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Profile Press Clips about Mystery System... "...With Mystery System, [Lukas Ligeti] has produced a disc of huge character and significance. Able to cross ethnic, musical, and cultural boundaries with absolute ease and aplomb, Ligeti fils...arrives on the world music stage with a statement of gigantic presence...Some of it is so complex as to be nearly impossible to play ("Pattern Transformation")--though once played, it sounds entirely natural; other pieces, equally or even more complex ("Independence"), belie their rhythmic and timbral sophistication and come out sounding just gloriously worldly-jazzy...a brilliant amalgam of Nu music (of the Nu-est sort) with transcendent traditionalism: a combination hard to beat. The future of music. Don't miss it." Jan P. Dennis, amazon.com, U.S.A., 2005 "...a distinctive and energetic voice...that walks a skillful line between the comprehensible and the unpredictable...." "*****" Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, U.S.A., 2005 "...a young musician with enormous imagination and energy...'Independence' is a knockout...the grooves just keep coming here, consistently fresh, inventive, surprising. The same goes, perhaps even more so, for 'Delta Space'...Ligeti doesn't have to trade on his genealogy to justify attention...after the initial buzz, the music justifies itself, on its own terms....A very impressive solo debut." Robert Carl, Fanfare, U.S.A., 2005 "...Already 'Pattern Transformation', his first truly vaild work...extends, in its playfulness and complexity influenced by African polyrhythms, far beyond much of the work of Terry Riley or Steve Reich...." Carsten Fastner, Falter, Austria, 2005 "Lukas Ligeti has become a presence in the downtown new-music world...[his] music is as unconventional in its own way as that of his father [György Ligeti]...a listener must quickly abandon the prospect of feeling the meter and surrender to the music's elasticity...[Delta Space is] an irresistible riot of sound, made up of intricate, recombinant patterns." Allan Kozinn, New York Times, U.S.A., 2004 "Lukas Ligeti is defter than most in dealing with the same influences both on manuscript paper and behind the drumkit in his work as an improvisor....he practises what many other composers only preach in the abstract." Philip Clark, The Wire, U.K., 2004 "...a fascinating, vibrant, and...engaging set of compositions, a collective experience both thought-provoking and immediate, eschewing academic aridity." Mark Keresman, Signal to Noise, U.S.A., 2004 "...I've heard Lukas Ligeti perform live and was intrigued, but I'm even more excited by a new disc of his compositions on Tzadik...remarkable...a compositional gem..." Frank J. Oteri, New Music Box, U.S.A., 2004 "...fascinating programme...delightfully intriguing...exhilarating...an absorbing CD which I have played again and again..." Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers, U.K., 2004 "...impressive and moving music...'Independence' is percussion music as it should be written...bright and lively, melodic, and compelling from beginning to end." Matthew Sumera, onefinalnote.com, U.S.A., 2004 "...provocative,...ear-stretching..." "****" Fred Bouchard, DownBeat, U.S.A., 2005 on classical compositions... "...his 'Pattern Transformation', for four players on two marimbas, is renowned as a cult piece in which constantly shifting rhythmic patterns combine to form structures of subtle, meta-melodic power." Peter Vujica, Der Standard, Vienna, Austria, 2002 "...a revelation...a composition that inspires enthusiasm through its disciplined freedom and homogeneity." Cornelia Nicodemus, Nordbayerischer Kurier, Germany, 2002 ..."Pattern Transformation...is a witty and refreshing tapestry for two marimbas and eight hands of astonishing dexterity." Lynne Walker, The Independent, U.K., 2000 "Perhaps the most widely talked-about new invader of the Manhattan music scene today..." Kyle Gann, Village Voice, U.S.A., 1998 "...elegant, concise music...imbued with a subtle and ingratiating wittiness." Peter Burwasser, Fanfare, U.S.A., 1998 on collaborations with Mai Lingani... "Lukas Ligeti and Mai Lingani take world music into the outer limits." Chris Macias, The Sacramento Bee, U.S.A., 2002 "...The music of Ligeti and Lingani points to a new fusion, one in which electronic and acoustic sounds blur together and elements from Anglo/Euro and West African music meet, mingle and party down without one being ceding to the other." Mark Keresman, jazzreview.com, 2002 "...Lukas Ligeti strives for 'something that hasn't exactly been heard before' - and not only does he mean that, he often attains it." Mark Keresman, Paste Magazine, U.S.A., 2003 "Lukas Ligeti has found an extraordinary interpreter for his work in Mai Lingani, with whom, in his project 'Burkina Electric', he frees African music from the folkloristics and traditionalism of Western observers." Salzburger