[TR24][OF] Girma Yifrashewa - My Strong Will - 2023 (classical, piano, ethio-jazz, Unseen Worlds)

foobar2000 1.1.15 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2023-10-20 13:40:08
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Analyzed: Girma Yifrashewa / My Strong Will
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DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
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DR15      -0.69 dB   -21.22 dB      8:27 01-To the Master
DR12      -5.70 dB   -20.80 dB      6:10 02-Union
DR15      -0.56 dB   -20.76 dB      9:53 03-Hope
DR14      -1.48 dB   -22.05 dB      9:57 04-Forgiveness
DR16      -2.47 dB   -22.63 dB     10:26 05-Blues
DR15      -0.58 dB   -20.41 dB      7:09 06-My Strong Will
DR13      -2.14 dB   -21.04 dB      8:51 07-The Shepherd with the Flute
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Number of tracks:  7
Official DR value: DR14
Samplerate:        48000 Hz
Channels:          2
Bits per sample:   24
Bitrate:           1412 kbps
Codec:             FLAC
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Гирма Йифрашева(по материалам арт-дайджеста «Солонеба»)
Если словосочетание «классическая музыка» ассоциируется у вас исключительно с европейской классикой – то в ближайшее время вам предстоит пережить, по сути дела, перерождение. То есть вам выпала возможность переформатировать собственный мозг, переосмыслить ключевые позиции вашего музыкального восприятия. И точкой отсчёта для новой действительности или же, скорее, точкой невозврата (по отношению к догматам, к заскорузлым, консервативным и более не действенным формулам) вполне может стать знакомство с творчеством и музыкальным наследием удивительного человека, тонкого, пронзительного фортепианного лирика – Гирмы Йифрашевы.
Гирма Йифрашева (родился в 1967 году в Аддис-Абебе) – пианист-виртуоз, сочетающий в своём творчестве мелодический экстаз эфиопской этнической музыки с гармоническим величием европейской классики. Первоначально Йифрашева осваивал технику игры на кираре – традиционной эфиопской арфе. А с 16 лет решил посвятить себя фортепианному искусству, обучаясь поначалу в Яредской музыкальной школе в Аддис-Абебе, а позже в Софийской государственной консерватории в Болгарии, а также в Королевской академии музыки в Лондоне и Высшей школе музыки и театра в Германии.
В его репертуаре можно услышать как народные эфиопские композиции, так и авторские произведения (сплав классики и этники), а также знаковые сочинения классических европейских композиторов – Бетховена, Моцарта, Шумана, Шуберта, Шопена, Дебюсси. Творчество Гирмы Йифрашевы, наряду с достижениями таких выдающихся эфиопских пианистов как Эмахой Тцеге Мариам Гебру, Сэмюэл Йирга и Тигист Эджигу, произвело революцию в сознании ценителей классической и этнической музыки. Естественное слияние классики, блюза, этио-джаза и абиссинской сакральной музыки позволило расширить границы творческого восприятия мелогурманов в разных уголках планеты. Отройте же душу и Вы – позвольте чуду произойти!
https://www.last.fm/ru/music/Girma+Yifrashewa/+wiki

Girma YifrashewaBorn in Addis Ababa in 1967, Girma Yifrashewa's life in music began with the Kirar, a harp-like traditional Ethiopian string instrument, at a tender age. He was introduced to piano at the age of 16 when he joined the Yared School of Music in Addis Ababa, and continued his studies at the Sofia State Conservatory of Music in Bulgaria. Despite losing his scholarship after only three years due to the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, Yifrashewa emigrated to Italy where, while under the care of Caritas, his talent and desire to return to his studies in Bulgaria was discovered by the Christian Brothers. Through their support he was able to return to the Sofia Conservatory in 1991, where he graduated with a Masters in Piano under Professor Atanas Kurtev.
It was in Bulgaria that he made an impact as a solo pianist, performing the works of Schumann, Schubert, Chopin and Debussy, throughout the country until his return to East Africa in 1995. He has a preference and well-determined approach to the music of Bach as well as Mozart and Beethoven.
Yifrashewa returned to Ethiopia in 1995, teaching piano at the Yared School of Music until 2001. He received scholarships for short-term specialization courses from the British and German Governments, at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1997) and at the Hochschule fur Music Und Theater in Leipzig (1999). Currently Yifrashewa works to promote Ethiopian and Classical Music throughout the continent and beyond. Girma has held many concerts both in Ethiopia and outside not only on his international tours (solo tour and with Ethiopian vocalists), but also on separate invitations sent to him (Egypt, Djibouti, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Seychelles, Zambia, Malawi, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Australia, USA).
In October 2009, Yifrashewa was invited for the International Symposium and Festival in The USA “Africa Meets North America“ at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He returned to the United States in the Summer of 2013 for concerts with Issue Project Room in Brooklyn and Non Sequitur in Seattle, thanks in part to support from Unseen Worlds Records, which garned Girma a positive review from The New York Times.
https://www.girmayifrashewa.com/biography

Info for 'Love & Peace'Ethiopian pianist and composer Girma Yifrashewa returns to Bulgaria, where he studied, on 'My Strong Will', teaming up with local musicians and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra to craft an album of "Ethiopian Classical Music" that hums with delight.
Born in Addis Ababa, Yifrashewa started his musical journey playing the kirar, a traditional bowl-shaped lyre from the region. He later moved to the piano, studying first at home before he made the move to the Sofia State Conservatory in Bulgaria, when it was still a Soviet-style communist state. After the revolution in 1989, Yifrashewa relocated to Italy for a while, before finishing his studies in Sofia in 1991. This was an important, memorable time for the artist, who tracked through Bulgaria performing Schumann, Schubert, Chopin and Debussy until he headed back to East Africa in 1995. He uses this period as the inspiration for 'My Strong Will', and considers how the music of Ethiopia might sound when orchestrated in the classical tradition.
Yifrashewa's piano guides each lengthy composition, and his playing is delightfully spirited, tipping between ornate, baroque perfection into breathy, expressive flourishes. And his collaborators meet his energy, letting the sway of ancient orthodox chants and Amharic folk music stimulate their virtuosic performance. At times, like on the charming 'Hope', these roots are easy to perceive; Yifrashewa plays boldly but with delicacy, and the string section (Valentin Toshev on viola, Ivaylo Danailov on violin and Victor Traykov on cello) fills in the gaps, bending their tones to offer a level of animation we can't help but link with Balkan folk music. By blurring the lines between different forms of traditional music, Yifrashewa makes vital connections, asking questions about the sanctity of what's accepted as classical music.
***
My Strong Will is a new album of "Ethiopian Classical Music" by Girma Yifrashewa. Recorded with Bulgarian musicians and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria, the album is a return to where Yifrashewa completed his own conservatory training in the late 1980s and early 1990s, across both sides of the fall of Communism. Guided by Yifrashewa's piano, these chamber works bring the music of Ethiopia into a Western Classical format, uncovering meditative and emotional new vistas for both traditions.
released October 20, 2023

https://girmayifrashewa.bandcamp.com/album/my-strong-will

Girma Yifrashewa, Piano
Valentin Toshev, Viola
Ivaylo Danailov, Violin
Mihail Zhivkov, Clarinet
Victor Traykov, Cello
Recorded by Pavel Stephanov in 2013 at National Academy of Music, Sofia, Bulgaria
- Except: “The Shepherd with the Flute”, performed by the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
under the direction of Dian Tchobanov, Conductor; Ventsi Mitsov, Orchestration.
Recorded 2005 at Zala Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Mastered by Pavel Stephanov and Cut by Lupo.
Artwork by Wosene Worke Kosrof