The members of the Orchestrii come from different backgrounds and scenes in New York City. Sxip Shirey (resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonicas, melodica) is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden (violin, vocals) is an old time fiddle player, Rima Fand (violin, viola, and vocals) is a theater composer, and Benji Fox-Rosen (mini-double bass) is a free jazz player that loves tango and Missy Elliot.
Influences
Taraf De Haidouks, Dead Kennedys – ‘Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables’, Best of Doc Watson, Stravinsky – ‘Rite of Spring’, Bulgarian Women's Choir, Mingus – ‘The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady’, The Creatures – ‘Boomerang’, X – ‘Under The Big Black Sun’, Legendary Pink Dots – ‘Crushed Velvet Apocalypse’, Besho Drom – ‘Can't Make Me’, Can – ‘Tago Mago’, Miles Davis – ‘Dark Magus’, Bubba George Stringband, Pixies – ‘Come on Pilgrim’, Nina Simone – ‘Live at the Village Gate’
Sounds Like
Well, we dont sound like any of them, but some of our mates are Gogol Bordello, Slavic Soul Party, The Dresdin Dolls, Nervous Cabaret, The Wiyos, Romashka, The Hungry March Band, Human Wine, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Beth Cohen, Bob Cohen, Project Jenny Project Jan, Curtis Eller, Zero Boy, The Can Kickers, Shelly Watson, Romashka, Kultur Shock, Zagnut Cirkus Orchestar, Alec Redfern and the Eyesores, Stephan Wrembel and Guignol.
Putumayo records is putting out a dance remix of one of our tunes on an upcoming Balkan dance music CD. Upcoming tours include North Carolina, South Carolina and Knoxville, Scotland, Sweden and France!
"The balancing of frenzy and finesse is evidently a trademark Luminescent Orchestrii approach, displayed to its utmost in the insanely frenetic dance tunes... The three violins flirt willfully with a cacophony teasingly offset by elegant classical flourishes, swirling and eddying above the rhythm section's bruisingly aggressive but sharply-aimed attack." **** (four star review at The Edinburgh Fringe 2005) -THE SCOTSMAN.
Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by three violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica and 3/4 Argentinian bass.
The Luminescent Orchestrii has developed a reputation for ecstatic live performances and infectious onstage energy.
BELOW -Photos from New Years with the Dresden Dolls, Meow Meow and more!
go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumii/ for more pictures!
Hi there, thank you very much for the add and the message. Very Energetic and intoxicating music! Great work. I wish you all the best and hope to see you perfoming live some day! L'art pour L'art Hyde van Vayn
Sxip, Sarah, Rima and Benji, Thank you all again so much for coming to Totally Normal. I was so happy you guys were able to be there, and put on an amazing performance that i'm getting so much great feedback from people about. and, thank you so much for letting me hoop with you guys. It was really the highlight of the weekend for me. I hope you guys had a good time, and liked Knockin. We were all so thrilled to have you there to see it in person :-) DVDs of both sets will be coming your way very soon.
GREAT show, last night!!!! may drop in again tonight with my kids. but definitely will see you at cafe 939 tomorrow. you guys are TOTALLY fabulous!!!! xoxoxo
oi vei, it figures! this week, you go to boston, i go to nyc. next week, you go to nyc, i go to boston. we must be of the same polarity! miss you all, and i hope all your boston shows are a BLAST! rock their bow ties off!
My dear Lumiis... It was a fckin' great honnor to play with you yesterday... You guys were amazing ! Sarah, i loved your new song (faaaaster ;)) Rima, merci pour ta gentillesse... also i'm sure Woody Allen would love you héhé ;)) Benjii, so classy man, thx for the slappy babybass ;) And Sxip ! thank U so much my friend.. you are a poet, a great musicien and composer... you know how to transform small things into big things... happy birthday mate ! this Brooklyn time will stay a great souvenir for me !!! Cheers from the kitchen, in brooklyn ;))
Retrouvez le groupe Kesaj Tchave sur Arte jeudi 10 avril à 20h15. La série "La cuisine au sommet" consacre, dans cet épisode "Les Hautes Tatras en Slovaquie", un quart d'heure de "savoir vivre" en bidonville en musique et en danse avec le groupe Kesaj Tchavé!! Bon visionnage!!
We played The Map Room in Charleston, SC a few nights back. (Think big room, then put it in a strip mall: that's the one.) As we were loading out, booking guy is brainstorming, trying to figure who to pair our madness with next time since they wanted us back.
His eyes get big and he asks me: "Wait, have you ever heard of the Luminescent Orchestrii?"
you 4 are amazing. im pretty sure i can speak on behalf of the dozen or so Brigaders that were at the Framingham show last night and say that we all had such a good time. you all are truly magical and extremely talented people.
you rocked that firehouse last night doing what you guys do best.
thanks for the lovely comment. glad you like our work. we've always been big fans of your stuff. you doing edinburgh festival this summer? joe&nick&govinder...
Thanks so much for your blessing and for taking a poke around our page, it's hugely appreciated. Meant to say, we caught you at the Spiegeltent in Edinburgh two summers ago; it was an incredible show, so much energy, so much fun. Huge respect to you. Hope this finds you well.
