyenda, the Prelude of his great piano work Chants d'Espagne (Songs of Spain), is one of the great staples of the guitar repertoire. His lesser known Pavana-Capriccio is full of considerable charm.

The strong association of Flamenco music with Spanish culture overshadows the rich repertoire of very romantic but still distinctly Hispanic music that flourished in the late 1800's. Isaac Albeniz and Enrique Granados were the most famous exponents of this nationalistic style but there were many others, guitarists included. The music of Spanish guitarist-composers enjoyed great popular acclaim at the end of the nineteenth Century. By mixing folkloric elements from the native Flamenco tradition with the classical forms, they created a synthesis of style and playing technique that has persisted in the concert music of the guitar for the last hundred years. Francisco Tarrega was undoubtedly the most influential of these. His Prelude is subtitled 'A Vision from the Devil's Tower'.

Jose Broca was a well-known guitarist at the time whose popularity waned as musical fashion changed. Pensamiento Español is a wonderful example of his delicate and appealing style. Another of Tarrega's contributions to the concert repertoire was the arrangement of the music of his contemporaries. His transcription of Joaquin Malats' Serenata Española was dedicated to Tarrega's friend Dr. Walter Leckie.

Arguably the most often studied and performed original guitar work, Recuerdos de la Alhambra memorably reflects the fountains of the Alhambra palace in Granada. Tarrega (1852-1909) is often seen as the father of the modern concert guitar technique, this may not entirely be the case but his skill as a performer, composer and arranger built a legacy that provided a firm foundation for the young Andres Segovia.