High-altitude World Music at the Gearin

Kim Sanders & Friends return to the Gearin Hotel in Katoomba on Sunday December 6 for a performance of high-altitude World music.

The gig will include ska, Persian reggae and South African township jive as well as the band’s usual eclectic mix of  demented Balkan Gypsy dance grooves, Turkish Sufi meditations, Latin jazz and strange bent originals.

World Music veteran Sanders has studied with Sufi ney-masters in Turkey, played with Gypsy wedding-bands in Macedonia, in mosquito-infested nightclubs in Gambia, seedy tavernas in Greece, concert-halls in Turkey, Bulgaria  and Indonesia and tea-houses in China. He’s even played with Normie Rowe at Penrith Leagues Club – now that’s street cred!

Hong-Kong-born bassist Mark Szeto will be chunking out the bottom end.  “Mark will be playing fretless electric on this gig – we’re gonna funkify it a little”, says Kim. “The music will be a bit different with fretless. The band works with a pool of musicians, and each one brings something different so the music is always fresh.  But because we have played together so much in so many different contexts, we can improvise freely and the music can take unexpected turns without anyone falling off!   Mark is new blood, of course – this is his second gig with the band”. Mark has played with Monsieur Camembert, the Sydney Opera House Orchestra and joined Kim and Llew on Wizards of Odd tour in Sth Australia earlier this year.

Multi-instrumentalist Llew Kiek is best known for his work in Australia and Europe with world-jazz band  Mara! Llew and Kim have been playing together for more than twenty-five years in bands including Tansey’s Fancy, Silvia Entcheva Trio and Nakisa. He also plays on Kim Sanders & Friends latest CD “Bent Grooves”.

Percussionist Peter Kennard will be laying down the intricate beats on darabukka, dhaf, strange-looking drums and jingly things. “Peter’s the best in Australia on frame drums” says Kim “and also plays a pretty mean darabukka”.  Peter recently toured Australia with Gypsy guitarist Lulo Reinhardt. He has played with Ashok Roy, Sirocco, the Flying Fruitfly Circus and is a veteran of Kim’s legendary world/Gypsy band Brassov. He also collaborated with Kim on his acclaimed CD ‘Trance’n’Dancin’.

Kim Sanders: ney (Sufi flute), kaval (Bulgarian wooden flute), mey (Turkish double reed), Bulgarian and Turkish gaidas (bagpipes), tenor sax

Llew Kiek: bouzouki, baglama, oud

Mark Szeto: fretless electric bass

Peter Kennard: darabukka, dhaf, percussion

*

“New and genuinely exciting” – Chris Williams, fROOTS Magazine (UK)

Kim Sanders and his friends show to be masters in Roots-jazz-fusion music.” – Eelco Schilder, Folkworld

“[His] his musical imagination unfolds with a marvellous fluidity, like a river being fed by many tributaries, with the main flow mingling beautiful, often melancholy melodies with evocative rhythms and exotic textures”

- John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald

*

2.30 pm, Sunday December 6

Gearin Hotel
273 Great Western Hwy, Katoomba (near the station)

$20/15 conc
Lunch available 12 – 3 pm

Info and bookings: (02) 4782 4395

Those who can’t make the gig might like to make a donation either via the Rhythm Hut or Indonesian Red Cross

Kim Sanders, Sandy Evans

Kim Sanders & Friends bring their unique blend of serene Sufi meditations, deranged Balkan Gypsy dance rhythms, magical Indian wizardry, Persian reggae and seriously bent Afro-jazz grooves to the Chapel by the Sea in Bondi on Friday September 18.
Kim will be joined by Sandy Evans, Steve Elphick and Bobby Singh. “There is a pool of wonderful musicians who play in the band,” says Kim, “and this helps the music stay fresh and keep evolving. I couldn’t think of anything worse than playing the same old stuff with the same old musos (or their clones) over and over again (sorry Mick and Keith, you poor sad b*ggers!) I have been playing with these guys for a long time now, but they each bring different things to the band, and what’s more, they are all wonderful improvisers, so every gig is different, and sometimes amazing stuff happens!”

