Kiwi The Child

Kiwi the Child blends a variety of sounds into something unique
By: Mike Sorrentino
Gothic Times Issue date: 1/25/07
New Jersey City University
Section: Music

Kiwi the Child's music defies classification. It would fit comfortably on the play list of any trendy coffee house, an outdoor reggae festival, or in the I-pod of
a hardcore deadhead.

Lyrics reminiscent of beat poetry sung over 60's era folk harmonies on top of complexly arranged
songs influenced by jazz, Brazilian, Latin, Indian, classical and especially reggae music. Maybe you're better off just visiting their MySpace page and giving their music a listen for yourself.

Twenty five year old Alex Tyshkov, and band mate and songwriting partner, Vera Sousa, 26, have been playing together since 1998. The band classifies their songs simply as roots music. "I'd consider us an experimental reggae project with a foundation in roots soul music and an appreciation of many others," said Alex.

At a recent live show in New York City, Alex performed a fully Portuguese solo acoustic version of Antonio Carlos Jobim's, "The Girl from Ipanema," a rendition of Bob Marley's "Rastaman Chant" using only percussion instruments, as well as their own music.

Born into a Russian musical family, Tyshkov began studying classical music and piano in his childhood. A multi-instrumentalist, he is a lead vocalist, guitarist, percussionist, bass player, drummer, keyboardist, and will fill in on just about any instrument the music calls for. Vera, the band's co-lead vocalist, also plays percussion instruments.

One of the many aspects of Kiwi's music that sets them apart from other bands is that nearly all of the vocal lines are sung in harmony. The song writing usually begins with Alex's lyrics which tend to be current events based, socially and environmentally conscious and speak of "life and death, love and hate, trials and tribulations, mama earth and the sun." The creation of their original music is a collaborative effort.

Another interesting and unusual thing one notices about a live Kiwi performance is that some parts of the songs are sung in Portuguese. A few years ago Alex became involved in the Brazilian martial art/dance known as capoeira and started taking trips to Brazil, first on exchange during college, then on his own.

Accompanied by Vera, who is of Portuguese descent, Alex visited Brazil in the fall of 2006 to spread Kiwi's music and learn from other musicians, "as well as spending a lot of time in nature," he said.

The duo have a group of friends in
Brazil with whom they worked with last year, and plan future songwriting and recording collaborations which are sure
to give Kiwi's music even greater
uniqueness and diversity.

The band's name came about as a matter of coincidence. Two of the original members had children, both nicknamed "Kiwi." According to Tyshkov, the name Kiwi the Child is a tribute to coincidence, children, and constant newness and living
in the moment, or as Alex puts it, "Always having far to go and much to learn."

A CD of original Kiwi the Child music
is currently in the works. To hear their music, visit www.myspace.com/kiwithechild.
- Gothic Times