MOCHI PARRA & JAIME HOLGUIN
Given a chance, most sounds---from the clatter of children playing in the streets of Indonesia to the rev of an old Chevy truck and the thunderous bellow of ice cracking below a frozen lake---are subject to sparking musical inspiration for Enstéreo. New Mexican-born Jaime Holguin is part producer, composer and arranger, stirring up a mixture that meanders through pop, folk, Latin and electronic distortion. His music is a venture into "found sound" technology--organic sound of cross-cultural origins gathered and electronically manipulated to create a juxtaposition of traditional and cutting-edge.
Mochi Parra is a Chilean singer and multi-instrumentalist. Currently, her work is based in the folkloric music of the Peruvian and Chilean coast, and is composed of a collection of exquisite works that are representative of the voices and the struggles faced by indigenous and native people throughout Central and South America. Instruments played by Parra include the cello, cajon, cuatro venezolano and charango. Directed by Master (Maestro) Carlos Hayre, her repertoire is composed of rhythms such as: festejo, lando, marinera, limena, samacueca, tondero and valses and incorporate the guitar, cajon, quijada, cajita, and voice.
VALERIE NARANJO
The marimba is a magical instrument that we associate with Mexico, Honduras, or Guatemala.
In an effort to understand the American marimba's "other side",Valerie Naranjo has been chasing the Lobi and Dagara people in West Africa who play the gyil (pronounced JEE-lee), the ancient West African marimba and healing medium. She has stood at interrogations from the elders, apprenticed with village gyil masters, and played in their funerals and festivals. In 1988 her playing led to the declaration of a chiefly decree in the Dagara nation that women be allowed, for the first time, to play the instrument. After several CDs with gyil masters, Valerie has just released her first marimba CD, "West African Music for the Marimba Soloist". Joining her for Friday night's CD release celebration will be multi-instrumentalist Barry Olsen, with whom she recorded the gyil CDs, and with whom she won a "first place" in Ghana's Kobine festival competition, the only non-West Africans to date to do so.
The press has said: "...fling their entire bodies into executing their fantastically complicated lines. The prayerful, otherworldly quality of these patterns reveals that contemporary minimalism owes as much to African as to Indian parentage. In every piece the ripe, refreshing clatter of MANDARA's instruments rapt concentration of its players " Valerie Naranjo is a dynamo of creative energy. The experience of being taken back to African roots and then hearing its transformation into cutting edge art that retains its hold on tradition was a breathtaking one." Agency "...splendid...a brilliant percussionist..." - William Raidy, The Star Ledger and "Valerie Naranjo will be .... jamming in the usual whirl of energy and passion that makes her one of the most accomplished percussionists in New York."
JEAN FEOLA
Powerful, dynamic vocals and piano. Eclectic, harmonious and melodic. These are the themes that best describe the music of Jean Feola. Jean's roots were in classical piano, but she is heavily influenced by her early career in an original rock band in the Jersey music scene in the eighty's, opening up for major acts in clubs and concert venues, followed by several years of folk-style performance, 'unplugged', at café's and festivals in the NY Metro area. In between and throughout the years, Jean sang and played with a number of gritty blues and R&B bands. The result is a convergence of these influences into a unique and versatile phenomenon. Borrowing from blues, folk, and rock, Jean and her ensemble have continued to provide lively, energetic and enjoyable interpretations of blues and pop music with innovative, original arrangements.
Music and performance are an energy that this group of seasoned entertainers strives to transfer to the listener, whether playing an original, a ballad, or an old blues staple, while striving to preserve the authenticity of that feeling. This group includes some of the Region's most unsung heroes and best-kept secrets. They're true performers blessed with interpretive powers, presenting a stylistically wide-reaching program that will pay tribute to some of the best-loved popular music of western culture.
MARTA TOPPEROVA & HER ENSEMBLE
Marta is a singer/composer who writes and arranges her own songs and repertoire. Her influences range from Cuba, Venezuela & Brazil as well as the folk music from her native Czechoslovakia.
Come and share in this special evening. (Nov. 15th is Marta's birthday!)
THE ALLIGATOR CLUB
Everywhere that western popular music is played you can hear the profound influence of blues. In The Alligator Club US and Minsk bred musicians discovered a common ground in their common love for that classic American musical tradition. Anyone familiar with their hard driving, electrified performances at El Taller will be surprised to see that The Alligator Club has returned to their blues roots by packing up the amplifiers and adopting a string band sensibility.
Just as raw and as rocking as before The Alligator Club opens its searing sound to welcome the voices of the past with songs from Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson and other blues masters.
"Growlin" Greg Neu: guitar, vocals
Alex Koslovsky: bass/guitar, vocals
Jeff Glickman: vocals, banjo/harmonica
MOCHI AND MARTIN SING BALLADS
This evening highlights a new pairing of two Taller favorites Martin Quaglia will play alongside Mochi Parra whose voice and musical talents and will leave the audience with a memory of beautiful music and a haunting voice singing traditional favorites and new compositions, the fruit of a new collaboration.
Mochi is a Chilean singer and multi-instrumentalist. Based in the folkloric music of the Peruvian and Chilean coast, Mochi's music is a collection of exquisite works that are representative of the voices and the struggles faced by indigenous and native people throughout Central and South America. Her repertoire is composed of rhythms such as: festejo, lando, marinera, limena, samacueca, tondero and valses and incorporates the guitar, cajon, quijada, cajita, and voice.
Argentinean born Martin is a guitar virtuoso, arranger and composer. He has performed and recorded with many great musicians including Carlos Hayre, Victor Hernandez, Mario Hernandez, Siraj Al Hassan and Taller founder, Bernardo Palombo.
THE PABLO MAYOR ENSEMBLE
The Pablo Mayor Ensemble features the original music and arrangements of composer/arranger/pianist Pablo Mayor. Mr. Mayor fuses the Afro-Colombian rhythms of his native country of Colombia with complex jazz harmonies and form. The result is both groove-oriented and intellectually stimulating. The sound is fresh; The Pablo Mayor Ensemble features a stellar jazz horn section comprised of soprano saxophone/clarinet, euphonium, and baritone saxophone, a jazz rhythm section (set, baby bass, and piano), and Colombian folkloric drums.
Mr. Mayor's original music is well crafted and his arrangements shed new light on old standards as well as forging new territory by presenting the intellectual elements of jazz while retaining the groove and flavor of an Afro-Colombian tradition that is mostly unknown today.
Ensemble leader,Pablo Mayor, composer, arranger, pianist, was born in Palmira, Colombia, and holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in Jazz Arranging from the University of North Texas. While Professor of Jazz at Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, in 1998, Mr. Mayor began his personal investigation of the native music of Colombia. Although it will be a lifelong process of discovery, Mr. Mayor has taken his current knowledge of Colombian folklore and combined it with an extensive knowledge of jazz harmonies. Since moving to NYC in 1999, in addition to his Colombian project, Mr. Mayor has been working as both pianist and arranger for Orquesta Broadway and has been an active pianist in the Afro-Cuban scene. He is also an active arranger for Drop 6 Media. Inc., a publishing company based in Denton, TX. Since 1999, he has been professor of Latin piano at the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts, and is also teaching jazz arranging and directing a jazz ensemble at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory in Flushing. Mr. Mayor has produced and arranged for musicians in Dallas, New York, Colombia, and Mexico, and his own CD Folklore Urbano will be released in the fall of 2002.
In addition to Pablo Mayor, other members of the ensemble includes:
Christopher Karlic: baritone saxaphone -- Rafi Malkiel: euphonium -- Rob Wilkerson: soprano saxophone, clarinet
Chris Michael: drums -- Thomas Garcia: bass -- Ian Betancourt: alegre
Martin Vejarano Avila: tamboro -- Sebastian Cruz: maracas -- Sergio Borrero: llamador
The exact date of this concert is not known, but it occurred in the marked year around this time.