Azigza - s/t (2000)

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   I came to hear about AZIGZA by browsing PA two years ago and got a hold of their s/t Azigza album and fell for it. 
Fusion is indeed the order of the day but not only jazz-rock fusion but other world music elements as well. 

Here's their PA bio:
AZIGZA's debut is an outstanding blend of truly progressive music... Combining Middle Eastern, Arabic, Indian, African, as well as hints of Celtic and Native American influences with traditional rock. They play all sorts of instruments: guitars, harp, electric violin and percussion instruments into a stirring whole... Very good sense of dynamics and lots of compositional interest. They are an excellent band mixing a powerful percussive and hypnotic music.. Musically ... a cross between Daevid Allen era GONG, CURVED AIR and DEAD CAN DANCE. I will say that they were in a word: AMAZING!!! 

You can read more here - http://lionharp.com/azigza/ (as well as order their music). 

Here are the reviews here in PA:

AZIGZA — Azigza
Review by The Owl (Phil McKenna) 
PROG REVIEWER 
 Beautiful, entrancing and sensual mix of Middle Eastern and Celtic music into an electrified heady brew that you just can't tear yourself away from.

Words can't do this justice, experience it yourself. 
Posted Monday, January 26, 2004, 11:28 EST | Permanent link

AZIGZA — Azigza
Review by Neu!mann (Michael Neumann) 
PROG REVIEWER 
 It makes sense that I discovered AZIGZA purely by chance, while recently trolling the Internet. This is a band with the sort of global perspective not often heard before the age of the World Wide Web, and listening to their year 2000 debut album is like having a passport to a perfumed Middle Eastern oasis, or following the caravan trail across a wind-swept Central Asian plateau.

Never mind the supposed Celtic influence mentioned elsewhere on their pages here at Prog Archives. To me the group looks and sounds more like a post-modern folk ensemble from backwoods Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan, augmented with a fretless bass and lots of electric violins. But in fact they actually hail from an even more exotic cultural outpost: the San Francisco Bay Area, and as a native son in exile I can be excused for making a crack like that.

The six member line-up is for the most part devoted to playing obscure ethnic percussion and allsorts, but make no mistake: this isn’t just another arid exercise in ersatz World Music anthropology. Underneath the colorful wardrobe, and even more arcane instrumentation (kanjeera, djembe, doumbek, and zils), beats a heart of genuine rock ‘n’ roll, strong enough to include an unlikely but energetic Led Zeppelin cover: the song "Friends", off the LZ III album.

The music is by turns lush and romantic, or sharp and jagged, but always with enough melodic appeal to sound relaxed and spontaneous even when the time signatures require a scorecard: check out the subtle, daredevil twists and turns of "Zaman". The mood is enhanced by the seductive vocals of Cyoakha Grace (singing in English, which only slightly spoils the album’s rich, otherworldly flavor), and by some truly beautiful tunes, ranging from the dreamy, ethereal "Petra" (featuring GONG's Daevid Allen as a guest guitarist) to the sinuous Arabian Night groove of "Edallah ya Rashidi", and from there to the more contemporary, guitar-driven Prog sounds of "Remember" and "Glass".

It’s hard to imagine a band like this existing a mere generation ago. But these days, with even the farthest horizon only a mouse-click away, the music of AZIGZA is the perfect companion for intrepid armchair travelers with an ear for esoteric rhythms and melodies. 
Posted Thursday, June 09, 2005, 19:58 EST | Permanent link

AZIGZA — Azigza
Review by Eetu Pellonpää 
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Psychedelic Prog Specialist Team 
 This album was a wonderful surprise to me! I think the LED ZEPPELIN cover song on this album is much better than the original one, but I'm not very much into Zeps anyway. This record can also be used as an example, if somebody claims that there's no good progressive music coming out from the United States. I couldn't first find anything negative from it, but maybe this isn't so immortal music, as it didn't grasp my attention for a long time. Good ethnic related stuff still, so this is recommended sincerely for everybody who have appeal for such! 
Posted Friday, August 12, 2005, 02:21 EST | Permanent link

