JAMAL MOHAMED AND “THE BRIDGE” The Bridge is comprised of four acclaimed musicians who form a cultural bridge between east and west by fusing American jazz with the music of India and the Middle East. Master improvisers as well as technically accomplished instrumentalists, they bring the best elements of eastern and western music to create an exciting and unique entertainment experience. Their performances are a rich and rewarding cross-cultural event that will long be remembered. Our show at Jazz Café will feature the incredible talents of renowned Middle Eastern Dance Alia Mohamed and Bali’s own enchanting Helga on violin. Jamal Mohamed – Percussion Alia Mohamed – Middle Eastern dance Poovalur Sriji – Classical Indian percussion Jonathan Jones – Didgeridoo and Woodwinds Ade Suparman – Sundanese Kecapi PERFORMERS BIOS Jamal Mohamed has been a featured artist in many international music and dance events. He has presented percussion workshops at venues worldwide, including Berklee College of Music in Boston; the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City; the Tokyo School of Music in Tokyo, Japan; the American University in Cairo, Egypt; the Center for World Music in Bali, Indonesia; and the University of Hong Kong, to name a few. He has performed with Sting, Mark O’Connor, Giovanni Hidalgo and many other well known artists. In addition, his music has been featured in the television documentaries Ramses the Great, National Geographic’s Lions of Darkness (with D’Drum), and the film biography of bluesman Robert Johnson, Can’t You Hear the Wind Howl?, starring Danny Glover and Keb’ Mo’. A native of Lebanon, Jamal grew up in the Chicago area, where he was exposed to rich blues and jazz traditions as well as the Middle Eastern music he heard at home. Known for his virtuosity on the doumbek, Jamal has incorporated many innovative jazz and Latin styles with this ancient instrument. He designs and builds a number of the instruments he plays and has worked extensively in dance, theater, film and music therapy. In 2010 Toca Percussion introduced the “Jamal Doumbek,” a signature drum he designed with Toca. Jamal is a founding member of the percussion group D’Drum. The group was named the 2010 winner of Drum! magazine’s award for best percussion group, and was also featured in an Emmy Award-winning PBS short film documenting the group’s travels and observations related to world percussion. Jamal also performs with the world music group The Bridge and the jazz ensemble Jampact. He serves on the faculty at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where he teaches percussion and directs the Meadows World Music Ensemble. For further information visit: jamalmohamed POOVALUR SRIJI (Indian percussion)- a prolific composer, performer, and educator studied South Indian Classical music from his father P.A. Venkataraman. For over twenty five years Poovalur has performed with the leading artist from both South and North Indian Classical traditions. Since his move to the United States Poovalur has performed and recorded with various artists, such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Bela Fleck, Mark O’ Connor, John Bergamo, Glen Velez to name a few. Poovalur has composed several pieces portraying the South Indian idioms. Poovalur has received several awards from leading institutions. The album Tabula Rasa, where he has composed and performed with Bela Fleck, V. M. Bhatt and J.P. Chen was nominated for a Grammy. He founded and directs the SNEW and the South Indian Cross Cultural Ensemble as well as being a founding member of the group Brahma. Poovalur has taught Music at San Diego State University and Calarts and currently a faculty at University Of North Texas at Denton. Jonathan Jones (Clarinet, didgeridoo, Mizmar (double reeds) is an alumnus of the Meadows School of the Arts where he studied clarinet with Paul Garner of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The youngest solo artist to be featured with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra, Jones was appointed to the principal clarinet position with the orchestra in 2007. Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News has described Jones as a passionate and virtuosic musician responsible for all-out playing. An award-winning clarinetist and frequent soloist, Jones has performed the European premiere of Ricky Ian Gordons Orpheus and Euridice and recitals at lAccademia Santoro and the Matese Friend Festival in Italy. In 2007, Jones was awarded the Gold Medal by the President of the Republic of Italy at the Concorso Musicale Internazionale Citta di Valentino in Castellaneta, Italy. Jones currently works as a private clarinet instructor and freelance musician in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. Ade Suparman, instrumentalist and composer of Sundanese music, was born in Purwakarta, West Java, in 1969. He started playing kacapi when he was 10 years old with his father. He then studied music theory and classical music (including vocal, Suling, Kendang and Gamelan) at Indonesia Art School (SMKI). He received his BA from Indonesian Art University (ISI) in Surakarta. After his studies, he performed as a concert kacapist around the world. Besides performing, he has created a new learning method for Suling (bamboo flute), and has also published several method books for Sundanese instruments - Suling, Gamelan and Kacapi. Ade has been a member of professional folk and classical music groups in Bandung, performing on Kacapi and Gamelan. He has recorded Sundanese traditional and contemporary music with well-known composers in West Java. His travels abroad have taken him to India, South Korea, the Netherlands and the USA. While in the Netherlands, he performed as a kacapi soloist in Utretcht and Den Haag, and also taught Sundanese music in Stichtings Kunskring Siliwangi-Panglipur. He also teaches regularly in Bali for the San Diego-based Center for World Music. Alia Mohamed. An esteemed professional belly dancer, Alia Mohamed is known for her vintage style, timeless beauty, and hypnotic hips that leave her audiences in a trance. Coming from a Lebanese background and a family of musicians, Alia has an intrinsic understanding of Middle Eastern music and dance which is displayed in her performances. She has studied belly dance intensively for ten years and is highly influenced by the belly dancers of Egypt in the 1950s, the Golden Era of Belly Dance. Alia channels this classic style of belly dance, characterized by improvisation, simplicity, and glamour and adds an exotic touch, mesmerizing crowds worldwide. A sought-after performer, Alia dances regularly in the Dallas area and also performs at various events and festivals around the world. Some of her notable performances include dancing at the World Music and Dance Festival in Bali, Indonesia and the San Diego State University Global Rhythms Festival. Alia is also a member of the Ruby Revue dance troupe which performs monthly for hundreds of fans at the House of Blues in Dallas and Houston and at various events across the country.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 02:51:32 +0000
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