Just me, a keyboard, a laptop, and the muse of amusement.
Perhaps even you.
Please check out more of my compositions in the player below
please join forces with us! we won’t abuse or torture your personal information.
in fact, it will be relatively painless.
we promise.
Influences
COFFEE
Let's drop some names here. in no particular order of importance:
First off, should you really care to know, I'd like to meet Roberto Benigni and his lovely wife Nicoletta Braschi.
That would be a really fun & interesting evening of conversation.
Oh, and Jackie Chan. Music:
I listen to & explore a wide range of musical styles. I really like what has become ubiquitiously known as "world music" which, by my definition of it, generally means non-western forms of composition. Favorites include third stream, klezmer, gypsy, Indian, Middle Eastern, soukous, forro, conjunto, fado, qawwali, ghazals, opera, jazz, bebop, fusion, experimental composition, ambient, film scores, theatre music & a creative hybrid of them all.
I prefer complicated polyrhythms, syncopation, odd time signatures, unfamiliar scales & structural motifs that are eclectic and unpredictable. A great sense of wonder, absurdity & humor in lyrics is always admired. Not too big into your generic 4/4 shopping mall beat but I do like a good utilitarian waltz rhythm now & then.
Lately I've been exploring the wonderful world of undiscovered independent artists across MySpace, Facebook, MusicForte, TagWorld (now gone defunct), ReverbNation, etc. as well as the incredible publication of Songlines Magazine, which you really should check out & subscribe to: breaking news on world music & musicians, events & 2 CDs included with each issue!
At any given time you may find me listening to the following artists:
Mozart, Rossini, David Byrne, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Dewey Dellay, Todd Rundgren, Frank Zappa, Carla Bley, Charles Mingus, Bob Dylan, Ornette Coleman, Thomas Newman, Van Dyke Parks, Harry Partch, Silvestre Revueltas, Benoit Jutras, Violaine Corradi, Brian Eno, Nicola Piovani, Ennio Morricone, Stephen Sondheim, Eric Satie, Edgard Varese, Thelonious Monk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Charlie Haden, Polyrock, Vic Mizzy, Material, John Cage, Carl Stalling, Steve Reich, Arvid Franzen, Bill Frisell, Alan Sherman, Yat-Kha, Bill Laswell, Glen Branca, Don Pullen, Philip Glass, Louis Andriessen, Quincy Jones, Aaron Copland, Warren Senders, Arvo Part, Hildegard Von Bingen, Dobet Gnahoré, Arther Brown, Stan Freiberg, John Prine, Charlie Parker, Kurt Weill, Tom Waits, Raymond Scott, Sonny Rollins, George Clinton, Bill Nelson, Café Tecuba, Leonard Bernstein, Crack the Sky, Pierre Boulez, Anatolia, Camper Van Beethoven, Mickey Katz, Rimsky-Korsakov, Oliver Messiaen, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Phil Ochs, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Frip, Miles Davis, Henry Cowell, Elliott Sharp, Spike Jones, Bauhaus, Shostokovich, Rabindranath Tagore, XTC, James Weldon Johnson, Richard Fariña, Dizzy Gillespie, Tom Lehrer, Gilbert & Sullivan, Evan Ziporyn, Habib Koité, Jazz Butcher, Yann Tierson, The Residents, DJ Sybear, Eugene Chadbourne, Leonard Cohen, Ian & Sylvia, The Ruttles, Conlan Nancarrow, Don Byron, Can, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Roxy Music, Shooglenifty, In the Nursery, Arnold Schoenberg, Marc Ribot, Nicky Skopelitis, Nicolas Slonimsky, James Brown, John Zorn, Kurt Pahlen, Paco Peña, Ali Akhbar Khan, Natraj, Ute Lemper, Greetje Bijma, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Bjork, War, Art Blakey, Tangerine Dream, Suburban Lawns, Don Cherry, Erkin Koray, Sam and Dave, Bang on a Can
Theatre:
Peter Brook, Franco Dragone, Julie Taymor, Robert Wilson, George Bernard Shaw, Mummenschanz, Willy boy Shakes, Groucho Marx, Dario Fo, Beckett, Paddy Swanson, Commedia dell'arte, Cirque du Soleil, Tom Stoppard, essayons theatre company, Brecht, John Langstaff, Revels Inc., Naqshineh theatre group of Iran, Robert Wilson, dood paard theatre company, wire monkey dance, Augusto Boal, Peking Opera, Le Ballet National du Senegal, Roberto Benigni, Indonesian & Turkish Shadow Puppets, Storahtelling
Writers & Books:
The Rest is Noise - Alex Ross, Ilf & Petrov, George Bernard Shaw, The Guide - R. K. Narayan, The Saddlebag - Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon, Rabindranath Tagore, The Empty Space - Peter Brook, dj Sybear, Jorge Luis Borges, James Weldon Johnson, Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow, World Tales - Idries Shah, Willy boy Shakes, Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth & Arts - Lewis Hyde, The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin by Idries Shah, Children of the Alley - Naguib Mahfouz, The Tradition of Constructivism - Steven Bann, Durov's Pig: Clowns, Politics and Theatre - Joel Schechter, Impro for Storytellers - Keith Johnstone, Richard Fariña, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property - Lewis Hyde, Rabindranath Tagore, Most of the Most of S.J. Perelman, Color: A Natural History of the Palette - Victoria Finlay, Donald Barthelme
Artists & arts:
Cheryl Burke (my wife), Kinetic Sculptures by George Rhoads, Marcel Duchamp, Marc Chagal, Dada, Diego Rivera, Nathan Orie, Soviet & American Cold War Propaganda Posters, Banksy, Remedios Varos, Kasimir Malevich, Zaumnia, Surrealism, Federal Writer's & Theatre Project Posters, Constructivism, The City Museum, St. Louis, MO., Dali, Claes Oldenburg
the list grows & continues forever
Sounds Like
A house party broadcast by pirate radio from a satellite island drifting somewhere along the tropic of cancer...
