Song Review: Atlas Maior released singles featuring Ali Pervez Mehdi
We’re always searching for new and interesting music that intends to create sounds that haven’t been heard before. Be it experimental, psychedelic or in today’s review, jazz and world music fusion. The singles we listened to are “Nazuk” and “Ya Ali” by Austin’s Atlas Maior featuring famed Pakistani, ghazal singer, Ali Pervez Mehdi.
Atlas Maior’s Joshua Thomson let us know that while both of these tracks are fantastic, they’re perhaps not representative of the sound the group gained notoriety for in 2019, full-length record, Riptide. Besides delving into more traditional arrangements with Pervez Mehdi on their latest singles, Riptide is an instrumental album unlike the tracks, “Nazuk” and “Ya Ali” we’re featuring on the website today. We can tell you that founding member, Thomson’s alto saxophone performance on the record is not only impressive, it’s a joy to listen to.
In September of last year the band released “Nazuk” in partnership with Ali Pervez Mehdi. From the band:
“Nazuk” is a composition that takes its lyrics from the 19th-century Punjabi Sufi poet Khawaja Farid of the Indian subcontinent. Farid, a prolific scholar and writer within multiple languages, belonged to the Chishti-Nizami Sufi order. The creation of “Nazuk” is informed by Ali Pervez Mehdi’s father, famous ghazal singer Ustad Pervez Mehdi, and the classical Sufi music and poetry form known as Kafi. “Nazuk” is sung in the language of ‘Saraiki.”
Heady stuff for sure, but the result is a fantastic song. The combination of Pervez Mehdi’s sublime voice, Thomson (alto sax), Josh Peters (oud), Aaron Parks (drums) and Gary Calhoun James (double bass) lends a sonic texture to this recording unlike most we’ve heard. Thomson and Peters re-arranged and conceptualized the track in this way to feature both the group’s jazz foundation and their collaboration with Pervez Mehdi’s own work. It’s hard to imagine that anyone wouldn’t like this amazing song:
The second track, “Ya Ali” originated with Thomson and Atlas Maior. Thomson had a clear vision of what he wanted to create and executed the project flawlessly with the help of his band and producers. The music contains elements of Colombian, Afro-Cuban and progressive jazz, setting the table for Pakistani ghazal singer Pervez Mehdi to come in.
“The idea here was to write an Atlas Maior piece for Ali to sing, in a way, and in a context that was very different for him. “We wanted to create a song for him to improvise within, that challenged him musically and the entire band. I think we achieved that,” states Thomson.”
We think so too. The song is more spare than “Nazuk” leaving room for Pervez Mehdi to improvise and the band to display their chops. The singer chose to sing in Punjabi and inspired by Ali Farka Toure, a creative influence of his. The song rounds out the counter-point to “Nazuk” elegantly, demonstrating the remarkable talents of all the players involved.
“Ya Ali” was co-produced by Peters, Pervez Mehdi and Thomson. The track was mixed by Gary Calhoun James and mastered by Carl Saff at King Electric Studio. The song was released in October 2020.
