In 2001, Ivan Hussey started the Celloman project, a UK based World-Fusion band, presenting an original sound comprised of a rich tapestry of musical influences taken from his travels and musical encounters.
Acoustic Collection Vol. 1 is the fifth Celloman album and the first in a series of three acoustic albums.
The album, a collection of compositions performed by varied instruments takes its influence from a variety of musical traditions and sounds. From the Carnatic Southern Indian influenced ‘Veena’ to the African highlife of ‘Georgetown’, the flamenco sounding ‘Scenes of you’, to the cheeky Tango of the ‘Seductive Milonga’.
One of the most interesting features of the album is Ivan’s use of a style of cello playing that he has named Arpezzato, a combination of the words ‘arpeggio’ and ‘pizzicato’.
Played using the fingers of both hands, much like a guitar, Arpezzato incorporates many techniques found in the guitar, bass guitar, double bass, harp, oud and the sitar including slide, hammer-on, slap, pop, snap, dead notes and arpeggio.
Pizzicato, when written in a score directs the player to pull the string away from the fingerboard to achieve a particular classical sound. There are many cellists and string players throughout the world that have, and are, experimenting with new and exciting ways of exploiting the use of pizzicato-derived techniques. The various uses of these techniques may have outgrown the limitations implied by the word pizzicato.
Still in demand as a free-lance cellist, Ivan has recently worked with Rhianna, Annie Lennox, Keane and Roots Manuva and has also spent the last few years as a touring member of both Natacha Atlas and Mor Karbasi, respectively.
Here is a summary of this release:
Name: Acoustic Collection Volume 1
Artist: Celloman
Label: Jambila Music Classics
Digital Release date: Friday 23rd October 2015
Contact: Ivan Hussey at Jambila Music
Email: ivan@jambila.co.uk
Web: www.jambila.co.uk or www.celloman.co.uk