• Kim Sanders: ney (Sufi flute), kaval (Bulgarian wooden flute), gaidas (Balkan bagpipes), mey (Turkish double reed) or maybe duduk (Armenian double reed), tenor sax
• Sandy Evans: tenor and soprano saxophones
• Steve Elphick: double bass
• Bobby Singh: tabla

7.30 pm, Fri 18 September
Chapel by the Sea
95 Roscoe St Bondi Beach
Tickets available at the door. $20/15 (conc)
Bookings 02 9130 3445 chapel@ucabondibeach.com.au
Public transport info: http://www.chapelbythesea.unitingchurch.org.au
Light meals are available at Ruby’s Café onsite

]]> http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/2009/08/201/feed/ 2 http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/2009/08/review-of-bent-grooves-cd-launch-sound-lounge-sydney-9th-may-2008/ http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/2009/08/review-of-bent-grooves-cd-launch-sound-lounge-sydney-9th-may-2008/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:42:55 +0000 admin http://playground.esandersdesign.com/kimsanders/?p=127 Such was a celebration of various cultures through regional music, a reflection of the endless pursuit of diversity for Kim Sanders. Whilst performances sharing the theme of diversity have not gone un-acknowledged over the past decade, it felt to me like the shackles of the Howard monoculture had finally been broken during this performance which represented more than just creative music but friendship, inclusiveness, respect and genuine inter-cultural collaboration. Sanders might look like a gypsy with his long greying locks, his Bohemian garb and his goat skin bags but his manner and his dialogue is as Aussie as the next bloke and this fact almost defies the reality of his ability to converse in several languages across the Asian, European and African continents, let alone his ability to foster musical conversations in as many languages using over 14 wind instruments.
Along with Kim Sanders, the core quartet of the ‘Friends’ include Sandy Evans tenor and soprano saxophones, Bobby Singh tabla and Steve Elphick double bass. They opened with Heyamoli a Northern Turkish lament which saw Kim playing Turkish gaida (bagpipe) and Sandy in unison on tenor.
Next they performed the suite A Journey in Saba Makam. The ney is a sufi flute made of bamboo which Sanders freely improvised the first movement Bas Taksim over a singular Elphick drone followed by the additive of Evans and Singh. Such was Evans sensitivity on tenor during the second movement Saba Nefes I that her shadowing was simply an additional tonal flavour of the smokey fluted melody. The final movement showcased the awe-inspiring talent of Singh on tabla.
Sanders who is also a keen surfer, at one time took up the boogie board instead and soon found that serious surfers refer to them as a Speedbump but what commenced as a gypsy jam ended up a Congolese groove thanks mainly to the synchronicity of both Singh and Elphick.
Yet another continent was thrown into the mix with the addition of Chilean Carlos Villanueva and his Andean charango playing the flamenco tinged The Bad Bodgie Bulerias. With an almost clenched fist, Villanueva’s finger nails rapidly raked the repeated four chords of this piece on this instrument of only ukelele dimensions. By now parts of the capacity crowd were shrieking.
Kay Yagar which is interpreted as ‘snow is falling’ was a further showcase of Sanders skills; this time on the double reeded flute, the mey. His circular breathing and tonguing of this instrument created a spellbinding vibrato which preceded his swap to the bagpipes. Another dimension of this piece was the addition of Llew Kiek from the renowned band Mara! on the baglama or Turkish lute.
Istanbul Blues allowed Sandy Evans on tenor a precursor of what was to come on Oi Havar where she simply soared, taking the audience with her on a carpet ride of freedom and joyous expression.
When George Doukas arrived on stage the battle of the bouzouki’s began with Kiek choosing his own richly decorated axe. While Doukas proved a virtuoso, nothing was going to prepare us for the arrival of the final friend Bobby Dimitrievski on clarinet who displayed an agility on the instrument which is rarely witnessed. Following a standing ovation the group finally returned to the stage for a fitting finale. But what was probably the most musically intuitive passage of the performance came after Evans (during her solo) cried to Dimitrievski to ‘join in Bobby’. The result was a lesson to us all in genuine conversation where listening is just as important as speech when the magic of their respective instruments interwove a singular dialect of perfect harmony.
This was nothing less than a triumphant performance by Kim Sanders and Friends

- Peter Wockner, Jazz and Beyond, May 08 (www.jazzandbeyond.com.au)

Also performing:

Fairlight Folk offers consistently high quality music ranging from Celtic and traditional folk to blues to world to a capella to soul, and showcases bands and singer-songwriters – both established and emerging acts. The unifying theme is that the music is mostly acoustic (but not exclusively so), suited to delivery in an intimate and relaxed environment. Four times a year – Feb, May, August, Nov and some one off gigs.

Red leather lounges, café style seating, candle light, great ambience, BYO, friends gather, proper coffee, family friendly and fun for all.

Enquiries 0438 091 885

whatsnew@fairlightfolk.com
http://www.fairlightfolk.com

Kim will also be conducting a World Music workshop in Building E at 11.10am Sunday 12th