Burn your panpipe samples and scrub the dishes with your ambient synth pads: this is not your auntie's world music band. Get down, get loud, get transported by some sophisticated, groove-oriented energetic jamrock improv/ punk jazz with a south Asian twist (think Bill Frisell and late Coltrane guesting with the White Stripes in Calcutta).
Sama Duo retains an improvisational focus, applying a deep core of both cutting-edge and ancient improvising methods within the musical traditions of India and the Middle East. The Duo reaches into the inner aspects of form and method from the established traditions, adds their previous experience as post-modern improvisors to the process and wraps it all with a rhythmically- driven, wide-ranging rock/funk ethos.
The group takes as its name a nuanced Arabic term that describes the spectrum of relationships between intense listening, sprituality, and music-making itself.
The Duo was chosen in 2006 to provide the music score for the independent film "Birth of a Pillow" by director Sharmy Pandey, from Kolkata, India. The film is a 47 minute feature with no dialogue, requiring a continuous music score that would amplify and emotionally detail the story to a very high degree.
The Duo's current instrumentation is fretless electric guitar and drum set, though they still use the sarod/tabla combination that marked their earlier phase, as well as the underutlilzed oud/gome combination.
The Duo is preparing a new release for Fall 2009.
Mustafa Stefan Dill (fretless and scalloped guitars, oud, sarod) is well known for his guitar, sarod, and oud work, leading a variety of his own ensembles as well as playing in mJane, Out of Context, Zevk Ensemble, Cecil Taylor, and others.
His initial music -- an intense and unique convergence of traditional flamenco and Middle Eastern elements and modern free improvisation -- won critical praise with recordings such as "Warning Clothed in Bright Robes of Dawn", "Sangre Del Rio", and "Six Peaces", paving the way for the current approach of combining modern and traditional improvising techniques within a deep immersion of various cultural musical traditions. He has also maintained the adventurous energy of classic progressive rock and free jazz in such projects as the Stefan Dill Trio's release Run For Heaven (2002).
He has performed solo concerts at numerous improvised music, jazz, and guitar festivals, including FMP's Total Music Meeting, Wirral Guitar Festival, Paderborn Guitar Festival, Zuid Nederlands Jazz Festival, and others.
Jefferson Voorhees (drum kit, tabla, naal, tar, gome) resides in Albuquerque and is one of the regions most versatile and sought after percussionists. His resume includes such projects as the Tom Guralnick Trio, Bayou Seco, Stove, and Out of Context, among many others. His time spent in India studying music and percussion (as well as his performances with Iraqi oudist Rahim Alhaj) adds some particularly unique qualifications for the project.
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