UPCOMING BALKAN EVENTS
Guy
Mendilow
Band
With Eastern Watershed Klezmer Quartet
Sunday, October 24th 8 pm $8 advance/$10 door
Thunderbird Cafe, 4023 Butler St., Lawrenceville
tickets at www.thunderbirdcafe.net
GUY MENDILOW
(Director; Vocals, Overtone Singing, Berimbaus, Guitar,
Percussion)
A citizen of Israel, Great Britain and the United States, Mendilow
spent his most formative years playing hopscotch between continents when his
musician-turned-professor father was invited to a succession of teaching posts.
From early childhood on, most aspects of Mendilow’s
life were a cultural, linguistic and musical mix. He grew up participating in
late night song circles and living room concerts with local musicians in his
different homes, whether in
and domestically and performing some two hundred concerts a year in
venues like Carnegie Hall. Since age fifteen, Mendilow
has continued to immerse himself in new cultures, seeking opportunities to
learn languages and collaborate with instrument builders and performers. To
date, he has lived and performed in
An educator deeply
committed to using musical improvisation as a tool for communication, Mendilow’s innovative workshops, residencies and teacher
trainings have led to ongoing collaborations with cutting-edge international
social justice organizations like Seeds of Peace, which mediates between
Israeli and Palestinian youth, and to invitations to present at schools and
conferences across the
(Photo:Lisa Schaffer)
AUBREY JOHNSON
(Vocals)
Winner of Best Jazz Vocalist and Jazz Vocalist Outstanding Performance in
Downbeat Magazine’s Collegiate Student Music Awards, Aubrey Johnson is a
soulful vocalist, gifted in using her voice like an instrument, singing
intricate horn-like lead lines and harmonies and in improvising in a wordless
vocal technique. She has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall
and
ANDY BERGMAN
(Electric Mbira, clarinet, Jaw Harp, Flutes,
Penny-whistle, Saxophones, Percussion)
Andy Bergman is a composer and multi-instrumentalist involved in a variety of
world music, jazz, classical, theater, and dance projects. Alongside woodwinds
and saxophones, Andy is continually developing his own unique and progressive
style of jaw harp playing. Other performance credits include: sound design for Kinodance Company's multi-media work "Denizen", CRASHarts "Ten's the Limit" with Oneon Dance, the New Repertory Theatre, Devil Music
Ensemble, ImprovBoston, and the Newton Symphony
Orchestra. Andy has studied theory and composition at
(Photo: J. Teddeman Hull)
TOMOKO OMURA
(Violin, Percussion)
Tomoko Omura’s passion for jazz violin and
improvisation led her from her home in Shizuoka Japan to Boston MA’s Berklee College of Music, where she was the first string
student ever to receive the prestigious Roy Haynes Award, and from which she
graduated summa cum laude. Tomoko’s gift at improvising exquisite melodic lines
and harmonic depths, building on her initial classical training, draws
listeners in irresistibly. Her teachers have included Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi, Jamey Haddad and Matt Glaser.
RICH STEIN
(Cajon, Frame Drums, Percussion)
Percussionist Rich Stein grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia and began his
life-long fascination with percussion at the age of ten. While at the Berklee College of Music he spent most of his time focusing
on the traditional drumming styles of West Africa (primarily Ghana), and
contemporary frame drumming techniques. Artists with whom Rich has shared the
stage or recorded include Lauryn Hill, Lila Downs,
Richard Stoltzman, Ustad
Sultan Khan, Susana Baca, Clare and the Reasons, Jamey Haddad, Peter Stoltzman, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Joshua Geisler,
and Big D and the Kid’s Table. Rich has performed in many of the world’s
premiere concert halls and events including the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie
Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the