Mimika Orchestra – Divinities Of The Earth And The Waters DLP (PDV Records)

Divinities Of The Earth And The Waters is a secondary full-length album by unique international phenomena called Mimika Orchestra. The orchestra was found in 2010. by Mak Murtić, Croatian saxophonist and composer who lives in Zagreb and this distinctive group includes dozen of experienced musicians who mastered their craft in a wide array of various genres such as alternative jazz, free jazz, free-improv, electronica, world music…etc. The quality of Mimika Orchestra is completely manifested throughout their performances at Jazz Festival 2012/14/15, Love Supreme Jazz Festival 2014, Latitude Festival, Olympic & Paralympic Festivals, but also at renowned London venues such as The Vortex Jazz Club, RichMix, Regularly At The Bussey Building, The Forge, Union Chapel, Courtyard Theatre. Besides being pretty much active with live performances, Mimika Orchestra hosts a monthly residency at the Spice Of Life in Soho and has been featured on BBC Radio, Jazz FM, major Europian radio station via the Europian Broadcasting Union and HR3 – Croatian national radio dedicated to culture, jazz and classical music. The orchestra also won the prize at the Jazz FM Discovery Competition the same year they’ve performed at Love Supreme Jazz Festival. Divinities Of The Earth And The Waters delivers seven attractive polyphonic compositions that reach beyond the contemporary world music scene, mainly because of the abilities of these skillful musicians to bend all the definitions of the particular music genre. These compositions are showcasing a heavily expanded universe of brilliantly arranged improvisations mainly demonstrated through various fusions of alternative jazz, free jazz, electro, and world music. Various virtuosities wondrously performed by flute, clarinet (also bass clarinet), sax (soprano, baritone, alto, tenor), flugelhorn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, Croatian tambura, Cretan Lyra, double bass, and percussions are highlighting some standard instruments such as electric guitars, bass, and drums. Besides the acoustic aspects of their music, Mimika Orchestra also incorporates live electronics and synths, so the entire orchestra has been supported with some subtle, but notable digital polyphonic melodies that surely play the big part on these astonishing recordings. The most important part of the orchestra is magnificent female vocals that operate in so many ways, from individual performances to well-defined choir chanting. The vocals are providing another layer of harmonies to these compositions, especially in the segments where world music is becoming dominant over other included influences. Divinities Of The Earth And The Waters delivers an enormous portion of various cheerful virtuosities, harmonizations, progressions, unlike any other world music orchestra, mainly because of their capabilities to flex various music genres and combine them in a well defined musical structure of world music. Mimika Orchestra mainly focuses on the cultural heritage of ancient Balkans and fuses the mysterious eerie atmosphere of Slavic and southern Slavic folk music with contemporary musical genres, resulting in a very orchestral approach full of delightful surprises that will unquestionably retain your attention throughout the entire album. Divinities Of The Earth And The Waters has been published as a double vinyl release and it comes with incredible illustrations that are such a nice addition to the magnificent music of the Mimika Orchestra. This album has been published by PDV Records, and it’s directly available at their website or Bandcamp page.