MASTER MUSICIANS | FEATURED ENSEMBLES | FEATURED YOUTH MUSICIANS | VISUAL ARTISTS
MASTER MUSICIANS
Talantaaly Bakchiev
Kyrgyz Manas Epic Singer
Born in 1971, Talantaaly Bakchiev is a Manas-teller who received ‘Aiyan’ when he was 13 and started telling Manas, one of the longest and oldest epic poetry in the world (30 times the length of Homer’s Iliad) rooted in legends, myths and folktales, still sung and performed by shamanic bards called manaschi known for their dramatic recitations. A student of Shaabi Azizov, Talantaaly participated in different national and international festivals and scientific conferences. He holds a candidate of science (PhD equivalent), Associate Professor of Razzakov Kyrgyz Technical (Engineering) University. The author of publications and study books including “Manas Studying. The Way of Manas-Teller” (2003), “Sacred call. Mnemonic Arts of a Manas-teller” (2005), “Shaabai” (2003), “Priceless Heritage of Ashym” (2003), “Introduction to Manas Studying” (2008).
Swapan Chaudhuri
North Indian Tabla Master
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri is a phenomenon in the arena of Indian Classical Music. A highly respected tabla master, he is a recipient of the prestigious American Academy of Artists Award, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award from the Government of India, Excellence in Performing Arts Award from the Global Indian Congress in San Francisco, and has been nominated to the esteemed International Percussive Arts Society's Hall of Fame. Swapan started learning tabla at the age of five from the late Pandit Santosh Krishna Biswas of Calcutta, the eminent exponent of the Lucknow Gharana. He is Director of Percussion at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California and in Basil, Switzerland for intensive training in North Indian Classical Music. As Chair of the World Music Department at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, California, he also maintains a rigorous touring and recording schedule throughout the year.
Tsering D. Bawa
Tibetan
Actor, Dancer, Musician
Tsering D. Bawa is a Tibetan actor, dancer and musician graduated from Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, India. Between 1995-1997, he took part in acting training in France, The Netherland and India. He has toured worldwide to perform Tibetan folk dances and music, and acted in numerous films including the year 2000 Oscar nominated film “Himalaya.” He and Michael Becker worked together to create the original soundtrack for the 2009, Emmy award winning documentary, “The Women of Tibet- A Quiet Revolution.” He is currently the music and dance instructor for the Tibetan Association of Northern California.
Doug Goodkin
Orff Master Teacher
Doug Goodkin is an internationally recognized teacher of Orff Schulwerk, having taught courses in over 39 countries worldwide. He has been teaching children between three years old and eighth grade at The San Francisco School for 36 years, beginning in 1975. He also teaches regularly at The Orff Institut in Salzburg, directs The San Francisco Orff Certification Course and teaches his own course on Jazz and Orff Schulwerk throughout the world. He is the author of seven books on music and education. His work has been described as “a long, earnest and continuing struggle to present music of integrity in a way that affirms our collective humanity.” Doug received the Orff Pro Merito Award in 2000.
James Harding
Orff Master Teacher
James Harding studied classical clarinet at Yale University and the Mozarteum in Salzburg and has played Balinese music in Gamelan Sekar Jaya since 1990. He currently teaches children from preschool through middle school at The San Francisco School, where he has taught since 1990. James was local co-chair of the 2007 Orff National Conference, gives workshops throughout the U.S. and Canada and has also taught in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Thailand and at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. He is the author of the recently published From Wibbleton to Wobbleton.
Imamyar Hasanov
Azeri Kamancha Master
Highly respected both in Azerbaijan and in the U.S. for his versatility as a kamancha soloist and arranger, Imamyar Hasanov is bridges the vast divide between his traditional scales and those of other cultures. As an artist of impeccable character, Imamyar is a uniquely gifted musician with numerous achievements in fostering the vitality and public appreciation of Azeri traditional music. With his extensive knowledge of both Azeri traditional and Western classical music, knowledge of many of the world’s traditional instruments, and innovative arranging techniques, Imamyar has not only contributed to the preservation of Azeri traditional music, but has created a body of work which has brought this music to the forefront of both the classical and world music fields. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Imamyar started playing the kamancha at the age of seven and eventually became the youngest soloist in Azerbaijan's National Music Instruments Orchestra. He holds a Master's Degree in Art and Music from the Azerbaijan State Conservatory.
