Saturday October 17, 2009 at 7 pm Village Homes Community Center 2661 Portage Bay East, Davis Tickets: $12 reserved, $15 at the door
The Helladelics is a Bay Area band specializing in traditional Greek roots music. While having a special fondness for the hypnotic, bluesy material from the Epirus region of northwestern Greece, their repertoire also spans the region: from the upbeat dance tunes from Thrace to the sweet vocal songs from the islands, as well as some jaunts to Asia Minor and Armenia as well. The group consists of: Mary Hofer Farris - Clarinet and Saxophone Michele Simon - Vocal, Percussions Gari Hegedus Gari plays violin, viola and a variety of stringed instruments from Greece and Turkey including lauoto, oud, saz and hand drums.
Tom Farris - Laouto
Stellamara featured musicians:
Sonja Drakulich- Vocals, Hammered Dulcimer, Frame Drum
Gari Hegedus- Oud, Saz, Tarhu, Madocello, Setar, Cümbü?
Peter Jaques- Clarinet, Ney, Trumpet
Faisal Zedan- Darbuka, Riqq, Frame Drum
Sean Tergis- Tapan, Frame Drum, Riqq
Where:
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East in Davis
When:
Sunday, August 9th, 2009. Show starts at 7:00pm
Tickets:
$10 in advance & $12 at the door
Reservation: contact Gil at (530) 867-1032 or via email; info@timnatalmusic.com
Stellamara began when vocalist 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 original music with a common intention: to celebrate love, beauty and unity through transcendent harmony, perfect dissonance, and passionate rhythm.
Rooted in Turkish, Arabic, Balkan, Medieval European and Persian musical traditions, Stellamara carries a deep devotion to the music of these cultures and transmits it with a unique timeless expression.
At Stellamara’s core are Sonja Drakulich and multi-instrumentalist Gari Hegedus. Their ensemble includes an all-star cast of musicians from near and far: co-writer and cellist Rufus Cappodocia, clarinetist Peter Jaques (of Brass Menagerie), Arabic percussionist Faisal Zedan, and percussionist Evan Frasier. Together they create a bridge that transports the listener out of the ordinary world into the realm of the sublime.
Stellamara is currently celebrating their 3rd critically-acclaimed CD release, The Golden Thread, which was recorded with their mentors and collaborators, Ross Day and Kelly Thoma, on the island of Crete.
With their world-renowned discography, licensing, and film score placements, Stellamara is at the forefront in creating highly innovative recordings and performances. They are internationally regarded as being at the forefront of contemporary world music, giving new life and a fresh, modern expression to the beautiful and mysterious qualities of traditional modal music.
REVIEWS:
Stellamara is a global symphony spun
through minarets and grounded in the earth.
*****
—John Dilberto, Pulse
Stellamara manages to maintain a balance of reverence for the music of other people’s cultures with a haunting elegance of expression....
—Electronic Musician
...Drakulich has as singular a vocal style as
Lisa Gerrard does, but with the added allure of a siren.****
—Mark Burbey, Alternative Press
Having enjoyed Stellamara’s ethereal world beat exotica on CD for some years now, I have no explanation for my stunned reaction when vocalist Sonja Drakulich sang her first note at the Vault, other than that this was the first definitive proof I’ve seen that such a perfect voice does, in fact, come from a human being. Drakulich stepped on the Vault stage looking a little like Cate Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings, quickly winning the
audience over with her world-class singing and unpretentious stage presence. One of the most impressive tricks she pulled out was a highly disciplined vocal waver: imagine an impressionist voice painting of a flickering candle flame. She and the other half of Stellamara’s core, multi-instrumental string lord Gari Hegedus, were joined by two lively percussionists and a new member, cellist Rufus Cappadocia, who exorcised notes from his instrument with a near obsessive passion.
—Good Times
Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 7 PM
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA
For information and reservations: 530-867-1032
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
About The Qadim Ensemble
Acclaimed for their passionate performances, Qadim (pronounced ka-deem) is comprised of an ensemble of accomplished and acclaimed musicians. The San Francisco Bay Area-based group has attracted a growing global audience who are responding to their authentic musicianship and timely message. Led by neyzen Eliyahu Sills, the innovative cross-cultural group of Middle Eastern musicians from Arabic, Armenian, Indian, Iranian, Jewish and Moroccan traditions promotes peace by celebrating the common musical heritage of the embattled region's ancient spiritual cultures.
