Move Records Australian classical & art music, est. 1968
Front cover art for Nardoo

Nardoo

Nardoo weave original improvisations from jazz, ethnic and medieval strands. Zana Clarke and Peter Biffin play new and traditional wind and string instruments on this debut of haunting, cross-cultural duo music.

Nardooensemble Zana Clarkeganassi recorder Peter Biffintar-hu, deboosh
  • CatalogueMD 3188
  • Released1996
  • Playing time59 minutes 50 seconds

Listen & tracks

1 of 30 tracks have a preview · 18 works · 59:50

  1. 1 Willow Zana Clarke 2:39
  2. 2 Lady Grey Zana Clarke 2:14
  3. 3 Night Prowler Peter Biffin 2:39
  4. 4 Once Upon a Time Zana Clarke 3:59
  5. 5 Sunday Sunday Zana Clarke 4:56
  6. 6 Taboosh Zana Clarke 2:13
  7. 7 Cherry Brandy Peter Biffin 2:53
  8. 8 Apple Blossom Zana Clarke 3:13
  9. 9 Oscillation Zana Clarke 4:35
  10. 10 Tundra Zana Clarke 3:41
  11. 11 Fragment Longing Zana Clarke 3:30
  12. 12 Bihag Zana Clarke 4:41
  13. 13 The Fox Zana Clarke 2:10
  14. 14 Inner Edge Peter Biffin 5:22
  15. 15 Solace Zana Clarke 2:13
  16. 16 Charles Street Zana Clarke 2:55
  17. 17 Madeira Zana Clarke 1:53
  18. 18 Aldebaran Peter Biffin 4:04

Conditions right for a flower of new Australian music to bloom.

Nardoo – an Australian aquatic plant that can lie dormant in dry mud for many years until rain restores it – gives this duo its name. With the right conditions the cracked surface is covered in small, delicate blooms.

Those conditions firmly established, the new Australian duo Nardoo offer a vital mix of musical ideas across a set of improvisations drawn from many stylistic sources.

On a blend of new and traditional wind and string instruments they shape a soundscape of exotic, haunting images: original music from a melting pot of jazz, ethnic and medieval influences.

Recorder player Zana Clarke places traditional wind instruments in this freer setting: “I feel I have a link into another musical world,” she says of the debut, “where composing and improvising become vital, and where I can move from the rigours of fixed forms towards a new freedom of expression.”

That freedom runs through much of the programme. The weaving lines of ‘Oscillation’ mix medieval and ethnic melody; the chords of ‘Once Upon a Time’ lean more toward a western, jazz-tinged language.

For Peter Biffin, music stays free and loose. He improvises across many styles. “In 1977 I began to redesign the instruments I was playing so they could cover more of the music I was interested in,” he says. “Designing, making and playing my own instruments (‘tar-hu’ – a long-necked bowed instrument with four playing strings and seven sympathetic strings, and ‘deboosh’ – a large fretless dobro guitar) enables me to create new sounds that express my creativity like never before.”

Elements rising, binding; a rock caught in crystalline form; a body dissolving as dust on the wind. The mineral world carries on without care for where it is borne. Those are the images Nardoo bring forward in this blend of improvised new music.

Reviews

Zana Clarke and Peter Biffin ... have created a definite Middle Eastern flavour, heightened by a bit of jazz spice

— Janet Croft, The New Englander

Artists

Photograph of Nardoo

Nardoo

ensemble

Peter Biffin and Zana Clarke are Nardoo. Peter is renowned for developing and creating his own instruments and Zana is one of Australia's leading recorder players.

 Photograph of Zana Clarke

Zana Clarke

ganassi recorder

Zana Clarke brings the ganassi recorder into mediaeval courts and free improvisation alike, spinning monophonic melodies and new writing on rebec, voice flute and yayla-tanbur with Cantigas and the duo Nardoo.

 Photograph of Peter Biffin

Peter Biffin

tar-hu, deboosh

Peter Biffin is an Australian musician, composer and instrument maker whose work joins improvisation, expanded scale systems and the craft of building new string instruments.

Digital booklet

Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDF

Buy now

$25.00 AUD

Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

Stream now

Apple Music Spotify

Also available to download from the iTunes Store.

Performers

  • Nardoo · ensemble
  • Zana Clarke · ganassi recorder · all except tracks 3, 7, 14 and 18
  • Peter Biffin · tar-hu, deboosh · all except tracks 11 and 15

Technical credits

  • Recording Engineer Martin Wright
    Vaughan McAlley

Details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Total playing time
59 minutes 50 seconds
Release date
Categories
Australian, Cross-cultural, Folk music
Genres
Jazz & Improvised, World & Cross-cultural
Musical work copyright
© 1996 Move Records
Sound recording copyright
℗ 1996 Move Records
Catalogue
MD 3188
EAN
9314574318821

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