Nik Bartsch's Ronin March 4, 2008

Swiss composer-pianist Nik Bartsch's music occupies a niche all its own, equidistant from contemporary composition, funk/soul grooves and scattered world musics. What to call it? "Zen funk" is one of Bartsch's terms for his pieces; "ritual groove music" is another. It is music that can claim the widest influences--in interviews, Bartsch has referenced Stravinsky, Morton Feldman, Bartok, James Brown, the Meters, ritual music of Japan, folk music of Greece, Romania, Sweden. The list goes on. It is much more of a "body music" than the music of the Minimalists to which it is frequently compared.