Eliyahu Sills: Ney, Vocals, Oud
Rachel Valfer: Vocals, Oud, Kemenche, Acoustic Guitar
John Villa: Percussions
Guest musician; Gari Hegedus: Oud, Divan Saz, Tarhu
directly from Italy to Davis
Saturday December 5, 2009
At 7pm
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis
Tickets: $12 reserved, $15 at the door
Gerardo Balestrieri - Vocals, Accordion, Clarinet
Fabrice Martinez (of Fishtank Ensemble) Violin
Roland Martinez - Bass
Doug Smolens (of Fishtank Ensemble) Guitar
Sean Tergis - Percussions
Gerardo Balestrieri is a purveyor of a lush Mediterannean and sardonic Tom Waits-style sound,with rembetiko, turkish, neapolitan, french and italian songs in an ensemble of accordion, clarinet, vocals, djumbush, violin, percussions and upright bass.
Originally from Naples, Gerardo Balestrieri incorporates the vibrant colors and texture of his native lands music into his kaleidescope of cultures in his music. With a deep, sardonic baritone often infused with bittersweet longing, he sings of love, clowns and musical scripture, longing for homelands and of social irony. His travels throughout eastern europe and greece have inspired his accordion and clarinet playing, and his open character has led him to wed eastern european, middle eastern, and western european music. His earlier album, I Nasi Buffi e la Scrittura Musicale, blends french chanson italian poetry, greek rembetikoh, and his own style. His latest, Un Turco Napolitano, is an hommage to his native Naples with a turkish band, blending two different- and yet surprisingly similar,passionate musical cultures. Gerardo is joining members of Fishtank Ensemble (Fabrice Martinez on violin, his old friend and musical comrade back in Italy) and Doug Smolens on guitar. Rounding out his US ensemble are Roland Martinez from France on bass (Fabrice's brother) and Sean Tergis of the San Francisco turkish ensemble Delikanli on percussion.
Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 7 PM
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA
For information and reservations: 530-867-1032
Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 at the door
www.myspace.com/hohlax
JAIME SMITH, a native of Sacramento California, graduated with a degree in Violin Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1999 she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study the traditional music of Greece in Athens with Yiannis Zevgolis, and then continued under the direction of Kyriakos Gouventas. She has spent the last 9 years living in Athens and performing all over Greece and Cyprus with celebrated artists. Jaime has recorded with the renowned composer Nikos Mamagakis, and is high demand for radio and television." " >>ORESTIS KOLETSOS was born in Paris and grew up in Athens. He studied music from his early childhood and started playing bouzouki at 15. Orestis was a student of Yiannis Palaiologou, one of the most important bouzouki players in the Greek recording industry and performance venues. For the past 10 years he has been playing bouzouki in concerts and in nightclubs. He has performed for composers such as Nikos Mamagakis and Ilias Andriopoulos for concerts, television and radio programs." " >>APOSTOLIS KOUNIS comes from Central Greece (Larissa). He began singing and playing guitar at the age of 12. He studied at the Modern School of Music in Thessaloniki. In Athens, he studied with Vassilis Rakopoulos, a prominent recording artist of eclectic styles. Apostolis has also studied Byzantine Music and Music Harmony. He is a student of the oud with Christos Tsiamoulis. Apostolis is in demand on the music scene in Athens and participates in significant concerts, seminars and documentaries on Greek television."
An Evening of Greek Rembetiko
"Just like the Old Days"
The HOHLAX trio was formed in 2007 on the Greek island of Amorgos . The name HOHLAX refers to the beach HOHLAKAS, where the members of the group have spent many summers together. This beach, provided much inspiration and gives the group members of HOHLAX a unique energy and force, which, together with their dedication to the music tradition of Greece, makes for a unique and moving musical experience. HOHLAX has played in almost all of the music venues on AMORGOS and has also enjoyed performing in Athens .
