Tag Archive for 'Music'

Live Music: “Afrokoko Roots” – African ensemble playing afrobeat classics with Fela Kuti style

Published on November 13, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Afrokoko Roots - Live at Ginkgo
Next Performance: Saturday 21st November – 10:30pm (Free before 9:30pm. 30 RMB after)

Afrokoko Roots are an afrobeat and reggae band formed by 33 year old Nigerian percussionist Sunny Dada. They perform afrobeat music in the style of Fela Kuti as well as reggae classics from Bob Marley and others.

Born out of his desire to bring African music to China, Sunny formed the band soon after moving to Beijing two years ago. Sunny is a true multi-instrumentalist including mastery of percussion, trap drumming, piano, trumpet, bass guitar and singing. He is also an accomplished song writer and composer of instrumental arrangements. His passion for music was ignited when he was young in the church that his father founded, which exposed him to lots of musical styles and gave him an opportunity to hone his skills.

Afrokoko Roots features Sunny on lead vocals, rhythm section with drums, guitar and bass guitar, horn section with trumpet, sax and trombone, a female backing vocalist and percussion! They also bring hot African dancing girls! Prepare to experience one hell of a show!

Their MySpace page can be viewed here: www.myspace.com/afrokokoroots

Live Music: “Nico & Zoe” – Dinner Gypsy Jazz with Guitar & Accordion

Published on September 2, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Nico & Zoe

Join us this Sunday night for our Dinner Jazz Night featuring live music from 7:30pm with “Nico & Zoe”. Frenchman Nico Torrese is joined by the beautiful Chinese accordionist Wang Yi (Zoe) for fast-fingered gypsy jazz incorporating Manouche and American jazz standards. Their repertoire features music popularised by many famous artists ranging from Django Reijnhart to Yann Tiersen. The talented duo has a great reputation in the Beijing music scene for their skilled playing and vibrant execution, always putting a smile on your face and a spring in your step.

Reservations for this event are strongly recommended. Please call the restaurant to book: 6402 7532

Live Music: “Hummingbird” – Fusing latin rhythms and jazz with traditional Kazakh influences for a singular salsa sound!

Published on August 27, 2009 in Events, Music and Party. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

HummingbirdNext Performance: Saturday 3rd April 2010 – 10:30pm (Free B4 9:30pm. 30 RMB after incl. a free drink)

Beijing’s all-Chinese salsa band, Hummingbird fuses latin rhythms and jazz sensibilities with traditional Kazakh influences for a singular salsa sound! Bring your dancing shoes and your dancing friends and dance the night away!

Live Music: “Daisy Sweetgrass” – Siren and songwriter performing American Roots music

Published on July 7, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Daisy Sweetgrass
Next Performance: Thursday 26th February 2010 – 9:30pm (Free Entry)

Daisy Sweetgrass (a.k.a Christine Laskowski) is the result of an affair between the wife of Presbyterian minister and a door-to-door flower seed salesman on a steamy August afternoon in 1984. Her mother Evangeline told her that he had a passion for 7th century Persian poetry, smelled of pine trees and damp wool, and had given her a packet of daisy seeds as a parting gift. As per the origins of Daisy’s musical talent, Evangeline could only tell her that he had a very pleasant hum.

But that was many years ago.

These days Daisy’s in Beijing. She’s playing guitar and singing American roots music- from traditional bluegrass ballads to Swahili folk songs, as well as songs of her own. With her infectious energy, sparkle in her eye, and a voice that’ll make you swoon, Daisy Sweetgrass puts on a show well worth watching.

