Anatomy of a Concert

Ever wondered why the structure of a concert is the way it is or what to look for when a percussionist takes on his solo? Within this showing, you'll find the answer. Interspersed throughout an evening of music, teachers of The Anamika-Navatman Project will offer fun and thought-provoking insights into the anatomy of a concert.

Samarth Nagarkar (vocals):

"Samarth Nagarkar, a hindustani classical (North Indian classical) vocalist, is a disciple of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. A former scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, he was head ofthe K. K. Kapoor Sangeet Research Academy, Lucknow as Founder Faculty.Pursuing a full-fledged career as a performing vocalist, Samarth is hailed as one of the most promisingyoung artistes of today.

Samarth Nagarkar was barely ten when he could identify with raag sangeet (Hindustani classical music). His initial training began under Smt. Aditi Kaikini Upadhya in Bangalore. At sixteen, he migrated to Mumbai (Bombay) in pursuit of his passions, which, by then,had taken deep roots in him. In Mumbai, he received training from the veteran vocalist and musicologist, Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. Samarth migrated to Kolkata in 2003 and assumed discipleship underanother of Indias most distinguished performers and gurus, PanditUlhas Kashalkar. During this period, he was a Grade A scholar at the much coveted ITCSangeet Research Academy, Kolkata. Thus, through his training in music, he lived in due accordance with the Guru - Shishya tradition and received taleem (intensive training) in three majorGharana Gayakis (styles or disciplines), namely - Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur.

Samarth began performing when he was seventeen. Thereafter,he hasperformed at several reputed conferences and venues across the country and the United States of America. Some of them aretheITC Sangeet Sammelan, Bangalore, The National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai,Devnandan Ubhayaker Yuva Sangeetotsav, Bangalore,Sangeet Natak Akademy, Lucknow in India andStanford University, Stanford, Ali Akbar College of Music, San Rafael,Indiana University, Bloomington,in the US, among others. Most notable among his various achievements and awards is the President's Award for the First Prize in the prestigious All India Radio music competition, 2000, which made him a graded artiste of the AIR.

Samarth was head of the K K Kapoor Sangeet Research Academy, Lucknow from July 2009 to Sept 2010.As Founder Faculty, in addition to teaching advance level students,he washead of operations where day to day affairs, budgets, event organising, media and public interface, etc fell under his purview. In June 2009,he was awarded aresearchFellowship by The Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The research involves documentation and analysis of the sustenace of the fundamental principles of the Gwalior gharana gayaki through its evolution during the past hundred years.

Known for his authentic, sensitiveand traditionally rich approach towards raagdaari and gayki and described by critics as one of Indias most promising young artistes, Samarth Nagarkar is believed to be on his way to becoming one of the foremost torchbearers of the traditions he represents. bio

Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury (sitar):

Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury is a disciple of the sitar maestro Pandit Subroto Roy-Chowdhury. Groomed in the Veen-kar style of the Senia Gharana, which maintains the Dhrupadi origins of Indian Classical music, Indrajit strives to innovate while keeping a firm connection with the past. While completing his undergraduate studies at Duke University, Indrajit received theBennenson Award for the Arts to further his studyof Indian Classical music.Since thenhe hastakenthe profession of a full-time sitarist andhas performed on stages across the world including such prestigious venues as Gyan Mancha (Kolkata), Hammerstein Ballroom (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.) and has had his concerts telecast by Doordarshan (Indian National Television). During the 2010 Fall semester Indrajit was a visiting faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and taught the University's sitar course.. bio

Kedarnath Havaldar(tabla):

