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Format: 
Release Date: 26-10-1998
Label: Celestial Harmonies
Catalog Number: 13085-2
Barcode: 13711308525
Musical Style: World
Track Listing:
| Disc 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omphalo Centric Lecture [08:33] | 4 | How the Stars Were Made [09:28] |
| 2 | Lemurian Dances [10:36] | 5 | Fabian Theory [05:35] |
| 3 | Marimba Dances [09:43] | 6 | White Knight and Beaver [09:25] |
Description:
With the release of his collaborative CD Fata Morgana percussionist Michael Askill begun to make a name for himself outside his native Australia. This previous release, with Turkish instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, presented Askill's considerable skills as percussionist and improviser; now, with Australian Percussion, he displays his close ties with many of Australia's most respected composers. Nigel Westlake and Martin Wesley-Smith, for example, each contribute colorful, accessible scores for multiple percussion instruments from around the world; Wesley-Smith's White Knight and Beaver, inspired by Lewis Carroll, also incorporates effective, atmospheric touches of electronic music. The dean of Australian composers, Peter Sculthorpe, has also contributed a piece to Michael Askill's one–man–band recording. Again using studio multi–track techniques, Askill performs How the Stars Were Made, an evocative depiction of an Aboriginal creation myth, using mallet instruments and percussion from around the world. Ross Edwards, another of Australia's more established composers, wrote his Marimba Dances specifically for Michael Askill. This buoyant solo piece is based on a traditional song from Madagascar - making it just one of several pieces on this recording to draw on the rich percussion traditions of Africa, Asia and the Near East. In addition to being the recipient of numerous dedications from other composers, Michael Askill is a composer himself. His Lemurian Dances is perhaps the most exotically scored piece on the album, employing thirty–four different percussion instruments from the traditions of China, the Philippines, the Andes, Aboriginal Australia and Western classical and rock music. Like the United States, Australia is a culturally diverse country–a melting pot. And like the U.S., it is home to a thriving music scene that draws strength from that diversity. Australian Percussion is a delightful and intriguing introduction to the vibrant sounds and colors of Australian music.
Biography:
Producer and composer Michael Askill is regarded by many as Australia's finest percussionist. He is a founding member and the Artistic Director of Australia's premier contemporary ensemble Synergy, a composer, producer, the Head of the Percussion Department at the Canberra School of Music and finds time for collaborations and a solo career. By his teenage years, Omar Faruk Tekbilek was one of Turkey’s most sought after session musicians. A virtuoso performer on the Near Eastern cane flute (ney) and the Turkish lute, (baglama) Tekbilek was in demand in both jazz and traditional Turkish/Arab music circles. Along the way, he has mastered several kinds of reed instruments, a variety of strings (bowed and plucked), synthesizer, hand drums and even the accordion. In 1976, he settled in upstate New York. Since then, his music has appeared regularly on concert stages, recordings and films in the United States, Europe and Australia. In addition to a thriving solo career, he has played with a wide range of other musicians, from the late Don Cherry to pianist Michael Harrison’s Mandala Jones, a band that draws on the poetry of the great 13th century Sufi poet Rumi.
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