When duo guitarists Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque released Macedonian Blues in 2001, a remarkable musical collaboration was born. Now that partnership is extended and solidified with Seven Boats, an all-new collection of original music for two guitars. Infused once again with the modes and rhythms of the Balkans, filled with humor, dazzling virtuosity and tender melodic invention, this new disc is a treasure trove for lovers of Jazz, Classical and World music alike.
Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque are two of the most gifted guitarists performing today. Their styles and backgrounds are vastly different, but as the Chicago Tribune wrote of them "...when their two guitars play, cultural barriers melt away." Chicago's Reader has said, "Ivanovic is an exuberant interpreter...his tremendous energy is tempered with finesse and introspection...so that even the flashiest passages are graceful." Jazz critic Neil Tesser has remarked that Haque "possesses one of the great guitar techniques in modern music."
Their amazing empathy and jaw dropping daredevil displays are heard to perfection in "Gypsy Circus" and "Chase," but the heart of the collection is in the gently rocking improvisations of "Seven Boats," and in "Walls of the White City" as well as Goran's magical "Three Waltzes" and Fareed's Jazz standard "Manresa." As the L.A. Times said of their earlier disc: "Only two guitarists on the planet would come up with such a concoction."
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