A reed instrument player friend of mine saw the Gırnata sitting at a party the other week and commented that it was designed very differently from regular clarinets. Luke explained to me later that this instrument was purposefully designed in only a few dominant keys that Turkish music is played in, which makes it very easy to create all those elaborate and mesmerizing solos that you hear in Turkish music.

What a moment of serendipity, as in the last few months, I’ve been taking my composing back to my roots and youth, breathing the spirit of Balkans and Turkey even more into the Tambura Rasa sound.

Luke has already polished up our most complex compositions and we are super excited to have him on board. He will be playing on his Alpaga silver coated keys at our Vancouver show at the Jazz Cellar next week, celebrating the International Women’s Day, March 8, 2012!

Although we are used to bigger festival and theatre shows, with all our dancers, we noticed last summer how much we cherish smaller venues where we can have a so much more of a direct connection with our audience. When a band can sense people’s intent and enjoyment for what they create, they get inspired all that more. As much as we are sure to continue having our dance-party oriented appearances, we will maintain the intimate ones too. Or even create a combination of the two, after all we’ve had our share of moments where ladies and gents danced on tables even at places like the Jazz Cellar in Vancouver.

The Cellar has opened their doors for Tambura Rasa to do a performance on second Thursday of every month starting 2012. The show on Jan 12 will be a birthday party celebration; Feb 9 will be in the spirit of St. Valentine’s week; March 8 will honor the international Women’s Day, and so on… With a few brand new compositions up our sleeves and fresh approaches to many of our other standards, it is quite the treat for us to come into the New Year with this. Gear up and make advance reservations, as the last 6 concerts completely sold out. (call 604-738-1959)

Hope to see you all soon, at one gathering or another!

Ivan and the TR gang

How does one get inspired to write a Balkan brass style composition? By hanging out with Goran Bregović and his full band, collaborating in a festival organized by the Vancouver Balkan-brass orchestra and writing about one of the most popular Balkan beverages: Turkish coffee.

It was a very rewarding experience to be a part of Goran’s Vancouver tour, driving from and to the airport, taking part in the sound check and relaxing back-stage before the Weddings and Funeral Orchestra threw one of the best shows Vancouver had seen; an event organized by Robert Benaroya’s Caravan World Rhythms at the Vogue theatre on Oct 27, 2011. Bregović’s 6-harmony Orthodox male choir was especially inspiring with their fervor for great stories, such as the exceptionally low-note singing contests between barritone singers, or when Pavarotti had three female escorts during his show in Dubrovnik which were brought in straight from Vienna (specific instructions from his rider…) I learned Chuck Norris jokes for the first time, a cultural tradition of joke-telling that they kept alive with great zest. The experience was made even better as Johnny Gallant hung out with us and shared his wit.

The West is East Festival on Dec 2-3, 2011, organized by Orkestar Šljivovica featured most of Vancouver’s established world music acts and it was a pleasure to have Tambura Rasa be part of the showcase. It had been a while since we’d gotten people on their feet to dance like this in our hometown. Thanks again to Oliver for organizing the event!

All these culturally inspiring events resulted in the writing of our high-energy, Balkan-rumba piece with Turkish lyrics: “Türk Kahvesi” (Tukrish Coffee), a playful, yet heartfelt tale about the bitterness that is left after one’s loved one leaves and takes away all the sweetness. Not much to do other than enjoy some fine, tasty and bitter Turkish coffee – which happens to be the band’s unanimous favorite drink while on the road.

The lyrics of the new song are completely Turkish, the only sensible way to honor this beverage. As I haven’t actively spoken Turkish in about 25 years, a great friend and an amazing Turkish fashion photographer Mehtap Kızılırmak helped with lyric revisions and also inspired the song itself. The main ingredient of the song is the upbeat Balkan rumba drum groove, Guča style, with embellished melodies, and lots of space for improvisation. I just might try to convince the Turkish pop-star Mirkelam to collaborate with us and sing on this track! Or Brega…

This song became the band’s instant favorite and a tune that will be our top play list during future shows. Keep an ear out for it!

Canım, Canım!

