MUSPO

_____________________

Colourful plasticity, a photo from Kyklades, South Aegean
__________

psalteria ~ nazad nazad mome kalino

psalteria, female quartet from the czech republic, plays medieval music at the pflasterspektakel in linz, austria. group members: kateřina göttlichová, alžběta josefy, karla braunová and michala hrbkova. there are three albums: scalerica d’oro (2001), por la puerta (2003) and balábile (2006). (quotation)

_________________

loreena mckennitt ~ marco polo

loreena mckennitt was born in morden, manitoba of irish and scottish descent to parents jack (a livestock dealer) and irene mckennitt (a nurse). she moved to stratford, ontario in 1981, where she still resides. when loreena was young she wanted to become a veterinarian but she found that music chose her rather than she it. developing a passion for celtic music, she learned to play the celtic harp and began busking at various places, including st. lawrence market in toronto in order to earn money to publish her first album.

(quotation)

______________

parvin cox ~ ay gegoom ey

parvin cox’s debut in britain was in 1993,performing at the purcell room, london (south bank). soon after she joined the music workshops for the international medical foundation formed by the acclaimed singer barb jungr. the result of this collaboration is the forming of the ‘shehrezad ensemble’. parvin began her musical work with jocelyn pook ensemble in 1998. ms pook is now an established film and tv composer and her original music for stanley kubrick’s final film ‘eyes wide shut was nominated for two awards. since joining the ensemble, they have performed in london, new york (world financial center), and numerous cities in italy. parvin has also sung on jocelyn pook’s new album untold things released on real world records. (quotation)

___________________

janet & jak esim ~ yo era ninya

janet & jak esim turkish musicians performing judeo-spanish songs and sephardic music. janet was born in ankara in 1965 and jak was born in istanbul in 1958. together they have made several albums, including judeo espanyol ezgiler (1989) with erkan ogur and antik bir hüzün (1992) with erkan ogur and okay temiz. also, nezih yesilnil, (bass); murat ozbey, bülent ortacgil and erkan ogur (fretless guitar, oud) join them for their european concert tours. (quotation)

_____________

lisa ekdahl ~ give me that slow knowing smile

lisa ekdahl was born in hägersten, sweden to her parents who were a nuclear physicist and kindergarten teacher. she was raised just outside of mariefred, sweden. she has two sisters and attended school at the tälje musikgymnasium. her music is published by alicia musik ab. in 1999, she met american composer and guitarist salvadore poe on a flight to india. they married in 2000, and they later collaborated on an album together. for a time, she lived in new york city, her husband’s hometown. from her first marriage to manager and musician, bill öhrström, she has a son milton (born december 23, 1994). they were divorced in 2000. she currently lives in the södermalm district of stockholm. ekdahl travels each year to the north of india to study the culture. (quotation)

______

stellamara began when vocalist / producer sonja drakulich followed her vision and created a vehicle for the development of devotional music based in near eastern and medieval modal traditions. extraordinary musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds have since come together within the vessel of stellamara, creating music with a common intention: to celebrate love, beauty and unity through transcendent harmony, perfect dissonance and passionate rhythms. rooted in turkish, arabic, balkan, medieval european and persian musical traditions, stellamara carries a deep devotion to the music of these cultures with a unique timeless expression. (quotation)

____

shezar ~ shal

shezar (band) was born in the beginning of the year 2000. musicians from different cultures (syria, norway, france) gathered for a common project. shezar developed an original style based on oriental rhythms and modes, open for inspirations from jazz, with melodies composed by kjetil selvik and hassan abdelrahman. - we do not seek the fusion of different cultures by music nor even some kind of mixing. rather, we wish to create an authentic language for this combination of instruments, to combine unity with spaces of improvisation where each musician can express himself, to cultivate the finesse and the richness of oriental music trough a repertoire of personal compositions. (quotation)

