REGINA ASTRIS [AKA: CLIVAGE]

Clivage's debut album might have started as a solo album from André Fertier (sole composer and guitarist keyboardist since the album's psychedelic artwork features his name on the front cover. Yet when listening to the album, this is a full-group effort with two percussion players, a stand up bassist, a sax player and a violin player. We are not far from Aktualla or some of Oregon's best albums. Released on the small Gatte-Ciel label, I am not aware of Clivage albums having received a Cd re-issue.

It is fairly hard to classify Clivage's absolutely brilliant fusion of music, because it blends some Indian Classical music elements with excellent jazz/jazz-rock lines and some very inhabitual symphonic elements, even sounding like early Mike Olfield on the opening track. Only four instrumental tracks on the album, but three of them above the 10-min mark, and a superb album for more meditative moments (practicing yoga or kana-sutra alike). While by the mid-70's this type of album was not really breaking new grounds anymore, this is really one of the better album of its genre, partly because it took the decision of inspiring itself loosely from Indian music, rather than making a pale imitation by being as faithful as possible. As a matter of fact, the weaker (relative of course) track is Regina Astris and not surprisingly, it is the one sticking closest to its Indian roots. But Moving Waves and Mama Swat are both excellent, enchanting and mind-bending, De Barba's sax being particularly haunting. The closing (and shorter) Tabarkha is ending the album on mini-improv where Tabrizizadeh's violin gets the spotlight.

One of the better Indo fusion raga albums in the genre, this actually earns its fourth star easily as it might just be essential, even if historically the album is a bit of an anecdote in its genre.

Andre Fertier's Clivage, for those who want some eastern oriented music!

I have just reviewed an album by Futuro Antico, and the name of Clivage came to my mind immediately, the music between both projects is not that alike, but in a way i consider both have a similar style in some moments.

Clivage is just another one of the endless great recommendations of my friend Assaf Vestin, who is simply a connossieur and expert of the progressive rock realm, no matter the sub genre, he has always something accurate to suggest. So i took his suggestion and i couldn't be happier.

Clivage's is the project by a french composer called Andre Fertier, who gathered some of his musicians friends and created 3 (if i'm not wrong) worthy albums that have an outstanding mix of eastern music and a touch of jazz, in a general view, the label of raga-indo prog fits perfectly with this kind of music and despite my lack knowledge of what raga music is, so far this is one of the best albums i have listened of that genre.

The album called Regina Astris features only 4 songs, the first 3 are long ones with an over 10 minutes lenght while the last one is shorter, the total time of the album almost reaches 40 minutes. An instrumental album that will give you an exciting fusion of sounds.

It opens with Moving Waves which is a marvelous opener song, since the first moments it leads you to the eastern sound and the fusion of styles, as i previously said. You will listen to perfect arrangements and a well crafted composition, the nature of the music created is very exciting, while first you are listening to some guitars with a sitar resemblance, then you will be caught by a fabolous saxophone sound which in my experience is not that used in the indo-raga music (i repeat, in my short experience with the genre), that particular flavour is what made me love this song since the very first listen.

The next one is the title-track and opens with a delicate violin sound and a soft atmosphere created by some keyboards that also gives to the song a folkish flavour due to the percussion and the later guitar sound that reminds me to the softest Shakti with Mahavishnu style, by the way, with a one minute difference this si the longest track of the album. The first third of it is very calm and soft, while suddenly it turns into a little bit more challenging one with the splendid violin and some kind of claps along with a delicate bass playing, and in the last third of the song we will listen to a more intense sound with some great percussions and again the exquisite sax sound at the end of it, a song that definitely defines what indo/raga prog is, i believe.

Mama Swat opens with some moment of tension, here and there you will listen to the violin and bass, while the tabla is what predominates here with it's non-stop sound, then until minute 3:30 the flute and keyboards appear and the song begins to make it's progression, while in the beginning you may think it is just floating, then it turns into a solid musical piece where each instrument play an interesting and main role, giving to the song a terific sound.

