An Introduction To SLOFolks
SLOFolks, a non profit organization, brings you live music from Appalachia to Mali, a diversity reflecting the cultural history and expression of the people's music played on a variety of instruments.
You will hear sea shanties, ballads, work songs, gypsy music, West African Kora, Certic Bluegrass as well as French Musettes and Brazilian instrumentalists.
"Let this be my epitaph:
The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music" Kurt Vonnegut
Check our Events page to find out about all OUR SLOfolks upcoming concerts.
**On August 9, 2007, SLOfolks received our tax exempt status from the IRS. We are now a publuc charity, exempt from fedferal taxes as a 501 (c)(3) corporation.
Any bequests, transfers, gifts or contributions to SLOfolks are tax deductible under section 170 of the code
Fishtank Ensemble
Friday, May 25, Coalesce Bookstore, 7PM
Saturday, May 26, Castoro Cellars, 7:30PM
“Everyone in the quartet is a virtuoso of sympatico different musical forms, from flamenco to Eastern European grooves to extremely credible tangos”
LA Weekly
Fishtank Ensemble is a lively and unusual group consisting of violin, saw, accordion, shamisen, flamenco guitar, bass, percussion and voice.
"They raise the bar for pretty much everybody else!"
Lucid Culture
“You'll feel like you landed in a Gypsy camp, gathered around a crackling fire while otherworldly musicians pied piper you into signing away your soul. And you’ll do it willingly because this is music to roast in hell for!”
Glen Starkey, New Times SLO (Feb 24, 2010)
“For those in need of having their dervish whirled, the Bay Area's Fishtank Ensemble are the rompin', stompin' leaders of cross-pollinated Gypsy music. French fiddler Fabrice Martinez paid dues gigging Europe in a mule-drawn caravan, including stints in Romani villages. El Douje is the master of 21st-century flamenco guitar. Audience eyes tend to focus on Ursula Knudson, not only for her virtuosic saw playing and a voice that sings in octaves not yet invented, but also for her sensual beauty. The mix includes a … rock-bottom upright bassist, and we have a young band that is one of the most thrilling live acts on the planet.”
Michael Simmons, LA Weekly
“It's a new era with a new band that's hot enough to blaze their own path. Woman in Sin is sinful only if you don't get a copy and listen.”
Joel Okida, Folkworks Magazine
“Fishtank Ensemble… was one of the best shows of the year, hands down. Fusion gypsy music, played with unbelievable virtuosity on odd acoustic instrumentation and the energy of punk and rockabilly — that’s the best I can muster in words.”
The Daily Page, Madison, Wisconsin
“The four-piece, L.A.-based Fishtank Ensemble are modern ambassadors of many of the world’s folk sounds and even a peripheral listen to their music displays not only the deeply ingrained traditions of Serbian, Romanian, flamenco, gypsy, opera and Transylvanian music — among many other styles — but also the unbelievable skill and precision that goes into its performance.”
Ryan Heinsius, Flagstaff Live 4/21/2011
GILLES APAP AND THE TRANSYLVANIAN MOUNTAIN BOYS
June 9 ,Castoro Cellars, 7PM ~ $22
“A true violinist for the 21st Century.”
Yehudi Menuhin
"Equally at home with Bartok and bluegrass, Mozart and the music of the Bulgarian ghettos, Gilles Apap is a violinist who defies categorisation."
Josef Woodard
"Hey—where's Mozart?"
Irate concertgoer during cadenza
Gilles Apap seems incapable of playing a single note in a way that isn' fascinating.
American Record Guide, 2001
It all began in 1994, when somebody gave Gilles Apap a little yellow tape which was simply titled "Music from Moldavia and Bessarabia" featuring traditional Gypsy tunes performed by some anonymous Gypsy musicians. This little non-professionnal recording – later on always fondly referred to as “The Yellow Tape” – should become the starting shot of a particular musical cooperation and friendship soon known as “The Transylvanian Mountainboys” and led to several recordings and numerous concerts in Europe and the US.
Gilles Apap, who in spite of his classical roots and vocation, was always in love with all kind of traditionnal music, was so excited upon the music of these unknown Gypsy players that he spent countless hours listening and relistening to each melody in order to transcribe it accurately and to adopt the different instrumental parts for strings.
And soon after he had met the right musicians to perform with them his vision of the music of “The Yellow Tape”". SONY CLASSICAL recorded the first album titled Gilles Apap & the Transylvanian Mountain Boys" (1996) which became a best seller in almost no time and was soon followed by a second one “d'Ici et d'Ailleurs" (1997). Both CDs had to be reprinted by Sony numerous times for more than 10 years.
Over the years, their musical style developed to become a very homogenous so to say “Californian” blend of classical music, jazz, swing and Gypsy tunes, now beautifully demonstrated by the new album they recently recorded with music from Bartok to Django Reinhardt and which will be published in June 2012 by Apap’s own label APAPAZIZ Productions.
From Wikipedia:
Gilles Apap (born May 21, 1963) is a French violinist who plays Romani (gypsy) music, swing, Irish music, and bluegrass music, as well as the masterpieces of classical music.
Born in Bougie, he was raised in Nice, France. In 1985 he won the first prize in the contemporary music category at the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. He released a CD with Sony Classical in 1996 called Gilles Apap & the Transylvanian Mountain Boys. He has worked as the concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony in California. He has played with the Irish fiddler Kevin Burke.
http://www.amazon.com/Gilles-Apap-Transylvanian-Mountain-Boys/dp/B0000029PY
http://www.gillesapap.com/reviews/imageHifiMar09.html
Gilles Apap & The Transylvanian Mountain Boys
·Chris Judge is from Santa Barbara and began playing the guitar at the age of eight. Attracted by the sounds of the classical guitar through the recordings of Andres Segovia and John Williams, he began studying seriously in high-school and has continued ever since.
He attended the Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid and graduated from U.C.S.B. with degrees in music and Spanish literature. After college, he studied for several years with a jazz guitarist Ted Greene and returned to Spain on many occasions to further his knowledge of flamenco guitar styles with, among others, Gerardo Nunez.
Chris enjoys teaching music in his home studio and participating in an eclectic array of musical projects. Locally has performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Grand Opera, Santa Barbara Oratorio Chorale, Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, and Santa Barbara City College Theater Group.
Brandon Statom
Brendan Statom is a sought-after bassist in many styles of music, holding a degree in double-bass from California State University Northridge, with graduate studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a native son of the Danish village of Solvang, California and performs regularly with symphony orchestras, jazz ensembles, tango ensembles and many others throughout the state. He is also a founding member of the Transylvania Mountain Boys.