Violinist and Composer Layale Chaker Impresses on ‘Radio Afloat’ and ‘Vigil,’ Two Disparate Albums

By Greg Cahill | From the July-August 2024 issue of Strings Magazine

French-Lebanese violinist and composer Layale Chaker is undeniably gifted and seemingly tireless. In addition to a new full-length chamber opera titled Ruinous Gods (scheduled at press time to premiere May 24 at the 2024 Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina), Chaker last year recorded separate projects with South Indian carnatic violinist Anjna Swaminathan and Iranian-American bassist Sam Minaie. More recently, she contributed two works to chamber outfit Ethel’s Vigil (including the droning title track, which is marked by Chaker’s eerie high-register notes and evocative siren-like tones). The album is an homage to protest movements, and she performs alongside the adventurous New York–based string quartet. 

She also has released her own enticingly titled solo album, Radio Afloat, on which she reunites with the Sarafand chamber jazz ensemble to further explore the crossroads of contemporary classical, jazz, and Arabic music through both composition and improvisation. Radio Afloat is the follow-up to Chaker and Sarafand’s stunning 2019 album Inner Rhyme. The new album is a treasure trove of violin-driven dynamics, rife with scintillating melodies, shifting time signatures, and pulsing Middle Eastern percussion. Her music is deeply grounded in modal and microtonal traditions, yet it has a timeless quality. Both Radio Afloat and Vigil are available on the In Circle label, founded and operated by violinist Johnny Gandelsman of the Silkroad Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider, and the Knights.