Ahimsa is a four-piece world music ensemble based in Germany, India, and Switzerland. Seamlessly weaving guitar, double violin and both North & South Indian percussion, their music is a captivating fusion, masterfully blending traditional Indian Carnatic music with elements of western classical music and jazz. Attesting to their dazzling virtuosity, the band’s individual members have collaborated with a veritable who’s who of modern music -- from Pandit Ravi Shankar, maestro Yehudi Menuhin, Stephane Grappelli, Dr. L. Subramaniam to John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, and V.M. Bhatt --- to name just a few.
Neyveli S. Radhakrishna Double violin, Composer
Radhais a highly versatile player, adept at classical music as well as jazz. He plays the rare, unique and stereoscopic ten-string double violin -- and is one of a handful of professional players around the world playing the instrument. His unusual style and improvisational genius have graced stages alongside the likes of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar, Jonas Hellborg and V. Selvaganesh, in such prestigious venues as Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York, among others. Radha has recorded with John McLaughlin, Ustad Zakir Hussain and mandolin wizard U. Srinivas, and does extensive work for films. He has participated in several jazz, folk and world music festivals across the globe.
Matthias Müller Guitar; Composer, Arranger
Matthias is a graduate of the College of Music at Sulzbach-Rosenberg, and studied classical and jazz guitar as well as composition and arranging at the Munich Guitar Institute and the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. Over the several decades of his musical career, he has toured internationally and played in many styles; he frequently composes music for film and television.
Udai Mazumdar Tabla
Udai is a skilled musician with a sensitive approach. His evocative and expressive melodic and rhythmic playing, as well as his dedication and commitment to the Indian classical music genre, has made him immensely sought after. He has played with Pandit Ravi Shankar (performing before the Royal Families of England and Sweden); Ustad Zakir Hussain (in a concert to mark Pt. Ravi Shankar's 75th birthday); Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Shivkumar Sharma, among many others.
R. Yogaraja Mrudangam, Kanjira, Morsing
From a very young age, Yoga was trained in mrudangam -- the main South Indian drum -- by his father, A.S. Ramanathan. He went on to further his education at Annamalai University in Chidambaram, India.Yoga’s instrumental diversity and unique playing style have attracted some of the world’s greatest musicians. He has accompanied maestro Yehudi Menuhin, Stephan Grapelli and Dr. L. Subramaniam, among many others. He has performed around the world in major concert halls and at numerous events with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bei the Fish is indi pop band based in Skopje, Macedonia. The musical expression of the group represents a unique fusion of acoustic instruments, electronics and modern condiment, with a captivating nature of pop music.
The band comes from the teenage dream Benzona and moved into something completely different. Bei the Fish is created by Ognen Anastasovski, Gjorgjievski Nenad Tonkin (the programmer, the brain) and Valentina Minovska offering voice of an angel. The musical structure is changing the framework, but these three are always at the heart of the band. From 2009, the drummer Vladimir Nastevski joined the band and brought a new energy and freshness to the musical style of the band.
"...sweetly forgotten in the sounds of urban forests, Bei the Fish are out of the Balkans, they are completely out of the context, out of the box, out of all barb-wired environments." Kosovo 2.0., Kosovo
Latest videos:
When He Was Young (official video) youtube.com/watch?v=NgzCH2HB104
When He Was Young (live at MTV) youtube.com/watch?v=5yeYzBzP8yc&feature
French Cheese (official video)
youtube.com/watch?v=rctg14Slvts&featur
youtube.com/watch?v=rctg14Slvts&featur
True Story (official video) youtube.com/watch=BLHIWXROAWA
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Catherine Ringer (the former singer of Rita Mitsouko) is a French singer, musician, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, and actress. The voice of French rock of the 70's. She mixes provocation, finesse and power in her compositions and in her performances.