____

yasmin levy ~ mal de l’amor

yasmin levy, born on december 23, 1975 in jerusalem, is an ısraeli singer-songwriter of judaeo-spanish music. her late father, ısaac levy, was a composer and cantor, pioneer researcher into the long and rich history of the ladino music and culture of spanish jewry and its diaspora, being the editor of the ladino language magazine aki yerushalayim. with her distinctive and emotive style, yasmin has brought a new interpretation to the medieval ladino/judeo-spanish song by incorporating more “modern” sounds of andalusian flamenco and turkey, as well as combining instruments like the darbuka, oud, violin, cello, and piano. ın her second album, la judería (sp: “the jewish quarter”), she also covered the popular songs gracias a la vida by violeta parra and nací en alamó from the film vengo, directed by tony gatlif, which in its original version won the 2001 césar award for best music written for a film. (quotation)

____

oneira 6tet ~ dodeka chronon koritsi

oneira 6tet says: this project is the outcome of the collaboration of french, iranian and greek musicians, inspired by these countries’ musical traditions. oneïra gathers together six musicians with a long experience in various types of music, such as jazz, classical, and traditional music. they create a musical bridge between their cultures, in an attempt to explore the common features of the mediterranean music. from marseille, paris, athens and thessaloniki, formed with bijan chemirani on percussion, kevin seddiki on the guitar, maryam chemirani and maria simoglou singing, harris lambrakis on the ney, and pierlau bertolino on the electroacoustic hurdy-gurdy, this group creates a musical bridge with a hint of sensual melancholy, fusing the different cultures of its musicians. it will give you the chance to explore the common features of mediterranean and middle-eastern music styles. (quotation)

______

kardeş türküler ~ siya wan voghperk

kardeş türküler came into being in 1993, as a concert project by the boğaziçi university folklore club. the concert, which aimed to interpret anatolian folksongs based on their own cultural structure and in their original languages, was comprised of four sections: turkish, kurdish, azerbaijani and armenian. the project, based on the ideal of living together in fraternity, also took a stand against the polarization and tensions which had been created among different peoples in a multicultural land. later on, the kardeş türküler project began broadening its repertoire, performing songs from such cultures as laz, georgian, circassian, roma, macedonian and alevi among others. these were arranged in accordance with the philosophy of the ensemble. (quotation)

_____________________

jurjuna

bijan chemirani is a persian musician. bijan chemirani began studying zarb early on with his father djamchid and his brother keyvan. he also plays the daf, riqq, and cajon. he has worked with many musicians including ross daly and στέλιος πετράκης. he is also part of the chemirani trio along with his father and brother. (quotation)

______________________

baklava ~ oj devojce

baklava is a macedonian ethno music acoustic band with a minimalistic musical concept. the songs are performed by female vocal and traditional folk instruments, especially string and percussion instruments tambura and bendir. their key challenge is to create original music based on the aesthetic achievements of traditional macedonian music. they also perform old traditional songs of ethnic macedonians living in aegean macedonia. the band held several concerts in republic of macedonia, balkans and europe and anticipated in several festivals, including the renowned skopje jazz festival, sfinks festival in belgium and balkan music square festival in ohrid. (quotation)

______________________

norrda ~ infinite face

norrda takes their name from the swedish word “nor”, meaning “north”. the band’s first album “infinite face”, released in turkiye by a local label called “akkiraz muzik”, combines a melancholic female vocal with an eastern flavor of ethnic percussions and guitars carried by the northern breeze. the fusion in norrda’s music is shaped by the musical backgrounds of the characters that create the band. hakan vreskala, one of the group members, lives in sweden. (quotation)

____

fishtank ensemble ~ le kiddnappeur

fishtank ensemble is a euro-american musical group that formed in oakland, california in 2004. they perform a variety of traditional musical styles including klezmer, flamenco, japanese folk and roma music. they are one of many bands to be commonly associated with the california-based eclectic indie band estradasphere. much of fishtank ensemble’s influence comes from fabrice martinez, a european-born violinist who is well-versed in the traditional music of the romani. the original fishtank ensemble line-up also includes vocalist ursula knudsen, kevin kmetz, a japanese american shamisen performer, accordionist aaron seeman, flamenco guitarist doug smolens, bassist tim smolens and drummer adam stacey. kmetz, stacey and tim smolens are all also members of estradasphere. (quotation)

____