This was a recent super impromptu side project unrelated to Tambura Rasa, and since it was a whole a lot of fun I thought I’d include it here! Live Jazz Burlesque act Pandora and the Locksmiths’s dancer Miss Fitt was preparing a number to Gogol Bordello’s “Start Wearing Purple”. They asked me to step in and sing the song for a one-time performance with Nicky Ninedoors on vocals too. It’s a blast, enjoy!

The song “Devojka sa Chardash Nogama“, written by Djordje Balashevich has not just been a crowd pleaser for many years but is one of my favorite songs to play. The original version explores it through the Hungarian Chardash rhythm, whereas with TR, we take it through the rumba Latin feel which gets people dancing no matter where we play it. I have wanted to have this song on one of our CDs for half a decade now and unfortunately, despite being in direct touch with Balasevic, it’s been quite hard to obtain rights to release it. So far.. Djole is one of my favorite lyricists and songwriters since I’ve been very young and this song really captures the raw, passionate essence music can bring into one’s life. Here’s a version of TR playing the song at our Adsum CD Release show in Vancouver, Apr 2011.

Then there is the timeless traditional Macedonian Jovano Jovanke. Songs in odd rhythms are always favorites in the band and this tune is on our top list, right next to “Oh! Belka”. Here is an excerpt video from a few years ago of this song from a South Asian Festival where Neelamjit Dhillon on the Indian Tabla joined in with us.

“Lipe Cvatu Mix“, a remix of Goran Bregovic’s (Bijelo Dugme) song Lipe Cvatu was my first electronic production exploration that never got officially released. After creating it, I ventured into making a series of electronic mixes of my own compositions, some of which made it to the popular Spanish lounge compilation Cafe del Mar. The independently released collection of these mixes “Tambura Rasa Beats” got nominated for the best World Music Recording at the WCMAs. After listening to this mix, years after I’d created it, it still seems to capture and project the powerful energy this soulful odd-rhythm balkan folk-rock song always had.

The first inspiration to fuse middle-eastern Raks Sharqi Baladi rhythm with the Flamenco Buleria compas came about while drinking wine and hanging out after one of our shows at one of Tambura Rasa’s favourite performance venues, the Dream Cafe in Penticton, BC.

The vision for the song “Ardor Kadife” was born.

It was also one of the most difficult songs to bring to life but after many rigorous rehearsals it became one of our favourite compositions to play and explore. Structural elements such as the flamenco remate and the classical indian tihai can be heard and eventually elements of Jazz appeared in the Buleria sections of the tune.

This song is about sensuality and its purity. The boldness of the Baladi beat, intensity of the Buleria and rawness and sway of Jazz can truly encompass the feeling of savouring sensuality.

For the grand CD release on Apr 7, 2011 at the Red Room in Vancouver, the band will feature the Karen Flamenco and Rahel Bellydance troupes to fully capture the essence of the composition.

We’ve decided to give out this song for free for all of you by pressing the button right below in exchange for a simple TWEET or FB POST about Tambura Rasa out to the community. Support us in putting the word out and share the free music with your friends.

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DOWNLOAD THE FREE MP3 HERE:

Many thanks and see you all on the dance floor!

It is only a few weeks before our new CD comes out digitally on iTunes. Accompanied by gorgeous Vancouver sunsets and the stunning full moon tonight, there’s lots of excitement around closing a chapter of music composition, writing and recording, yet opening a whole new one by putting the tunes out to all our fans both in recording and live… And.. I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to also put a couple of free ringtones with new Tambura Rasa melodies for all of you to include in your iPhones and individualize them for when your favorite person calls.. So here they are.

I’ll include the write-ups about the songs, straight from the Adsum CD booklet. This time, I took the time to give a bit of narrative to what the songs are all about and what inspired them… Hope you enjoy them!

