What Was Said

What was said brings new colours to Tord Gustavsen's musical palette. His latest trio project builds upon the subtle understanding of his long musical association with drummer Jarle Vespestad, introduces the entrancing Afghan-German vocalist Simin Tander, and explores the tradition of Norwegian church music in a most untraditional way: "For the repertoire of the new project, Simin and I have been working with an Afghan poet, translating and shaping a selection of hymns that I grew up with in Norway into Pashto," Gustavsen explains. "This process has been challenging and really fruitful. We have gone quite far in interpreting the lyrics in a more 'integral' manner, reaching into a space where I feel that Sufism and Christianity actually meet, along with other contemplative traditions. The sound and feel of the Norwegian hymns in Pashto is truly captivating. As a pure play of sounds, too, the combination of Tander's voice and Gustavsen's piano and discreet electronics has an emotional persuasiveness of its own, outside the limits of language. The Gustavsen/Tander/Vespestad trio takes its programme of "hymns and visions" to the concert halls and clubs of Europe in the first months of 2016. Produced by Manfred Eicher.