(by arrangement)
Gainsbourg made her controversial musical debut with her father on the song 'Lemon Incest' in 1984. Two years later, she released her debut album 'Charlotte for Ever', which was produced by her father. In 2007, Gainsbourg appeared alongside Gael Garcia Bernal in Michel Gondry’s 'La Science des rêves' and as Claire in the Todd-Haynes-directed, Bob Dylan biopic 'I’m Not There', also contributing a cover of the Dylan song 'Just Like a Woman' to the film’s soundtrack. In 2006, Gainsbourg released her second album '5:55' to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top of the French charts and achieving platinum status.
Performing with the Weddings and Funerals Band, with a host of successful albums and soundtracks to his name, Goran Bregovic is perhaps the most famous composer and song-writer from the Balkans. None of his concerts are quite the same as he picks and chooses songs from his large repertoire according to the occasion, but all are delights of his ironic and surrealistic view of Balkan culture.
Gotan Project gave new meaning to French Dance Music with their celebrated debut album 'La Revancha Del Tango'. The sound of Gotan Project is synonymous with cool and chic, from the clubs of New York to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. With 'Lunático' the band breathed more live and jazz influences into their sound. After 2 million sales and hundreds of concerts all over the world, they have recently released their 3rd studio album, the entrancing 'Tango 3.0'.
Gulistan Perwer was born in a village near Urfa (Riha) in the Kurdish region of Turkey. She married the legendary Kurdish singer, Sivan Perwer. In 1978, they settled in Germany. She released her first album in Germany in 1979 (Kurdistan Baxce Gulan) beginning her career as a dengbej. She is the second great woman dengbej after Ayse San (1938-1996). She made several albums which are highly-regarded by lovers of Kurdish folk music and world music in general. She performs a programme of Kurdish Folk songs as part of her four-piece group: Gülistan Perwer (voice), Sevcan Ezgi (saz, tanbur), Burcu Yankın (percussion) and Nure Dilovan (qanun).
His music has many influences: rock, French chanson, Spanish-American salsa, reggae, ska and Algerian rai. These influences were obtained from immigrants in France, his Iberian relations, and foremost his travels in Mesoamerica as a wandering nomad following the disbanding of Mano Negra. Many of Chao’s lyrics are about political issues (e.g. immigration, global social justice, conflict, and strongly leftist critique of exploitative economic globalization) but also about love, lifestyles in different parts of the world, and music itself, which is hopeful for the future and at the same time dramatic. He has many followers among the European left and the anti-globalization movement.The influence of Manu Chao in the Latin Rock or “Rock en Español” was crucial not only for the development and rise of new Latin bands that tried to emulate his ecclectic style, but also for the self-knowledge of Latin America as a united culture. After his visit with Mano Negra to several South American countries, his lyrics tended to be written increasingly in Spanish. His songs also took the lyrics or chords of some popular tunes like “El preso” from “Fruko y Sus Tesos” (in “Desaparecido”) or “La Verdolaga” a traditional Colombian cumbia (in “Por el Suelo”). His music does not follow a logical textual narrative, but in its eclectic construction it invokes a deeper understanding of its subject than any literal form could. He sings songs about the people of the streets, the outer provinces, and the marginalised; he sings with the forgotten and uncounted billions, the underclass, and in so doing he speaks about the fragility of human kind. His music is a bridge, exploring the common ground and means of mutual understanding that are available to us, communicating the idea that beyond superfluous differences in cultural identity, we are all the same.
www.manuchao.net
www.myspace.com/manuchao
Sivan Perwer is a Kurdish poet, writer, music-teacher, singer, and performer of the tembur. He currently lives in exile after having to leave Turkey in 1976 because of his commitment to Kurdish culture. Thus far, Sivan Perwer has recorded over twenty-five albums, as well as many music videos and documentaries. He has been performing for over thirty years and has received many honorary degrees and world-music prizes. In 1991, he appeared as part of the 'Simple Truth' Live Aid concert. In 2004, he established the Sivan Perwer International Cultural Foundation in Frankfurt. He has now received an open official invitation to return Turkey to perform and we greatly look forward to his return.