March 29, 2024

Wisaal Weaving a Sound

March 15, 2015

When weaving a tapestry, there are two key components: the warp threads, held in tension by the loom to make the foundation, and the weft threads, woven through the warp threads to create the design.

It’s from here that the title of Wisaal’s latest album, The Warp and the Weft, springs.

It’s an intentional reference to the way the members of the band incorporate different musical influences to create a cohesive sound.

"Some threads, such as the Middle Eastern sound of the oud or the Klezmer influences in the clarinet, are quite clear on the surface, like the weft," explained Wisaal’s Igor Houwat. "Other threads are not so obvious."

EARLY YARN

All six members of the Lansing-based Mediterranean fusion group – Will Cicola on clarinets and saxophone, Houwat on oud, Ben Fuhrman on mandolin, Tim Patterson on bass, and Ty Forquer and Mike List on percussion – are classically-trained musicians. They formed the band in 2010 while at Michigan State University.

"There were a number of us with interests in world music, but we had no outlet to perform it," Houwat said. "The first rehearsal started off with a dozen people and we whittled to our current core."

LOOMING GOALS

Each bandmate has a specific role in Wisaal (pronounced Wiss-AHL). Houwat brings the Arabic sound, Cicola the Turkish; Fuhrman and Patterson lend American influences and Forquer and List add an array of Latin American, Middle Eastern and American beats.

"There are certain things you can’t recreate when you fuse sounds together, as opposed to a more traditional approach to the music, but our goal is to create something new," Houwat said. "That’s the challenge, delight and surprise with this group."

STITCHING SONGS

Wisaal’s music is simultaneously foreign and familiar, with layers of sounds and beats and unexpected geographic combinations.

"Dark Eyes" is like shadowy, Middle Eastern spy music that unfolds into a suspenseful, mid-tempo dance number, while "Akher Ayyam El-Saifiye" showcases those aforementioned Turkish influences with an urgency seasoned by woodwinds, and "Samai Kurd" sounds like the old American West meeting Arabic melodies.

The band’s sound, most often called Mediterranean fusion, is a truly unusual blend, both striking and thoughtful in its approach.

TRIMMING ENDS

The music itself is the good news. The bad news is that this current tour might be the last one for the band. For reasons unmentioned, Houwat said that Wisaal is making a final trek through Michigan and the U.S. east coast before stopping active performance this spring.

But, with five years of great on-stage chemistry, they might not be completely down for the count.

"We’ll keep the possibility open for any opportunities that might come our way," he said, "but, for now, we’re calling the last batch of concerts the Wisaal Swan Song Tour. We’ll be performing in Ann Arbor, Livonia and Petoskey, and we’ll play a farewell concert in our Lansing home base."

RUNNING THREADS

This means catch this band while you can – during their final run through northern Michigan at the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey. While they haven’t played CTAC before – and this may be their one and only time – they’re definitely looking forward to it.

"We’ve heard some great things about CTAC, and the audiences that it draws, from fellow musicians who have performed there in the past," Houwat said. "What we always look forward to are venues with great stage sound and audiences that are excited about music. I think CTAC is definitely going to match that – and probably exceed it."

Wisaal will be in concert at the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey on Saturday, March 21 at 8pm. For tickets, visit crookedtree.org. To find out more about the band, visit wisaalmusic.com.

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