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Creative people had to find ways to adapt back in those dark days of the covid shutdowns.  How do you keep yourself from going mad?  How do you hold the creative community aloft when you can’t even be in the same room with each other?

The reality is that through every stressful period in history, creative people have innovated their way through it.  That is why major art movements tend to emerge during world wars and other moments of profound uncertainty.  Surrealism, for example, developed during World War II,when artists started questioning the “conventional” ways of society.  Those “conventional” ways, after all, culminated in some of the worst human atrocities in history.

I am a multi instrumentalist and I specialize in world music.  I like to work with musicians around the world, finding ways to combine instruments,tunings, and playing styles I have studied with music traditions that are foreign to me.  I usually do that by working with touring musicians who travel through our area or, in one case, I traveled to Taiwan and recorded an album with a fabulous musician named Ping Chou.  You can hear that album here:  The Teipei Sessions | Mike Hovancsek with Ping Chou | Mike Hovancsek.

How do you keep doing this kind of collaborative work when the whole world is shutdown in response to a pandemic?  I started by finding musicians from around the world who impressed me, contacting them online, and offering to record with them remotely.  This usually involved recording a piece of music and sending it to them so they can record their part to it.  In doing this, it felt like we were breaking the space-time continuum, where people can in different places and recording at different times created a final product that feels as if it is in the here and now.

In 2021 I recorded a full album that way with Elhadji Sora, a kora player from Senegal.  The kora is a large gord harp that is traditionally played at great speed, with complex rhythms.  Elhadji is part of a family of revered musicians who travel the world to share their work.  He agreed to work with me by playing his parts over material that I had prepared for him.  The result was an album titled “Beyond Geography”, which you can listen to here:  Beyond Geography | Elhadji Sora and Mike Hovancsek | Mike Hovancsek

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Elhadji contacted me several months ago to say that he still listens to“Beyond Geography” a lot and he wanted to record another album with me.  I suggested that we do an album together that includes Samuel Salsbury.  Samuel has been a good friend of mine for decades and he is one of the best violinists I have ever heard.  Not only can he play brilliantly, but he can improvise like a wizard, which is rare in violinists from the classical tradition.  He and I had recorded an album together in 2017 titled “The Market of Kashi”. You can hear a piece from that album here:  The Market of Kashi

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For this new album I recorded several pieces by myself, using a wide range of instruments, including koto, guitar, sitar, kalimbas, djembe, Native American flute, frame drums, gongs, and zither.  I sent them off to Elhadji.  At this point, covid had calmed down and he had to findtime to add his parts between tours and other professional commitments.

Once I had a rough mix of the parts Elhadji and I had done, I invited Samuel Salsbury to my home and we recorded his parts.  I would walk him through the pieces, pointing out places where he could solo, places where he could pull back, and places where the theme appeared.  Then, he would give it a go.  

One piece I am very happy with from that project is “Many Roots, One Tree”,which begins with a drone, and then Samuel, Elhadji, and I trade melodies between themes.  The piece starts off with what is called an“alop” in Indian music.  An alop is a free rhythm that allows the musicians to explore loose, exploratory melodies before the beat kicks in.  The piece, then, builds in intensity over a rollickingbeat until all the musicians end together.  Many Roots, One Tree | Samuel Salsbury, Elhadji Sora, and Mike Hovancsek |Mike Hovancsek

Another piece I am excited about is “Night Lake”, which begins with all the instruments playing forest sounds.  You will hear skittering sounds,frog-like croaks, and organic rustling sounds.  A clay whistle appears over this environment, which plays a plaintive melody ove rthe scene.  Soon, a steady beat enters and a theme appears on violin,kora, koto, and Native American flute.  The piece alternates between the theme and solo section before it breaks back down into forest sounds and gongs that are played by striking them and then dipping them in water to bend pitches.  ▶︎Night Lake | Samuel Salsbury, Elhadji Sora, and Mike Hovancsek | MikeHovancsek

“Tesselations” is word that is used to describe the elaborate geometrical patterns that were used by the ancient Summarians as far back as 500 BC andare used around the world in places like Egypt, Persia, and Japan. We titled a piece “Tesselations” because it was full of complex patterns, from the plucked and bowed strings and from the hand drums. This piece has a driving rhythm throughout, with Samuel and Elhadji trading firey riffs under my drumming.  ▶︎Tesselations | Samuel Salsbury, Elhadji Sora, and Mike Hovancsek |Mike Hovancsek

Finally, I will describe “Ancestors”, a piece that is more on the meditative end of this album.  “Ancestors” imitates elements from Japanese court traditions, with a lot of the form defined by my koto playing.  The koto is a 13-stringed harp-like instrument from Japan.  While that instrument plays stately melodies, gongs and underline its beats. The violin responds by playing long, soaring notes that tie the elements together and the kora skitters about, filling in the spaces with rapid patterns.  ▶︎Ancestors | Samuel Salsbury, Elhadji Sora, and Mike Hovancsek | MikeHovancsek

So there you have it:  “Teranga Soul”.  I believe that we are less likely to drop bombs on people after we have played music with them or eaten their traditional foods, or enjoyed their art.  It is this kind of cultural exchange that builds compassion and enriches our lives.

“Teranga Soul” would not exist without the new ways of collaborating that emerged from the covid shutdown.  The word “Teranga” is a Wolof word that refers to the tradition of welcoming strangers with hospitality and kindness.  I wanted to use that word in the title of this album, since it is a collection of musicians who are coming together with mutual respect and admiration. Elhadji suggested that we include an English word in the title as well, to merge both of our cultures in the name of our album.  That is the origin of the name“Teranga Soul”.  It emerged by using techniques that developed during the covid shutdowns and resulted in a testament to brotherhood between cultures.  I am honored to have worked with these two amazing musicians.

Check out the whole album here:  TerangaSoul | Samuel Salsbury, Elhadji Sora, and Mike Hovancsek | MikeHovancsek

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