It’s an idea that’s rife with potential problems ranging from purely musical to cultural condescension: wed traditional rhythms from around the globe to free improvisation. Often, you’ll either have one bowing with unnecessary deference to the other or each musician occupying his own space, scarcely deigning to acknowledge the virtues of his fellow musicians. Finding a happy medium is difficult, so it’s all the more satisfying when a recording attempts the gambit and succeeds as often as this one does. Ganesh Anandan is a percussionist not only well versed in the classical tradition of South India but one who has branched out into the study of a multitude of cultures including Cuban bata, Indonesia gamelan, North African frame drums and South African mbira. Malcolm Goldstein, rather unique among improvising violinists, has an unabashed romantic streak and makes no distinction between the scratches and scrabbles of avant-garde string manipulation and “traditional” playing ranging from plangent to soaring. Prepared guitarist Rainer Wiens is a new name to this listener, but he appears to approach his instrument somewhat in the manner of Keith Rowe, as a sound source rather than a guitar as such; in any case, the sounds he evokes are rarely easily identifiable as guitar-based. Saxophonist Frank Lozano sits in on one cut.

Although he seems more than willing to mix it up in a free improv setting, most of the pieces here are built on Anadan’s rhythms that, in turn, bend and flex to accommodate the more abstract explorations of his partners. For the first several pieces, he stays roughly in Indian territory, engagingly prodding Goldstein into some delightful areas including, on “Voyage en Train,” high registers of bluesiness that recall Leroy Jenkins. Though he often sounds as though playing the role of tambura - so much so that one almost fails to notice his subtle but important contributions - Wiens sometimes comes to the fore, as on his duo with Goldstein, “RaMa,” and to very nice effect, opting for alluring atmospherics rather than flash. Things shift a bit with the fifth track, “Foreign Tongues” as Anandan (I believe) plays some sort of tube (breathing and vocalizing into it), the trio venturing into far more unstructured space. “Up North” partakes a bit of North Africa, Wiens evoking the oud, Anadan’s frame drum echoing far below; its roiling, irregular cross-rhythms serving to create the most mysterious and successful piece here, too short at just over four minutes. Things go a little astray with the following track, “Fra Ma Ga Ra,” on which Lozano sits in. The “loose tightness” achieved by the trio alone dissipates into rather aimless wandering; a pity as Anandan contributes some luscious tones on a metallophone of some unknown provenance. Happily, the disc concludes with a lovely “Lullaby,” Anandan gently stroking the mbira, Goldstein eliciting keening sighs, atonal but poignant. A satisfying close to a refreshing and unusual recording.