Port O' Monkeys: Chris Wertenbaker, Jeff Greene, Paul Harris, Don Hayward, Ivan Ivanovich, Eve Moon, Nick Moon, David Muller, Dolphi Wertenbaker, Elena Wertenbaker - in various configurations.
Influences
Port o’ Monkeys is the name of a town on the shores of Mount Analogue, the island mountain described in René Daumal’s allegorical novel of spiritual search . The town is at the interface between the ordinary world and the world of the mountain, and is inhabited by people from all over the globe, and descendants of people from all ages, who managed to reach the island through the spacetime barrier that protects it. We seek in our music, which is also derived from all over the world and from all ages, to also bridge the two worlds. Some of it could be called street music, the music of fiestas, the music people make when they get together in homes, folk music; other pieces are more directly meditative. In all, if we are attentive enough, a higher dimension can appear, manifest in an expanded time in which one can hear all the subtle variations and interplay of rhythm, melody, and overtones.
We use a wide variety of acoustic instruments, including flamenco guitar, steel string guitar, oud, kanun, bouzouki, guitarrone, yayla tanbur, violin, flute, harmonium, bass trombone, mandolin, afghan rebab, nyckleharpe, konkovka, dutar, and various hand drums and other percussion. In each song we try to carefully mix the aural timbres to bring out its unique character. The interpretations of traditional pieces and the original compositions take their inspiration from sources as diverse as Flamenco, American folk, Basque, Celtic, ancient Greek, Yemeni, Afghani, Turkish, Armenian, Hindustani, Klezmer, Persian, and Gypsy. We use odd meters of 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, and 15 as well as 3/4 and 4/4. The common denominator is a shared musical spirit, a sense of integrity and common humanity and aspiration that translates into a joy that the musicians radiate and the audience feels.
Chris Wertenbaker grew up in a fishing village in the Basque country in the south of France, where he was a member of the town estudiantina, composed of children ages 10 and up, who were taught at the town’s expense to play folk music from the area on guitars and mandolins, and would in exchange perform in street festivals and other venues, dressed in traditional Basque costumes. Subsequently he studied flamenco guitar in Europe and New York, most intensely with David Serva, himself a student of the famous guitarist Diego del Gastor. Chris played in the coffee houses in Greenwich Village in the early 60s, busked in Europe, and helped put himself through college playing in Cambridge Massachussets. A neuro-ophthalmologist by profession, he has continued to play with friends over the years, becoming interested in many different kinds of music, from ancient Greek music, to music from around the world, and to the music of Gurdjieff and de Hartmann.
Paul Harris grew up in the bohemian suburbs of the west Bronx and central New Jersey, where he began playing flute in the fifth grade. He interrupted his college studies to travel with the La MaMa Theater Company (thank you Ellen Stewart!) for three years as principal flutist and guitarist in productions of The Trojan Women, Electra, Medea, The Good Woman of Szechuan and As You Like It directed by Andrei Serban, with music by Elizabeth Swados. Paul develops energy projects (hydro and other renewables, cogeneration, LNG) and is treasurer of Sustainable South Bronx (ssbx.org). He and his wife have two daughters; they live in Hastings-on-Hudson.
Jeff Greene grew up listening to the blues in Chicago. As a teenager hiking across the Sahara, he was exposed to the modal music of the east. His time in college sparked an interest in ethnomusicology, and over the years Jeff has engaged in musical research with trips to central Asia, the Balkans, and the Middle East, where during each trip he played with local musicians. Over the years Jeff studied the mandolin and Afghan Rebab, and has collected over 200 instruments, all of which he can (and does!) play. He has performed with the New York Arabic Orchestra, and currently plays with two music groups, PortOMonkeys and TriBeCaStan. Both groups are represented by the global roots company he founded, EverGreene Music.
As a day job Jeff is the president and founder of EverGreene Architectural Arts, an interior restoration and conservation company.