Anf to end, we have Tabarkha, which is the shortest song and which has a constant rythm where the violin part it's repeated over and over, as well as the other songs this of course has that eastern flavour and indian roots.

An excellent album, for those like me who don't really know the indo/raga prog genre, this is an excellent album to start exploring the realms of this music. 4 stars, highly recommendable!

Enjoy it!

Soundtrack to Gauguin

I was watching a documentary of one of my favourite painters here the other day, and all the way through it, I had this music sizzling up through the back of my skull. Felt like someone, very small granted, had placed themselves in a diving costume emanating melodic bubbles in my all too troubled cranium. As it turns out, it was in fact this album by Andre Fertiér´s Clivage that had been playing alongside the flashing television screen showing pictures of Paul Gauguin´s Haitian beauties.

Just to be perfectly clear about this, I don´t have a physical copy of this album, and that is largely down to the fact that it is out of print, and to my recollection it has never been released on cd. The thing is though, that outside of YouTube it is next to impossible to listen to this album, unless you were one of the lucky ones that purchased this on vinyl back in the day, and that is a damn shame! I´ve had to base my review of this album - solely from listening on YouTube, and I´ll happily come back to it via the tube again and again if I have to, but I´d rather pay for a copy... It is an album that´s as rare as a politician without a tie - or a vegetarian leopard. What I am trying to say, is that Regina Astris and its descendant should be made available one way or the other - at least through a legal download site - or else this wonderful and highly original music will become extinct and only accessible for a few people in the know. Is that any way to treat music?

Back to Gauguin and the music! When I think of the Indo-Prog/Raga Rock genre - the images of India and sitars are not far away, and I suspect others here have similar views about it. Well it´s not all curries and Sikhs this music. I on the other hand see the palm trees of Haiti, the forbidden and alluring fruits that entice you into the visual aspects of the human sexuality. Those paths that reek of sweat and bodily fluids, and I often think to myself, how uncanny the female sexual organ resembles a mango cut in half. Fruits have always hold a somewhat seducing and dangerous reference in the bible - going back as far as Adam & Steve. No wonder it´s called the forbidden fruit...

Regina Astris is an eclectic album, and just by listening to the opening track Moving Waves and the way the saxophone is used, it´s obvious that there´s more to this genre than the stereotypic Indian traces. I just adore the fusion like bird twittering of the saxophone on this record. It is like long lingering bebop dressed like a 5 headed deity from the east. That being said, there is an overwhelming amount of hypnotic tablas in play during most of this music, and it sure (as the bear who [&*!#]s in the woods) taints this outing in a mystical Eastern coating. Having played the instrument myself, I can safely say that this guy is no Indian pro - he never approaches the frantic hemispheres of those practitioners of the tablas that play like their arms and fingers are separated from their bodies and attached to some kind of supernatural rhythmic power, - not exactly, no - but he knows what he´s doing and he does it very well. There´s an earthy characteristic forever linked to these drums, and I have always loved them like no other percussive instrument. I feel like I can hear a similar appreciation of the instrument in this guy as well, as he like myself - often experiments with the multitude of sounds the drums have to offer - spanning from deep bouncy rhythmic splashes to the distinctive clear and wooden sounds that you get when you hit the rim.

André Fertier, who is the head honcho here, is guilty of some rather folky guitar textures, and what I think are his greatest sonic attributes to this recording are by far his usage of keys and the at times aggressive plucking of various string instruments. Often appearing like drifting textures - close to that of shoals of glistening fish, if they indeed could sing - the keys are contour less background sculptures that fit in with the rest of the band perfectly. Based on long drones of rhythm filled surfaces, the music is further enhanced and lead by a violin which is very reminiscent of the way we use the thing in European folk music, a bass that is so important to the music - and the way it is performed, that I´d think the feel and otherwise cracking texture of this record, would go down the drain, like flushing down an unsubstantial turd in the toilet - had it been without it. Trees need roots - no matter how much they rely on sunshine, rain and squirrels.

