Album Notes

“Pure Magic. ‘rats & gentle people’ is a magnicicent jewel of a CD, an absolute must have.” – Moors magazine, sept. 2007

What is there to discover in eastern European crossover music these days? Well take STriCat – a trio of cymbalom, accordion and trumpet. From a thorough grounding in Romanian and Bulgarian traditions, these gentle-men follow a liberal path and like to push musical borders to the limit. Their experiences with jazz, rock, contemporary and improvised music are also woven into their own compositions. Above all, their hunger for harmonic and rhythmic challenges never lets the listener forget that groove is irreplaceable.


Tracks:
1. driving madness – Bokkie Vink 6.06
2. have a seat – Gijs Levelt 4.15
3. lay dee ‘P’ – Bokkie Vink 2.49
4. Mohawk territory – Bokkie Vink 5.04
5. Sir Bah – Bokkie Vink 5.50
6. loose ends – Theo van Tol 5.43
7. asphalt – Bokkie Vink 6.07
8. Toni – Bokkie Vink 5.30
9. V – Gijs Levelt 5.22
10. hear my degu a comin’ – Bokkie Vink 3.36
11. Dracula – Theo van Tol 4.07
12. sîrba voor Susanna – Gijs Levelt 5.44

STriCat:

Gijs Levelt – trumpet
Theo van Tol – accordion
Bokkie Vink – cymbalom


STriCat’s debut album “rats & gentle people” was highly praised in the Dutch music press and their captivating live performance at the Dutch national television program Vrije Geluiden in the same year helped to raise the attention of a broader audience. The trio performed concerts at prestigious festivals and venues like the North Sea Jazz Festival (2008), Jazz op het Dak (2008), Contrabande Festival (2008), ZomerJazzFietsTour (2007), Karnatic Lab Festival (2007), RASA (2007), Paradox (2007) and Bimhuis (2007). With their successful showcase at the Dutch Blend Meeting (2008), an international fair for world music pros, STriCat attracted the attention of many international concert promoters and journalists, which amongst others resulted in a tour to Taiwan (2008).