The Hohlax Trio are:
Jaime Smith – Violin
Orestis Koletsos – Bouzouki
Apostolis Kounis – Guitar, Oud & Vocals
www.myspace.com/hohlax
What is Rembetiko?:
"Rebetiko, plural rebetika, (Greek ρεμπέτικο and ρεμπέτικα respectively), occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is the name for a type of Greek urban folk music. A roots music form of sorts, the sound of the genre reflects the combined influences of European and Middle Eastern music. Rebetiko music properly speaking developed in the communities of Greek refugees from Asia Minor in the wake of the population exchange of 1923. These refugees settled primarily in Athens, Piraeus, and Thessaloniki. By combining the Anatolian musical modes they had been familiar with in Asia Minor with the native musical traditions they found in Greece proper, they created a type of music which reflected their dispossessed condition and their response to it. Rebetiko music has sometimes been called the Greek blues, since like the blues, it grew out of a specific urban subculture and reflected the harsh realities of an oppressed subculture's lifestyle: poverty, alienation, crime, drink, drugs prostitution, and violence. But rebetiko's subject matter also extends to other subjects: romance and passion, social matters, people such as the mother, death, the difficulties of living in a foreign country, army life, war, trivial matters of everyday life, exotic places, poverty, labor, illnesses, and the minor sorrows of people. Also like the blues, rebetiko progressed from being a music associated with the lower classes to becoming during the 1960s and later a revived musical form of wide popularity, especially among younger people. Rebetiko music was closely associated with the mangas Greek urban subculture. Finally, rebetiko songs usually display the same chord progressions found in songs from classic Mississippi delta bluesmen like Robert Johnson and others .
All the rebetiko songs are based on traditional Greek or Anatolian dance rhythms, zeibekikos, aptalikos, chasapikos and servikos being very common but they also include tsifteteli, karsilamas, syrtos and other dance styles."
Æ: (officially pronounced "ASH")
Eva Salina Primack on Vocals & Accordion
Aurelia Shrenker on Vocals, mountain dulcimer & Georgian Panduri
“A Stunning Vocal Performance”
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 7 PM
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA.
For info. and reservations: (530) 867-1032
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Æ (Aurelia Lucy Shrenker and Eva Salina Primack) has been performing as a duo for a year. Aurelia and Eva have performed together in Europe, New York, and California and are finishing up their debut CD! The two women bring together a deep knowledge of different vocal traditions, and create something new and daring with each song they sing together. They have chosen the name Æ (the joined a and e, officially pronounced "ash") because it represents something of a dual nature--not singular, not plural, but exactly two. They primarily perform a cappella but enjoy accompanying themselves on mountain dulcimer, accordion, and Georgian panduri. In addition to their upcoming CD, Æ recently contributed to the soundtrack of "The Great Soviet Eclipse", the newest film produced under the auspices of the Museum of Jurassic Technology and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Information (www.mjt.org). Æ's work is rooted in folk culture and never falls short of being visceral and provocative--in their music, the exuberance of youth and the reverence of ancient tradition coincide.
A native of Santa Cruz, California, Eva Salina Primack has been studying, performing, and teaching Balkan music for most of her life. She has traveled and performed internationally, worked with many well-known Balkan and American musicians, and lives in Brooklyn. In addition to her work with Æ, Eva sings with Slavic Soul Party! (www.slavicsoulparty.com), the Italian balkan/jazz project opacupa (www.myspace.com/opacupa) , Which Way East (www.myspace.com/whichwayeast) , Seido Salifoski's Romski Boji, and Kadife. Past collaborations and projects include Edessa (www.edessamusic.com), Tzvetanka Varimezova, and KITKA (www.kitka.org).
With a foundation in classical voice, Aurelia Shrenker has sung traditional music from around the world since she was thirteen. Originally from Massachusetts, Aurelia has traveled extensively, touring Europe and the United States with Vermont-based Northern Harmony (www.northernharmony.pair.com). She currently performs as a soloist and with Æ. Aurelia has studied Georgian music for eight years and has visited the Republic several times as a musician, volunteer, and tour-guide. A former student of ethnomusicology at UCLA, Aurelia currently lives in Brooklyn and studies arts, education, and social justice at NYU.
www.aesings.com (site still in development)
Traditional/Contemporary Flamenco
Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 7 PM
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA.