Rufat Hasanov
Azeri Tar Master
Rufat Hasanov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1982. He started playing the tar at the age of 7. One of his first successes was the 1st Degree Diploma he was awarded at the 3rd Baku Music Competition in 1997. This competition was dedicated to the memory of legendary tar player Haji Mammadov, the People's Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Rufat holds a Master's degree from the Azerbaijan National Conservatoire. He is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree and is now working as Deputy Director of Music at the Modern Education Complex named after Heydar Aliyev. He has participated in concerts and festivals in Azerbaijan, England, France, Italy, Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan, as well as Houston and Washington D.C. in the USA. Rufat has been holding the position of teacher of tar at Azerbaijan National Conservatoire since 2010. Rufat Hasanov resides in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Zainidin Imanaliev
Kyrgyz Master Musician
When Kyrgyz musician Zainidin Imanaliev was first sought out by Western ethnomusicologists willing to make the trek to his hinterland home, he denied that he played the komuz, a three-stringed, fretless lute whose playing is characterized by stylized hand gestures that make Jimi Hendrix look like a lightweight. Like many traditional older musicians in the region who lived in the shadow of Soviet policies that sought to replace folk traditions with nationalized music forms. After some time, the virtuoso took his komuz out of hiding. This eventually led to a standing-ovation performance at the English National Opera. Now Imanaliev—who appears on Tengir-Too’s CD/DVD Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan—is leading the way with a return to the master-disciple oral tradition, and teaches five live-in students when he is not touring the world.
Aizada Kasabolotova
Kyrgyz Musician
Ayzada Kasabolotova was born in 1984 in the town of Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. She graduated from Karakol city Musical College, majoring in the komuz. She plays the komuz, metallic jaw harp and is also a vocal soloist. A prize-winner of “Young Talents” international contest series (3rd place in 1996 and 1999), and Laureate of Presidential Scholarship “Prelude” in 2003, she is at present a final year student at the National Conservatory, majoring in traditional vocals, and a member of laboratory ensemble of Ustatshakirt Center.
Mandjou Koné
Griot Singer
Mandjou Konéwas born into the well-known Koné Griot family of Mali and Burkina Faso. The Griots of West Africa are world-renowned for their unique ability to record events carefully and accurately. It is the responsibility of this caste of historians, musicians and healers to preserve the culture, passing history from one generation to the next. One cannot learn to become a Griot; rather one is born a Griot. As a young girl Mandjou Koné performed with her Griot father's band singing, dancing and playing the Djembe, Bala, Dundun, Kora and Tama. Mandjou also performed with the National Ballet of Burkina Faso, and toured Europe as the lead singer with her brother's group Surutukunu. She first came to the United States to help translate a documentary about the last 20 years of her family's musical tradition and history. For the past twelve years Mandjou has taught and performed throughout the U.S. as a much sought after and popular educator. She received the Calabash Award for her excellence in ethnic arts in Santa Cruz, CA in 2003. She is currently living in California with her husband and new daughter and teaching at UC Santa Cruz.
Salif Koné is a Djeli (Griot) and began studying traditional music when he was two years old.
Salif Koné
Griot Master Musician
Salif Kon é was born into the well-known Koné Griot family of Mali and Burkina Faso. The Griots of West Africa are world-renowned for their unique ability to record events carefully and accurately. It is the responsibility of this caste of historians, musicians and healers to preserve the culture, passing history from one generation to the next. One cannot learn to become a Griot; rather one is born a Griot. When he was eight years old he joined the national group of young musicians in Burkina Faso, Maison des Jeunes du Burkina, traveling throughout Africa. At 14, he became the youngest musician ever to join the National Ballet of Burkina Faso. He traveled throughout Europe and Africa as a percussion soloist with the National Ballet. Salif first visited the United States in 2000 and returned in 2002 to live in Santa Cruz, California. He has performed all over the United States and taught workshops in universities throughout the country. Currently, he accompanies dance classes and teaches in the music department at UC Santa Cruz and continues performing with his band Milima; he's also working on his first album.
