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ONLY HOURS TO GO!!!!! HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!CLICK ON ARROW SYMBOL ABOVE to watch the video & and then read on !!! THE CLOCK IS RUNNING  !!! JUNE 17 IS THE DEADLINE!! Fast vorbei.. nur noch ein paar Stunden.....Habe eine Kontonummer in Deutschland, bitte email:  fingerchristian@gmail.com

  “Ananda”- A New Album by Christian Finger.

Dear Friends, liebe Freunde:

In the Sanskrit language, “Ananda” means "The World is Bliss."  

I have been working on the compositions of this new album for a long time - some for over five years.   The music will take you on a journey to places on our planet where I have actually lived and to places I have been to in my imagination.  Each piece honors and documents the atmosphere and feel of life I experienced there.   It is at the same time a looking back and a remembering. 

I sincerely hope you will consider being part of this exciting music creation.  We need funding to pay for the Recording Studio, Engineer, Musicians, Mixing, Mastering, Cover Art Work, CD Pressing, Liner Notes, Publicist, Making & Shipping of Rewards, paying Kick Starter, Amazon etc.

Please Note:  This is an all or nothing deal. We have only 30 days to reach our goal.   If the amount is not reached by June 18, 8 in the morning we will get NOTHING.

Regardless of how fast our funding goal is reached, no backers will be charged until Monday Jun 18, 2012.

Amazing musicians from New York will be playing on this album in a unique instrumentation (drums, piano, guitars, bass, voice, violin & string ensemble), entangled in a web of composition, improvisation, and sound scape.  Allow me a brief introduction:

Jeff Ballard (drums)
I will have the extreme honor of playing a drum duet with Jeff Ballard, one of the greatest drummers around.  He is truly a master musician who played with Chick Corea, Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman.

Vadim Neselovskyi (piano/fender rhodes)
My old friend and collaborator, Vadim is a one of a kind musician who has won numerous prestigious awards.  He has played with Gary Burton and is a piano professor at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston. I still remember when I met him in Dortmund when he was 17...

Zack Brock (violin)
Zack performs with Stanley Clarke, Frank Vignola and others; he has been called "...one of the foremost players of his generation."  His virtuosity, effortless ideas and huge sound are an incredible enrichment to the music.

Dave Stryker (guitar)
An awesome, strong, and soulful player who has worked with the legends: Stanley Turrentine, Dizzy Gillespie, and Freddie Hubbard.  Truly a master and I'm very happy to play with him.

Nate Radley (guitar)
A highly regarded player in New York, Nate has played with Donny McCaslin, Maria Schneider and the Alan Ferber Nonet.  He supplies deeply intricate sounds that beautifully enhance the songs.

Adam Armstrong (bass)
Another old friend and one of the nicest guys I know.  Adam has recorded over sixty CD's and has worked with Kenny Wheeler, Kenny Kirkland, Billy Cobham to name just a few. (on ya, mate)

Bobby Harden (vocals)

A very soulful singer with an amazing warm sound.  Bobby sings with the original Blues Brother Band and in my band “Soul Center”.

“Momenta String Quartet” (string ensemble)

The "Momenta String Quartet" is a critically acclaimed ensemble for contemporary music that also played on my last CD, “Merge Into Beauty.”

The CD will be recorded by James Farber, one of the most famous jazz recording engineers, whose artistry captures the sound like no other.  We will be recording at Sear Sound, known throughout the world for their excellence.

This new CD is going to be a follow up to the critically acclaimed CDs "Balance" (feat. living jazz legend Lee Konitz), and "Merge Into Beauty" (feat. Rich Perry and Vadim).

Here are the "stories behind the compositions", please read on:

"African Skies-Linear Lives":

Inspired by my friend and one of the best musicians I know, Jeff Ballard.  I listened to African music which you'll hear in the melody.  The complex middle section groove with simultaneous layering of different parts on the drum set is also inspired by Jeff.  The music stands for the "Urgrund" (ancient ground) of us - the place we came from, the rhythm, and also for the diversity and incredible life power this land presents.

"Night's Beyond, India":

Buzzing, hectic city life and quiet rural scenes, deep forests, calm and chaos, land of polarities. I remember checking my brother's LP collection when I was 13 and listening to the group, 'Shakti', with Zakir Hussain on tablas.  The rhythms, virtuosity, spiritual quality and fire amazed me, and I tried to capture that.  (You see a glimpse of the tune in the video. BTW: with the great Gary Wang on bass).

"Two Faces":

A bittersweet love song/ballad from Amsterdam.  I lived in the Netherlands for three years and wrote the lyrics together with Wanja Kam about this beautiful and difficult time.  She was the theory teacher at the Hilversums Conservatory, and her support and wisdom will never be forgotten.

"For Now (When Sonny Meets Wayne)":

My love and respect for the jazz masters of New York and their timeless Groove/Swing. The atmosphere of hipness, propulsion, the speed, the streets of Harlem and Downtown and the effortless rhythmic tradition.   This quote from the great Jeff “Tain” Watts comes to mind, "One leg in the past, the other in the future."
This tune has a melody inspired by Sonny Rollins, a blues form with a harmonic twist inspired by Wayne Shorter, and an interlude inspired by Cedar Walton.

"Secret Procession":

A forbidden, secret procession in a very old, remote village in Spain.  Deep in the night, all villagers are involved, either participating or standing on the side dressed in white and holding brightly lit torches.  A deep sense of myth and unification lies here. 

"Truth Walks In":

A realm of peace, retrospection, and integration exists in a tiny village in the Black Forest, Germany.  This place has strong roots in mysticism and Zen Buddhism.  The house I lived in is 400 years old, and in front is a water wheel that still works.

"Before May":

Inspired by Ornette Coleman and an old friend of mine, Achim Kaufmann, this tune embodies again living in NYC.  Daring, searching, unexpected turns, and incredibly challenging meter-wise.

"Ananda":

The title track.  A gateway to something that lies beyond, followed by a drum duet with Jeff Ballard.

“Not Gone, Not Forgotten” and “Interludes”:

These string ensemble pieces will be included throughout the CD.

Dear Friends, thank you from my heart for reading this and for considering being a part of this project.  Pledging is easy, fast and you do not need an Amazon account to do it.

If you like this, please feel free to forward it to your friends.

I hope to hear from you.  Feel free to send a message, call me, visit me... Peace, Christian

Lieber FreundIn in Deutschland!

Herzlichen Dank fuer Dein Interesse.  Es waere toll wenn Du meinen Link an Deine Freunde weiterleiten koenntest. Ich freue mich ueber jeden Betrag und/oder Dir zu hoeren.Fall Du keine Kredtitkarte hast, kein problem... email mir (siehe unten) und ich gebe Dir eine Bankverbindung in Deutschland.

Liebe Gruesse, Christian

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