For more information & reservations: 530-867-1032
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Gopal Slavonic is considered one of the finest flamenco guitar players in California. He has studied and played flamenco guitar for 14 years, and spent two years in Sevilla, Spain at La Fundacion Christina Heeren where he had the opportunity to study with flamenco guitar greats Miguel Angel Cortes, Eduardo Rollabar, Antonio Carmona and Jose Luis Postigo. Gopal is a local of Nevada City and is dedicated to bringing quality flamenco to Northern California. In this upcoming concert, he will be accompanied by Frank Giordano, rhythm guitarist, and percussionist John Martin III, who adds an Udu drum from Nigeria and Flamenco body percussion to his exotic Caribbean, percussion blend of Congas, Cajon, Djembe, Clave, Palmas and passionate vocals. Both these musicians are the co-founders of Cerro Negro, a celebrated Nouevo Flamenco group based in San Diego. This promises to be an exciting evening, as these three fine musicians join together to bring a blend of traditional and contemporary Flamenco music to an intimate setting in Davis.
www.myspace.com/gopalslavonic
www.cerronegro.net
Gopal Slavonic on Flamenco Guitar
Frank Giordano on Rhythm Guitar
John Martin III on Percussions
About the photo: from L. to R. Frank, Gopal, John
Medieval/Renaissance Duo
with Middle Eastern and Balkan influences
Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 7 PM
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA.
For more information & reservations: 530-867-1032
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Tim Rayborn on percussion, psaltery, harp, symponie, ud and voice
Annette Bauer on recorders
Tim Rayborn, an internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, has been active in the fields of world and early music for 18 years. He plays dozens of musical instruments from medieval Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central Asia, including: lutes, plucked strings, flutes, and percussion, as well as being a singer. Tim has toured and collaborated with musicians throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East. www.timrayborn.com
"A superbly talented artist [...] His incredibly diverse skills with countless ancient musical instruments are surpassed only by his extraordinary voice." --Winged Horse
"Tim Rayborn gives us a transcendental look into the heart, culture and beauty of the Middle East." --CD Baby Editor's pick review for Qadim
Annette Bauer, a native of Germany, studied medieval and renaissance music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, specializing on recorder techniques with Conrad Steinmann (2001). She holds an MA in music from UC Santa Cruz (2004), and has been a student at the Ali Akbar College of Music in California since 1998, where she studies North Indian classical music on sarode, a stringed instrument. Annette performs with a variety of musical ensembles and solo projects.
www.annettebauer.com
Folk Music Of the Amazigh People of Algeria
Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 8:00pm
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA
For information and reservations: 530-867-1032
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
California-based Moh Alileche serves as something of a musical ambassador, calling attention to his people’s plight, The Amazigh of North Africa, who are referred to in the west as Berber.
Moh plays traditional folk music of Kabylia. He is now a leading performer on the Mondol, a 10-silk stringed musical instrument of North African origin. Moh’s songs are written and sung in Tamazight. In 1990, Moh Alileche moved to the United States, settling in the West Coast. Since then he has been a regular at world music festivals, promoting Kabyl culture.
At this concert, Moh will be joined by other musician friends:
Kevinn Cloud, flutes
Bouchaib Abdelhadi, hand drums
Omar Ait Vimoun, banjo and vocals
His music is both beautiful and stirring in its celebration of Amazighen culture. No fan of North African music and culture will regret spending time with this fine music.
Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 7:00pm
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East, Davis, CA
For information and reservations: 530-867-1032
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Black Olive Babes offer an exciting, eclectic mix of Balkan, Romani, Sephardic and American roots music. These sultry rhythms and soul-stirring melodies create a dance and trance-inducing groove that carries you from the shores of the Black Sea to the foothills of the
Appalachians. Founded by 20-year Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble veteran Juliana Graffagna, BOB features some of San Francisco area’s most innovative interpreters of Southern Balkan and Middle Eastern traditional music. We are: Juliana Graffagna, vocals, guitar and percussion; Dan Auvil, percussion; Tom Farris, laouto, guitar and accordion; Gari Hegedus, violin and oud; Peter Jaques, clarinet and vocals; and Bill Lanphier, bass.
Past Concerts 2009