Dolphi Wertenbaker grew up in India, where she learned the classical South Indian dance Bharata Natyam as a child and performed it as a young woman. She was steeped in its complex rhythms. She also studied carnatic singing and yoga. Later she performed at La Mama in Andrei Serban’s Trojan Women and taught yoga and Bharata Natyam at Columbia University for 14 years. Currently, having also acquired an MD, she teaches yoga with an emphasis on its therapeutic applications.
Nick Moon, a descendant of many generations of chassidic master singers and composers, was born in Shanghai China in a ghetto under Japanese occupation. He was raised in the mystic atmosphere of Chassidisism. He came to America as a child of seven, and moved with his family to Brooklyn, wiithin the chassidic community there. At the age of fifteen, he went out into the world to study music and many other interesting things. He knew many great musicians of the sixties and seventies. He traveled and spent a lot of time in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Isreal. He met and studied with many greats. On returning to America he met Chris Wertenbaker and so began their musical journey together.
Eve Moon was born in Manhattan, N.Y.C. and grew up in a brownstone house on west 21st Street. Both of her parents were musicians- her father played piano and cello, and her mother played piano and vioin. Eve studied music from a very early age- first piano, and then at the age of twelve, guitar.She was introduced to and learned many styles of music, including rock, jazz,blues, classical and broadway, much of which was played at home.
Eve left home at the age of seventeen, and pursued a carrer in music. She played in many cafes, and then landed a recording contract with Capitol Records, for her original material. She has performed and recorded with many fine musicians, touring the United States, Canada and Europe. She met her future husband, Nick, and Chris Wertenbaker, while performing in clubs in Greenwhich Village.
Don Hayward (bass trombone, guitarrone, harmonium) studied music at the Hartt School of Music and New England Conservatory. He is a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center. He has performed on more than 30 Broadway shows and performed and recorded with the likes of John Cage, Leonard Bernstein, Tony Bennet, Mario Bauza and Lamont Young. Don is a trombone instructor at Columbia University since 1994.
Here are notes on our current CD, "The Crossing", available at Evergreenemusic.com, and other venues.
Music is alive and organic, undergoing constant evolution and transformation. A gypsy in Moron de la Frontera composes a falsetta (a short guitar melody in a particular mode and rhythm) and another person hears it or learns it from him, and modifies it to his liking, and takes it to Sevilla, where someone else….A blues guitar player in Mississipi invents a riff, someone else changes it, etc. Folk tunes find their way into classical compositions, and vice versa. It is likely that no melody is entirely original. We would like to indicate as far as possible the origin and evolution of some of our pieces, to celebrate the life of music.
1) Alegrias/Rumba E major. Alegrias is a traditional flamenco piece; some parts of this one were composed by Nino Ricardo (although maybe he got it from somebody else), other parts by CW, inspired by the chord changes of the Skye Boat Song, a traditional Scottish song. Rumba is also a traditional flamenco piece, but not in E major. This one was composed and harmonized by CW, inspired (loosely) by a recording of Villayat Khan and Bismillah Khan playing a sitar and shenai duet. CW: flamenco guitar. EM: steel string guitar.
2) Women’s Dance. Composed by Casey Sokol, for a production of The Clown of God, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1979. DH: guitar. CW: Oud. PH: Flute. JG: Percussion.
3) Crossing. Music composed by EM, NM, and CW. Words by CW. CW: Oud, kanun. EM: Guitar. JG: Yayla tanbur. NM: Percussion, voice (intro). EW: Voice (lyrics).
4) Panaderos. Flamenco guitar piece by Esteban de Sanlucar, that CW learned from David Serva. Arranged by CW. CW: guitar. EM: Guitar. JG: Mandolin. DH: Guitarrone. PH: Flute. NM: Percussion.
5) Chick’s Armenian. Traditional Armenian Song. Played in the Feenjon Café in Greenwich Village in the 1960s by the legendary Armenian-American oud player Chick Ganimian, which is how we learned it. JG: Yayla tanbur. CW: Oud. EM: Guitar. NM: Percussion.
