Inside Out Music è lieta di annunciare la firma di MANDOKI SOULMATES, band del famoso musicista, compositore e produttore Leslie Mándoki. Inside Out pubblicherà l’ultimo album della band “Hungarian Pictures” nel corso dell’anno in formato visual album con nuova musica, remix e remaster.
I MANDOKI SOULMATES annunciano inoltre uno speciale evento in live streaming con la partecipazione di numerosi ospiti illustri quali Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Nick van Eede (Cutting Crew), Till Brönner, Szakcsi, Jane Xie, John Helliwell (Supertramp), Steve Bailey, Al Di Meola, Peter Maffay, Jesse Siebenberg (Supertramp), Cory Henry, Deobrat Mishra, Mike Stern, Margarita, Randy Brecker, Bill Evans, Sirreal, Richard Bona, Moto Fukushima, Tony Carey e Julia Mandoki. L’evento è previsto per il 26 marzo alle 19:00, disponibile un trailer:
Il commento di Leslie: “La pandemia ha reso impossibile lo svolgimento dei concerti così come li amiamo e li conosciamo. Tuttavia non possiamo aspettare, dobbiamo essere più rumorosi di sempre! Queste sfide che l’umanità sta affrontando, pandemia, crisi economiche e finanziarie, immigrazione e integrazione, cambiamento climatico, saranno vinte solo se superiamo queste divisioni e confini.
Ecco perché i Mandoki Soulmates, insieme a musicisti provenienti da ogni parte del mondo, stanno alzando la loro voce con questo concerto online a favore dell’unità e contro la divisione attraverso tutti i confini: fisico, culturale e intellettuale.
Dal nostro studio presso il lago Starnberg vicino a Monaco suoniamo con Tony Carey e il resto della band Soulmates che sono del posto. Le nostre ‘anime gemelle’ a Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Miami, Nashville, Londra, Berlino, Tokyo, Shanghai, Pechino, Delhi e Mosca sono collegate al nostro palcoscenico digitale. Suoniamo tutti dal vivo, sia in un soggiorno sulla 52nd Street a New York, sulla spiaggia in Carolina del Sud o in uno studio seminterrato privato di un castello nel nord dell’Inghilterra.”
Photo credit: Red Rock Production
Background on ‘Hungarian Pictures’:“Hungarian Pictures” is constructed as a suite, based on compositions and themes by Bartók, supplemented with the bands original songs. Together with Greg Lake of Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Jon Lord of Deep Purple, Leslie had worked on the seed of this idea years ago.Leslie explains: “For Bartók, diversity in culture creates enrichment. He believed that it is precisely from these differences that art draws the strength that enables further development. He mixed sounds and traditional melodies from different regions of the Carpathian Plain in order to set an example against the burgeoning threat of National Socialism (Nazism) through the unifying aspects of music. That unifying impulse inspired Jon Lord, Greg Lake, and me.
After completing our Mandoki Soulmates “Wings Of Freedom” tour through Europe, we received an invitation from the Grammy Organization to give a concert in New York’s Beacon Theater (where Martin Scorsese shot the Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light). The Soulmates show was a great success with an enthusiastic New York audi-ence, standing ovations, and positive press reviews.
For me, a former asylum seeker who over four decades ago fled from a communist dictatorship to freedom, this success in the “Land of the Free” is a very special moment.
After the concert, I spent a few days with my children in Van Morrison’s former house in Topanga Canyon, one of the old “hippie” neighborhoods of Los Angeles. I used this free time to reflect on social developments over the past few years. It became clear to me that we as artists are being challenged to become louder, to be a thorn in the side of so-ciety, and to bring progressive jazz rock back to real socio-political relevance. This is how the first ideas for a new album came about. It is the most ambitious and best project we ever worked on.
I am very grateful to our audience for the extraordinary chart success of our double al-bum Living In The Gap + Hungarian Pictures and the enthusiasm resulting in sold-out concerts. A supporting concert series for 2020 was signed, sealed, and all but delivered when the pandemic arrived. This quarantine of musical expression has been a true test of character, but artistic souls cannot be locked in forever: the urge for freedom, respon-sibility and creativity are too great.”
Look out for more information on the release of the ‘Hungarian Pictures’ visual album in the coming months!