Ringtone #1 – Ardor Kadife (Baladi Buleria)
The first inspiration to fuse middle-eastern Raks Sharqi Baladi rhythm with the Flamenco Buleria compas came about while drinking wine and hanging out after one of our shows at one of Tambura Rasa’s favourite performance venues, the Dream Cafe in Penticton, BC.
It was also one of the most difficult songs to bring to life but after many rigorous rehearsals it became one of our favourite compositions to play and explore. Structural elements such as the flamenco remate and the classical indian tiahi can be heard and eventually elements of Jazz appeared in the Buleria sections of the tune.
This song is about sensuality and its purity. The boldness of the Baladi beat, intensity of the Buleria and rawness and sway of Jazz can truly encompass the feeling of savouring sensuality.
Download Ardor Kadife iPhone ringtone

Ringtone #2 – Vrcka
This is one of the most expressive and energetic Tambura Rasa tunes. It is about the untamed beauty of the expression of the dancing female body. It grew out of the years of working with many strong female dancers that embodied diverse cultural styles and by a recommendation of a friend to write it and include feisty expressions in half a dozen languages. Vrcka is dedicated to all the women that explore music through their bodies!
This tune also pays tribute to last century’s psychedelic rock era.
Download Vrcka iPhone ringtone

(once downloaded, just double-click the files or drag and drop them into your iTunes library where the ringtone settings for the iPhone are)

After many years of crafting the tunes, a rewarding recording session and excellent mixing process, this long awaited CD is about to be finished!

This album is about being in “Adsum”, as the Latin translation reveals: being in and experiencing the present. The CD was recorded straight off the floor in Mushroom studios in Vancouver, with only minor additions to spice things up. We invite you to join us in this journey of exploration of sounds and rhythms.

The final song that we recorded by going back to the studio was a last minute decision. It was the solo flamenco Siguirilla Ivan had performed with Karen for some time. The band came on board, arranged violin, cajon and bass with the guitar and recorded this remarkably heartfelt rendition of the song that is about a loss of a friend.

Out of 12 recorded songs, there will be 10 on the CD itself. This album will eventually be released on vinyl as well, for people to enjoy it on their gramophones! The cover of the album is intended to be simple yet intricate at the same time. It represents the rawness, earthiness and the fluency of the album, introduces the dance element and in overall concept ties in with previous Tambura Rasa album covers. One spontaneous feature is that the overall shape of the cover bears a resemblance to the ancient sacred Hindu symbol Aum (OM) which represents the “sound of the infinite”.

The ticket sales for our CD Release and Launch concert in Vancouver on Apr 7 are about to go on sale on Thursday, Jan 6 at the Karen Flamenco Studio (60 west 7th Av, Mon-Thur 5-9pm) and at www.tamburarasa.com. The first 100 tickets will be $15 which will include a free digital CD that we’ll email you on March 7, when the CD gets officially released on iTunes, a month before the show.

We have decided to give two pairs of tickets away, comment a few words about your favorite past Tambura Rasa experience on the blog, facebook or twitter. Mention the #TRAdsum trend if you’re an experienced tweeter! On Jan 5, before tickets go officially on sale, we’ll draw two pairs of tickets out of everyone who posted!

After the concert, we’ll be hitting up many venues and festivals across Canada and US, looking forward to playing for all of you!

What a weekend has it been!
We had a spectacular time at the Breakout West Fest in Kelowna followed by an insanely dangerous, yet lucky turn of events for the band on the Coquihalla highway on our way back.

Breakout West and WCMA surely threw a party in Kelowna! There were so many fun events happening, we played two great showscases in town on friday and saturday and then had a blast prepping for and playing at the WCMAs and doing a great collaboration set with Shawn and Ariene. Meeting musicians, the staff, what a great team of people.

Although we didn’t win the nomination, we are looking forward to releasing and submitting “Adsum” next year, as that will represent the band as it sounds, rather than having a collection of electronica mixes. Many thanks for all the staff involved in the organizing of all this, seriously, musicians and artists play a very small part in something this big. It takes a solid team of industry people.

That evening, before heading out, I had to call in BCAA to jump-start our van Vekna. John jokingly started writing a song for Vekna as if her days were numbered out.. of course, the new tune would be “Oh! Vekna”, in the rhythm of 13..

