Dickie Ogden - Drums
Baba Ndjhoni - Bass, Mandolin, Vocals
Patty Hughes - Wurlitzer Piano, Farfisa Organ, Vocals
Sven Eberlein - Guitars, Vocals
Joel Oppenheimer - Honorary tuber
Influences
Frank Zappa, Alice Coltrane, Tom Ze, Ozomatli, Lila Downs, Franco, Medeski, Martin & Wood, The Band, Chrissie Hynde, Rush, MC Escher, The Bad Plus, LoJo, Maya Angelou, Manu Chao, Los De Abajo, Ani Di Franco, Gabor Szabo, Hermann Hesse, Frida Kahlo, John Lennon, Baaba Maal, Joni Mitchell, Tony Idarola, Fela Kuti, Kurt Vonnegut, Miles Davis, Tracy Chapman, Salvador Dali, Yes, Peter Apfelbaum, Max Roach, John McLaughlin, Glen Spearman, Ludwig Von Beethoven, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Tama, Mary Oliver, Radiohead, Miriam Makeba, Phish, Grateful Dead, The Be Good Tanyas, Vincent Van Gogh, George Harrison, Barbara Kingsolver, Dave Duenas, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Cold Sweat, Arundhati Roy, Saul Williams, Matt Ritchie, Grant Green, Gandhi, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Wendel Berry, Caroline Casey, Queen, Buckminster Fuller, Antibalas, Charlie Hunter, Pink Floyd, Neflwurzl, miRthkon, Joseph Campbell, Research & Development, The Flux, Fiona Apple, Toten Hosen, Joan Baez, Jello Biafra, The Clash, Rainer Maria Rilke, Kai Eckhardt, G Love, Youssou Ndour, Taj Mahal, Tom Waits, Orchestra Baobab, Khalil Gibran, and many more...
Dancing on the Brink of the World presents Chemystry Set in the presence of brilliant minds, graspable concepts, and a plethora of creativity.
- muzikreviews.com
Welcome to the world of Chemystry Set.
Founded on an auspicious evening in November of 1996, the idea was to create a platform that would allow musicians of all different backgrounds and characters to add their own individual blend of skills and energy to the overall mix. Rather than finding any particular style to play, it seemed to make a lot more sense to let everyone's quirky personality unfold and see where it would take us. This way, the Chemystry Set could just stay the Chemystry Set while everyone was constantly evolving and experimenting with all the diverse elements inherent in it.
Ten years and five albums later, Chemystry Set keeps defying their own musical boundaries, integrating — yet never emulating — genres ranging from world rhythm, jazz, and groove, to bluegrass, fusion, progressive rock, and punk. And in between those dancing musical note, you will always find a few morsels of wisdom, words of encouragement, entire philosophies, or just a simple smile. Our good friend Scott Coldren says it better than we ever could:
"This is positive, uplifting music. It’s good for your soul. And yet, when you listen to the words, you begin to realize that what you’re hearing are warnings embedded in these beautiful melodies. Warnings that we as a human race need to rethink what we’re doing, reexamine who we are, and reestablish a better way of living because this world and this life are the only ones we’re going to get. Chemystry Set is here to remind us that it’s not too late, that there are still ways to improve things, and that you really can draw life-changing inspiration from music that genuinely matters. Yes, it really is as simple as that."
Ultimately, it is the love for music and exploring the unknown together with fellow kindred spirits that brought us together and lends our eclectic orchestra its backbone and character. We love doing crazy stuff and think that life itself is a piece of art. We're into creating family and community, and the joy of playing and hanging out always outweighs all the potential rat races beckoning with seductive capitalist smiles.
All Chemystry Set CDs available through Ogden Park
What the People say:
"Zoinks!
Here I am in Bangalore, hanging the 3-loads of laundry after a 10 day vacation in the jungles of the Western Ghats.
Asked the girls what tunes they'd like to crank while we fold and hang and sort clean clothes... Jack Johnson? nawww.... KidTunes? no way! ...how about Pat Metheny? uughh, Dad, that's YOUR music! Chemystry Set? YES YES YES!!!! We LOOOOOVE chemystry set!!!!
