Street roots
June 22, 2012
Martin
Zarzar's
The Pink M artini
percussionist
extendshis reach
with a solo album
o f worldly influences
P H O T O B Y K R IS T IN A W R IG H T
BY SUE ZALOKAR
on tour, debuting with a show on Saturday,
June 23, at the Alberta Rose Theatre.
S T A F F W R IT E R
ortland is a hub for musicians from all
over the world. In the case of Martin
S.Z.: Tell me about the album. How did it
Zarzar, percussionist for Pink Martini,
he brings the world to our city through his come to be?
music. Having lived and played all over the
M.Z.: This album really coalesced
world, he is a quintessential global
between the end of December and the
p e rc u ssio n ist.
P
At the ripe age of 3, he began to explore
music on the keyboard of Eugene Skeef, a
South African percussionist, composer, poet
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a p p l i c a t o r living in London. It was just a
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he remembers
falling in
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love
with the bass at a performance by American-
born jazz musician Stanley Clarke.
The depths of his worldview are readily
available to tap into on his first solo album,
“Two Dollars to Ride the Train.” The album
combines a multitude of rhythms — many of
which, Zarzar explains, are evolutions of
African beats. The songs are written in five
different languages: French, Spanish,
English, Portuguese and Arabic, which he
sings mostly himself.
The album integrates global friendship
and sounds. Though joined by a
phenomenal cross section of international
musicians, Zarzar shows his proficiency on
many instruments on the album, including
guitar, piano, percussion, and Middle
Eastern oud.
After a decade of touring with Pink
Martini, Zarzar is now taking his own album
begin n in g of M arch. I p re tty m u ch re c o rd e d
the entire thing. I wrote most of the
material and had the overarching vision
come together for the album,
. u f th ti
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change so much. It s hard to come back to
the same vision that you had before, so I
inevitably started over again each time I
would come back home.
This time I set a deadline for myself. You
reach the crucifixion age. I’m 33. My
grandfather always joked about that - the
age of crucifixion. That’s when you get
married and you do things that mark your
life story.
But the story leading up to these few
months (when I recorded the album) is
basically the story of my life. I tried to
encompass that — it comes through in the
album - what you do, who you are. What
you live, informs what you’re doing.
S.Z.: You have a rich cultural background,
born to a Peruvian mother and Palestinian
father. Tell us a bit about your cultural
A M EAL a 4 *tu & ,A HUG,
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M.Z.: [Martin waves to a friend] This is
Sean Ghazi, speaking of cultural heritage.
(We are joined by M artins friend, Sean
Ghazi for coffee in the Powell’s coffee shop in
downtown Portland Ghazi is an actor, dancer
and singer from Malaysia. After introductions
and pleasantries, we dive back into the
conversation. _
S.Z.: So we were talking about cultural
heritage, specifically yours.
M.Z. Peru is a place that in the heyday of
its social political power, it was a melting
pot. It was a magnet for immigration and
people came from all over. From Asia, from
Europe, a lot of Middle Eastern people —
especially Palestinian. But this happened
before World War II and before the creation
of the Israeli state. A lot of movement
toward Peru happened all the way from late
1800s to mid 1900s. Somewhere in there,
my father’s family moved from Palestine to
Peru and they kind of remained in the
Palestinian community. My father was the
first person in his family to marry outside of
the Arab colony. It was very much a
Palestinian family in that sense, but he
wasn’t born in Palestine, if that’s even a
place.
My mom’s family is also kind of an
immigrant family, but it goes a little bit
further back. I think it is a testament to all
humanity being made up of immigration -
migrations forever.
That’s kind of what the album is about, so
I brought this cultural vision and identity.
The music, to me, was inspired by the
transformation of African rhythms and th e ir
trav e ls th ro u g h o u t th e w orld. Also, it k in d of
parallels the story of the migration of
humanity. And when you trace the music
you can pretty much retrace the history of
our world civilization.
S.Z.: So what are your thought about
immigration, specifically in terms of the
United States, but also a larger, global
perspective.
M.Z.: I’ve always had horrible and funny
experiences with immigration. I think
partially because I have almost a unibrow
and I look very Middle Eastern, but also
because I had a Peruvian passport for most
of my life and the amount of inefficient
bureaucracy that you are subjected to as an
individual when you are trying to travel is
completely inhumane. And lines go around
the block for a season. (He looks to Sean
who is still sitting with us. Sean has recently
moved to Portland from Malaysia.) I’m sure
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I!
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