Results for "Sirkis/Bialas IQ"

Sirkis/Bialas IQ

"European jazz is promised a virtually limitless future if it continues to stick close to its European roots embedded in the subsoil of specific regional cultures, and it continues to be performed by bands as imaginative as the SBIQ. " - Bill Bruford, Liner notes from "Our New Earth", Surrey, England 2019 The SIRKIS/BIALAS IQ is an on-going band, established in 2014 consisting of four unique musical personalities bringing their individuality and working together as a team to create new explorative-forward-looking music. The new album explores many different colours on the emotional spectrum, using some rarely used instruments in jazz such as the church organ, waterphone, crotales, konnakol, and different vocal sounds. With an emphasis on band interaction and sheer joy of playing, ‘Our New Earth’ celebrates music from both Sirkis and Bialas, covering a wide range of influences such as contemporary classical music, Polish folk, Progressive rock, South Indian and Middle Eastern musics as well as a wide range of dynamics – from the most delicate ballad all the way to high-energy electric lines and everything in between; expect soulful melodies, aerospheric sounds with strong grooves, a full colour electroacoustic jazz with an ethnic touch and some uncommonly used instruments and sound effects. Although Sirkis/Bialas IQ’s music can sometimes be generically referred to as ‘vocal jazz’, Sylwia’s approach to singing is different; making the role of the voice more like an instrument rather then a lead. In her own words: “I truly feel no need to take the central spot on stage (as a singer is often expected to)

Sirkis/Bialas IQ: Our New Earth

by Ian Patterson
April 24, 2020

A lament for our damaged earth, a prayer for a better future, Sirkis/Bialas IQ's second recording, after its well-received debut Come To Me (Stonebird Productions, 2015), is an ambitious, far-reaching work. Contemporary jazz with a world view, Our New Earth draws from Middle Eastern, Southern Indian carnatic, Eastern European folk and contemporary classical traditions. That it ...

Our New Earth

By Sirkis/Bialas IQ

Label: MoonJune Records
Released: 2019
Track listing: If Pegasus Had One Wing (He Would Fly In Spirals); Land Of Oblivion; Letter To A.; Reminiscence; Chiaroscuro; Rooting; Our New Earth; Message From The Blue Bird; Spooky Action At The Distance; Nocturnity; Picture From A Polish Wood.

Mark Sullivan’s Best Releases of 2019

by Mark Sullivan
December 17, 2019

Another year, another diverse group of releases. There were an unusual percentage of albums outside of jazz for me this year, for whatever reason. Although I opted not to review any albums by pianist/composer Satoko Fujii, she released five diverse projects—even after her 2018 marathon of an album a month to celebrate her 60th birthday—so I ...

Sirkis/Bialas IQ: Our New Earth

by Mark Sullivan
November 26, 2019

Established in 2014, when this band released its first album Come To Me (Stonebird Productions, 2015; limited distribution by MoonJune Records) it called itself The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet. It has shortened the name to Sirkis/Bialas IQ, but it's still international: Asaf Sirkis (drums) is an Israeli living in England; Sylwia Bialas (vocals) is a Pole living ...