Bent Grooves
Magical collective improvisation framed by lush melodies and anchored by hypnotic rhythms, drawing from the traditions of Turkish Sufi and folk music, Balkan Gypsy brass bands, West African grooves, Indian Classical music, flamenco, blues and jazz.
Featuring (in order of height):
- Sandy Evans: soprano and tenor saxes
- Carlos Villanueva: charango
- Bobby Singh: tabla
- Kim Sanders: ney, Turkish gaida, aardvark, kaval, mey, tenor sax, saluang
- George Doukas: bouzouki, Greek baglama
- Llew Kiek: Turkish baglama
- Steve Elphick: double bass
The CD was produced by Tony Gorman, engineered by Ross A’Hern and mastered by Paul Bryant. The project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding advisory body.
What the critics say about Bent grooves
“That asinine term ‘world music’ actually acquires some meaning when applied to the art of Kim Sanders. The Sydney multi-instrumentalist has stewed in musical melting pots from Indonesia to Gambia and is especially steeped in the sounds of Turkey and Eastern Europe. Having absorbed these traditions, he plays within or without them as suits his creative impulses.
Sanders’s long-term collaboration with tabla player Bobby Singh stretches the sonic world of Asia Minor eastward, towards the subcontinent, just as Steve Elphick’s bass and Sandy Evans’s saxophone bring jazzier sensibilities to bear. But Sanders never forces square pegs into round holes and 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.
His own braying tenor saxophone, assorted wistful flutes and sometimes imperious bagpipes radiate a joy in having such open dialogues with his gifted collaborators; dialogues that have been superbly recorded.” – John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
“What I wouldn’t give to have friends like these!…Bent Grooves is an instrumental CD, beautifully measured and layered” – Jaslyn Hall, ABC Limelight Magazine
“No ‘world fuzak’ here!” – Doug Spencer, Producer, The Weekend Planet, ABC Radio National
Click here for samples!
Trance’n'Dancin
Kim Sanders’ CD Trance’n'Dancin is an exploration of trance music, from the etherial flights of the ney flute used in the rituals of Turkey’s Mevlevi Dervishes to the hypnotic dance-rhythms of the Balkans. It also features the world’s first composition for Bulgarian bagpipe and Hammond organ.
Featuring Kim Sanders: Turkish ney (Sufi flute), kaval (Bulgarian wooden flute), Bulgarian and Turkish gaidas (bagpipes), aardvark (Turkish/Bulgarian/Australian hybrid bass bagpipe), mey (Turkish double reed), saluang (Sumatran flute) & Peter Kennard: dhaf, bendir, darabukka, megabukka, riq, zills, gong-on-a-mattress, wood-blocks, dried budgies, surdo, ride cymbal, harmonium, keyboards, chan, another cymbal
What the critics say about Trance’n'Dancin
“Sublime, haunting…The album is a beautifully shaped journey from the spacious taksims to fast and upbeat dance tunes… Sanders has spent years studying the music of Turkey and the Balkans and his passion and skill for this music are clearly evident in this superb album.” – Oonagh Sherrard for www.indie-cds.com
“There is a profound dignity about the expression of sadness in Turkish music. With neither histrionics nor sentimentality, the sadness is distilled into beauty. Kim Sanders has immersed himself in this culture for years and achieves an extraordinarily haunting sound on ney (Dervish flute) for the rubato improvisations on this haunting album. He is accompanied by Peter Kennard, whose realisatons of the slowest tempos in tricky time signatures is a marvel of meditative concentration and execution.” – John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
“What stirs you throughout this album is the realisation that the breath is what brings you closer to God, that is the ‘ruh’ or the soul. Kim’s brand of music is based on the movement of breath and an inner connection to the mind and spirit. The album is a must for world music conoisseurs and anyone who enjoys the world of Islam.” – Kuranda Seyit, Australia Fair, Dec 05