AZIGZA — Azigza
Review by Fishy 
PROG REVIEWER 
 Hard to list the music of Azigza under a specific musical genre. Prog ? Not really but a highly original effort in any case. It’s a mixture of progressive rock, classical music, folk with eastern influences and even some fusion. Some prog listeners will find it strange that there’s no keyboards present in the line up but this is no problem at all. The songs are mainly driven by the voice and the stunning violin, viola and cello parts. But also the other instruments are handled very well. The electric guitars, mandolins, sitars are mainly used to support the excellent melodies and barely come to the front unlike the pumping bass lines. The line-up includes 3 percussionist who ad lots of variation in the percussion without getting the focus too much on the percussion. Unlike you could expect with a so many instruments around, the sound is not overblown by too many musical parts playing at the same time. The names of Lisa Gerard and even Toyah come to mind when hearing the gorgeous vocals of Cyoakha Grace but her voice is sounding a lot more eastern and is a delight to listen to especially when she reaches the higher tones. The music is very light and uplifting and suitable to be listened at on a beautiful summer morning. Most songs hold several changes in mood and atmosphere varying from esoteric or dreamy to sensual or even sharp in the up-tempo excerpts. The mysterious sounding tracks are compelling all the way. I suppose this will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Sometimes their sound is reminiscent to Curved Air while the unledded album of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant comes to mind when hearing the magnificent cover version of “friends” a Led Zep track. These similarities are minor, for a first album, this sounds rather unique. If you like to listen to violin, lovely female vocals and you ’ve got an open mind to ethnic music then this album is something for you. 
Posted Thursday, August 25, 2005, 08:06 EST | Permanent link
Guests Reviews

AZIGZA — Azigza
Review by progadicto (Ivan Avila) 
 A great and nice surpirse... Firts: the clean and lovely voice of Cyoakha Grace. Second: inetersting compositions with celtic, arabic and asian inffluences, with a great work on violin... It reminds me some songs by Ankh (a superb polish band) and even Led Zeppelin and Antichrisis...

Some songs to remember: Glass, Remember, Touch Moon Window, Zaman... perhaps the entire album is great. If you are a fanatic of prog mixed with ethnical, Azigza has to be in your collection...

4 * without a doubt!! 
Posted Saturday, April 08, 2006, 16:54 EST | Permanent link

Other reviews and links:
http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=azig-azig
http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=azig-kriya
http://www.progweed.net/reviews/azigza/azigza-band.html
http://cdbaby.com/cd/azigza1

