Enver Izmailov Trio. Minaret.

(item from the "Rare Discs" section)
Enver Izmaylov is a famous Ukrainian virtuoso guitarist. He has quite a rich discography, and the album "Minaret" is far not the first one in it. But this is his first Ukrainian album, that is released in Ukraine – all the previous ones were released abroad. Moreover, this is the first album in which Enver Izmaylov appears as a part of a trio (until now, there were either solo works or duets). And you should have no doubts that this music deserves the greatest estimation and multistory compliments. Honestly speaking, both Rustem Bari on percussion, and Narket Ramazanov on spirits play so qualitatively, brightly, intensely that it is even difficult to say who in this trio is the major star – and, presumably, we should not. In the end, it is the trio here that is the measuring unit of creative authorship, not simply separate musicians – and the issue is co-creativity, not technical assistance. I think that all the parts on the album sound so good, organic just because none of the musicians tried to represent himself more favorably at the expense of his friends. And the friendly collaboration has appeared very fruitful and varied – both stylistically and emotionally. From ballads to dance, from folklore through art rock to meditation and jazz – I would call this world fusion, as a lot of roots from the whole world have intertwined here. However, all the plays have their common root: the basis is creative re-consideration of music of Crimean Tatars and other Black Sea peoples. That is why there are a lot of patterns, decorations so fine that they are almost unnoticeable in the melodies – but it is due to them that there appears the saturated feeling of free space, salty wind, sunlight. Very warm – and even sparkling – music, unforgettable meeting. Meet it!

Anton Jozhik Leyba (Hedgehog)