You can listen to some of her songs here:

Daisy Sweetgrass – “Never Lonelier”
Daisy Sweetgrass – “Hutong Girl”
Daisy Sweetgrass – “Jolene” by Dolly Parton

You can also see her website here: www.daisysweetgrass.com

Daisy Sweetgrass是1984年8月某一盛夏午后一位长老教会牧师的妻子和一位走街串巷的推售员之间一段风流韵事的结晶。她的妈妈 Evangeline告诉她那个男人狂热于7世纪的波斯诗歌，身上充满了松树和湿羊绒的香味，并在离别之际将一包菊籽赠与她的妈妈作为礼物。至于Daisy音乐天赋是否传承自那个男人， Evangeline 只是告诉Daisy他的低声轻吟令人沉醉。

不过，那已是很久以前的事情了。

现在，Daisy身在北京。她弹奏吉他，吟唱着美国传统的歌谣—-从传统蓝草音乐到斯瓦希里民谣，还有她自己创作的歌曲。Daisy Sweetgrass拥有非凡的感染力，明亮清澈的眼神和令人陶醉的嗓音，她的演出不容错过。

Live Music: “Sitarman” – Experience the sounds of India from Beijing multi-instrumentalist Xue Ting

Published on June 25, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Sitarman
Next Performance: Sunday 18th October 2009 – 7:30pm (Free Entry)

Beijinger, Xue Ting is a multi-instrumentalist who plays many unusual instruments including Sitar, Cholr (Mongolian pipe), Kazhak Dombora and the Jews harp. He is however perhaps most famous in Beijing for his Hummi throat singing.

He studied sitar at the DHRUPAD SANSTHAN (Institute of Dhrubad) in Bhopal, India. He first leaned the Dhrubad style of singing under the tuition of the Gundecha brothers, which in turn then enabled him to move on to the sitar. He became the Sitar student of Shubha Sankaran, studying the style of famed Sitar player USTAD VILAYAT KHAN which differs distinctly from the style popularized by Ravi Shankar.

薛挺 男 北京人 印度西塔琴师（SITAR）
曾赴印度的DHRUPAD SANSTHAN学院（AN INSTITUTE OF DHRUPAD IN BHOPAL）修习印度古典音乐（DHRUPAD MUSIC）的演唱和西塔琴（SITAR）USTAD VILAYAT KHAN式的拉格（RAGA）演奏。
学习期间，先后师从中国东方歌舞团的姚策先生，美籍印度西塔琴演奏家SHUBHA SANKARAN女士和美国西塔琴师BREIN先生，以及印度 “DHRUPAD三兄弟（GUNDECHA BROTHERS）”。

Live Music: “Pancho & Sal” – Kindred spirits melded through Latin harmony

Published on June 9, 2009 in Events, Music and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Pancho & Sal
Join us at Ginkgo on Friday 19th June 2009 for special guests “Pancho and Sal” who are in town for a couple of weeks.

Born in Argentina, Pancho has been writing poems all his life. In the 80’s he moved to Europe, becoming a troubadour style musician, touring in many countries. With the Gypsies in the South of France, he created a new dimension of flamenco guitar and rhythms. After many years of musical exchange with other musicians, his folk music has influences from country, blues, reggae and south American folk.

Sal, who was born in England and raised in Canada, started playing accordion and clarinet at an early age. She compliments Pancho’s music with accordion, shakers, chachas, bombo and guitar.

The two met in 1984 in a town square in Cuzco, Peru. Their eyes met from across the square and it was love at first sight. It was also the beginning of a musical partnership that has endured and endeared the couple to so many audiences.

Singing in Spanish, English and French, their music inspires the audiences to participate and sing along. Concerts are designed to be positive and enthusiastic experiences introducing listeners to the beauty of Spanish language, music and culture.

Pancho and Sal’s live shows have a quality and atmosphere that can be hard to capture, other than by being there. Don’t miss the talented duo, joined together with friend Kamila Nasr, when they play at Ginkgo.

