Kim with Glen Doyle, Solo International Ethnic Music Festival, Indonesia, 2008
One time cane-cutter, meatworks labourer and documentary film researcher, World Music pioneer Kim Sanders has steamed up the coast of Sumatra in a tramp steamer full of rubber, survived border crossings with Georgian gun runners and been arrested for spying by a Macedonian Brezhnev lookalike. He has played on national radio in Bulgaria and national TV in Indonesia, with Gypsy wedding bands in Macedonia, in mosquito-ridden clubs in Gambia, tavernas in Greece, tea-houses in China and concert-halls from the Ataturk Cultural Centre in Istanbul to the Sydney Opera House.
With Gypsy wedding band, Berovo, Macedonia, 1984
In ’84/5 Kim spent eighteen months studying and performing in the Balkans, Turkey and Gambia and Senegal in West Africa where he played with the Libidorr Band. In ’93/4 he returned to Turkey and the Balkans and performed with Turkish/Greek group Phanari tis Anatolis (aka Bosphoros or Anadolu Fener), Zimbabwean mbira-player Stella Chiweshe and musicians from the Filip Koutev (Bulgarian State) Ensemble. He performed solo on Radio Sofia and recorded with Phanari tis Anatolis and Turkish singer Oguz Yilmaz.
With Sawung Jabo's Bayang-Bayang, Jogjakarta, Indonesia, 1996
In ’96 he toured Indonesia with Sawung Jabo’s innovative music/dance production Bayang-Bayang and returned to Indonesia in 00 and 03 with Indonesian-World group GengGong, in 05 and 07 with Trio Dingo and in 06, 07 and 12 as soloist. He has recorded in Indonesia with GengGong and singers Setiawan Djodi and Oppie Andaresta.
In ’00/01 Kim returned to Turkey to continue his studies in Turkish Classical, Sufi, Gypsy and folk music. He performed with Laz musician Birol Topaloglu and with the Turkish Ministry for Culture’s Istanbul State Modern Folk Music Ensemble. He was the subject of a short documentary on Turkish television. He returned to Turkey in 07/08 and studied with ney master Ahmet Kaya and Gypsy clarinetist Selim Sesler. Amongst others he performed with percussionist Okay Temiz and with the Turkish incarnation of Kim Sanders & Friends.
With Tianchuang at Jintai Museum, Beijing, 2004
In 04 he performed in Beijing as a soloist and worked with pioneering Chinese World-Jazz ensemble Tianchuang.
In Australia Kim was co-leader (with Linsey Pollak) of Australia’s first World-Jazz band (Rabadaki, 79) and has since played with musicians from every continent except Antarctica (including Flamenco Dreaming, Nakisa, Okapi Guitar Band, Seaweed & Wire, Chichitote, Davood Tabrizi, Descendance and Balcano). He performed with Zülfü Livaneli and Fatih Kisaparmak (Turkey), Bahar (Iran) and the Bisserov Sisters (Bulgaria) on their Australian tours.
With Birol Topaloglu, Istanbul 2008
In the 90s he lead legendary “Gypsy-Afro- World” band Brassov and worked with Bulgarian folk singer Silvia Entcheva in the Silvia Entcheva Trio. He also performed in Australia with GengGong and led various ensembles featuring musicians including Indian tabla master Bobby Singh, Macedonian clarinettist Bobby Dimitrievski, Greek singer/bouzouki-player George Doukas and jazz masters Sandy Evans and Toby Hall.
Wedding in The Gambia with Bas Jobarteh, 1985
Kim plays Macedonian, Turkish and Bulgarian gaidas (bagpipes), aardvark (Australian-Turkish- Bulgarian bass bagpipe); Bulgarian and Turkish kavals (long wooden flutes), saluang (Sumatran flute), furulya (Hungarian flute) and ney (Dervish flute); mey, duduk, guanzi (Turkish, Armenian, Chinese double reed instruments); zurna (Turkish/Balkan shawm); tenor sax; tin whistle; davul (dauli, tapan)(drum) and small percussion. He also arranges ensembles for special events, and composes music for films and stage productions.
Kim also teaches gaida, kaval, mey, ney, duduk and theory.
