Nacho Arimany Trio in "Landscapes of the Soul" October 19, 2012

Noted Spanish multi-instrumentalist Nacho Arimany (www.nachoarimany.com) brings his Nacho Arimany Trio to La MaMa, 74A East Fourth Street (East Village), October 19 to 21 with "Landscapes of the Soul," an evening of crosscultural sounds, Jazz and multimedia. Arimany is originator of the "New Spanish" sound, which has also been described as "World Jazz" and "21st Century Flamenco." The evening will feature Nacho Arimany on percussion, guitar and voice, together with jazz piano by Robert Rodriguez, double bass by Michael O'Brian and video art and live digital drawing by Laia Cabrera.

All About Jazz (Mark F. Turner) declared, "Jazz and flamenco may have crossed paths before but Nacho Arimany brings a fresh approach with ideas that have yet to be discovered." Rooted in the Mediterranean flavors of Flamenco, West Africa and South India, the Arimany Trio's unique style combines Arimany's percussion with the open forms of jazz piano (by Robert Rodriguez) and emotive bass lines (by Michael O’Brian) in a dialogue that brings an authentic approach to today’s avant-garde music. Many pieces begin with a guitar introduction by Arimany that he refers to as "Sonic Poems." In "Landscapes of the Soul," they will be illustrated by his own poems and calligraphy in English and Spanish, projected by video artist Laia Cabrera. As Arimany sings his poems as lyrics, she will improvise visually with the handwriting itself while interacting with Rodriguez and O'Brian.

Before moving to New York in 2009, Arimany was chiefly known as one of Spain's most sought after Flamenco percussionists. He entered the world of Flamenco through the Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Contest of Madrid, winning a prize for "Pa´dentro," a martinete composed for Triazion danza. When asked to form a percussion group, he introduced to Flamenco the use of a gourd from Mali as a percussion instrument. Academies, tablaos and baile were his school for eight years and he collaborated with Joaquín Cortés, Gerardo Nuñez and Rocio Molina, along with many of Spain's hottest Flamenco dancers. As a child, had been classically trained as a pianist and vocal soloist but turned to percussion in his teens. Flamenco was a break with the formalism of his early training.

Arimany's unique style and diverse capabilities ultimately steered him into the broader scopes of World music and Jazz, where he has performed and recorded with Lionel Loueke, Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. His first independent project, the Nacho Arimany World-Flamenco Septet, integrated this wide range of musical experiences. Reviewing his album, "Silence-light" (Fresh Sound Records, 2007) recorded with his septet, La Abeille Musique (France) compared Arimany's advanced exploration of the Flamenco universe to the jazz explorations of acclaimed guitarist Lionel Loueke, writing, "Percussionist, musician and nearly a musical philosopher inasmuch as his ideas are dense and open to the world, Nacho Arimany is without a shadow of a doubt a separate case on the sometimes compartmentalized flamenco scene....The result is an album which somewhat redefines for the 21st century a type of music, flamenco, already crossed by multiple musical experiences. Unique and indispensable."

In Fall 2008, Nacho Arimany was commissioned to compose and conduct a new work for Global Perfussion, a gathering of 15 percussionists from around the world. The group reconvened in November 2009 touring in Bamako, Mali and the Canary Islands. He settled in New York in 2009 and the next year, appeared at City Center's Fall for Dance Festival in the U.S. premiere of "Rooted on Earth," his acclaimed duet with Flamenco dancer Rafaela Carrasco. A precursor to the La MaMa production of "Landscapes of the Soul" was performed by the Arimany Trio at BAM Cafe in 2010.

The style of his work is so new and original that it has resisted accurate labeling up to now. While it is close to Jazz and Flamenco, it is an experience of world and natural sounds with influences of oriental melodies and Indian and West African percussion. Notwithstanding this confluence of influences, Flamenco rhythms are always prominent in Arimany Music, which he describes as "a prism with a lot of faces." Depending on the light, one of the faces is reflected and shining. He has a Flamenco heart, but it depends on the day whether that shows.

