Writing a musical tribute to an icon like Zaha Hadid is no small assignment, but Javier Rodriguez, featuring Erwin Grafe, approaches the challenge with imagination and restraint. The result is a compact yet striking five-part composition that gives Hadid’s visionary architectural language a musical form.
Clocking in at just under 18 minutes, Zaha, the Magic Curve moves between free-flowing atmospheres and tightly structured rhythms, reflecting the bold curves, dramatic forms, and structural contrasts that defined Hadid’s work.
The opening piece establishes a quiet, reflective mood, bringing together Rodriguez’s piano and Grafe’s sarangi. The composition largely inhabits a dark, minor-key landscape, enriched by augmented harmonies. Yet the musicians keep the arrangement fluid, shifting between steady triplet grooves and freely suspended chords. Unexpected major chords emerge along the way, creating brief moments of brightness against the darker musical backdrop.
The second and longest movement expands the project’s experimental character. It begins with the raw, almost urgent sound of pencils moving across paper, accompanied by Grafe’s cello working through deep, open intervals. The pencil becomes more than a sound effect—it introduces the idea of architecture as a form of writing and creation.
The cello develops expressive melodies around sustained pedal points, frequently emphasizing fifths to create a spacious sonic environment. When the pencil sounds eventually fade, Rodriguez introduces a steady hang drum rhythm, providing a grounded pulse beneath Grafe’s increasingly intricate cello lines. The performance explores rhythmic and harmonic complexity through ornamentation, occasional microtonal touches, and hints of polyrhythm, while the drum maintains a firm foundation.
The third movement strips the sound back further, embracing an atmospheric and almost meditative quality. A voice message unfolds over a deep drone as the sarangi delivers a haunting melody that can feel like a quiet prayer or an internal reflection within the architect’s mind.
The following section continues developing this idea, gradually introducing piano alongside spacious male throat singing. Minor-key tensions accumulate without settling into a conventional tempo, creating a sense of movement without a fixed destination.
The final track, “Angles and Curves,” brings the album to its most energetic point. A driving rhythm carries piano arpeggios through smooth harmonies and sharp dissonances, capturing the intensity of an evolving creative process. The music feels restless and unpredictable at first, but gradually finds its own sense of form and cohesion.
Ultimately, Zaha, the Magic Curve succeeds not by attempting to recreate Zaha Hadid’s architecture literally, but by translating its spirit into sound. Rodriguez and Grafe have created a concise, atmospheric, and thoughtfully constructed work that explores movement, tension, structure, and imagination. It is a brief listening experience, but one that leaves a lasting impression.
Album: Zaha, The Magic Curve
Artist: Javier Rodriguez ft. Erwin Grafe
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0MEZb9XMRr0l8V9AanKO83?si=7XVty5BHRHSuujEaHIp–Q
Website: Javier Rodriguez — www.javierrodriguez.org
Instagram: @javierodriguezmusic