"Kedarnath Havaldar is fortunate to be born in a family of musicians. His father, Dr. Nagraj Rao Havaldar, is a renowned Hindustani Classical Vocalist. He has traveled within the country and abroad, giving performances, lecture demonstrations, and enthralling the audience and the scholars simultaneously. Kedar's mother, Sudhamayi, is a trained musician and a graduate from the College of Fine Arts in Mysore. Kedarnath's elder brother Omkarnath is an accomplished vocalist who has already established a niche for himself in the field of classical music. Kedarnath also started learning vocal music from his father at a young age and pursued it for five long years. As it is said, "Swara maatha laya pithaa," (Melody is the mother and Rythm is the father). Kedarnath was fascinated by the possibilities of Layakaari, rhythm and the Tabla. His initial training began under Pt. Rajgopal Kallurkar a renowned maestro of the Faroukhabaad Gharana. Kallurkar's affectionate training, which lasted 12 years, helped Kedar to blossom into a competent soloist and an accompanist. Kedar's quest for knowledge drove him to Pt. M. Nagesh, another dedicated teacher, and a disciple of Pt. Puttaraj Gawai. Punditji's vast experience and interaction with many senior musicians has been handed over to young Kedar with much forethought and care. He continues to learn from both teachers. He is a recipient of Kishora Prathibha Puraskaa, a state award for Tabla.

Presently, Kedarnath is learning from the internationally renowned Tabla maestro Pt. Sameer Chatterjee. He went to Kolkata for a true gurukul experience in the year 2009 and now he is continuing his Taalim from Sameerji in the Chandayan School of Music in Manhattan, New York. Kedar's constant interaction with his guruji and the visiting musicians of the Chandayan Center has fine-tuned his musical thoughts. Kedar has performed with both his father and his brother in many places; to name a few: Hampii Utsava, Ramakrishna Mission Gol Park, Kolkata, Raajbhavan, Bengaluru (The residence of the Governor of Karnataka), Arshavidya Gurukula, Pennsylvania. He has also blended with the Sufi Band JUNOON,led by Salmaan Ahemad. Kedarnath wants to remain a humble student of the great art and the Gurus." - bio

presented in conjunction with the The Anamika-Navatman Projectof New York.

Fire Museum Presents:

Ember Schrag

Susan Alcorn

Scallion


Thursday, April 5th 7:30PM
Highwire Gallery
2040 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA
$6

Ember Schrag (Omaha):

Ember Schrag grew up in western Nebraska. She spent several years carving out a space in the Midwest as a distinctive lyricist, singer and guitarist. 2010's acclaimed EP Jephthahs Daughter (Eh?), and Schrags debut studio effort, A Cruel, Cruel Woman (Lone Prairie 2009), were preceded by nearly a dozen home-recorded CD-Rs and cassettes. She has toured with Kath Bloom and collaborated with The Chiara Quartet, Susan Alcorn, P.G. Six, Amy Denio, The Black Twigs, Low Hums, L. Eugene Methe and Lucky Bone. Schrag also performs improvised electroacoustic music in the project Office Park, a collaboration with instrument builder Bryan Day. - bio
"Lands somewhere between Scout Niblett and Karen Dalton, writing about land and space and hope and despair."- Nightlight

Susan Alcorn (Baltimore):

Susan Alcorn is a Baltimore, Maryland-based composer and musician who has received international recognition as an innovator of the pedal steel guitar, an instrument whose sound is commonly associated with country and western music. Alcorn has absorbed the technique of C&W pedal steel playing and refined it to a virtuosic level. Her original music reveals the influence of free jazz, avant-garde classical music, Indian ragas, Indigenous traditions, and other musics of the world. The UK Guardian describes her music as "beautiful, glassy and liquid, however far she strays from pulse and conventional harmony."
Though mostly a solo performer, she has collaborated with numerous artists including Pauline Oliveros, Eugene Chadbourne., the late Peter Kowald, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Maggie Nicols, Joe Giardullo, Joe McPhee, Mike Cooper, L Quan Ninh, Ellen Fullman, Evan Parker, Ellery Eskelin, and John Butcher as well as continuing projects with Caroline Kraabel, cellist Janel Leppin and Scottish guitarist George Burt. - bio

Scallion (Philadelphia):

Scallion is the main songwriting and recording project of Edible Onion founder and multi-instrumentalist, Darian Scatton. Scallion's music is amorphous and hard to pin down, ever-changing and shifting in color and tone at the whims of its creator. The recordings are usually comprised of sounds created with whatever instruments happen to be lying around at the time, giving the recordings an odd sense of time and place as well as the sense of wonderment that comes from happy accidents and the chaos of home recording. For now, Darian performs alone with just his voice and his harp, paring down his densely arranged recordings to their emotional root, displaying them openly with beautiful sadness. - bio

