Mandhira de Saram

“On this remarkable release on Mark Wastell’s Confront label, the aim is spontaneity rather than unpredictability. Cage rejected improvisation, but these players prepare - in all senses - for the spontaneous improvised effort. ”

““...the next performance was a display of improvised solo violin from de Saram that saw her coaxing a stunning array of noises from her instrument, ranging from high pitched, birdsong like sounds to harsh, aggressive scraping of the strings. Here was a young, classically trained musician deploying extended techniques and improvising with the skill and fearlessness of a seasoned free jazzer. It was totally spell binding and very impressive but in retrospect not as surprising as it first appeared. A brief internet search revealed that as well as being a founding member of the Ligeti Quartet, de Saram has quite a pedigree in the field of experimental and improvised music, and that among her many collaborators are pianists Steve Beresford and Benoit Delbecq, plus the venerable trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith, all names that will be familiar to adventurous listeners of jazz and improvised music. With a pedigree like that, de Saram is a perfect fit for the genre stretching Emulsion project.””