With Madurese group Semut Merah, East Jave Persussion Festival, 2008
“Masterly control of subtlety…very soulful playing” – Diaspora Worldbeat Magazine
“Sanders’ skills as an instrumentalist are impressive… (As a composer, his work is) new and genuinely exciting” – Chris Williams, fROOTS Magazine (UK)
“I will never view animals in quite the same way after seeing Sanders’ inflated menagerie of bagpipes. But it was the saxophone that most warmed the blood: a big, braying honking beast of a thing that could unexpectedly whisper sweet nothings in your ear” – John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
Recording with Phanari tis Anatolis, Istanbul 1993
“Virtually a force unto himself in world music scenes” – Drum Media
“…the magical voice of Kim Sanders’ saxophone” – Yogja Pos, Indonesia
“There are no more than a few Australian musicians who have made certain types of folk music their stamping-ground. Multi-instrumentalist Kim Sanders is one” – Australian Financial Review
With Stella Chiweshe, Istanbul 1994
“Kim Sanders was particularly effective on Turkish and Macedonian bagpipes, peeling off lines that were both inventive and convincingly idiomatic.” – John Clare, Sydney Morning Herald
“More, more, more!” – Kuranda Seyit, Australian Muslim News
Click here for a downloadable interview with Kim on the Jazz and Beyond Web site
and click here to hear Hans Stoeve of 2SER-FM talking with Kim
For links to videos, see “Links” page
For news on forthcoming gigs see “Gigs and News” page
Because of the spam deluge, “Comments” have been disabled for this website. If you would like to comment on any aspect of Kim’s musical activities you can do so by email (kimzgaida@hotmail.com) or on the “Kim Sanders World Music” page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kim-Sanders-World-Music/131697043563700?sk=info ).
More power to your arm and breath! Inspired as always with your ability to interpret traditional ethnic music and enrich it without kowtowing to “World Music” standards. We are not “coffee coloured people”, but rich in culture.
Bringing to light and introducing all this rich cultural diversity – and I have yet to explore your Indonesian connections, having just engaged in wonderful Cambodian traditions – is magical.
Great to see and hear ‘Kim Sanders and Friends’ at Kinetic Jazz in the Round last Friday. A different line up brought new feeling to the music – Toby Hall with his mad energy, Sandy Evans and her golden horns, and James Greening on bass guitar and sousaphone no less! I’ve never heard such an exciting blend of jazz and gypsy brass band music. With Kim Sanders & Friends every gig is different.
Kim, you’re a one-off!
Kim Sanders and Friends are Sydney’s best kept secret. I attend the gigs regularly, and would do more if only they occurred more regularly. Whether in terms of frequency of gig occurrence, or in terms of their musical character, Kim Sanders and Friends are far from regular.
I first met Kim Sanders back in the early modern era when we were still speaking Anglo-Saxon. Later we were invaded by the Normans and adopted French as a ruse-de-guerre. Fortunately after the War of the Roses we reverted to Indo-European again. Bebop, Post-bop, Modal and Free were to come in the Post-War period.
However Sanders, who is known in Chinese as Kim San-de (Gold Three-Virtues 金三德), defies intelligibility and prefers Universality. He is adept in traversing the Southern Void, usually turns left (“sharp”) at the Fifth Consciousness of Accumulated Regularity. This invariably results in a hijaz scale, as could be demonstrated were the margins of this Comment a little wider. So it is left as a exercise for students.
Don‘t hesitate to enjoy the Accumulated Regularity of Gold Three-Virtues after a meal of sour plums, as the medicinal effects will be enhanced. However at other times dispense with the offensive artifice of self-improvement and accept that it is a sensory indulgence which simple self-whipping with a warm shaving brush will expiate.
Good luck and don’t say you weren’t warned.
He looks weird, does weird stuff but Kim rocks!
He’s cool and so he’s music. Better check out his music.
As a long time admirer of Kim’s music, I have been wondering why it is that we have to wait so long between gigs? Kim’s music is a unique blend of so many influences. Like some New Orleans gumbo, they all subtly complement each other, all are necessary without any overpowering the others. I think this is perhaps because Kim and the musicians he plays with are all mature musicians, always creative in their improvisations. They can all go back to the source of their music as they play because that is where they are always coming from, back at the source. They have absorbed so much natural music that it has become part of them, and their creativity in turn becomes part of the shared music they play. They have become the music, and they represent the music, a music that is both old and new – old because it includes influences from traditional musics, and new, because it is always fresh, coming from the creative source. There is always something original, communicative and enjoyable is happening. Yet somehow, for some reason, though Kim’s music has many devoted followers, this creativity doesn’t seem to be supported well by venues, gig promoters or festivals. Why is it that so much imitative commercial music can find an outlet, while this natural organic creativity is ignored? I can’t quite fathom it. I suppose it has often been like this: recognition often goes to the second rate and those who play it safe. It doesn’t have to be that way!