So we are frolicking about doing laundry, looking outside at swaying palm trees and stinky rickshaws, with the triple Chem-album shuffle on at HIGH volumne! THANK YOU ALL FOR YEARS of LUSCIOUS TUNES!!!!!! I treasure your gift of music to the world!!!
now we need to head out for masala dosas, and some other "essentials." "
love,
Pablo check out the Amstutz India blog
"Cobblestone Below My Feet has a great communal feel to it. It is boldly genre-crossing and yields new discoveries with repeat listens."
- Chip Withrow, The Muse's Muse. Full Review
"Cobblestone Below My Feet is a kick-butt extravaganza of expectations-defying, post-modern wonder. The louder it gets, the better it gets."
- Steve Forrest, Seven Paws Press
Chemystry Set LIVE at the Sweatlodge
by Randy Lyman
I'll set the scene for you, since being human means living in 3D space and linear time: Nighttime upon a great urban grid of streets, the perpendicular crossing of two of them, a boxy gray building, a small cubic room inside. Angles atop angles, boxes inside boxes, a Chinese puzzle. Outside it¹s refreshingly cool, and the April moon is bright as the streetlights. Inside it's sultry as a sauna, with the band taking up half the room to play and three dozen friends crammed into the other half to hear, no, to experience, be a part of, this live recording, this sweat lodge serenade.
And what a serenade — music as opposed to its linear surroundings as the beating heart is to the cages of science. The first set tore a new riverbed through the hard rock landscape and the second set let the river roar. Every time I hear Chemystry Set I feel like I'm hearing it for the first time: musicianship tight as an atom, music wild and roaming as the imagination of the unknown. It's like everything and nothing I've ever heard, a screaming reminder that rock is rebellion and must be reinvented each time it's played, or else it's just pop. I'm thinking of "The Last Real Experience" as I write that, but I could mean any of the songs on this CD. "Tiger on a Roll," for instance, where prog rock meets the new age in an eco-power-ballad that sounds like all ballads and none of them at the same time. But you can hear all this for yourself.
What I wanted to say was this: At one point during the serenade I looked over at the recording system in the corner, a tower of blinking amps and mixers and a futuristic iMac with sound moving across its display in orange bars as though pumped in right from the stage, sound re-conceived as light and movement, and in a flash I knew what I was experiencing: that the oxymoron live recording expresses something both contradictory and essential about us and about that night, the fantastic, surprising, human realization that every day is not the same old sunrise/sunset but is absolutely unique, and that our whole need and struggle is to capture this, because some moments are worth living forever, if only one could. That's what the spirit is for. And that's what this "live recording" makes happen. Impossible as such an endeavor may seem, insubstantial as the spirit may be, made as it is of nothing. Yet somehow, it's everything.
-Randy Lyman
Randy is a poet, journalist, author, activist, Mac addict, history buff, dreamer, gardener, and book lover, with other identities as the need arises. He wishes he could keep God lost and shuffled amidst his papers, because he's never so certain of something's existence as when he's searching for it on his desk.
Join us in Dreamtime as we envision and embrace our deeper dreams, learn, connect and co-create in an atmosphere of celebration, participation, creative expression and community.
The 2009 Dreamtime Festival, July 16-20th, includes four full days of amazing performances on four stages, hundreds of cutting edge workshops, interactive theme camps and art installations, free camping and parking.
- Over 100 workshops including Henry Redcloud of the Lakota, and the Mayan oracle AumRak.
- Four days of amazing performance on four stages, featuring Cheb i Sabbah, Govinda, and Lunar Fire (the wild alter ego of Kan'Nal).
- Over 18 theme camps, including a healing village offering free massage
- Art installations including a solar full size crashed flying saucer stage and sound system.
Come celebrate America's birthday with a little Peace Love and ROCK N ROLL!!
The Marina Music Festival honors the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock featuring a live musical tribute to Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Creedence Clearwater Revival .
Hosted by Music Source at the luxurious Waterfront Marina Concert Hall, 4211 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 featuring live performances, BBQ, art, and of course a stellar Fourth of July fireworks display. Show starts at 8PM
Proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Artistspalooza organization for the arts.
