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 08 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 ).

]]> http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/home/feed/ 9 http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/2009/10/sumatran-earthquake-benefit-concert/ http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/2009/10/sumatran-earthquake-benefit-concert/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:50:41 +0000 kim http://kimsandersworldmusic.com/?p=800

On October 24 Kim will be performing at a fundraising concert to help reconstruction after the earthquakes in Sumatra. Other performers will be The Rhythm Hunters (led by Rendra Freestone, himself a Sumatran), the Suara Indonesia Dance Group and special guests. Proceeds will go to Indonesian Red Cross Earthquake Appeal.
Saturday October 24
The Rhythm Hut
145 Erina St
Gosford
For info and enquiries see therhythmhut.com.au

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

“SIEM was great,” said Kim yesterday. “This was its second year, and there were performers from all over Indonesia, which is a seriously culturally diverse place, as well as from overseas. If only Australia had a festival like this! It was good to perform there again and to catch up with old friends who I’ve played with before, like Inisisri, Vicky Sianipar and Rafly, and to meet new ones.

I had a chance to exchange ideas with Yi-Chen Chang from Taiwan. Yi-Chen is a specialist in Uighur music from Western China. Uighurs are Turkic by language and culture, and, being a student of Turkish music it was great to have a chance to have a bit of a yarn and a jam with her.”

Kim with Glen Doyle

Kim with Yi Chen

There was one problem with the festival: rain. This year the festival was moved from September to avoid a clash with Ramadan. “In Java they have a special guy called a pawang hujan, who does the rain-prevention juju. In this case he had a hard job – it is the rainy season after all! One of our performances got increasingly compressed as the rain got heavier, but the rain held off for the other. As for the sound-check, well, who needs a sound-check…”

A rained out sound check

Workshopping

The duo also did a couple of workshops, one for the festival and one at the Indonesian College of the Arts (ISI). “I have done workshops at ISI on previous trips, so some people were already familiar with my stuff”, said Kim, “but they were also very interested in what Glen was able to show them about indiginous Australian culture, and he was able to fill them in on certain aspects of Australian that they might not have known about about (sorry, Messrs Howard and Windschuttle!)”
Nasar Bathati of the East Java Arts Council was at the festival and invited Kim to perform in Surabaya the following week. “The Percussion Festival was a bonus. I ended up going to Madura and rehearsing in a village called Gunung Madah with a group called Semut Merah. They were hot!

I mean, most of those guys in the West who go on about how groovy their beats are are deluding themselves. There’s a place called Banyuwangi right on the Eastern tip of Java where the the rhythms are just as intricate and complex as anything I heard in Africa. And there are some pretty hot beats on Madura too.”

Performing with Semut Merah

Semut Merah