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avestin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625	Topic: Azigza - s/t (2000) Posted: October 27 2007 at 13:21
	I came to hear about AZIGZA by browsing PA two years ago and got a hold of their s/t Azigza album and fell for it. Fusion is indeed the order of the day but not only jazz-rock fusion but other world music elements as well. Here's their PA bio: AZIGZA's debut is an outstanding blend of truly progressive music... Combining Middle Eastern, Arabic, Indian, African, as well as hints of Celtic and Native American influences with traditional rock. They play all sorts of instruments: guitars, harp, electric violin and percussion instruments into a stirring whole... Very good sense of dynamics and lots of compositional interest. They are an excellent band mixing a powerful percussive and hypnotic music.. Musically ... a cross between Daevid Allen era GONG, CURVED AIR and DEAD CAN DANCE. I will say that they were in a word: AMAZING!!! You can read more here - http://lionharp.com/azigza/ (as well as order their music). Here are the reviews here in PA: AZIGZA — Azigza Review by The Owl (Phil McKenna) PROG REVIEWER Beautiful, entrancing and sensual mix of Middle Eastern and Celtic music into an electrified heady brew that you just can't tear yourself away from. Words can't do this justice, experience it yourself. Posted Monday, January 26, 2004, 11:28 EST \| Permanent link AZIGZA — Azigza Review by Neu!mann (Michael Neumann) PROG REVIEWER It makes sense that I discovered AZIGZA purely by chance, while recently trolling the Internet. This is a band with the sort of global perspective not often heard before the age of the World Wide Web, and listening to their year 2000 debut album is like having a passport to a perfumed Middle Eastern oasis, or following the caravan trail across a wind-swept Central Asian plateau. Never mind the supposed Celtic influence mentioned elsewhere on their pages here at Prog Archives. To me the group looks and sounds more like a post-modern folk ensemble from backwoods Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan, augmented with a fretless bass and lots of electric violins. But in fact they actually hail from an even more exotic cultural outpost: the San Francisco Bay Area, and as a native son in exile I can be excused for making a crack like that. The six member line-up is for the most part devoted to playing obscure ethnic percussion and allsorts, but make no mistake: this isn’t just another arid exercise in ersatz World Music anthropology. Underneath the colorful wardrobe, and even more arcane instrumentation (kanjeera, djembe, doumbek, and zils), beats a heart of genuine rock ‘n’ roll, strong enough to include an unlikely but energetic Led Zeppelin cover: the song "Friends", off the LZ III album. The music is by turns lush and romantic, or sharp and jagged, but always with enough melodic appeal to sound relaxed and spontaneous even when the time signatures require a scorecard: check out the subtle, daredevil twists and turns of "Zaman". The mood is enhanced by the seductive vocals of Cyoakha Grace (singing in English, which only slightly spoils the album’s rich, otherworldly flavor), and by some truly beautiful tunes, ranging from the dreamy, ethereal "Petra" (featuring GONG's Daevid Allen as a guest guitarist) to the sinuous Arabian Night groove of "Edallah ya Rashidi", and from there to the more contemporary, guitar-driven Prog sounds of "Remember" and "Glass". It’s hard to imagine a band like this existing a mere generation ago. But these days, with even the farthest horizon only a mouse-click away, the music of AZIGZA is the perfect companion for intrepid armchair travelers with an ear for esoteric rhythms and melodies. Posted Thursday, June 09, 2005, 19:58 EST \| Permanent link AZIGZA — Azigza Review by Eetu Pellonpää SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Psychedelic Prog Specialist Team This album was a wonderful surprise to me! I think the LED ZEPPELIN cover song on this album is much better than the original one, but I'm not very much into Zeps anyway. This record can also be used as an example, if somebody claims that there's no good progressive music coming out from the United States. I couldn't first find anything negative from it, but maybe this isn't so immortal music, as it didn't grasp my attention for a long time. Good ethnic related stuff still, so this is recommended sincerely for everybody who have appeal for such! Posted Friday, August 12, 2005, 02:21 EST \| Permanent link AZIGZA — Azigza Review by Fishy PROG REVIEWER Hard to list the music of Azigza under a specific musical genre. Prog ? Not really but a highly original effort in any case. It’s a mixture of progressive rock, classical music, folk with eastern influences and even some fusion. Some prog listeners will find it strange that there’s no keyboards present in the line up but this is no problem at all. The songs are mainly driven by the voice and the stunning violin, viola and cello parts. But also the other instruments are handled very well. The electric guitars, mandolins, sitars are mainly used to support the excellent melodies and barely come to the front unlike the pumping bass lines. The line-up includes 3 percussionist who ad lots of variation in the percussion without getting the focus too much on the percussion. Unlike you could expect with a so many instruments around, the sound is not overblown by too many musical parts playing at the same time. The names of Lisa Gerard and even Toyah come to mind when hearing the gorgeous vocals of Cyoakha Grace but her voice is sounding a lot more eastern and is a delight to listen to especially when she reaches the higher tones. The music is very light and uplifting and suitable to be listened at on a beautiful summer morning. Most songs hold several changes in mood and atmosphere varying from esoteric or dreamy to sensual or even sharp in the up-tempo excerpts. The mysterious sounding tracks are compelling all the way. I suppose this will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Sometimes their sound is reminiscent to Curved Air while the unledded album of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant comes to mind when hearing the magnificent cover version of “friends” a Led Zep track. These similarities are minor, for a first album, this sounds rather unique. If you like to listen to violin, lovely female vocals and you ’ve got an open mind to ethnic music then this album is something for you. Posted Thursday, August 25, 2005, 08:06 EST \| Permanent link Guests Reviews AZIGZA — Azigza Review by progadicto (Ivan Avila) A great and nice surpirse... Firts: the clean and lovely voice of Cyoakha Grace. Second: inetersting compositions with celtic, arabic and asian inffluences, with a great work on violin... It reminds me some songs by Ankh (a superb polish band) and even Led Zeppelin and Antichrisis... Some songs to remember: Glass, Remember, Touch Moon Window, Zaman... perhaps the entire album is great. If you are a fanatic of prog mixed with ethnical, Azigza has to be in your collection... 4 * without a doubt!! Posted Saturday, April 08, 2006, 16:54 EST \| Permanent link Other reviews and links: http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=azig-azig http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=azig-kriya http://www.progweed.net/reviews/azigza/azigza-band.html http://cdbaby.com/cd/azigza1
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avestin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625	Posted: October 30 2007 at 16:03
	No one?
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Man With Hat Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team Joined: March 12 2005 Location: Neurotica Status: Offline Points: 166178	Posted: October 30 2007 at 23:39
	Alright, you got a bite. Sounds very . Quite original. Like the track on the site. Will definitely track it down.
	Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

avestin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625	Posted: November 04 2007 at 15:42
	^^^ Hope you like it. It's great when you're in the mood for good ethnic percussion, strings and other unusual instrumentation (and folk music).
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avestin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625	Posted: February 24 2008 at 01:03
	zigzump
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avestin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625	Posted: March 24 2008 at 19:46
	Got to listen to it, Hattie?
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Man With Hat Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team Joined: March 12 2005 Location: Neurotica Status: Offline Points: 166178	Posted: March 25 2008 at 19:57
	Sadly not. I have found that the more places I order online, the less I use a particualar place. Though I've found more complete samples, and I think I like the sound of their second better, so I might go for that one first.
	Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

avestin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 18 2005 Status: Offline Points: 12625	Posted: February 28 2009 at 21:46
	Bumping this for those looking for something a bit different
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