MAGAMs described by its founder and director, Greek, Thessaloniki-based multidisciplinary artist and aut0-didacted multiinstrumentalist moody allen as a «shape-shifting, ever-evolving project that operates with the participation of musicians and other artists from around the globe, always embracing improvisation, experimentation & the unpredictable». MAGAMultumult is an off-shoot of MAGAM and features allen, and musicians from the Romanian collective multumult – cellist Andrei Kivu (who also plays trumpet, koto and overtone tube), reeds player (and writer) Călin Torsan and bassist Vasile Gherghel, all playing in different incarnations of MAGAM. MAGAM, by the way, means myself in Hungarian but is used by allen as an acronym, hence the all-caps.

FREE (in a 14th c. church) was recorded at the 14th-century church of Sfanta Margareta in Mediaș in Transylvania, Romania, In August 2018. All the music was freely improvised and was not discussed or rehearsed before the live performance. Gherghel did the live sound engineering and allen did the mastering and the cover artwork. Allen is also the founder and director of the Thirsty Leaves Music label.

MAGAMultumult’s chamber, electro-acoustic music embraces the folk music of the Balkan but ornaments it with strong veins of traditional and classical folk music from the Middle East and the East and modern-day sounds and samples that add to the music an untimely aroma. The minimalist atmosphere is lyrical and introspective and uses the resonating spacious acoustic of the Gothic church to intensify its contemplative-meditative spirit.

Eyal Hareuveni

Andrei Kivu (acoustic cello, midi cello, koto, trumpet, overtone tube, claps, effects), Călin Torsan (clarinet, flutes, recorders, melodica, shakers, rattles, voice), Vasile Gherghel (bass guitar, effects, loopers, live sound engineering), Moody Alien (glockenspiel, vibraphone, sampled instruments and sounds via keyboard, effects, kalimba, log drum, zither)