Nachrichten, Austria, 2004 on Lukas as a drummer/improvisor... "...Ligeti is a profound, forceful thinker and his drumming has lit up a clutch of important recordings over the past few years..." David Keenan, The Wire, U.K., 2005 "...Ligeti on the electronic sampling drumset is currently probably without peer in the music scene." Andreas Felber, Jazz-Podium, Germany, 1997 "...Ligeti's percussion statements transcend mere rhythm." Aural Innovations, U.S.A., 2003 "...a subtlety and attention to sonic detail which sees every hit, brush and tap contribute to the dialogue." Colin Buttimer, Jazzwise, U.K., 2004 "...Ligeti is an original and his playing combines jazz sensibility with a wide array of influences...Björkenheim and Ligeti created a fascinating work, full of imagination and real, spontaneous joy." Eyal Hareuveni, The Squid's Ear, 2004 "...Ligeti...has a knack for effortlessly playing complex polymetric rhythms." Greg Prato, allmusic.com on Beta Foly... "...a new dimension in the dialogue between Africa and the Western world. ...With uprecedentedly unconventional playfulness, seemingly completely disparate things are brought together without getting in each other's way..." Ulrich Olshausen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, 1997 "...Lukas Ligeti...has helped produce...something like a 21st Century African music. ...you can still dance to it and when you do you won't believe you did and it will be very hard to go back to those Papa Wemba grooves afterwards, believe me." Mike Cooper, Folk Roots, U.K., 2000 "...A combination of African tradition and experimental electronics, the pioneering quality of which will likely be understood only several years from now." Andreas Felber, Der Standard, Austria, 2004 "...Lukas Ligeti...discovered, much like Béla Bartók, ...the popular basic ingredient for a completely new music." Bert Noglik, Stereo, Germany, 1997 "...intriguing cross-cultural project...a polyrhythmic and unabashedly polycultural feast of sounds and ideas, a successful and disarming merger. It's hardly pure, but also anything but predictable." Josef Woodard, JazzTimes, U.S.A., 1998 "...something to teach Mick Fleetwood, Byrne & Eno, and all too many patronizing jazzmen." Robert Christgau, Village Voice, U.S.A., 1998 "...a truly exceptionally successful "Afro-fusion" project...With an inimitable power of expression and exuding the sheer pleasure of making music, 'Beta Foly' effortlessly succeed at building bridges between North and South, between living African heritage and the most modern music technology." Kitzbüheler Anzeiger, Austria, 1998 "...An incredibly interesting project that doesn't suppress differences between musical traditions, but takes them to a new stage of development." Stephan Hespos, Forum Kulturmagazin, Germany, 1997 "World music's role as the most refreshingly unfettered genre is affirmed by projects like this...a truly unique...thoroughly mesmerizing set..." Billboard, U.S.A., 1998 "...Complex, musical, rhythmic, enjoyable and well-done..." John Beck, Percussive Notes, U.S.A., 1998 Chosen as one of the top albums of 1997 SPIN Magazine, U.S.A. "...a fantastic experience with foreign musics and a very likeable, danceable trance." Klaus Hübner, Intro, Germany, 1997 "...A pure listening adventure...When old means of communication fail,...we need provocative innovation....Impossible? Well, then I can only recommend 'Lukas Ligeti & Beta Foly', and almost anything becomes imaginable..." Worldbeat, Germany "...when the emcee announces Beta Foly, the audience responds with cries of joy, punctuated by thundering ovations...This event, one must admit, was an occasion for the group to display yet another time its mastery of the traditional instruments of African music." H. Brence, L'Œil du Peuple au Quotidien, Côte d'Ivoire, 1995 "...innovative...ambassadors,...open to the world" Awany Sylla, Le Jour, Côte d'Ivoire, 1997 "...one of the revelations of the year." Star Magazine, Côte d'Ivoire "...one of the best groups from Côte d'Ivoire..." Adam Khalil, L'Equateur, Côte d'Ivoire, 1996 "The concept of 'world music', taken seriously. ...The documentation of an exciting encounter." Reinhard Schulz, Neue Musikzeitung, Germany, 2000 "...Who, prior to Lukas Ligeti, had the idea to improvise freely in a collective with traditional African musicians, referencing music from Uganda as well as Korea, coordinated solely by a metronomic 'click track' relayed via headphones?...Who had a balafon player enter into a dialogue with an interactive music computer sounding like a piano?..." Andreas Felber, Jazz-Podium, Germany, 1997 "...perhaps one of the most successful African/Western...fusion projects ever to come down the pike." Mark Keresman, Signal to Noise, U.S.A., 2004 ...on this website! "...the whole web site radiates enthusiasm, a sense of Ligeti’s passion for music and why he makes it the way he does. You want to hear the stuff...." Kyle Gann, artsjournal.com, U.S.A., 2004 |