Text by Dawoud Kringle
Photo by Adam Bielawski
On January 10th, 2016, the world was saddened to learn of the death of one of the most iconic figures in the history of rock music; David Bowie.
It’s difficult to imagine a more chameleon-like figure. Unlike most popular musicians whose success depended on sustaining what propelled them to notoriety in the first place, Bowie’s success was defined by constant change.
Artist: Church of Betty
Title: Swirled World
Label: Shop Fang Records
Genre: psychedelic rock / progressive world chamber rock
Review by Dawoud Kringle
Brooklyn’s Church of Betty, the brainchild of sitarist / guitarist Chris Rael, was, from its beginning, an interesting anomaly. Being a sitar player myself, I was intrigued by his concept. COB first hit the scene in 1998. An impressive list of musicians who performed and recorded with COB includes tabla master and Rael’s longtime collaborator, Deep Singh. Their live performances brought theatrics and dance to their live sound. Rael’s sitar style, far from orthodox classical raga, nonetheless used raga as a framework he built on a pop / rock / folk / psychedelic foundation.
What: Meg Okura and the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble‘s new 10-piece mixed jazz ensemble album
Who: Meg Okura is a Juilliard grad Japanese Jewish Jazz violinist and composer who has had the fortune of working with: Michael Brecker, Tom Harrell, Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow, Dianne Reeves, Helen Sung, Sam Newsome, Kanye West, David Bowie, Philip Glass, Vince Giordano, JC Sanford, and many other wonderful artists.
The Creative Music Foundation is acting as the nonprofit ‘fiscal sponsor’ for CMS alumnus Sylvain Leroux’s project to teach music to children in Guinea, West Africa. CMF is taking tax-deductible donations for the ‘l’Ecole Fula Flute.’ Read Sylvain’s story of how he started the school and the progress it’s made.
Text by Sylvain Leroux
Something very special has been happening in Guinea and l’Ecole Fula Flute has taken a life of its own.
