Motema Music Recording Artist Also Wins Independent Music Award for Kelenia as “Best World Beat" CD
Oran Etkin, the Israeli-born, New York-based clarinetist whose 2009 Motema Music release, Kelenia, was hailed by the New York Times as “ebullient," and by the All Music Guide as setting “a new standard for world music in the decade of the 2000's," has much to celebrate in the new year.
Last week, his critically acclaimed debut recording, Kelenia, was awarded the Independent Music Award for “Best World Beat" CD. The IMA winners, culled from thousands of submissions from around the globe, were determined by a panel of 80 influential artists and industry pros including Tom Waits, Aimee Mann, Suzanne Vega, Bettye LaVette, and Judy Collins. Music fans have until June 25 to champion their favorite Nominees at The IMA Vox Pop Jukebox to determine The 9th Independent Music Awards 'People's Voice' Winners.
Etkin's next release, Wake Up, Clarinet, is a jazz recording for children and will be released this spring. One track, “Little Lamb Jam," will be featured on Putumayo Kids' March 9 release, Jazz Playground, a multicultural CD which celebrates the vibrant diversity and global influence of jazz.
Jazz Playground demonstrates how artists in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania have adopted jazz and made it their own. Featuring a new, colorful storybook-style booklet and glossary of musical terms, Jazz Playground pairs sophisticated sounds with kid-friendly lyrics. Etkin enlisted fellow Broolynite Charanee Wade to contribute vocals on “Little Lamb Jam."
To promote the release of Jazz Playground, Etkin will perform at two of the venues on a select concert tour, on February 28 at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, and on March 13, at the Scholastic Auditorium in downtown Manhattan.
For more information about Jazz Playground, visitPutumayo Kids.
Working with children is hardly unusual for the thirty year old Etkin. For several years, he has been giving back what he was given musically with a groundbreaking new educational method, offering classes to children ranging in age from 18 months to six years throughout New York. His educational approach has led Etkin to record his own CD, Wake Up Clarinet!, which will be released later in 2010. More information on his unique teaching style can be found on the Kids page of his website.
Oran Ektin has been described as a “great clarinet player" and “an excellent improviser" by the New York Times' jazz critic Ben Ratliff and a “woodwind maestro" by PRI's internationally syndicated show, Afropop Worldwide. He has performed around the world with musicians ranging from jazz guitarist Mike Stern to rapper Wyclef Jean. His latest album, Kelenia (Motema Music), fuses traditional Malian and Jewish music with modern jazz creating what the Boston Globe dubbed a “hypnotic balance between straight-ahead jazz and world music".
The CD features Oran's working group with Malian griot musicians Balla Kouyate, Makane Kouyate and bassist Joe Sanders as well as guests including vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate, Grammy Award winning artists Lionel Loueke and John Benitez, and even a string quartet on one track. The resulting sound is a reflection of Oran's musical personality rooted in jazz but shaped by the many musical worlds that Oran is a part of in New York, including African, Jewish, Haitian and New Orleans music. Even before its release,Kelenia debuted at # 10 on the nationwide radio charts and All Music Guide has declared that Oran “sets a new standard for world music in the decade of the 2000s".
Oran built his foundations studying with George Garzone starting at age 14 and later with Yusef Lateef. He studied classical clarinet and composition as an undergraduate and received a Masters in Jazz Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dave Liebman and Dave Krakauer among others.
Oran continues the tradition of music education as a faculty member of the Brooklyn Conservatory and through the unique new method that he developed for teaching music to 2-6 year olds that has been implemented with over 500 young students in New York. Oran is in the process of adapting this method into a set of children's books and writing a book for adults on how children learn music.
Oran's upcoming concerts:
Oran Etkin, the Israeli-born, New York-based clarinetist whose 2009 Motema Music release, Kelenia, was hailed by the New York Times as “ebullient," and by the All Music Guide as setting “a new standard for world music in the decade of the 2000's," has much to celebrate in the new year.