6) To B and to C. Based on a theme by Bert Jansch (Lucky Thirteen album), and developed by CW, with nickleharpe improvisations by JG. CW: guitar. JG: Nickleharpe. DW: Percussion. DH: Bass trombone.
7) Dervish. Transcribed by Thomas de Hartmann, it is believed from hearing a traditional Mevlevi Dervish tune in Istanbul in the 1920s. PH: Flute. CW: Guitar and kanun. JG: Percussion, yayla tanbur. DW: Percussion.
8) Fly Away. Melody by Ara Dinkjian. Words by CW. CW: Oud, kanun. EM: Guitar. JG: Yayla tanbur. NM: Percussion. EW: Voice.
9) Ancient Greek Medley. Two of the few surviving fragments of ancient Greek music, Plaint of Tecmessa and Hymn to the Sun. The rhythm of Hymn to the Sun (15/8) is particularly interesting. PH: Flute. CW: Oud. DH: Harmonium. JG: Percussion and cello. DW: Percussion.
10) Alexis’ Waltz. Composed by JG for his daughter’s wedding. Arranged by JG and PH. JG: Mandolin. PH: Flute. CW: Guitar. NM: Percussion and harmonica.
11) Jota. Traditional music, song and dance from northern Spain, commonly heard in the Basque country, where CW grew up. The slow part usually accompanies singing, but we have used it for a guitar solo by EM. CW: Guitar. EM: Guitar. JG: Mandolin. DH: Guitarrone. II: Violin.
12) Afghan Medley. Two traditional Afghan tunes, Song of the Desert and Tall Girls, heard on an old Folkways album, and somewhat modified (perhaps not to Afghani liking), particularly in the second song’s shuttling back and forth from 8/8 to 7/8. CW: Rebab. NM: Percussion, voice. JG: Percussion, yayla tanbur, voice. DH: Harmonium. PH: Flute.
13) Rumba in E minor. Traditional flamenco piece, much of which CW learned from David Serva, with parts by various guitarists including our friend Carl Nagin; harmonies by CW. Mandolin solo by JG. CW: Guitar. EM: Guitar. JG: Mandolin. DH: Guitarrone. PH: Flute.
"Ticklin' The Strings" by Sweet Hollywaiians
Amazing Japanese hot string band playing 1920's, 30's, 40's style hawaiian, swing, calypso, blues, italian music and originals,featuring vintage instruments.3 songs with Robert Armstrong and Tony Marcus(from Robert Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders)
"The Sweet Hollywaiians have probably the best feel for this 20's music of any string band working today. They manage the rare feat of sounding relaxed even when their playing is hot, are top notch musicians with tasteful arrangements and a full, rich, warm sound.Plus, they have a nice gamut of tunes, from King Nawahi to Giovanni Vicari to Bobby Leecan. See them live, if you can, for an unforgettable experience. If you can't, buy their Cds!" ~ Terry Zwigoff
Reaktion & Tapsit are very happy to introduce 2 new records of tuareg music:
TERAKAFT : LIVE 2008 6 tracks recorded during the European tour 2008. Includes 2 unreleased tracks: “Targa” et “Ewarnanagh”
AZAWAD : LIVE 1999 Behind the name of Azawad are hidden three original members of the Tinariwen collective: Abdallah, Hassan and Kedou. These are the live recordings made in 1999 in France, which can perhaps be considered Tinariwen’s first concert outside Africa.
Only available for downloads on all the legal platforms (iTunes, emusic...). Exclusively on tamasheq. net : tracks + digital booklets (english & french).
HOLA HERMANOS MUCHAS GRACIAS POR LA INVITACION, ES UN GUSTO PARA NOSOTROS COMPARTIR ESTE ESPACIO CON USTEDES, PASAMOS POR SU SITIO MUY LINDA LA MUSCIA QUE HACEN, UN PLACERTE DE TENERLOSA CA ABRAZOS Y BUENAS ENERGIAS, ESTAMOS EN CONTACTO.
