GROOVE PROJECT NEWS
2005
MAGAZINE STORY
 Southeast Ohio Magazine Story 5/2005 (pdf) |
| GP was contacted by Brendan Light of Southeast Ohio Magazine for a story in the current issue (May 2005.) He wrote a great story - thanks Brendan! |
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EARTHBEATS
APRIL- Groove Project hosted its second 3-part workshop "EarthBeats"at Joe and Catherine's beautiful NEW location of PRIDE Training Center/Global Works in Marietta Saturday, April 23rd.
EARTHBEATS GALLERY HERE
We focused on the Earth Day theme. Molly Watson energized the dance class by leading with her amazing African dance moves to the sound of Groove Project drummers. The drumming was electric, if I do say so myself. The African djembe class was next, followed by a drum circle facilitated by Toni Kellar. It was a great evening.
Special thanks to Qi for the pictures and Kevin of Marietta Brewing Company for the eats!
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MOKSHYA
APRIL - Mokshya, Salem International University's own world music group performed April 15th for a packed crowd at the school's small performance room. Andy Hall works at SIU as graphic designer and played tabla and frame drums for the group, which played a mix of Celtic, Nepali-Indian tunes and originals. The instrumentation was guitars, piano, tin whistles, bamboo flutes, frame drums, tabla and djembe. The group consisted of 3 students from Nepal, a Malaysian drummer, Andy and a faculty member, Jen Osha on piano and whistles.
The performance was recorded by Alan Smith (thanks Alan!) and a CD was made. Contact us if interested in a copy.
MOKSHYA SITE HERE.
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TA KE TI NA
APRIL - Andy Hall and Toni Kellar attended the TaKeTiNa: Rhythm for Evolution workshop in Boston, Mass., April 1-3, 2005. This amazing workshop (www.taketina.com) was facilitated by Reinhard Flatischler of Austria who developed the world-acclaimed system of integrating multi-level rhythmic expression using stepping, hands, and voice. Reinhard is the author of the book "TaKeTiNa: The Forgotten Power of Rhythm."
  taken from the TaKeTiNa website |
The basis of the work is using universal archetypical polyrhythms (for example, we were stepping a rhythm in 21 while clapping in 3 and voicing in 7!) to break through human blocks and open pathways of universal polyrhythmic expression. The three-day-long workshop featured a non-stop 8-hour set on Saturday!
"Wow! I think my cells have realigned"
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Toni
"Something very physically tangible happened to my brain this weekend."
- Andy
Our friend Chuck Cogliandro of Kumandi (www.kumandi.com) in Atlanta (who has given workshops to Groove Project members) was also there.
The workshop is HIGHLY recommended.
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HEARTBEATS
FEBRUARY - Groove Project hosted its first "Heartbeats" workshop at PRIDE Training Center in Marietta Saturday, Feb. 12. It was standing room only for the dance class, drum class, and community drum circle. Thanks to everyone who came to make it such a great success!
PHOTO PAGE HERE
We focused on the Valentine's Day theme, inspired by this Rumi quote: "Drumsound rises on the air, its beat, my heart. A voice inside the beat says, 'I know you are tired, but come. This is the way.' " Molly Watson energized the dance class by leading with her amazing African dance moves to the sound of Groove Project drummers.
At the drum class, Andy Hall taught a Haitian rhythm called Raboday by breaking it down into three parts. Beginner drummers were sounding like pros!
At the community drum circle, Toni Kellar facilitated the groove starting with everyone listening to their own heartbeats and listening within for their own rhythms. Groove Project members Ali Pearce, Matt Smith, and Andy McVey supported the group grooves with their wonderful energy throughout the evening. Molly topped it off by leading dancers to the middle for an amazingly powerful and energetic finish! Many thanks to Cat and Joe Bigley for hosting the workshop at PRIDE.
We plan to host more of these workshops throughout the year. Stay tuned!
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2004
MAMADY KEITA WORKSHOP
OCTOBER - Andy McVey, Ali Pearce and Andy Hall attended Mamady Keita workshops in Cannan Valley, WV on the 16th and 17th. Mamady is a world famous djembe master from Guinea, and the weekend was a great learning experience. We also watched an Ivory Coast drumming group play while an Ivory coast dance instructor ran a dance class. We brought back some instruments, cds and new rhythms to learn.
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LAYNE REDMOND
In this same weekend, Toni Kellar attended a three-day advanced frame drum workshop with Layne Redmond in upstate New York Oct. 19-21. Toni has studied with Layne for about nine years. Layne is the author of "When The Drummers Were Women" and a nationally-renowned recording artist. The focus of the workshop was Moroccan and Brazilian rhythms on tambourine, kanjira and pandiero that Layne transcribed from original street recordings. Layne also shared her latest research on the historic significance of bees in ancient cultures, including their use of rhythm and vibration in communication.
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ELKHENGE FESTIVAL
SEPTEMBER - The Elkhenge Festival was great - great vendors, food, band staging, friends. Everyone there was in a great mood and the weather was unbelievable. We played 2 sets by the bonfire as Montaneros and the closing band setup.. the crowd followed and really liked the vibe. The Milky Way was visible from horizon to horizon...
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| WORLD TRIO SEPTEMBER - Students at Salem International University form a world music group and employee Andy Hall joins up! Anand, a great mrdungam player from Malaysia, (pictured with djembe) and Santos from Nepal on flutes round out the trio. The group plays Nepalese traditional songs as well as Bollywood tunes. |
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WORLD DANCE PARTY
AUGUST - Haagi's Cabana turned out to be a great place to play and spin world CDs. The really dug the evening- and Emmanuel's food was amazing. Bassist Will Crichton joined Andy McVey and Andy Hall for a latin jazz set with bass, guitar, drumset. We were able to mix up our sets into different genres, breaking them up with world dance blocks. We are booked again for Friday, Sept 24th!
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AFRICAN THEMED PARTY
AUGUST - GP was recently joined at a private party (a wonderful African-themed party with extraordinary food!) - thanks Linda! - by Eric the Fire handler.. Eric does very cool fire Poi twirling and it was an interesting and exciting combination..
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CD PLANNED
AUGUST - The Groove Project live CD is in the works, and a tentative "living room sessions" CD is being tossed around. Thanks to Alan Smith, we have many digital recordings of improvisations through the last few years. A lot of these involve Andy McVey's fine guitar improvs with loop box and also some wild fast drumming...
Also being compiled is the first "Sasquach Experimental Truth Project" CD, a collection of experimental electronic instrument improvisations that several of the GPers have been involved in.
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GLEN VELEZ WORKSHOP |
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