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Brighter Planet
World Music Against Climate Change — June 6, 2015
On Saturday, June 6, the eleventh “Playing For The Planet” benefit concert will showcase master musicians from three different musical traditions in a rare evening of pan-cultural improvisation, with all proceeds going to benefit the environmental advocacy group 350MA.org. The performers include the brilliant jazz of Charlie Kohlhase’s “Explorers’ Club”, Esthema’s contemporary take on Balkan and Middle-Eastern traditions, and the awe-inspiring Indian rhythm duet of Pravin Sitaram and Amit Kavthekar. The music begins at 7:00 pm, at The Community Church Of Boston, 565 Boylston Street (Copley Square), Boston. Admission is $20; $15 students & seniors. For information, please call 781-396-0734, or visit the event website at www.warrensenders.com.
Purchase tickets online from CCNOW:
Regular admission: $20
Student/Senior Admission: $15
Advance orders will be accepted until 3 pm on June 6.
If you prefer to use PayPal, please use the link below:
“Playing For The Planet: World Music Against Climate Change” is the eleventh concert in an ongoing series of cross-cultural events produced by Boston-area musician and environmental activist Warren Senders. These concerts were conceived as a way for creative musicians to contribute to the urgent struggle against global warming. Their choice of beneficiary, 350MA.org, is focused on building global consensus on reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels — action which climatologists agree is necessary to avoid catastrophic outcomes.
“…Senders possesses a gift for assembling fascinating programs.”
— Andrew Gilbert, The Boston Globe —
Because the climate problem recognizes no national boundaries, the artists represent musical styles from three different parts of the globe, and share key musical values: listening, honesty, creativity, and respect. And, of course, they are all committed to raising awareness of the potentially devastating effects of global warming. It’ll be an incredible evening of powerful music — from some of the finest musicians in New England and the world.
“…pleasant surprises…an open-ended, floating, world music festival…” — Steve Elman, ArtsFuse —
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About The Artists
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ESTHEMA
Esthema is a Boston-based ensemble of boundary-bending virtuosi who’ve been developing their unique sound since 2006, fusing progressive rock and jazz-fusion with the sounds of the traditional music of the Balkan region and the Near & Middle East. Andy Milas (guitar), Onur Dilisen (violin), Naseem Alatrash (cello), Mac Ritchey (oud & bouzouki), Tom Martin (bass), and George Lernis (drums & percussion) bring together both Western and Eastern influences, instruments, and concepts in a richly evocative musical tapestry.
Grant Moon of PROG Magazine says that Esthema’s “beautifully produced third album ‘Long Goodbye’ is a relentlessly classy and high-minded affair but with a knowing rock vibe,” while Skope Magazine’s Chris Marsh calls it “…a rich progressive rock record that harnesses classic and modern sounds.”
Esthema’s first CD, Apart From The Rest, was voted in the Top 25 independent recordings of 2008 at Indie-Music.com and in 2009. Joel Simches from Boston’s Noise Magazine stated, “this recording is nothing less than a true celebration of a number of different styles of world beat, jazz, rock, ethnic European and Middle Eastern traditional music” and John Collinge from Progression Magazine called it “a seamless blend of Eastern and Western motifs: Ethnic scales and meters intertwine delightfully with jazz-rock drums and bass beneath jazzy improv and winding melodies.”
Esthema released their second CD, The Hereness and Nowness of Things, in 2009. Lily Emeralde and Emma Dyllan of Phosphorescence Magazine called it “a world-class collaboration of the highest order,” and Barry Clevelend for Guitar Player wrote “the group plays at a truly world-class level, with authenticity, aplomb, and exuberance, resulting in a sumptuous blend.”
Since then, Esthema has been in the weekly Top 20 at Latch Fusion Radio alongside Fusion greats like Herbie Hancock, Return to Forever, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra; they have won the Top 25 of 2011 Award at Indie-Music.com, and their composition “Eastern Dance” went to number 4 on the Instrumental Charts at Indie-Music.com. In 2010 the International Association of Independent Recording Artists (“IAIRA”) certified Esthema’s “Eastern Dance” as an International Top 10. Compositions from all three releases are heard on radio programs and stations throughout the United States, Europe, and Turkey.
For information please visit www.esthema.com.
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PRAVIN SITARAM & AMIT KAVTHEKAR
One of the most exciting forms of Indian classical music is the percussion duet. Blending passionate virtuosity with intricate mathematics and endlessly transforming rhythms, there is nothing remotely close to the power and ebullience two brilliant drummers bring when they interact. Boston is very lucky to have great artists like Pravin Sitaram and Amit Kavthekar to offer this experience to listeners.
