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SRCA Recordings We have just kicked off our brand new record label - SRCA Recordings - that will focus on ethnic and folk music. Our first release will be Mike Hovancsek's "Temporal Angels". Read more below for more information on this CD, and check back soon for news on other releases and more ... SRCA
Recordings
is proud to announce their first CD release: Mike
Hovancsek's "Temporal
Angels"
About
Mike Hovancsek The
Guest Musicians About
The Music * A piece for harmonic vocals (a vocalist who can sing two or three notes at the same time), gu zheng (a Chinese zither), percussion, and vielle (a renaissance precursor to the violin). * A piece for choir, koto (a Japanese harp-like zither), and oboe. This piece features a shifting tone center that weaves the music between two completely different scales, thus stretching the listener's ear beyond conventional tonality. * A piece for ?àn b?u (a Vietnamese one-string instrument), tambura (a string instrument, similar to the sitar. Traditionally, it is played by plucking the strings but in this piece it is played with a slide and struck with mallets), and gu zheng (a Chinese zither). This piece features master musician Phong Nguyen performing on the extremely difficult ?àn b?u. The instrument is played completely in harmonics, which are bent in intricate ways from one pitch to another. This creates a haunting, ghost-like effect. Phong also performed on this instrument with The Kronos Quartet. * A piece for erhu (a Chinese two-stringed fiddle), cello, gu zheng (a Chinese zither), and percussion. * A piece for didgeridoo (an Australian wind instrument), oboe, shahnai (an Asian multi-reed instrument), and percussion instruments from around the world. This is one of the trobbing, tribal drum pieces on the CD that break up the tension from the more stately chamber pieces. It includes a shahnai part that begins with John Coltrane-like licks, blossoms into some intense hocketing, and then builds to a climax of multiple reeds. * A piece for harmonic vocals (a vocalist singing two or three notes at the same time), tambura (an Indian string instrument, similar to the sitar), crumhorn (a renaissance-era wind instrument), sitar (a classical string instrument from India), gu zheng (a Chinese zither), and percussion. Temporal Angels: Liner Notes 1)
Hybrids (listen
to MP3) – Jennifer Dickerhoof (violin), Mike Hovancsek (gu
zheng, cello, percussion). It was my great honor and pleasure to collaborate with so many of my talented friends on this recording. I would encourage anyone to seek out more of their work: Phong Nguyen is a Vietnamese master musician and ethnomusicologist. He performs comfortably on a startling array of Vietnamese instruments. In 1997 Phong was invited to the White House to receive the National Heritage Award from First Lady Hillary Clinton. This award is the nation's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts and is presented by the National Endowment for the Arts. Halim El-Dabh is an esteemed composer, performer, and educator. Born in Egypt, he was declared the greatest composer in his country. Soon after, he was invited to the United States, where he studied with Aaron Copland and premiered his music at Juilliard, earning the praise of John Cage and Martha Graham. Over the years, he has composed a wealth of symphonies, ballets, chamber pieces, solo pieces, electronic music, and music for virtually every other kind of ensemble imaginable. Halim received multiple Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Fulbright awards in the course of his career. At this writing David Badagnani is completing his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Kent State University. He is a remarkable musician who can pick up virtually any instrument and play it convincingly. He is also able to play wind instruments in any tuning, regardless of the tuning they were designed to play. Wah-Chiu Lai performed on a variety of instruments in the Chinese Classical Music Orchestra and the Taipei Municipal Chinese Orchestra in Taipei, Taiwan. Later, he worked as a broadcaster and reporter in New York. He is currently completing his Ph.D in ethnomusicology at Kent State University, where he directs the Chinese Ensemble.
Jennifer Dickerhoof has been playing
the violin since she was four years old. She Brad Bolton is a sought-after folk musician who devotes himself mostly to blues, folk, and other forms of roots music. As his performance on this CD indicates, he is also comfortable playing multicultural music in odd tunings. Hal Walker is a talented folk musician in his own right. He is also the Director of Music at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Kent, Ohio. He conducted the Unitarian Universalist Choir for this project. Jim Cole is a harmonic vocalist. He is able to perform many of the different styles of harmonic singing from various cultures. This is one of the most challenging vocal styles, in which the performer sings multiple tones at once. Jim has two really interesting groups that feature this style of singing: Spectral Voices and Leland Burr. David Estafen is a drummer and didgeridoo player who currently resides in Seattle. He is a political activist who is dedicated to protecting the environment. These ideals are reflected in the music that he performs.
Recordings by Mike Hovancsek except for portions of 5 & 6, which
were recorded by Jim Cole. Cover art by Mike Hovancsek. All material
© Mike Hovancsek 2003. Contact
SRCA Recordings: srca@neo.rr.com
or http://www.standingrock.net |
