With acoustic and electronic soundscapes, EK weaves melodies and rhythms that evoke Filipino folkloric trances through the melding of electronics, electric guitar, bass, loops, ambient grooves, dance beats, and Filipino kulintang....
Electric Kulintang is the musical pairing of percussion duo Roberto Juan Rodriguez and Susie Ibarra. Their music revolved around the Kulingtang, a traditional Phillipine instrument, which is a series if eight gongs, played with sticks. The kulintang sound is both dense and ethereal. surrounding this tonal resonance are electronics, percussion, field recordings and for the first time on record, the vocal styling of Susie Ibarra.
Samples on Myspace are from their debut album DIALECTS, available December 2006 from Plastic Records.
REVIEWS and ARTICLES NY Times- Bang a Gong (or Eight) in Pan-Cultural Fusion
All About Jazz - "with expansive soundscapes, funky/jazz rhythyms and exquisite melodies, Ibarra has a created a Kulintang for the new millenium..."
Jazzreview.com- "...Ibarra is moving to join the cultures of the world in a manner in which each culture can maintain its integrity."
OTHER MEDIA NY Times - Photographers Journal: An Elegy for an Icon World Trade Center Tribute 2006 with music by EK, The Ancients
SUSIE IBARRA
Composer and Percussionist Susie Ibarra is known for her individual artistry on percussion and genre-defying music. " In the past decade, her willingness to step out from behind the kit and embrace non jazz forms- opera, poetry, experimental sound, dance-has taken her from that initial buzz from below Houston Street to international reknown as a composer, performer, and proponent of folkloric music." Catapano, NYTimes.
Recent pieces include: solo drumset and percussion Optical Illusion - 4 meditations in Light; solo piano Dancesteps; opera Shangri-La in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize poet and librettist Yusef Komunyakaa; opera Golden Phoenix, a work in progress in collaboration with Poet and Librettist Wang Ping; and Dreams, etudes for violin, piano and percussion. www.susieibarra.com
ROBERTO JUAN RODRIGUEZ
Born in East Havana, Cuba, percussionist and composer Roberto Rodriguez draws upon his influences of world music, pop, rock, jazz, electronic, avant garde and classical, making him one of the most versed performers as well as a unique artistic voice.
Rodriguez, a Grammy nominee and American Music Award Recipient, has performed with notable artists such as: Rufus Wainwright, Joe Jackson ,John Zorn, Marc Ribot , Celia Cruz ,Israel “CACHAO” Lopez, Paquito D’Rivera, Julio Iglesias, Miami Sound Machine, Paul Simon, Lloyd Cole, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, Lester Bowie and Wadada Leo Smith. Rodriguez can be heard on recordings: Maurice el Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez Descarga Oriental (Piranha Records); Septepto Roberto Rodriguez Baila! Gitano Baila! and El Danzon de Moises (Tzadik Records); Joe Jackon Live Two Rainy Nights (Sony ); Marc Ribot & Los Cubanos Postizos (Atlantic Records); w/ John Zorn, Taboo & Exile (Tzadik Records); w/ Miami Sound Machine, Into the Light (Epic Records) www.robertojuanrodriguez.com
salud amigos! me fascina el trabajo de ek, ojalá pueda verles a mi paso por allá. son más que bienvenidos a nuestros shows. best regards, from spain, bg BRUNO GALINDO & GARY LUCAS 4 oct - Casa del Lago (México DF) 11 oct - Bowery Poetry Club (New York) 14 oct - Gershwin Hotel (New York)
Congratulations on the Wired. I hope they put EK on the #1 spot. FYI I will be in NY May 31 with Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble w Master Kalanduyan performing at World Music Institute.
Hey Susie & Roberto! So awesome to hear from. Honored to be included amongst your friends. I love this concept! I'd see you guys in action on a youtube clip a while back, and dug it! Hope you're doing great! Miss you guys! Take care, Ravish
