[75.1] FORWARD TO THE PAST

The web is a wonderful place to reconnect with people. A few years ago I briefly met up with Tim Rayborn (while I was visiting Leeds University, where he was then based). He subsequently disappeared from usenet and changed his email, following a variety of immigration problems. Borders are often so unfriendly to musicians. I was delighted to come across his excellent website recently, and suggest you have a look at it.

For the record, Tim Rayborn is an internationally-acclaimed musician and performer of a wide variety of different styles of music, including medieval, North African, Balkan, Turkish, Iranian, and Indian. He plays more than 30 musical instruments and has toured extensively in Europe and the US, as well as working with traditional musicians in Marrakech and Istanbul. He has recorded three critically-acclaimed CDs for ASV/Gaudeamus, Britain's top early music label, as well as several other CDs, and is currently in the process of finishing work on three new recordings. Tim’s solo CD, ‘The Path Beyond Music from the Edges of Islamic Civilization’ (KALAM CD 001) is now available.

He writes:
“I'm the founder of a medieval group called Ensemble Florata, which has recorded three CDs. The first is music of medieval Spain, (CD GAU 144); the second is music of the Sephardic Jews of medieval Spain, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire (CD GAU 165). We're currently recording our third CD, music of medieval Germany. I sing, play `ud (Arabic lute), medieval harp, psaltery, Arabic percussion, and saz (Turkish lute), as well as a few more ‘modern’ instruments.”