The Cedar Presents
USTAD NOOR BAKHSH and RAMON CHICHARRON - Global Roots Festival Night 2
Tuesday, September 24, 2024/ Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 7:30 PM
All Ages
Standing
Free
This is a standing show with an open floor. To request seating or other access accommodations, please go to our Access Page.
For Cedar presented shows, online ticket sales typically end one hour before the door time, and then, based on availability, tickets will be available at the door.
LISTEN
'Contigo escapar" By Ramon Chicharron. Video courtesy of Ramon Chicharron.’s Official YouTube Channel.
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Night two of Global Roots Festival continues with Ustad Noor Bakhsh and Ramon Chicharron. Ustad Noor Bakhsh is a master of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither), and he draws listeners in with his interpretations of South Asian Ragas and grooves and ornamentations similar to West-African greats like Ali Farka Toure. To close the night, Ramon Chicharron will get audiences dancing with his unique Colombian tropical pop fusion of cumbia, champeta, and dembow. Don't miss this second evening of Global Roots Festival!
USTAD NOOR BAKHSH
Ustad Noor Bakhsh lives in a village called Sindhi Paso, in Pasni, Balochistan. He is a maestro of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither), which he has played since he was a child. Like his father, also a musician, he spent the early part of his life as nomadic shepherd, taking his livestock and following the rains, before settling down as a professional musician. Noor Bakhsh was well known as a legendary instrumentalist throughout the Makran coast, but garnered global attention after his recent videos and releases by honiunhoni in 2022.
The Benju, was once a Japanese children’s toy called the taishōkoto before it was adopted by Baloch musicians living in Karachi and developed into the refined folk instrument that it is today. Noor Bakhsh plays an Electric Benju, getting his sound through an old single coil pickup and a small amp he bought from Karachi 2 decades ago. Because there is no electricity in his village, he runs the amp from a motorcycle battery, and maintains this setup even as he plays shows across the world.
He carries forward the legacy of his teachers, Ustad Khuda Bakhsh and Ustad Rehmat and his inspirations, Bilawal Belgium and Misri Khan Jamali, but his own music elicits influences from diverse traditions and musical forms far beyond Balochistan. His virtuosic playing is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms but enriched by his knowledge of South Asian Ragas, which he also renders in his own, experimental style. His repertoire includes Persian and Kurdish tunes that have probably floated in his land since before the modern borders of Iran and Pakistan were set up and Balochistan, divided as it were. In one of his recent recording sessions, he even played an Arabic Ghazal on his Benju. Needless to say, he also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan. His Sindhi repertoire is particularly novel in that it reflects a beautiful conversation between the neighbouring musical cultures of Sindh and Balochistan. No surprises that Noor Baksh plays several Bollywood songs too, after all, he has soaked the sounds around him like a sponge, including those of all birds in the mountains and the jungle near his village.
Other than his diverse repertoire, he has several original compositions too, many of which are inspired by his experiences in nature, particularly, from bird songs. His debut album, ‘Jingul’, is also titled after a small bird that has built nests in Noor’s house. The critically acclaimed debut was released digitally in September 2022 on honiunhoni, and came out on vinyl via the UK’s Hive Mind Records on September 15, 2023.
“It’s the kind of music that leaves you grasping for the spiritual and indefinable, that burrows into your soul and glows there” – Pitchfork
For listeners unfamiliar with Balochi music, Noor Baksh’s electric Benju tone and his melodic ornamentations will be reminiscent of Ali Farka Toure’s style, and polyrhythmic sixes and eights with so much groovy innovation and improvisation will make the body move in ways very similar to the music of West as well as East Africa. This is unsurprising, given the well documented migrations and seafaring, historical, intimacies between Balochistan and Africa, via the greater Indian Ocean world. It is this world that his music brings back to life.
Since 2023, Noor Bakhsh, and his accompanists, Doshambay, and Daniyal have played almost 40 shows in Europe over two tours in the summer and the fall. Prominent appearances include the Roskilde Festival (Avalon Stage), WOMEX, Rudolstadt Festival, Clandestino Festival, Le Guess Who Festival, as well as important cultural houses like the Budapest House of Music, Ancienne Belgique, Münchner Kammerspiele and several other large and small venues across Europe.
To learn more about Ustad Noor Bakhsh:
RAMON CHICHARRON
A Montrealer for nearly 15 years, Colombian multi-instrumentalist Ramon Chicharron advocates the sincere blending of genres and identities as well as the erasing of borders. With his sensitive and committed lyrics, his catchy melodies and his Latin and Caribbean influenced rhythms, Ramon's music is a true invitation to travel.
Following his album "Pescador de sueños", which has more than 3 million streams on digital platforms and won the Félix Album of the Year - World Music at ADISQ 2021 and then Album of the Year at the Latin Awards Canada, Ramon Chicharron came back in 2022 with a fourth album, "Destello de estrellas". A blend of electro-tropical sounds, Colombian champeta-inspired guitars, and Latin and Caribbean rhythms, "Destello de estrellas" is an entry into Ramon's world through 12 songs that are inspired by love, the desire to abandon oneself to fate and the connection with nature. The album was named Album of the Year at the Latin Awards Canada in 2023, as well as being nominated for Album of the Year - World Music at the GAMIQ 2022 and Album of the year - World Music at ADISQ 2023.
Ramon has built a loyal following over the years, first with a weekly show every Sunday for over 5 years in the now closed small venue l'Escalier, then gaining notoriety on the Montreal and Quebec scene with the release of four albums (Uepaje, Merecumbé, Pescador de sueños, Destello de estrellas), and over 300 shows across Canada and the USA.
To learn more about Ramon Chicharron:
