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**** NEWS ****

Tandava’s debut CD has received multiple nominations this year:

* “World Fusion” category of the US Independent Music Awards

* “Best Ensemble” and “Best World Group” for the Canadian Folk Music Awards

* “FAVOURITE WORLD ARTIST/GROUP/DUO OF THE YEAR” of the 7th Annual Independent Music Award (Indies

* Tandava are included in CBC radio's ROOTS & WINGS listing for BEST ALBUMS OF 2006!

www.cbc.ca/rootsandwings/best06.html

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Members

PRASHANT JOHN - guitar, flutes, vocal

Born in Lahore and raised in Bangladesh, Tandava's founder Prashant Michael John has performed and collaborated with musicians in India, Bangladesh, S.E. Asia and North America in genres from folk, rock, and jazz to world music. His evolving compositions, while influenced by Indian, Pakistani and Bengali music, combine the styles and instrumentation of a variety of cultures. Prashant also performs and records internationally with his trio Lehera with members Prakash Sontakke and Karthik.Subramaniam, and with Real World Studios recording artist, Nitya Das Baul. In Canada, he records and collaborates with musicians in different genres. He has studied Carnatic theory and rhythm with K. Rajarangan, Carnatic, Hindustani and African flute with various teachers and Jazz with teachers from the Berklee School of Music.

LAN TUNG - erhu

Lan crosses the lines between classical, contemporary, folk, blues and various ethnic styles, such as Indian, Celtic and Middle Eastern, to expand the horizons of the erhu. Trained at Taiwan's Chinese Cultural University, Lan went on to study with erhu virtuosi Jiebing Chen in San Francisco and Zhang Funming in Beijing, with Hindustani violinist Kala Ramnath in Bombay and Egyptian violinist Dr. Alfred Gamil in Cairo. Lan has performed with Huun Huur Tu (Tuva), Baka Beyond (UK), Khac Chi Ensemble (Vietnam) and Hossam Shaker (Egypt). Lan shares the stage with many Vancouver's innovative improvisers, such as Ron Samworth and Coat Cooke. She has premiered numerous contemporary compositions by Canadian and US composers. The various influences are evident in Lan's music, written for the JUNO nominated Orchid Ensemble, which she founded in 1997. A concert producer and arts administrator, Lan also serves as a board director of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.

JONATHAN BERNARD - marimba & percussion

Jonathan combines his background in western percussion with a fascination for Asian traditions to create a unique sound palette incorporating a myriad of instruments, techniques and styles. Jonathan’s interests span numerous genres from orchestral music to New Music, and World Music. Having premiered over seventy chamber works, Jonathan regularly performs with the Orchid Ensemble, Vancouver New Music, Four Gallon Drum, Fringe Group, Ensemble Symposium, Tandava, and orchestras including the Vancouver, Victoria, and CBC Radio Orchestras. He is currently the principal percussionist with the Vancouver Island Symphony. Jonathan’s interest in World Music has led him to perform Chinese, Javanese, Balinese and Korean music and to study traditional and contemporary Chinese percussion in Beijing, China, and Arabic percussion in Cairo, Egypt with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council. Jonathan has toured throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

STEFAN CIHELKA – tabla & percussion

Since 1993, Stefan has studied the art of Tabla in Mumbai, India under the guidance of the great Ustad Allarakha, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Fazal Qureshi, Pandit Yogesh Samsi and Sri Satwant Singh. He has performed and recorded with many prominent international artists such as Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad Irshad Khan, Sri Salil Bhatt, Abdullah Chhadeh, Amir Koushkani, Itamar Erez, the Tea Party, Ian Moore, the Vancouver Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra and many others. Stefan is not only a performer of traditional Indian classical music, but also an important figure in the world music/fusion scene and teacher in Vancouver. Stefan's sensitivity and creativity have allowed him to perform with musicians from Eastern Europe, Ireland, Africa, China and most notably Iran, where he has begun the study of Persia's percussion traditions.