Kim Sanders and Friends have paid their dues. Time now for “the real thing”!
Great to have Kim bring all his weird goat skin paraphernalia to AFTRS for an introduction to the use of various non-western instruments in film and television. As well as a being a terrific exponent and performer on various Turkish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, etc instruments, he displayed his excellent professional skills as a recording musician – something that is rarely appreciated.
Edward Primrose, Lecturer in Screen Music, Australian Film, Television and Radio School
Senang sekali mengetahui bahwa situs ini ada, setelah sekian lama saya tidak mengetahui akan kabar dan keberadaan seorang kawan yang telah mengenalkan saya akan makna kesetiaan pada pilihan.
Sekitar awal tahun 2000 saat saya sedang menyelesaikan sekolah film di Sydney, saya berkenalan dengan Kim Sanders di rumah Sawung Jabo, saat itu Deva Permana, Reza Achman, Ron Reeves, Sawung Jabo dan Kim berencana untuk membentuk sebuah kelompok musik yang kemudian dinamai GenGong dan mereka mengajak saya untuk menambah warna dan kehangatan musik mereka melalui gerak tubuh. Sebagai satu-satunya anggota yang tidak menekuni bidang seni murni (musik, tari & gambar) kesempatan untuk bergabung sempat membuat saya berpikir untuk serius belajar Dumbek (Egyptian Tabla) sampai suatu hari (mungkin Kim tidak ingat) di halaman belakang rumah Jabo di mana GengGong biasa berlatih saya berbincang-bincang dengan Kim, atau lebih tepatnya saya mendengarkan Kim bercerita tentang pengalaman bermusiknya, bagaimana ia “memilih” untuk mendalami “folk” musik. Cerita tersebut menyadarkan saya akan alasan saya belajar film dan bagaimana saya sempat mengabaikannya, Saya pun mengundurkan diri dari GengGong dengan berat hati.
Saya kembali ke Indonesia setelah lulus dari sekolah film, apa yang saya “pelajari” selama belajar hidup bersama kawan-kawan di Sydney (Kim salah satunya) membuat saya semakin yakin akan pilihan profesi saya yaitu berkarya di film (yang tidak komersial).
Semoga suatu hari saya dapat membuat situs yang sama tentang apa yang sudah saya lakukan bagi kemanusiaan lewat film seperti yang telah Kim ceritakan dan contohkan kepada saya.
Terima Kasih, Kim. semoga suatu saat kita bisa bertemu lagi (di Indonesia karena saya tidak punya cukup uang untuk menemuimu di “Down Under”) dan berkarya bersama dengan apa yang kita “pilih”.
Salam.
[Translation of Yogi's post]
I am glad to know that this site exists, after all this time I do not know the news and the whereabouts of a comrade who introduced me to the meaning of loyalty and choice.
Around early 2000 when I was finishing up film school in Sydney, I met with Kim Sanders at the home of Sawung Jabo. Deva Permana, Reza Achman, Ron Reeves, Sawung Jabo and Kim planned to form a music group, later named GenGong and they invited me to add color and warmth of their music through body movement. As the only member who did not pursue the field of fine arts (music, dance & figure) I had a chance give thought to serious study of Dumbek (Egyptian Tabla) until one day (maybe Kim can not remember) in the backyard where GengGong usual practiced, I had a conversation with Kim, or rather I listen to Kim talk about musical experiences, how he “chose” to explore “folk” music. The story made me realize the reason I studied film and how I could ignore it. I resigned from GengGong with a heavy heart and returned to Indonesia after graduating from film school, what I “learned” over the learn to live with friends in Sydney (Kim one of them) makes me more confident of my choice of profession is working in the film (which is not commercial).
Hopefully one day I can make a similar site about what I have done for humanity through film as Kim has done through music.
Thank you, Kim. hopefully someday we can meet again (in Indonesia because I do not have enough money to see you at the “Down Under”) and work together with what we “choose”.
A lot of world music just skimms the surface but Kim Sanders is the real thing.