Ema & Little Hawk - Relative
Guitarist / Producer Ema and Mi'kmaq / Mohawk artist Little Hawk have come together and combined their unique talents to create this remarkable trans-humanistic treasure, "Relative". The project consists of a series of improvised performances merging traditional Native American, Southern African and contemporary Western instruments, vocables and sensibilities. Operating under the tenet that there are universal threads of "human-ness" inherent in all musics regardless of cultural origin, Little Hawk and Ema give a respective bow to the root traditions that inform their individual sensibilities and then set off exploring their areas of convergence, subsequently letting the "cultural chips" fall where they may. Combining Native American wood flutes, bark trumpets, and medicine drums with Zimbabwean mbira dzavadzimu, South African Zulu drums and high-strung/alternate tuned guitars, Little Hawk and Ema create a cross-cultural amalgam of rich musical textures that reach deeply into both the visceral *and* the intellectual banks of the listener's musical experience. Eschewing arrangement or pre-conceived designs, the artists only stated production goal was to keep things simple and the listening experience intimate. "We want the listener to feel like he or she is sitting amongst us as we play" says Ema. The overall soundscape reflects this goal; it is intimate, organic and in-your-face, thus allowing the music, even on the occasional excursion into more soaring and dramatic sonic imagery, to remain accessible. This is truly a "World Music" album.
See the "behind the scenes" photo session for the CD.