Lukas Ligeti

Although Electronica never became The Next Big Thing, supplanting rock, jazz, etc., as advertised, there’s still much creativity in the genre beyond the techno/dance arenas. The music of Austria-born, New York City-based Lukas Ligeti is a prime example, thouth the Electronica tag doesn’t go nearly far enough in describing what he does. More than a whiz-kid with sampling, Ligeti is a classically trained drummer, composer and improvisor. He’s engaged in free improvisation with the likes of Michael Manring, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Brit folk/blues/improv guitarist Mike Cooper. He’s also composed for contemporary classical and dance ensembles, paid tribute to the electric music of Miles Davis with Henry Kaiser & Wadada Leo Smith on their remarkable double disc Yo Miles (Shanache) and helmed one of the very best fusions of African and Western/European concepts with electronically-generated sounds, Beta Foly (Intuition). One reason the album is such a dazzling success is, unlike some Western musicians, Ligeti doesn’t simply use the West African (Ivory Coast, specifically) musicians as “backing” to bring his Artistic Vision to fruition, but rather he plays with them—he maintains each of the album’s compositions is what it is because of the cultural experience every player brings to the table. While he continues to divide his time among improvisational and compositional pursuits in New York, Ligeti has taken his act on the road with a couple of small, mobile, intelligent units, both featuring the thrilling vocals of Mai Lingani, a singer from Burkina Faso (the country formerly known as Upper Volta—go to Ghana, take a right). Bow & Arrow is the more cerebral of the two: “very influenced by African music, but its not at all traditional music,” says Ligeti. “It’s melodic, but very experimental music—it even grooves in a certain weird way.”

The other is Luk & Mai, a duo/quartet/whatever that showcases the shimmering, sleek, ebullient Afro-pop of Mai’s superb solo album Entrons Dans la Danse (Entering Into The Dance) (Seydoni Productions), which currently available only in Burkina Faso and at gigs. Her voice is a joy to behold: soaring, sweet (but never cloying) and unlike many African vocalists, she doesn’t overdo the melisma (the way of drawing out syllables heard in much Arabic and Middle Eastern music). To both, Ligeti contribute mad polyrhythms, beats both jerky and sultry and enigmatic samples, drawing not on yesteryear’s R&B/pop tunes, but rather “violins, Egyptian voices, the walls of an office building in Austria, funeral music of Zimbabwe and guitars,” according to concert performance notes for “Song 8.” Lukas Ligeti strives for “something that hasn’t exactly been heard before” – and not only does he mean that, he often attains it. www.lukasligeti.com