Fire Museum Presents:

Wolter Wierbos

Superlith

Larry Toft


Friday, April 6th 8:00PM
Angler Movement Arts
1550 E Montgomery Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
$8

Wolter Wierbos (Holland):

Wolter Wierbos is considered one of the worlds leading trombone players. He has played throughout Europe, Canada, USA and Asia. Wierbos has many awards to his name, including the Podiumprijs for Jazz and Improvised music and the most important Dutch jazz award, the VPRO Boy Edgar Prize. Like many Dutch brass players Wierbos started out in a fanfare (brass band), switching from trumpet to trombone when he was 17. It looked good, and the trombones walk in front.... His interests range from precise chamber jazz to throbbing post punk and contemporary composed and improvised music. Described as a phenomenon, both a humorous importer of every style into his template-free, fat-backed sound, and a tireless spy in the house of brass, he is equally at home using the classic trombone vocabulary or enthusiastically giving a round-trip tour of his horn, from buzzing mute mutations and grizzly blurts to purring multiphonics. He is also a very good instant composer, good at keeping it moving and not taking it too seriously. Since 1979 he has played with numerous music ensembles: Cumulus (with Ab Baars and Harry de Wit), JC Tans & Rockets, Theo Loevendie Quintet, Guus Janssen Septet, Loos (Peter van Bergen), Maarten Altena Ensemble and Podiumtrio. He led his own band, Celebration of Difference, and has been involved in theater, dance, television and film projects. He has been invited to play with the EX, Sonic Youth, Gruppo Sportivo and the Nieuw Ensemble (led by Ed Spanjaard). He has also played with Henry Threadgill, The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (led by Alexander von Schlippenbach), the European Big Band (led by Cecil Taylor), the John Carter Project, Mingus Big Band (Epitaph, directed by Gunther Schuller). He is currently active with Misha Mengelbergs ICP (Downbeat Poll winner 2002, Talent Deserving Wider Recognition), Gerry Hemingway Quintet, Franky Douglas Sunchild, Bik Bent Braam, Albrecht Maurer Trio Works, Nocando, Carl Ludwig Hbschs Longrun Development of the Universe, Frank Gratkowski Quartet, Available Jelly and Sean Bergins MOB. Wierbos also maintains a solo career. He has a running project under the name Wollos World, where he brings together different artistic combinations, ranging from duos with tap-dancer Marije Nie and bassist Wilbert de Joode to a quartet with Misha Mengelberg, Mats Gustafsson and Wilbert de Joode. In the future Wollos World hopes to feature such interesting musicians as Simon Nabatov, Hamid Drake and Jim Black. - bio

Superlith (Philadelphia):

Superlith plows through the harsh and sublime aural landscapes latent within the trombone and circuit modified electronics. With Dan Blacksberg on trombone and Julius Masri on circuit modified Casio SK-1s, Superlith pushes at the technical and textural extremes of their instruments. - bio

Larry Toft (Philadelphia):

Trombonist Larry Toft performs frequently around the Delaware Valley. Being located in Philadelphia gives him the opportunity to perform a wide range of musical styles such as jazz, classical, salsa, reggae, Balkan, and funk. The avant-garde has always inspired Toft's music and he works it into his performances whenever possible. He is a regular member of Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound as well as numerous other local big bands including the Phil Giordano Orchestra, and the Lars Halle Jazz Orchestra. He has performed with salsa legends Johnny Pacheco of the Fania All-Stars, Lalo Rodriguez, Michael Stewart, and Johnny Rivera. A Graduate of Temple University, he studied with former Philadelphia Orchestra's trombonist Tyrone Breuninger and jazz with Don Collins and Luis Bonilla of the Village Vanguard Orchestra. - bio

Fire Museum Presents:

Not The Wind, Not The Flag

Jesse Sparhawk/Peterson Goodwyn DUI

Dan Blacksberg Trio


Friday, April 20th 8:00PM
Angler Movement Arts
1550 E Montgomery Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
$6

Not The Wind, Not The Flag (Toronto):

Not the Wind, Not the Flag is a duo consisting of Colin Fisher (guitar, bouzouki, ney, tenor sax, guzheng, hulusi, misc percussion) and Brandon Valdivia (Trap set, Mbira, Slit Drum, Percussion). Music is a way of accessing the divine. Vibration is the echo of our creation. For Colin and Brandon the experience of music is a transformative tool. A conduit for gnosis and discovering the true self.