David Lockhart's painfully excessive capturing of the booze-swilling and constantly concupiscent Jim Morrison is an encyclopedic homage to the ethos of rock. Boudeeka's haunting accurate portrayal of Janis Joplin is a tribute to women in rock and the raw emotion that was so much a part of the scene. Carlton Poward is an almost frightening replica with his spot-on Jimi Hendrix characterization and inspired guitar playing. Pat Craig Contra Costa Times
I'd like to invite you to a couple of my coming events:
1. Free lecture:04/13/2009 07:30 PM - East West Bookstore
324 Castro St, Mountain View, California 94041
Cost:free but please call to book
Description:Bring Your Own Kundalinii - Tantra, one of the oldest forms of spiritual practice in the world, is often misunderstood as limited to sacred sexual practices. Join New Zealand author, monk and musician Dada Nabhaniilananda, a yogi who studied in India under Tantra master Shrii Shrii Anandamurti and was ordained a monk in 1979. Learn the principles of Tantra and more about this compelling path, and experience a novel ecstatic technique to raise your kundalini using music and mantras. To Reserve Tickets, Please Call 800-909-6161
2. 'The Secret of Meditation'
A One Day Workshop Sunday April 26th 10am - 5pm
Ananda Marga Meditation & Yoga Centre
27160 Moody Rd
Los Altos Hills, 94022
Enquiries: 650 948 2865
Tom Ammaniano (state assemblyman from San Francisco) just introduced a
bill into the state assembly to tax and regulate marijuana as we do
alcohol -- i.e., it would be legalized, taxed, and regulated. Like
alcohol, sales would be limited to folks over 21, penalties would be in
place for dui, sale to minors, etc. in other words, it sounds like the
right approach. The bill's official number is AB390, and more info will probably be available soon at www. norml. org and www. mpp. org.
If you have a minute, call and/or email your state assembly person and
Senator to encourage them to support the bill. You can look up their
contact info online based on your zip code:
http://www. legislature. ca. gov/port-zipsearch. html.
Feel free to pass this along. The bill is fighting an uphill battle
against a vast legacy of misguided and uninformed policy, and it will
only have a chance of passing if people speak up in favor.
This bill will provide California with one billion dollars of revenue each year (each ounce is taxed $50)
Hi Chemystry set! SoundSafe loves you! Please make a local music profile page for yourself on soundsafe. org SoundSafe is a 501c3 non-profit working to preserve, strengthen, promote, and unite the Bay Area music community. Upload songs to our radio station, promote your shows, network, and take advantage of our educational resources for the music business. http://soundsafe. org/profiles/new See you there and Long Live Bay Area Music!
Great to wander with you after the fashion that we love. Friends and languages all around and ... I will book a date for us to play next time you are in town. Yes?
Hey Sven, Great to hear from you too, I wasn't sure if you would know who I was! I'm glad that you are still playing too. We'll have to come see your band sometime (we live in Pleasant Hill now)I'm still trying to convince J. to get on myspace...
Just wanted to let you know that we have openings in our music publicity efforts this Fall. So if you have a USA release or tour in need of publicity, we'd love to hear from you. Samples of some of our recent successes...
LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: Mariza (coming October 11)
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Sara Tavares, Cesaria Evora, Andy Palacio, Balkan Beat Box, Slavic Soul Party, Encuentro, The Inspiring New Sounds of Rio de Janeiro, Sones de Mexico (coming soon)
NEW YORK TIMES: Jose Conde y Ola Fresca, Erol Josue, The Inspiring New Sounds of Rio de Janeiro, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Lura, Nawal, Andy Palacio
Plus Wall Street Journal, PRI's The World, L.A.Times, Boston Globe, and Washington Post and more at www.rockpaperscissors.biz. Please drop me a line if we can help with your USA global music publicity efforts or to schedule a meeting at WOMEX in Sevilla (womex.com).
Much respect,
Dmitri @ Rock Paper Scissors, Inc. www.rockpaperscissors.biz
Thanks so much for the compliment! I liked your page too, the music is really great, and the message of unity and diversity comes through loud and clear. I'll check back from time to time to see what you are up to. Peace, Love and Blessings to you, Detrian Michelle
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