Zalankara
Jeff Pressing's Zalankara is a multicultural symphony: a wide-ranging, ambitious work dedicated to the refugees and displaced people of the world.
Zalankara uses ground-breaking innovations in electronics, combining sounds and structures inspired by different ethnic musics with those drawn from Western traditions. The piece ranges from sampled or synthesised African talking drums and the dan tranh, or Vietnamese zither, to electronic versions of a Western orchestra.
Four vocalists perform live in the studio, joined by assorted environmental sounds such as dolphin calls and closing doors.
Reviews
excellent notes ... [Zalankara's] creation must have involved immense thought, time and labour and a remarkable degree of co-operation between its participants. As such, it stands as a testimony to the possibilities within the fusion of 'natural' and synthetic sounds, directed to the illumination of human experience and the heightening of social empathy.
Artists

Jeff Pressing
Jeff Pressing was a Melbourne composer, performer and cognitive scientist. His recorded work moves between cross-cultural jazz keyboards and large-scale electronic multicultural composition.
Audio preview
Tracks
Point of Reference (Multicultural Orchestra Predominant)
The Great and the Small (Western Orchestra Predominant)
Doors and Portals (2 alto voices, all orchestras)
The Universal Dance (full orchestra)
Sun and Sky (alto voice, 2 baritone voices, zither, wind and other soloists)
Exotica (wind and electronic soloists and full orchestra)
Mirrors and Beams of Light (bagpipes, constructed choir and full orchestra)
Performer
Where to listen
Zalankara is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MCD 191
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Categories
- Australian, Classical, Cross-cultural, Orchestral, Vocal
- Genres
- Contemporary Classical, Orchestral & Concerto, World & Cross-cultural
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574019124
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