Biography
An evening with FREE PLANET RADIO offers a richly unique aural experience which includes the exotic sliding string sounds of the Indian Dotar dancing around a pulsing Jazz Bass accented by the shimmering jingles of an Egyptian Riq Tambourine.
Free Planet Radio weaves Middle Eastern, Indian, and North African melodic and rhythmic structures and blends them expertly with the subtleties and harmonic vocabulary of Western classical music, underscored with the improvisatory element of Jazz.
These artists emerged from three of the country’s finest conservatories, and each has established himself in concert halls and studios, appearing on over 200 recordings and in 30 countries. Their immense individual talents have garnered worldwide recognition in performances from Carnegie Hall to the Hong Kong World Music Festival; from the Kennedy Center to the Madrid International Jazz Festival. These versatile musicians now unite their expansive talents, instruments, harmonies and rhythms to create their shared world vision; a phenomenal blending and harmony of global traditions in music.
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Chris Rosser is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, composer and producer. As a solo performer, he tours nationally playing at festivals, clubs and listening rooms, and has shared stages with folk and pop luminaries such as Nickel Creek, John Mayer, Shawn Mullins, John Gorka, David Wilcox, Tom Rush and more. Chris has released two recordings on ISG Records, The Holy Fool (2000) and Archaeology (1998) and has won songwriting contests at the Rocky Mountain Folks and Merle Watson festivals. With the help of a 1999 WNC Regional Artists grant, he continued his studies of Hindustani classical music and the sarod (a 25-string fretless Indian lute) with world famous Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan in San Rafael, CA. Rosser earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Miami School of Music where he studied jazz piano and studio recording on a full scholarship. He owns Hollow Reed Studio in Asheville and was awarded a songwriter/composer fellowship from the NC Arts Council. Visit him at www.chrisrosser.com.
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River Guerguerian is a multipercussionist/composer/educator who has been performing professionally for 25 years with such groups as the BBC Concert Orchestra, New Music Consort, Grammy and Oscar winning composer Tan Dun, Tibetan Singing Bowl Ensemble, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Chuck Berry, Sophie B. Hawkins, and Ziggy Marley/Gipsy Kings. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by chamber ensembles, universities, modern dance companies, and new music festivals throughout the U.S. He has performed at International Music Festivals in New York, Berlin, Moscow, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Barcelona, London, and has recorded on over 100 albums and film soundtracks. In 1994, River sold all possessions, left civilization for five years, and lived in a wildlife sanctuary in the Himalaya Mountains. River conducts rhythm and sound exploration workshops throughout the country. Visit him at www.guerguerian.com.
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Grammy Award–winning bassist Eliot Wadopian has been a professional musician for more than twenty seven years. He began his studies at the Berklee College of Music and has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe and the Orient with many professional ensembles. Eliot has held the bass chair for such artists as Paul Winter and the Paul Winter Consort, David Wilcox, Eugene Friesen and Paul Halley, Donald Harrison, Jon Faddis, Glen Velez, Mark Lavine, Gene Bertoncini, Paul Sullivan, Oscar Castro-Neves, Judy Collins, Yo Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, the Cab Calloway big band, and Davy Spillane, to name a few. As an educator, Eliot teaches privately, as well as on the current faculties of Western Carolina University and Mars Hill College. He also performs regularly in several bass sections of many regional mid-Atlantic symphony Orchestras. Visit him at www.eliotwadopian.com.
Instrumentation
Chris Rosser - Indian dotar, Turkish cumbus oud, guitars, pianos, melodica, harmonium
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River Guerguerian - Middle Eastern frame drums & doumbek, cajon, drumset, congas, gongs, tabla...
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Eliot Wadopian - string and electric basses
Discography
New Bedouin Dance
Links
| http://www.freeplanetradio.com |
| Buy CDs from CDBaby |
| Myspace |
| Chris Rosser |
| River Guergarian |
| Eliot Wadopian |