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DRUMMER GUERGUERIAN WAS BORN TO MAKE MUSIC
By ROBIN TOLLESON
Spartanburg Herald Journal
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20101014/ARTICLES/10141020/1097
Oct 14 2010
For the Herald-Journal
River Guerguerian never really wondered what he was going to do when
he grew up.
"It seems like the drums found me," he says. "As long back as I have
memory, I remember tapping on things."
The 43-year-old percussionist has made a career out of it.
He's a working musician known regionally through Free Planet Radio,
a world fusion trio, and other collaborations in Asheville, N.C.,
over the past decade. And he's known internationally for his work with
Turkish master musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Oscar-winning composer
Tan Dun, the Paul Winter Consort and others.
"By the time I was 12, I knew that was what I was going to do. Kind
of an odd case," he shrugs. "And I had certain teachers and masters
around me who opened the way."
Guerguerian is performing this weekend at the Lake Eden Arts Festival
in Black Mountain, N.C. It's an amazing convergence of rhythm-makers
from many countries and regions of the U.S.
"There's a lot of drumming at LEAF," Guerguerian says, "and I bring
this mixture of different world musics, with American music.
Post-modern music from the '50s to '70s fused with a jazz element."
Guerguerian was born to Armenian/Egyptian parents in Montreal. When
he was 14, they moved to the outskirts of New York City.
"I would go into the city at night on the train," he says. "I'd go over
to The Village Vanguard and The Bottom Line. I got to see Elvin Jones
live, Tony (Williams), Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd - sitting right next
to them. It blew my mind to see musicians do that and stay together
and still play in harmony."
While attending the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory,
Guerguerian met framed drum master Glen Velez and was soon
incorporating finger-style drums in his repertoire - frame drums,
riq, tabla, kanjira.
"Frame drums date back 5,000 years for trance-inducing music, partly
because of the drone they produce," he explains. "The skin is wider
than the depth of the shell, so it produces overtones unlike almost
any other instrument."
Free Planet Radio, featuring Guerguerian, bassist Eliot Wadopian
and multi-instrumentalist Chris Rosser, will appear twice at LEAF -
at 6:45 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday - playing music from
its world fusion albums "New Bedouin Dance" and "The Unraveling,"
along with the popular Armenian folk fusion vocalist Mariam Matossian.
The River Guerguerian Project will provide late-night grooves at LEAF,
beginning at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
While attending the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory,
Guerguerian met framed drum master Glen Velez and was soon
incorporating finger-style drums in his repertoire - frame drums,
riq, tabla, kanjira.
"Frame drums date back 5,000 years for trance-inducing music, partly
because of the drone they produce," he explains. "The skin is wider
than the depth of the shell, so it produces overtones unlike almost
any other instrument."
Free Planet Radio, featuring Guerguerian, bassist Eliot Wadopian
and multi-instrumentalist Chris Rosser, will appear twice at LEAF -
at 6:45 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday - playing music from
its world fusion albums "New Bedouin Dance" and "The Unraveling,"
along with the popular Armenian folk fusion vocalist Mariam Matossian.
The River Guerguerian Project will provide late-night grooves at LEAF,
beginning at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
From: A. Papazian
By ROBIN TOLLESON
Spartanburg Herald Journal
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20101014/ARTICLES/10141020/1097
Oct 14 2010
For the Herald-Journal
River Guerguerian never really wondered what he was going to do when
he grew up.
"It seems like the drums found me," he says. "As long back as I have
memory, I remember tapping on things."
The 43-year-old percussionist has made a career out of it.
He's a working musician known regionally through Free Planet Radio,
a world fusion trio, and other collaborations in Asheville, N.C.,
over the past decade. And he's known internationally for his work with
Turkish master musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Oscar-winning composer
Tan Dun, the Paul Winter Consort and others.
"By the time I was 12, I knew that was what I was going to do. Kind
of an odd case," he shrugs. "And I had certain teachers and masters
around me who opened the way."
Guerguerian is performing this weekend at the Lake Eden Arts Festival
in Black Mountain, N.C. It's an amazing convergence of rhythm-makers
from many countries and regions of the U.S.
"There's a lot of drumming at LEAF," Guerguerian says, "and I bring
this mixture of different world musics, with American music.
Post-modern music from the '50s to '70s fused with a jazz element."
Guerguerian was born to Armenian/Egyptian parents in Montreal. When
he was 14, they moved to the outskirts of New York City.
"I would go into the city at night on the train," he says. "I'd go over
to The Village Vanguard and The Bottom Line. I got to see Elvin Jones
live, Tony (Williams), Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd - sitting right next
to them. It blew my mind to see musicians do that and stay together
and still play in harmony."
While attending the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory,
Guerguerian met framed drum master Glen Velez and was soon
incorporating finger-style drums in his repertoire - frame drums,
riq, tabla, kanjira.
"Frame drums date back 5,000 years for trance-inducing music, partly
because of the drone they produce," he explains. "The skin is wider
than the depth of the shell, so it produces overtones unlike almost
any other instrument."
Free Planet Radio, featuring Guerguerian, bassist Eliot Wadopian
and multi-instrumentalist Chris Rosser, will appear twice at LEAF -
at 6:45 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday - playing music from
its world fusion albums "New Bedouin Dance" and "The Unraveling,"
along with the popular Armenian folk fusion vocalist Mariam Matossian.
The River Guerguerian Project will provide late-night grooves at LEAF,
beginning at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
While attending the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory,
Guerguerian met framed drum master Glen Velez and was soon
incorporating finger-style drums in his repertoire - frame drums,
riq, tabla, kanjira.
"Frame drums date back 5,000 years for trance-inducing music, partly
because of the drone they produce," he explains. "The skin is wider
than the depth of the shell, so it produces overtones unlike almost
any other instrument."
Free Planet Radio, featuring Guerguerian, bassist Eliot Wadopian
and multi-instrumentalist Chris Rosser, will appear twice at LEAF -
at 6:45 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday - playing music from
its world fusion albums "New Bedouin Dance" and "The Unraveling,"
along with the popular Armenian folk fusion vocalist Mariam Matossian.
The River Guerguerian Project will provide late-night grooves at LEAF,
beginning at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
From: A. Papazian