Jumping from rodents to fruits - I´d like to finish off where I started. The tracks almost explode in colours to me, and there is a distinct vibe going on here, that always gets me thinking about those beautiful, saucy, sensuous and exotic fruits that Paul Gauguin painted, when he lived on Haiti. Gauguin had a way with colours and surfaces, that I find very appealing and it still continues to draw me in like a moth to a flame - just like this music. -Much in the same way as he utilized surfaces like palettes on which the red, green, yellow, blue and purple all freely flow - each in their own way - apart from the others, but in unison like those shoals of fish I mentioned earlier, - Regina Astris seems to work in the same manner. Duality connecting the arts... Gauguin was double-edged like that. The ingredients were "separate" in his paintings, but to the naked eye - the unison of the given piece always trumped this disaggregating aspect. Maybe I am out of my mind with this comparison, but given the individual mind-frames we surround our musics with - I find it completely natural to speak about that which paints and flourishes in my head, whenever I listen to this fabulous recording.

An intriguing mixture of Indian classical music and jazz fusion, undercut with sinister synthesiser undertones. This one's a little less playful than Mixtus Orbis, nor does enjoy the orchestral backing that album did, so it's a leaner, meaner, somewhat sparser beast. Andre Fertier as bandleader offers up guitar and keyboards, though I have to say I find the keyboard work a bit more impressive, whilst the rest of the band do a credible job of keeping up. "Regina Astris" means "Queen of the Stars", and there's certainly a spacey side to the band's sound here which makes this an intriguing trip. Still, not sure I'm quite so fond of the album's tendency towards sitar for sitar's sake.

ANDRE FERTIER'S CLIVAGE remains one of the most celebrated obscurities in the underground Indo-raga and progressive rock scene and is therefore celebrated for their unique East meets West approach that they delivered on their three albums that began with this 1977 debut REGINA ASTRIS and ended with the 1985 "Kassiopee." While the three albums all have distinct identities, they all share a similar amalgamation of Indian raga, jazz, drone and progressive rock workouts. To this day these albums have never seen a second pressing after their initial vinyl releases yet are heralded for being some of the best examples of the Indo-raga jazz fusion scene.

REGINA ASTRIS is divided up into three long tracks clocking in over the ten minute mark and a five minute finale. The general gist of the entire album is a drone-like monotonous rhtymm that is the product of the percussion section of Armand Lemal and Indian tabla playing of Patricio Villaurel which provides the skeletal structure for the jazzy saxophone workouts of Jean Pierre de Barba, the hypnotic bass line of Claude Duhaut and the violin of Mahmoud Tabrizizadeh to play around. This is a sort of a jam session as the track's flow is typically long, rhythmic and trance inducing with the sax and violin adding melodic accoutrements to the mix. ANDRE FERTIER adds the extra touches with acoustic guitars and keyboards but they seem to be subdued under the mix of the ethnic influences that dominate the soundscapes.

REGINA ASTRIS is much jazzier than albums like "Mixtus Orbus" that were more psychedelic and magnanimous in nature. This one has a more down-to-earth feel as it connects directly to the jazz world with the sax contributions as well as the folk world when the violin dominates. As with all CLIVAGE albums, the main gist is for a rhythmic structure to burrow into the listener's consciousness before unfurling the tapestry of melodic sounds that dance around each other. While the track "Moving Waves" is more upbeat with howling saxophone workouts, the title track is more contemplative traditional raga oriented and certainly can remind one of a less caffeinated Shakti at times.

CLIVAGE does an excellent job at arranging the tracks so that each element has a chance to shine thus allowing all four tracks to have their own personalities. However the raga elements whether tamped down or allowed to shine always make their presence known while the sax and violin usually trade off as opposed to battling it out. "Mama Swat" actually starts out bringing chamber rock acts like Univers Zero to mind before it lifts the darkened veil and brings in lighter tones to the mix. MIXTUS ORBUS is a fairly unique sounding album that keeps the listener engaged throughout the entire run and baffles the mind as to why this has never received a proper updated release. If there are any patron saints who are seeking to release long lost gems, then by all means add ANDRE FERTIER'S CLIVAGE's three albums to the list. They are truly well deserved prog classics that more than deserve to be rediscovered.