Liu Wei Shan
Chinese Guzheng Master
Weishan Liu began training in the classical style of the gu-zheng from age eleven under acclaimed gu-zheng master Cao Zheng at the Shen Yang Music Conservatory in China. In 1974, after winning first prizes for her composition "The Magnificent Bronze Gorge," and her arrangement of "Harvest" in a national traditional music contest, she joined the Central Song and Dance Ensemble of China as a guzheng soloist, making recordings and touring with them, performing for visiting heads of state like President Jimmy Carter and King Baldwin I of Belgium. Moving to the U.S. in 1982, Weishan started The San Francisco Gu-Zheng Music Society and has since collaborated with Western orchestras and ensembles such as the Bay Area Women's Philharmonic and Earplay. Besides touring the U.S. and over 20 other countries, Weishan has also lent her expertise on recorded soundtracks for such contemporary films as "Dim Sum," "Eat a Bowl of Tea," "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story," "Indiana Jones," and "Thousand Pieces of Gold."
Sofia Lopez-Ibor
Orff Master Teacher
Sofia studied flute, recorder and music education at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, Spain and is a graduate of the two-year course at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. She is the president of Orff España, co-directs their summer course and teaches seminars and courses throughout the world. She is the co-author of Quien Canta Su Mal Espanta and author of the recently published Blue is the Sea: Music, Movement and Visual Arts in the Orff Schulwerk. With over 29 years of experience teaching children of all ages, Sofía is in her 15th year of teaching at The San Francisco School.
Yogini Jangchup Palmo
Tibetan Ritual & Epic Singer
A female Tibetan singer of Gesar Epic Songs, Yogi Ani Jetsun Pemo is held in high regard as hidden yogini, born in Tibet, who in her early age deeply moved by a strong sense of renunciations and disenchantment with conditioned existence, she entered the door of the dharma and undertook a three and half year solitary retreat on Longhchen Nyinghthik practice at Mount Kailash (Tibet) inside a cave under the guidance of Dzogchen Rinpoche and while in India and Nepal under His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche and many other great master Tibet she underwent many solitary retreats in caves of India and Nepal. Her whole life has been dedicated to the path of the dharma, thus continues to inspire and benefit with her dazzling purity, humility and natural simplicity of her presence.
Nurbek Serkebaev
Kyrgyz Master Musician
The head music teacher since December 2009 for Door Dog’s Kyrgyz Music School in Jany-Tilek Village, Nurbek finished high school in Tamga village in Issyk-Kul region, with honors in music. Currently he is a student of at the Kyrgyz National Conservatory, Department of Traditional Music. From 2006-2008 Nurbek participated in traditional shepherd music performances in Horse Festivals organized by Kyrgyz Ate organization. All members of Nurbek’s family have strong bonds to folk music, playing together in the Kut Family Ensemble. Within Kut, he visited US in 2008, giving concerts in California, Montana, Utah, Idaho, and other states, by invitation of Vista 360. Nurbek visited US to perform in Er-Toshtuk in a Theatrical Festival in New York City in 2009 and participated in Scythian Stones performance by LaMaMa Theatre in 2010. That same year, Nurbek won a grand prize on the Kyrgyzstan national contest of folk music dedicated to the anniversaries of the famous Kyrgyz folk musicians. In 2010 he participated in the training of trainers for the youth theatre program Tynchtyk (Peace) organized by USAID, IREX, and FYI.
Anuradha Sridhar
South Indian Carnatic Music Master
Anuradha Sridhar hails from a family of musicians which can be traced back to the saint composer Thyagaraja himself, who discipled her great-great grandfather, Lalgudi Ramayyar. The daughter and disciple of the ingenious violinist Lalgudi Srimathi Brahmanandam, and the niece of the maestro Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, Anuradha is the founder of Solfa Creations – an organization dedicated to propagating Carnatic music and its composers. A versatile teacher with great acumen on vocal, instrumental and rhythmic aspects of Carnatic Music, Anuradha launched in 1989 the Trinity Center for Music in the San Francisco Bay Area to nurture Carnatic music and groom high-caliber students in America. Since her arrival in the Bay Area, Anu has been actively involved in promoting the cause of Carnatic Music. Ever challenged by a technically demanding repertoire, Anuradha has ventured into thematic concerts that required painstaking research; she thrives on unearthing complicated rhythm structures, rare ragas and forgotten compositions.