My name is Elliott. I'm a music composer/ sound designer, writer & researcher who owns Ishah 'El theatre arts, a small non-profit theatre & performing arts company with the purpose of promoting the arts of ethnic culture in the community. Yep, that involves music, also.
I have some ambitious plans in the works that I will be revealing here & elsewhere soon: more music, writing, audio plays & podcasts of current projects. Currently I'm working on getting my website completed, updating all of these various social web sites, FUNDRAISING, & in the near future will be on several collaborative sites. I hope I find you there.
Once upon a time - quite a ways back now - I was involved in the early evolution of what would become Freaks Amor with my good friend Ricardo Acevedo. Should you care to check some of that stuff out, just head yourself on over & give it a listen. Should you find that you want to purchase some of the music found there, it has been made available at In the RA Studios; go to "Brave Nude Whirled". You should find them there.
Come Join Us!
We are looking for other like minded folk who are interested in working together to bring the arts & culture of the middle east, Afghanistan, South America, Africa, Asia, India and others further into our own worlds. If that's you then give us a call.
Also, for more info & sound files please check out my compositions in the player below or on other space(s) at:
We're raising money to find a new space to rehearse and perform in. Please consider gifting us with a tax deductible donation to help us find a new home. Just click on the buttons below and make a donation. Thanks for your support- we really appreciate it!
Ishah 'El theatre arts collaborative is a U.S. registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit charity organization formed in 2006 for the development, support, education and production of traditional performing arts of diverse cultures as well as developing new, original theatre works that focus on and feature the traditional cultural arts.
About Ishah 'El theatre arts
Ishah 'El theatre arts is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit performing arts & education theatre company focused on development, education, support and promotion of traditional arts of other cultures and developing new original works for public performance in our community. Our vision is to develop new & original works of theatre with an emphasis on spiritual & social themes and to share entertaining & uplifting stories of other cultures through live drama, music, dance, art & improvisation.
mountain of spices!
I also make & sell made by hand spice blends. Great for all of your cooking needs. Well, maybe most of them. Jump on over and check them out at:
Hola Elliott M. Burke - Composer gracias por el add no olvides pasar a dejar tu huella en nuestro myspace =) saludos de tus AMIGOS de INSOMNIO MUSICAL!!!
Buena vibra!!!
Hi there Elliott M. Burke - Composer thanks for the add dont forget to stop by to leave some greetings dont be shy =) greetings from all your FRIENDS of INSOMNIO MUSICAL
Let us present a little comment, That in this very particular moment, Presents happiness for lack of rejection That turned into invisible connection Of ThiSpace and ThaTime friends One so sturdy, that it never ends, And a little video it sends...
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 162 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001
Where traditions are not so rare; Sea, country and works scent the air; A multitude of monuments, Planted tubs and patterned pavements.
The longish pedestrian malls; The remnants of defensive walls; Historic buildings are a gauge Of the respect for heritage.
Wheat, rape and pines in the fields; Estuaries guarded by shields; Long sandy beaches and wide scenes; Romantic-ruin go-betweens.
Rivers in parts licked by trees, Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries, And crossed by practical delights - Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.
Fine churches headed at Durham; Football kits ad infinitum; Kept castles - one for study; Masonry behind masonry.
And, with moulding-works out that way, It’s somewhere for a longer stay..?
Online Now!