Dr. Pravin Sitaram was introduced to mridangam at the age of 8, and has learnt this art from his Guru, Late Shri P. S. Parameswaran – a disciple of the legendary Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer. He was also fortunate to have advanced lessons with the Late Palghat R. Raghu.
Pravin’s sensitive and unobtrusive approach to mridangam accompaniment has been appreciated by outstanding artistes like Dr. R. K. Srikantan, Smt. R. Vedavalli & Madurai Shri T. N. Seshagopalan, Shri T. M. Krishna, Violin maestros – Shri G. J. R. Krishnan, Lalgudi Smt. Vijayalakshmi, and Shri Mysore Manjunath. Pravin has worked with many talents in the New England area and has participated in cross-cultural exchanges in music.
Pravin is a well-known teacher in the Boston area, teaching mridangam to many students over the past several years, several of whom are now performing for concerts in the New England area. He has been a faculty member at the Learnquest Academy of Music since 2003. His students have participated and won prizes in competitions held in North America.
Amit Kavthekar, a formally-recognized disciple of the tabla master Ustad Alla Rakha, has rhythm running in his veins. At the early age of six, he began learning the art of tabla playing, and he has performed with legends of Indian classical music as well as fusion and experimental projects. His dexterity and virtuosity have elicited applause and admiration all over the world.
Amit teaches Tabla in the American School of Bombay (ASB), in New England School of Music, and as the director of the World Music Ensemble at Salem State University for the World Music Ensemble.
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CHARLIE KOHLHASE and
the EXPLORERS’ CLUB
“As a mainstay in Boston’s jazz scene, saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase has helped cultivate the city as one of America’s most fertile hotbeds for creative music.”
(John Murph, Jazz Times Magazine)
Alto and baritone saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase has been a part of Boston’s jazz scene for more than thirty years. After private studies with Stan Strickland and Roswell Rudd, Kohlhase moved to Boston from his native New Hampshire in 1980. In 1989 he formed the Charlie Kohlhase Quintet, a band that worked around Boston and toured nationally for a dozen years.
Kohlhase has recently been leading two ensembles: the Explorers’ Club, a septet with two reeds, trombone, guitar, bass and two drummers and the Saxophone Support Group, a woodwind octet playing saxophone-oriented compositions by Julius Hemphill, Steve Lacy, John Tchicai and Kohlhase. 2009 saw the release of the Explorers Club CD “Adventures” on Vermont’s Boxholder label. Kohlhase also co-led groups with the late, great Danish/ Congolese saxophonist John Tchicai for New England tours in 1993, 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2006. Charlie was a member of Boston’s Either/ Orchestra from 1987 to 2001, playing throughout North America, Europe and Russia. Recent sideman activities have included work with the Makanda Project, an Octet dedicated to performing unrecorded compositions by the late woodwind player/composer Makanda Ken McIntyre, bassist Kit Demos’ Flame-Tet and trumpeter Daniel Rosenthal’s Quintet.
Charlie, along with Dave Douglas and Roswell Rudd, was an artist-in-residence at Harvard for Spring 2003. In May 2003 Kohlhase recorded with Anthony Braxton’s Genome Project and in June worked with violinist/composer Leroy Jenkins at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. Charlie rejoined the Either/Orchestra in 2008 and has worked with them along with Ethio-Jazz greats Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke, Alemayhu Eschete and Teshome Mitiku in venues ranging from Chicago to London, Toronto to Germany and Holland to Ethiopia.
Charlie has also been active in jazz radio for many years, most recently hosting “Research & Development” Monday afternoons from 2 to 4 PM on WMBR-FM in Cambridge. He directs the Modern American Music Repertory Ensemble at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.
“Kohlhase’s own themes are as action-packed as a comic book and as spontaneous in feel as graffiti.”
(Nate Dorward, Squid’s Ear)
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About www.350.org and the number 350:
Co-founded by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, 350.org is the hub of a worldwide network of over two hundred environmental organizations, all with a common target: persuading the world’s countries to unite in an effort to reduce global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million or less. Climatologist Dr. James Hansen says, “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.” (Dr. Hansen heads the NASA Institute for Space Studies in New York City, and is best known for his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in the 1980s that helped raise broad awareness of the global warming issue.) Activists involved in the 350 movement include Rajendra Pachauri (Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Vandana Shiva (world-renowned environmental leader and thinker), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a global activist on issues pertaining to democracy, freedom and human rights), Van Jones, Bianca Jagger, Dr. James Hansen, Barbara Kingsolver and many more.
350MA.org is the Massachusetts Chapter of this worldwide advocacy group, and the hub for the Better Future Project.