Albums

“Vivirei” -I Would live-
“Cuando Salga la Luna”, -When the Moon comes up-
“Revivir” -To Live Again-
“El Regalo” -The Gift-

Highlights

Pancho & Sal’s  highlights include appearances on French and English radio, CBC, 96.1, 102.7, 103.1 FM’s, 1540 Am, and CBC TV,  VTV, Shaw TV, Global, City TV, Multicultural channel 20, Mission Folk Festival, Harrison Festival of Arts, In Harmony Music Fest, Trout Forest, Caribbean Festival , North Van Folk Fest, Blue Mountain, Commodore Ballroom, and numerous places in the interior of British’s Columbia and Vancouver Island.

Links

Website:        http://www.panchoandsal.com
Videos:          http://www.panchoandsal.com/video.htm
My Space:     http://www.myspace.com/panchoandsal

Live Music: “Tannenberg & Meyer” – Celebrating the art of the jazz duo

Published on May 26, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Tannenberg & Meyer

Jörg Tannenberg and Sebastian Meyer are two german guys, well educated in jazz who meet to celebrate the art of the duo. Using jazz guitar and double-bass they perform jazz standards, ballads, latin music and their own original compositions. Like ying and yang the two musicians give and take energy to create a overall balance.

Recognised by many of Beijing’s top musicians as the finest jazz duo in town these guys have been playing together for over seven years. Their music is always intriguing on the first hear, and sucks you in, getting incredibly psychedelic towards the end. In short if you like jazz – don’t miss it!

Please see the ‘Upcoming Events’ box on the right of our web page for their next performance. Seen them play before? Please give them a star rating below. Post your reviews in the comments.
[starrater]

Live Music: “Amine Kouider” – Algerian Rai with Reggae beats, French Lullabies & Spanish Rumbas

Published on May 25, 2009 in Events, Music and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Amine Kouider

Join us at Ginkgo on Thursday 4th June from 9:30pm for live music from from guitarist Amine Kouider who is Beijing for a few weeks. Born in Algiers, Algeria and currently living in the US, Amine has been singing for as long as he could speak. At the age of 4 he was nicknamed “cassette tape” because of his non-stop singing!

His music blends graceful Algerian Rai music with Reggae beats, French Lullabies with Spanish Rumbas. Amine sings in English, French, Arabic, Berber and Spanish. His acoustic performance will include original songs and covers from Manu Chao, Khaled, Bob Marley, George Moustaki and others. Don’t miss him before he leaves town!

UPDATE – Amine will be joined by the Australian percussionist, Zac Courtney, on Djembe.

Live Music: “Ismat” – ‘East meets west’ fusing of traditional Xinjiang folk influences with Flamenco!

Published on May 21, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Ismat
Ismat, are without question the finest Xinjiang act in Beijing! They have been playing up a storm around the city for the last few years and have built up a loyal following, and for good reason -  their enthusiastic playing style, get up and go attitude and energetic rhythms always get the crowd buzzing! Their style merges traditional Xinjiang folk influences with the speed and strummed guitars of flamenco in a truly fascinating hybrid of Chinese and Western folk music. Be sure not to miss them next time they perform at Ginkgo!

You can view a video clip of them in action here.

Please see the ‘Upcoming Events’ box on the right of our web page for their next performance. Seen them play before? Please give them a star rating below. Post your reviews in the comments.
[starrater]

Live Music: “Jess Meider” – The Beijing singer-songwriter performs acoustic with her band

Published on May 5, 2009 in Events and Music. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Jess Meider - Songwriter

Next Performance: Thursday 19th November 2009 – 9:30pm (featuring songs from her new album)

New York born, Jess Meider is well-known for her musical talent and effervescent performances. The Berklee college of music graduate has been performing in Beijing for the last few years. Her repertoire includes jazz improvisation with her quartet to her electronic drum’n'base band “Junglecat”. Now however Jess is getting back to her most acoustic format – the songwriter.

Join Jess Meider (guitar, vocals), Zac Courtney (percussion) and Sarah Vossler (backing vocals) for a night of storytelling acoustic musica – featuring a decade of her songs (including brand new tunes!).

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes