Layale Chaker, Sarafand: Radio Afloat

The Strad Issue: July 2024

Description: A musician of the world addresses contemporary politics

Musicians: Layale Chaker (violin, voice) Sarafand

Catalogue number: IN A CIRCLE RECORDS ICR031

Releasing two CDs on the same day – one classical, the other jazz (both deeply contested terms, obviously, surely seldom more so than with this pair of albums) – seems like a statement of intent, even a challenge. And it’s to Lebanese-born, Brooklyn-based violinist, composer and vocalist Layale Chaker’s enormous credit that she achieves such a rich, distinctive musical language in both – one that cherry picks from cool contemporary classical, simmering jazz, ear-tweaking Arabic microtonality and gently probing improvisation – and also makes the two releases so utterly different from each other.

For the title of her second jazz album with the quintet Sarafand, Chaker uses the potent image of a radio lost at sea, transmitting the voices and hopes of people from many continents, while deeply connected with the natural world. Similarly, there are collisions between apparently disconnected voices here – Chaker’s own decidedly Arabic violin inflections in ‘Khab Nisan’ jar with soft-jazz harmonies from Phillip Golub’s piano and later an arresting interlude from his microtonal keyboard, though cellist Jake Charkey brings the track back to land with a heartfelt, earthy solo. Charkey is a richly expressive presence throughout, matching Chaker’s subtly expressive ornamentation in ‘Fall of Rome’, while contributing a portamento-thick melodic line to percussionist John Hadfield’s slinky, stuttering rhythms in ‘Sketch – Unraveled’.

Whether as a breathy vocalist or nimble violinist, Chaker makes her presence keenly felt amid the disc’s gloriously far-reaching range of styles, and its almost bewildering collection of moods, textures, ideas and perspectives. Her music is unfailingly fluent and elegant, even when it’s at its most complex.

DAVID KETTLE