On any occasion their music could echo the traditions of Balinese music, West African music, Persian or Turkish music or it could be devastatingly loud Post-Hardcore, Noise, Free jazz eruptions. Or all of the aforementioned at once! The music refrains from being derivative but comes from a place of deep respect for the music that has lifted and guided their spirits." - bio

Jesse Sparhawk/Peterson Goodwyn DUI (Philadelphia):

are the duo of Jesse Sparhawk (guitar) and Peterson Goodwyn (drums).Jesse Sparhawk is a multi-instrumentalist and composer whose instruments include harp, guitar, and electric bass. He studied harp with principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic, Myor Rosen and Eastman School of Musics Kathleen Bride between the ages of 10 and 17 and performed at New York Citys Carnegie Hall at the age of 15. He has over 40 independent recording credits to his name performing various instruments. He has toured the US and Europe as a solo artist and with several singer-songwriters and bands including Fern Knight, Free Energy, The Valerie Project, Timesbold, Marissa Nadler, and Greg Weeks (of the Philadelphia-based band Espers). He can also be heard performing on the original soundtracks for the independent feature films "Tarnation" (2003), "The King" (2005), and "Home Front" (2006). At the end of 2009 New York-based singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm invited Sparhawk to play harp on her forthcoming album "Soul Retrieval" in an ensemble including Tony Visconti (producer / arranger of T. Rex / David Bowie).

Sparhawk has continued to develop his own instrumental guitar compositions, one of which, titled "Light Cycle / Tetrahedra," was released in 2006 on Tompkins Square Records Imaginational Anthem Volume II compilation. 2011 saw the release of 'or Kestrel', his debut solo instrumental guitar LP and 'Raptor Attention,' a four song EP. Sparhawk toured Europe with Philadelphia-based guitarist Eric Carbonara to support the release of 'or Kestrel' and the Spring 2011 vhf records release of their duo album, 'Sixty Strings', just before embarking on the BalletX / Wilma Theater performance of Proliferation of the Imagination, an inter-disciplinary production combining ballet, dialogue and live music, as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in April 2011.

Peterson Goodwyn is a percussionist/engineer currently living in Philadelphia. His interests and projects are spread across the spectrum of musical genres. He has recorded such diverse artists as Jesse Sparhawk, Saw First Tree, Cassie Norton and Rachel Hays.

Dan Blacksberg Trio (Philadelphia):

Dan Blacksberg, Matt Engle, and Mike Szekely are the Dan Blacksberg Trio. From allaboutjazz.com: With the vinyl-only release of Bit Heads, we can add Philadelphia-based trombonist Daniel Blacksberg to the short list of players chancing a trio stretch. Blacksberg is a player who has clearly done a lot of listening to his forebearsMangelsdorff, Moncur, and George Lewisas well as other brass instrumentalists who explore the wide point of extended technique. But what's notable is that, as an improviser, Blacksberg is far from showy, eschewing the rampant brashness of BassDrumBone and Brahma for a cooler, introspective detail and an easy egalitarianism with his trio mates.

UPCOMING EVENTS

5/5/2012 - Eric Carbonara, Alexander Turnquist. szilrd & Danielle Gershkoff
5/8/2012 - Ghost, Flute & Dice, Daniel Bachman & tbd
5/12/2012 - Mirror Men, Yek Koo & LA Lakers
5/18/2012 - Doom Ribbons, Sonic Sphere, Jarrett Gilgore/Deric Dickens duo
6/9/2012 - Dan Joseph & tbd
6/16/2012 - Devasaman (Debapriya and Samanwaya) vocal & sitar jugalbandi (duo)
6/23/2012 - Aaron Novik, Ava Mendoza & RL3
8/10/2012 - Straylight, Calendar Islands & tbd

all shows at the Highwire Gallery (unless otherwise stated) & all ages

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Fire Museum Presents
c/o Highwire Gallery
2040 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19125
USA