Last week, his critically acclaimed debut recording, Kelenia, was awarded the Independent Music Award for “Best World Beat" CD. The IMA winners, culled from thousands of submissions from around the globe, were determined by a panel of 80 influential artists and industry pros including Tom Waits, Aimee Mann, Suzanne Vega, Bettye LaVette, and Judy Collins. Music fans have until June 25 to champion their favorite Nominees at The IMA Vox Pop Jukebox to determine The 9th Independent Music Awards 'People's Voice' Winners.
Etkin's next release, Wake Up, Clarinet, is a jazz recording for children and will be released this spring. One track, “Little Lamb Jam," will be featured on Putumayo Kids' March 9 release, Jazz Playground, a multicultural CD which celebrates the vibrant diversity and global influence of jazz.
Jazz Playground demonstrates how artists in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania have adopted jazz and made it their own. Featuring a new, colorful storybook-style booklet and glossary of musical terms, Jazz Playground pairs sophisticated sounds with kid-friendly lyrics. Etkin enlisted fellow Broolynite Charanee Wade to contribute vocals on “Little Lamb Jam."
To promote the release of Jazz Playground, Etkin will perform at two of the venues on a select concert tour, on February 28 at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, and on March 13, at the Scholastic Auditorium in downtown Manhattan.
For more information about Jazz Playground, visitPutumayo Kids.
Working with children is hardly unusual for the thirty year old Etkin. For several years, he has been giving back what he was given musically with a groundbreaking new educational method, offering classes to children ranging in age from 18 months to six years throughout New York. His educational approach has led Etkin to record his own CD, Wake Up Clarinet!, which will be released later in 2010. More information on his unique teaching style can be found on the Kids page of his website.
Oran Ektin has been described as a “great clarinet player" and “an excellent improviser" by the New York Times' jazz critic Ben Ratliff and a “woodwind maestro" by PRI's internationally syndicated show, Afropop Worldwide. He has performed around the world with musicians ranging from jazz guitarist Mike Stern to rapper Wyclef Jean. His latest album, Kelenia (Motema Music), fuses traditional Malian and Jewish music with modern jazz creating what the Boston Globe dubbed a “hypnotic balance between straight-ahead jazz and world music".
The CD features Oran's working group with Malian griot musicians Balla Kouyate, Makane Kouyate and bassist Joe Sanders as well as guests including vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate, Grammy Award winning artists Lionel Loueke and John Benitez, and even a string quartet on one track. The resulting sound is a reflection of Oran's musical personality rooted in jazz but shaped by the many musical worlds that Oran is a part of in New York, including African, Jewish, Haitian and New Orleans music. Even before its release,Kelenia debuted at # 10 on the nationwide radio charts and All Music Guide has declared that Oran “sets a new standard for world music in the decade of the 2000s".
Oran built his foundations studying with George Garzone starting at age 14 and later with Yusef Lateef. He studied classical clarinet and composition as an undergraduate and received a Masters in Jazz Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dave Liebman and Dave Krakauer among others.
Oran continues the tradition of music education as a faculty member of the Brooklyn Conservatory and through the unique new method that he developed for teaching music to 2-6 year olds that has been implemented with over 500 young students in New York. Oran is in the process of adapting this method into a set of children's books and writing a book for adults on how children learn music.
Oran's upcoming concerts:
February 28 - Philadelphia, PA
Please Touch Museum
Junior Jazz Concert Series
1 pm & 3 pm
4231 Avenue of the Republic
Please Touch Museum
Free with museum admission
March 12 - Brooklyn, NY
Barbes
376 9th
8 PM
(Performing music from Kelenia)
Barbes
March 13 - New York, NY
Scholastic Auditorium
11am & 1pm
557 Broadway
Scholastic Store
Free - Reservations required
For more information contact GoMedia PR.