He traces the root of his music to two influences: Spanish composers of the ninteenth century and Andalusian music from the eighth to fifteenth centuries, when Christians, Muslims and Jews coexisted and created music together in Iberia. The music that was played for King Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise) synthesized these three cultures. Clay pots were one of the main percussion instruments of that period and they are the distinctive instrument of Arimany Music. His pots, however, are from South India and Nigeria. Now Arimany believes he is developing a new Spanish music and sound which is reverting to the multicultural sounds of coexistence that were prevalent in the old Andalusian Empire.

Arimany's musical innovations have forked into another avenue where they are being applied to sound therapy and transformational processes. He established "The Joy of Sound," a soundwork service, to pioneer use of his percussive music in sensory integration therapy and sound counseling. (www.thejoyofsound.com)

Robert Rodriguez (piano), born in New York, moved to Miami, where he studied piano and percussion at New World High School of the Arts and earned a bachelor's in studio music and jazz at University of Miami. He was a sideman on "Jam Miami" alongside Chick Corea on Rhodes, Arturo Sandoval’s "Trumpet Evolution" (produced by Quincy Jones), Ray Barretto’s 2005 Grammy nominated recording "Time is Time Was" which featured Rodriguez' composition "One for Ray," "Where-As" with legendary drummer Roy Haynes, "Cultural Survivor" with David Sanchez and many other recordings with independent jazz artists. In April 2006, he was featured with the late Ray Barretto in a video recorded special broadcast on PBS titled "Legends of Jazz." Robert has co-led two recordings with his brother, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez. His work with the Rodriguez Bros. band led to a commission from Chamber Music America and an ASCAP Young Composers Award. Robert continues to compose for the Rodriguez Bros. and most recently, for his piano trio, which debuted at the Bluenote Jazz Club in 2009.

Michael O'Brian (double bass) holds a B.A from University of Minnesota with a major in Spanish Language. He studied bass under Anthony Cox and West African and Haitian percussion under Marc Anderson. He has performed and composed internationally with Harry Connick Jr., Ruben Blades, The Merce Cunningham Dance Co., Gene Pitney, Dave Samuels, Dave King, Matt Wilson, Ted Nash, Sandro Albert, Joshua Breakstone, Elliot Zigmund, Ron Afiff, Todd Reynolds, Wessel Anderson, David Binney, Ari Hoenig, The Jazz Mandolin Project, Joel Harrison, Christian Howes, Peter Apfelbaum, Robert Rodriguez, Dan Weiss, Marc Giuliana, Luba Mason, Paul Bollenback, and Oriente Lopez. He has performed at Lincoln Center Festival, IAJE (International Jazz Educators conference), PASIC (Percussive Arts Societies International Convention) and American Composers Forums' Sonic Circuits Festival. His string quartet arrangement of "Pine" was performed at the Kennedy Center by the acclaimed string quartet Ethel. He has also taught clinics and performed master classes throughout the United States and in Europe.

Laia Cabrera (video artist) is a filmmaker, video artist and visual designer born in Spain and based in New York since 1997. Her work employs a variety of media including music, video, storytelling, projected imagery, dance, music, photography, theater, visual art, voice and writing. She co-founded the multi-media group Vertiginosas Theater and Film Company. She has also curated and directed award winning multi-media international art shows. Her Laia Cabrera & Co. is a team of film, music and visual artists producing a wide range of multimedia projects. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Topia Arts Center in Adams, MA and an advisory board member at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and director of their annual film documentary. She graduated from the Conservatoire of Lleida, Spain, has a MFA in Audiovisual Communication and a BFA in Media Studies from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and in Film Production at the New School University in New York. Her awards include the KrTU to Young Creators by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Kodak and Color Lab award for Best Cinematic Film for "Under Influence." As a film and video artist ,she has collaborated with Arts International, New Stage Theatre Company, World Music of Nana, Liquid Body Media, Movement and Dance, Cinema Tropical, The Austrian Cultural Forum, Spain Culture New York, the Catalan Center, The king Juan Carlos Center (KJCC) at NYU, among others. http://www.laiacabrera.com

La MaMa, 74A East Fourth Street, will present the Nacho Arimany Trio in "Landscapes of the Soul" from October 19 to 21. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 10:00 PM and Sunday at 5:30 PM. Tickets are $20 and can be ordered by visiting www.lamama.org or by calling (212) 475-7710.

For additional information, please visit Nacho Arimany's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/nacho-arimany.

Official Website: http://www.lamama.org