Kutmanaaly Sultanbekov
Kyrgyz Musician
Kutmanaaly Sultanbekov was born in 1983 in a village in Chuy region, Kyrgyzstan. He graduated from Kyrgyz State Musical College, majoring in the domra. He learned Kyrgyz traditional wind instruments at the center of traditional music “Ustatshakirt”, a project of the Aga-Khan Music Initiative. He plays the choor, chopo choor, sybyzgy, metallic jaw harp, wooden jaw harp, the komuz. A participant and prize winner of many local and international contests (“Bang On A Can”, New-York, USA 2009-2010; “Pamir-Roof of the World” Festival, Khorog 2009), he is a final year student at National Conservatory, musical director of laboratory ensemble of Ustatshakirt Center, and a member of the orchestra under Bishkek city mayor’s office.
Wang Wei
Chinese Percussion Virtuoso
Wei’s musical career started when his father taught him the yangqin at the age of four. His musical talent and accomplishment with yangqin was acknowledged at the China Music Conservatory, from 1983-1989. Graduating first in his class, Wei was immediately accepted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he trained under Li Mingxiong. Besides mastering the traditional music of Northern China, Wei is proficient in Western, African, and Middle Eastern percussion styles as well. In 1994, he joined musicians from Germany, Inner Mongolia, Nanjing, Chendu and Hangzhou to form an East-West ensemble called “Crossing.” As part of the trio Omen, Wei won first place at Berlin’s prestigious World Music Competition in 1996. After graduating from the Berlin Conservatory of Music in 2000, he was invited by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to perform as a guest bangu soloist with Maestro Kent Nagano. Wei now actively promotes Chinese traditional percussion through concerts and workshops, performing throughout the U.S. In addition to his work as a master performer, he also teaches Chinese traditional percussion to schools and youths throughout the Bay Area.
Wang Xin Xin
Chinese Nanguan Master
Wang Xin Xin was born in 1965 in the city of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, home of the Nanyin or Nanguan tradition, representing the oldest ritual music/ epic story telling genre that still exists from China. She began her training in Nanyin music at the age of four, going on to gain acclaim for her exceptional singing skills. In 1984 she won first place admission into the Nanguan division of Fujian Provincial Academy of the Arts, studying with famed masters Zhuang Bulian, Wu Zao, Ma Xiangduan. Excelling in singing, she soon became permanent member of the professional Quanzhou Nanguan Musical Ensemble. Later, she became Director General of the HanTang Yuefu Troupe of Taipei. Today she teaches at the Institute of Ethnomusicology of National Taiwan University as well as at National Taipei University of Arts and Taiwan National University of the Arts. Xin Xin has given more than 100 performances around the world including the Avignon Festival in France, Pina Bausch Dance Festival of Wuppertal, the Flanders Festival in Belgium, as well as performances in The Netherlands, Portugal and Canada.
Gulare Mikayil Qizi Zaynalova
Azeri Ashyg Singer
Born to renowned ashyg Mikayil Azafli, Gulare became Artistic Director of the Ceshma Folklore Ensemble in Ganja Pedagogical University from 1983-1994, a member of the Ashyg Peri Meetings in 1984, and won Laureate of the Third All Union Festival of Youth Ashygs held in Ganja city in 1985. Gulare received first prize in Ashyg competitions held in Konya City, Turkey in 1992, was awarded the Golden Medal by ex-president Suleyman Damiral and performed in festivals held in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey from 1995-1996. She returned with awards from the Silifka Festival held in Antalya and the International Babylon Festival held in Iraq in 1997. She performed for the San Francisco World Music Festival in 2005, the Kitabi Dada Gordu 1300 International Event held by UNESCO, and the International Ashygs Festival held in Azerbaijan in 2010. Gulare has also performed for Azerbaijan television, musical and literary-artistic programs. Her CD “Anthology of Ashyg Music” was released in France, and her poetry “Gorusherik Yene Biz” was released in 2009.
MASTER MUSICIANS | FEATURED ENSEMBLES | FEATURED YOUTH MUSICIANS | VISUAL ARTISTS
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