Tesla Manaf "Tesla Manaf" ("A Man's Relationship With His Fragile Area")

Country: Indonesia
Genre(s): Jazz-Rock, Fusion
Label: Moonjune Records
Format: CD, digital
Release date: November 26, 2014
Tracklist: 
1. A Man's Relationship With His Fragile Area (0:44)
2. Necrophilia (1:30)
3. Counting Miles & Smiles (4:59)
4. Movin Side (5:58)
5. Early Years (7:55)
6. Multiply By Zero (1:33)
7. Chin Up (7:06)
8. The Sweetest Horn (6:43)
9. It's All Yours: Part 1 (11:17)
10. It's All Yours: Part 2 (5:59)
11. It's All Yours: Part 3 (6:23)
12. It's All Yours: Part 4 (5:46)
13. It's All Yours: Part 5 (3:59)
14. It's All Yours: Part 6 (8:57)

Tracks 1-8 are released in Indonesia as "A Man's Relationship With His Fragile Area" in 2014; and tracks 9-14 are released in Indonesia in 2011 as "It's All Yours"

Line-up: 
Tesla Manaf - guitar
   With
Rudy Zulkarnaen - upright bass (1-8)
Hulhul - clarinet, trompet pencak, Indonesian flute (1-8)
Desal Sembada - drums (1-8)
Gega Mesywara - upright bass (9-14)
Yd Nafis - keyboards, synth (9-14)
Dani Irjayana - drums (9-14)
Mumu - soprano sax, flute (9-14)
Zaky - vocal
Adrian Firdaus - gangsa (9-14)
Dewa Made Premana - gangsa (9-14)
William Teh Putra - kantil (9-14)
Wisnu Pramadi - kantil (9-14)
Gede Darma Raharja - jublag, gong, kempluk (9-14)

Description/Reviews: 

With the release of Tesla Manaf’s latest offering, the young and gifted Indonesian guitarist delivers on his main goal as a musician — “to convert spoken words into notes”.
Tesla’s guitar work pairs the string texture and physicality of Andres Segovia and Django Reinhardt, with the phrasing and pacing of Ralph Towner and Pat Metheny, through to the present compositional ebbs and flows of Mary Halvorson and Gilad Hekselman. Mind you, these are merely scrap-book points of reference — the end result is extremely original, fresh and inspiring. There is at work here a youthful and enthusiastic sense of risk-taking which is most revealing and rewarding listen after listen.
His unique approach to modern composition assures that you won’t necessarily find the traditional song elements of verse, chorus, solo, bridge or refrain and, if you do, they very likely will not occupy the accepted position or possess the interrelationship you have come to expect. This “turning on its head” approach to composition, along with each player’s technique and choice of instrument tone color, gives great impact to the experience of listening deeply to each track.
This music is all about movement – you find yourself taking the journey with Tesla Manaf, Hadis ‘Hulhul’ Hendarisman, Rudy Zulkarnaen and Desal Sembada. Your route is paved with gorgeous arpeggiated guitar lines intertwined with sinuous dancing clarinet and fueled by subtle yet insistent basslines with the most delicate use of drumkit. Midstream reflection of this musical experience is granted through the equally composed use of silence and pause. The effortless performance of these idiosyncratic songs belies their complexity.
The second half of this cd includes Tesla’s earlier album “It’s All Yours” featuring the Balinese ensemble Mahagotra Ganesha. Tesla’s guitar work on this recording possesses the playful melodicism of King Sunny Ade and is perfectly complemented by the resonant metallic voices of the Mahagotra Ganesha ensemble’s Gamelan, Gangsa, Ceng Ceng, Kantil, Gong and Kemplug.

Media/Samples 
Bandcamp

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