Seven Limbs

The piece is a ritual in seven movements, based on the ‘Seven Limbs’, a fundamental Tibetan Buddhist practice of purification. Juxtaposing Nels Clines’ wildly inventive guitar playing and use of electronic effects with the Aizuri Quartet’s classically based but forward thinking musical outlook, Seven Limbs sets these five musicians in a landscape that is slightly unfamiliar – where the ground under their feet is always shifting a bit in unexpected ways. This requires a musical alertness and philosophical openness to whatever the moment brings, an outlook that has parallels to the Buddhist practice of the ‘Seven Limbs’. Douglas J. Cuomo