“A major part of this album is a modern interpretation of Traditional Mevlevi (Whirling Dervish) and Balkan dance music. Yet it loses none of the meditative and languid qualities of the original trance music…The real beauty of the album is the way that the bulk of the tracks achieve the near impossible feat of exuding a sound that is elegiac but at the same time spirited. The hauntingly beautiful “Gidemem Siraza Ben” is almost heartrending in this technically masterful and emotionally uplifting intertwining of the plaintive with the exuberant… Multi- instrumentalist Kim Sanders achieves total command over all his instruments and together with Peter Kennard has produced a masterful album which is an ideal vehicle for a breakthrough to a wider audience.” – Dush Perera, Jazz’n'Blues www.corporatenews.com.au
“This is an energetic and distinctive blend of virtuoso playing from multi-instrumentalist Kim Sanders, masterfully accompanied by Peter Kennard’s magic trunk of percussion… Trance’nDancin features several different fascinating musical styles – Sufi meditations, Turkish lullabies, trance music, folk tunes- as well as an enigmatic track, “Solitary Circumambulation”, which Sanders claims is the world’s first composition for gaida (Balkan bagpipes) and Hammond organ. Sanders is a relentless champion of world music and this CD celebrates the freshness and sheer excitement of the Balkan and Turkish traditions with added new twists and a funky rhythm section to create a joyful session of music for listening or dancing” – Jas Hall, ABC Limelight Magazine
You Can’t Get There From Here
Kim Sanders and Friends’ ARIA-nominated CD You Can’t Get There From Here showcases traditional pieces from the Balkans and Middle-East and original pieces including “Hepimiz Deliyiz” (“We’re All Crazy”), first performed at the Ataturk Cultural Centre with the Istanbul State Modern Folk Music Ensemble, 2001. Demented Gypsy-style collective improvisation, Indo-Turkish grooves and more…
Kim Sanders: ney, kaval, mey, duduk, saluang, Bulgarian and Turkish gaidas, aardvark, tenor sax, gong Bobby Singh: tablas Sabahattin Akdagcik: baglama, oud, yayli tambur Steve Elphick: double bass Peter Kennard: percussion and Epizo Bangoura: djembe, balafon.
What the critics say about You Can’t Get There From Here
This is a dream of an album, full of emotion and skill – Carina Prange, Jazz Dimensions (Germany)
I was immediately conquered by the beauty of the arrangements, the high degree of musicianship and the perfect selection of the tunes featured there – Massimo Ferro, Radio Voce Spazio (Italy)
A gem …Great sounds, textures, clever improvisation over tricky rhythms, an album for conoisseurs – Dieter Bajzek, Folk Alliance Australia
A beautifully-balanced mixture of traditional and contemporary sounds from Turkey, West Africa, India and the Balkans …A fantastic array of moods and charms – K S Seyit, Australian Muslim News
Plenty of beautiful, breathcatching moments – Craig N. Pearce, Drum Media
You are sure to want to linger in this musical mystery land – Bernard Zuel, Sydney Morning Herald
Deliciously eclectic! – Doug Spencer, Producer, The Planet, ABC Radio National
Buying Kim’s CDs
Bent Grooves, Trance’n'Dancin and You Can’t Get There From Here are available directly from Kim at kimzgaida@hotmail.com or from:
“Saba Nefes II” is included in the compilation “Groove Medicine – Groove Music” from Music Mosaic. Individual tracks or full album downloadable online – http://www.music-mosaic.com/ecom/groove-music-medicine.php
You Can’t Get There From Here , Trance’n'Dancin and Bent Grooves are now available online from iHear Music. You can download single tracks or whole albums. iHear Music supports Australian musicians – support them if you can!
From the Archives:
Unfortunately Brassov’s World-Gypsy-Jazz CD “Chronic Rhythmosis” and Indonesian World Fusion band GengGong’s “Not Just Music” are sold out and no longer available, but “Chronic Rhythmosis” is now also available online through iHear Music.
There are still a few copies available of pioneering Australian World Music group Nakisa’s Camels in the City CD and Nakisa’s first album Insallah (LP/cassette format only)
Kim has also recorded with:
Phanari tis Anatolis, Oppie Andaresta, Oguz Yilmaz, Setiawan Djody, Silvia Entcheva Trio, Flamenco Dreaming, Indiajiva, Tansey’s Fancy, Seaweed and Wire, Chichitote, Caiseal Mor, Rick-e-Dee, Bob Wheatley, Sabahattin Akdagcik’s SASOM, David Hobson, Blair Greenberg, Roger Mason, Rabadaki, Tony Lewis/Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre, Turkish Art Music Ensemble, Global Roots, ABC Childrens’ series “0-9″ and others…
