INSTRUMENTOS DE MEXICO Y INDIA

Bio:

QUE TAL is a pre-hispanic musician, composer, scholar and educator,

Martin Espino - string, breath and percussion instruments of Ancient Mexico, 10 String Guitar .. and musician, drummer, percussionist Christopher Garcia...

MARTIN ESPINO

(CLICK ON MARTINS NAME FOR EXTENSIVE BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION).. Ancient breath and percussion instruments of Mexico, 10 string guitar, Mexican vihuela, electronics .. Martin Espino continues to research, compose, improvise and perform music (primarily) on ancient indigenous instruments of Mexico including breath and percussion instruments made of bamboo, gourd and clay. In this context he also performs on 10 string guitar and the Mexican vihuela. .. He continues to compose for and guest with various musical environments and soundtracks including: ANCIENT GROOVES, MEXIKA and with Bolivian folklorist, Mario Torrico in Grupo YATIRI, along with numerous chamber ensembles in various formats including, interactive concerts and lectures since 1978 for audiences of all ages. ..

CHRISTOPHER GARCIA

(CLICK ON CHRISTOPHER'S NAME FOR EXTENSIVE BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION).. Percussion of India including - Tabla, Kanjira, Mbwata, ..and ancient percussion of Mexico including - stone marimba, and vakuvache.. Christopher Garcia has studied tabla with

Pandit Tarnath Rao

Swapan Chaudhuri,

John Bergamo, and Leonice Shinemann since 1979 while attending California Institute of the Arts on a full scholarship. He continues to utilize the tabla alongside other percussion instruments of India including kanjira, and ghatam in a variety of jazz, rock and world music settings including performances with THE AHN TRIO, ANCIENT GROOVES, CONTINUUM, DEMANIA ALEX DE GRASSI, MICHAEL MANRING, QUARTETO NUEVO, Ali Jihad Racy and many others.

Together they create music utilizing their practical playing experience, musicality and respect for the traditions that brought them together in the first place. The emphasis on making music and being in the moment at the moment combining rhythms and colors which have not had the opportunity to share the same physical space is what continues to drive QUE TALS music forward.

QUE TAL is the result of this, it is also a play on words. In the North Indian classical tradition, tal means "a predisposed arrangement of beats, in a certain tempo", in Los Angles, which is home for Martin and Christopher QUE TAL is equivalent to "What's happening?" as in what's happening right now.

REVIEWS.. "QUETAL, is a duo featuring multi-instrumentalist Martin Espino and percussionist Christopher Garcia... Espino is an authority on the music of ancient Mexico, having worked in the genre since 1974, performing on breath instruments he has (primarily) hand made, emanating from that source, including wind instruments made of clay, bone, bamboo, and gourd, as well as percussion instruments. .. Also an accomplished guitarist, he includes the 10-string guitar among his chosen instruments for this duo. He is also a member of the groups MEXIKA and ANCIENT GROOVES... Christopher Garcia is a mainstay of Los Angeles’s creative music community, moving easily between North and South Indian percussion and electronics (which he will use for this concert, as he does in the trio DEMANIA, with Alex Di Grassi and Michael Manring, for example) and drum set (for which he’s well known in other settings, such as the Grande Mothers, CONTINUUM, and Michael Vlatkovich’s groups). .. Espino and Garcia take their respective instruments and apply them to open, improvisationally enhanced musical adventures. To quote their promotional material, "This is not tourist stuff, this is living music happening right now!" .. OPEN GATE THEATER..

Member Since:

February 08, 2009

Members:

Martin Espino and Christopher Garcia

Influences:

Airto, John Bergamo, Cyro Baptista, Bracha, Anouar Brahem, Subash Chandran, Swapan Chaudhuri, Don Cherry, Codona, Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia, John McLaughlin, Oregon, Astor Piazolla, QUARTETO NUEVO, Alla Rahka, Pandit Tarnath Rao, Trichy Sankaran, Shakti, Wayne Shorter, Ralph Towner, Nana Vasconcelos, Glen Velez, Vikku Vinayakram, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Weather Report, Antonio Zepeda, our elders and teachers, and many more .. QUETAL ON STAGE AND OFF....

Sounds Like:

Ancient Instruments from Ancient Cultures respectfully combining for the first time to make a new world music by musicians fluent with sounds and music from both with humility, love and respect for our elders who continue to show us the way forward.