Around 2 am, Michael, John, Trevor and I got hit by a serious snow storm, which had just started on the way up right in between Kelowna and Merit. And when the van started sliding, there were merely a few seconds before it went sideways and loudly tipped and slammed on the highway, dragging itself for about 30 meters before it stopped. John and Trevor were literally watching the highway road passing next to their heads, glass shattered away.. John was watching stuff fly in front of him and out the window, including his iphone and newly purchased records, which later he found on the road all intact! Go figure.. Props to wearing seat belts guys, it surely saved our lives. Considering how this could have gone, we were extremely lucky to stop sliding right by the road, as if we just pulled over, a foot away from the deep ditch.

As I came out of my shock, I called out if everyone was ok and to our relief, we were all safe and sound, highly momentarily traumatized and enjoying life a bit more than 20 seconds before that. Sitting sideways in a tipped van was kind of odd.. As I pushed the door upward to let everyone out (pretty heavy door, felt like I was coming out of a huge manhole) I was already talking to 911 to send help. We were freezing in the middle of the mountain for a few hours, chatting to stopping truck drivers every once in a while and still being careful not to get hit by any random sliding vehicles, until the police and the tow truck came. From there on, we were safe.

After two days, we are pretty sore and bruised, getting physio treatment, talking to icbc, still quite shocked, very reflective and happy to have been part of the festival during the weekend and enjoying and appreciating this precious thing called life!

What a fantastic journey the past five days have been… As the band congregated for the last few of hours to listen to the final raw mixes, we couldn’t believe the accomplishment and quality we’d achieved in such a short period of time. Even our awesome engineer Brock told us that this was the shortest recording he’d recorded from start to finish. The sound and feel of the album is staggering and I can’t wait to have it aim for the next step, mixing!

We took the time to choose the best takes and even decided last minute to have some fun with them. We had Michael track some super subtle and and in parts, screaming Turkish sounding violin orchestration. Pepe brought out a few of his instruments out of his vast collection to additionally spice things up. And I did some unorthodoxy singing parts in Vrcka (and beyond) that I’d never attempted before. John and Trevor sat back and enjoyed the rest of the process as they finely delivered their grooves.

Officially our favorite tracks are: Oh! Belka, Vrcka, Adsum and Baladi Buleria (still needs a title, good chance we’ll ask all of you to choose a title for this one, keep an eye out for that).

Soon enough, our fans will be choosing their favorite tracks too, by listening to a full hour of this funky new world-gypsy-jazz-latin-sharqui-flamenco madness! Stay tuned we’ll be planning a BIG TIME album release to fully celebrate years of developing our sound and dance to all these new tunes!

What a treat it is to work with these spectacular musicians, share friendship and many moments of music, it’s quite a blessing to find such a team of talent. John, Michael, Pepe, Trevor, thanks for being part of this crazy fun project and making it what it is!

p.s. I can’t stop listening to Vrcka!

What a great day to celebrate John’s birthday today… Surrounded with friends through a fantastic day of creating music.

We laid down all the rest of the songs, then spent a few hours listening to the takes and were all pleasantly surprised as they surpassed any expectations that might have initially been set in place. The band was locked in and years of playing together really came together and showed on the recordings.

We started off with our “rumba clave” exploration tune called “New World”. This is one of our brand new songs!

Then we moved onto another new song called “Inspire”. This one’s been super fun as it reminds the band of seventies car-chase movie theme tunes that sets place in some middle eastern country… And has some great and challenging musical intricacies, plus we’ll be playing it at the WCMA gala night.

Next we played our slow, intricate and seductive composition that explores both Baladi and Buleria rhythms (still need a title for this one!)

And then.. yes.. band’s so far favorite song: “Oh! Belka”. This one we free-styled with super high and fun energy! Great solo Michael!

Another new song called “A Day With You”, this song really explores fun places and Michael plays some of the sweetest melodic lines here.

From there, we moved onto a song I’d written 10 years ago called “Reverie” where we got Trevor and Pepe playing sweet brazilian beats underneath.

Finally we did a take of Djordje Balasevic’s “Devojka sa Chardash Nogama”, as I’m making steps toward potentially including this song on the album, as this song’s been our favorite cover tune for many years…

I’ve been loving the last two days, amazing learning experience and superb talent to work with, including the Mushroom studios staff! Can’t wait till tomorrow!

Happy birthday John!