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The Community Church of Boston is a free community united for the study and practice of universal religion, seeking to apply ethical ideals to individual life and the democratic and cooperative principle to all forms of social and economic life. We invite you to read on to discover more about us, join us one Sunday for a thought-provoking and joyful time, or contact the church to find out more about our community: info@communitychurchofboston.org.
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Warren Senders is the contact person for “World Music Against Climate Change.” He is one of thousands of concerned global citizens hoping to trigger positive change through social action and the arts. He can be reached at warvij@verizon.net or by telephone at 781-396-0734.
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On Friday, December 5, the tenth “Playing For The Planet” benefit concert will showcase master musicians from three different musical traditions in a rare evening of pan-cultural improvisation, with all proceeds going to benefit the environmental advocacy group 350MA.org. The performers include Nima Janmohammadi, a contemporary master of Persian classical music; Triarky, a brilliant jazz “power trio” featuring violinist Mimi Rabson and the electric tuba of David Harris; and the Hindustani classical singing of Warren Senders, with George Ruckert & Amit Kavthekar. The music begins at 7:00 pm, at The Community Church Of Boston, 565 Boylston Street (Copley Square), Boston. Admission is $20; $15 students & seniors. For information, please call 781-396-0734, or visit the event website at www.warrensenders.com.
Purchase tickets online from CCNOW:
Regular admission: $20
Student/Senior Admission: $15
Advance Ticket Orders Are Accepted Until 3 pm on December 5. Tickets will be emailed directly to your inbox up to that time!
If you prefer to use PayPal, please use the link below:
“Playing For The Planet: Improvisors Against Climate Change” is the tenth concert in an ongoing series of cross-cultural events produced by Boston-area musician and environmental activist Warren Senders. These concerts were conceived as a way for creative musicians to contribute to the urgent struggle against global warming. Their choice of beneficiary, 350MA.org, is focused on building global consensus on reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels — action which climatologists agree is necessary to avoid catastrophic outcomes.
“…Senders possesses a gift for assembling fascinating programs.”
— Andrew Gilbert, The Boston Globe —
Because the climate problem recognizes no national boundaries, the artists represent musical styles from three different parts of the globe, and share key musical values: listening, honesty, creativity, and respect. And, of course, they are all committed to raising awareness of the potentially devastating effects of global warming. It’ll be an incredible evening of powerful music — from some of the finest musicians in New England and the world.
“…pleasant surprises…an open-ended, floating, world music festival…” — Steve Elman, ArtsFuse —
====================================
About The Artists
====================================
Nima Janmohammadi
Born in 1984, Iranian multi-instrumentalist and composer Nima Janmohammadi started playing Setar at the age of seven with Mehrdad Torabi. While his main focus has been in playing Setar, he also plays Oud, Robab, Kamanche, Gheychak and vocal repertoire of Persian music. He continued studying various styles of Persian music and completing his repertoire with masters such as Jalal Zolfunun and Massoud Shaari, and later with the legendary masters of Persian music: Mohammad-Reza Lotfi and Hossein Alizadeh. He also studied ethnomusicology and theory of Persian music with professor Dr. Mohsen Hajarian.
Finishing his bachelor’s degree in Persian music, he began his career as a professional teacher and performer in Iran. While getting his Master’s Degree and Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Improvisation at New England Conservatory of Music, Nima had the advantage of working with great musicians and composers including Hankus Netsky, Ran Blake, Anthony Coleman, Tanya Kalmanovich, Andreia Pinto-Correia and Katarina Miljkovic.
Nima teaches at New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He is an international performer and holds master classes all over the world.
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TRIARKY
[
Low-brass master David Harris and virtuoso violinist Mimi Rabson collaborate with drummer Phil Neighbors in Triarky, a “power trio” performing all original music referencing rock, funk, ska, afro pop, middle eastern, and contemporary jazz. The music is full of driving grooves and heavy energy, busting out with rhythm, dissonance, and improvising.
David Harris has distinguished himself as a trombonist and composer/arranger in a multitude of musical styles. Originally from University City, MO., Mr. Harris associates with a wide variety of musicians performing jazz, R&B, rock, pop, and international folk music. As a jazz composer, he has twice won the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship for music composition. On both tuba and trombone, David has been performing with the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble since 2010, and is longtime trombonist and composer/arranger for the Jazz Composers’ Alliance Orchestra, with which he performs and records. An associate-professor at Berklee College of Music, Mr. Harris has been featured on over 40 albums, in the soundtrack for Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”, the klezmer soundtrack for the movie “Stranger Among Us”, the soundtrack for the movie “Opposite of Sex,” and various TV soundtracks and commercials as well. A leader in the klezmer revival, he was the founding trombonist for the Klezmer Conservatory Band, with whom he recorded and toured. Mr. Harris has performed around the world, including the Berlin Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, the Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, with the Philadelphia Pops, at the Smithsonian Institute, and in jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, the Knitting Factory and Tonic.
Mimi Rabson is one of Boston’s most creative and versatile musicians. A first-prize winner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in composition, her compositions and arrangements are published by StringLetter Press (distributed by Hal Leonard), and include many original pieces along with arrangements of music by Duke Ellington, James Brown and Cole Porter. Ms. Rabson created the Really Eclectic String Quartet, and was a founding member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Ms. Rabson appeared with Itzhak Perlman on the recording called “In the Fiddler’s House” and on “The Late Show with David Letterman”. She was featured in a documentary about Klezmer music called “A Jumpin’ Night in the Garden of Eden”. Ms. Rabson served as musical director to academy award winner, Joel Grey in his production of “Borschtcapades ‘94”. Her composition “Klezzified” was featured on Saturday Night Live. Other performance credits include the premiere of “Fresh Faust” by Leroy Jenkins, soundtrack for “Sensorium”- the award winning film by Karen Aqua, with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Meatloaf, Kristin Chenoweth, the Boston Gay Men’s Choir, the Boston Camarata, the New England Ragtime Ensemble, the Klezmatics, Deborah Henson-Conant, the Pablo Ablanedo Octet, and XLCR. She has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion twice, at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Wolf Trap, the Mann Center, the Place des Arts in Montreal and other world class venues.
Phil Neighbors is originally from Cincinnati, and has lived in Boston since 1995. He has performed and/or recorded with groups as diverse as: The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, Dave Birkin’s Hot Shots, the Sam Davis group, The Coots, the Jeff Robinson Trio, and the Funky White Honkies, Agachiko, and Triarky.
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Warren Senders and The Raga Ensemble
One of the world’s great improvisational song forms is khyal, the richly ornamented classical singing of North Indian tradition. Accompanied by the harmonium of George Ruckert and the tabla of Amit Kavthekar, Warren Senders weaves a hypnotic tapestry of sound in his renditions of traditional ragas. Acclaimed as the foremost non-Indian performer of this beautiful idiom, Senders lived in India for many years, learning the khyal style from master teacher Pt. S.G. Devasthali. He has performed throughout the world, enrapturing audiences and critics with a unique combination of authenticity and originality. His most recent CD release, “The Beauty of Khyal,” features mesmerizing renditions of five evening and night ragas.
“…an amazing man, an amazing artist.”
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, interviewed in Little India, September 2002
Mr. Senders has received grants and fellowships including the Indo-American Fellowship, the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Scholarship for Indian Music, a Senior Research Fellowship and a Performing Arts Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, support for music composition from Meet the Composer, and travel awards from the Fund for U.S. Artists. His writings on music have been published by Rhythm Magazine, Bansuri, the New England Conservatory Journal for Learning Through Music, and World Rhythm. Also a jazz musician, his original instrumental music can be heard on cds by “Antigravity” and the Jazz Composers’ Alliance Orchestra.
”Warren’s talent of keeping listeners engrossed by his delightful singing…comes from this same attitude of heartily enjoying the process of musical discovery.”
— Chaitanya Kunte, Tarun Bharat, Pune, India —
An internationally recognized educator and a faculty member of Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music, Mr. Senders has given hundreds of lecture-demonstrations, master-classes and clinics, for interested learners from kindergartners to elders. He has developed extensive course material on the structure and aesthetics of Hindustani music, and has introduced students students at colleges and universities all over the United States, Canada and India to aspects of Indian music.
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About www.350.org and the number 350:
Co-founded by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, 350.org is the hub of a worldwide network of over two hundred environmental organizations, all with a common target: persuading the world’s countries to unite in an effort to reduce global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million or less. Climatologist Dr. James Hansen says, “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.” (Dr. Hansen heads the NASA Institute for Space Studies in New York City, and is best known for his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in the 1980s that helped raise broad awareness of the global warming issue.) Activists involved in the 350 movement include Rajendra Pachauri (Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Vandana Shiva (world-renowned environmental leader and thinker), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and a global activist on issues pertaining to democracy, freedom and human rights), Van Jones, Bianca Jagger, Dr. James Hansen, Barbara Kingsolver and many more.
=============================================
Warren Senders is the contact person for “Voices Against Climate Change.” He is one of thousands of concerned global citizens hoping to trigger positive change through social action and the arts. He can be reached at warvij@verizon.net or by telephone at 781-396-0734.