ANISTAR

"This fine local nonet is led by an Israeli saxist named Harel Shachal. The instrumentation includes oud, darbuka, dumbek, frame drum, cello, violin, accordion, bass and assorted percussion... I am most impressed by this disc. Harel plays alto & soprano sax & clarinet and wrote all but one of these tunes. The music reminds me of Ivo Papasov's high-speed Bulgarian Wedding Band. It sounds like there is no trap drummer here, leaving it up to the three hand percussionists, acoustic bassist and oud player to provide the great, driving groove. Harel's reeds, Skye Steele's violin, Chris Hoffman's cello as well as Harvey Valdez' oud all take a number of spirited solos. When the band slows down, Harel's charming, sly melodies really stand out. Uri Sharlin's accordion and both string players provide great simmering harmonies with whoever is soloing. Harel's wonderful clarinet has a distinctive mid-eastern sound, coming from a much different background than most of the jazz clarinetists one often hears. This was recorded live in February of this year and has rich, devilish sound..." - BLG. Down Town Music Gallery N.Y. October 2005

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ANISTAR plays an innovative blend of Jazz, Mediterrenean and Traditional Middle-Eastern music. By mixing traditional instruments, forms and harmonies together with a modern Jazz conception, ANISTAR melding the sounds of the desert with the contemporary urban landscape of New York City. Harel Shachal launched the ANISTAR Group in Spring of 2002 with the mission of using music to overcome fear and break down boundaries between historically estranged cultures. Assembling its own unique sound from the various musical traditions of the Middle-East, Mediterranean, Africa, and America, ANISTAR is at once inviting and challenging, familiar and exotic, ancient and modern. Anistar is performing regularly in venues such as Kush, Rainbow Room, Tonic, Sattalla, Tichman Hall and others. The musicians of ANISTAR are: Harel Shachal on G Clarinet, Soprano & Alto Saxophones Skye Steele on Violin Christopher Hoffman on Cello Harvey Valdez on Oud Alon Carmelly on Bass E.J. Fry On Frame Drum & Ocean Drum John Hadfield on Dumbek, Riqq & Kanjira Uri Sharlin on Accordion Tomer Tzur on Riqq and Dumbek Assaf Hakimi on Bass Other guests on recording and shows are: Eran Glantz on Ney, Jay Vilnai on Guitar, Kenny Growhoski, Dan Aran on Percussions, Andy Miccolis on Bass, Megan Weeder on Violin, Dan Zanker on Bass and Ramzi Edlibi, Liron Peled ,Dudu Buchbut on Dumbek and Riqq and many other musicians.

to listen to Mp3 From the ANISTAR Record "The Hidden", click on the cover!

ANISTAR's Bios : Skye Steele Violin B.F.A Jazz Performance; New School Jazz and Contemporary Music Program. Skye has studied with Reggie Workman, Junior Mance, George Garzone, Mat Maneri, and Jamie Hadad. He was a featured soloist at the 2nd American Jazz Violin Summit. Skye leads his own jazz groups, composes extensively, and performs regularly throughout the Northeast--as well as making appearances at jazz festivals at home and abroad-- playing Modern and Traditional Jazz, Brazilian Music, Rock, Ska and Reggae, as well as Middle Eastern Music. Skye has performed or recorded with Jim Snidero, Howard Fishman, Daniel Carter, Lukas Ligeti, Rufus Wainright.

Harvey Valdez Oud Harvey Valdez is New York based musician/instructor. While studying jazz guitar at the New School, Harvey became interested in Middle Eastern music and the sound of the oud. Soon he found himself studying the oud with Simon Shaheen and Najib Shaheen and became active as an oud player. Harvey has performed/recorded with: Dr. Israel, Dub Gabriel, members of Soulive, Jen Durkin(DBB), Daniel Carter, Adam Deitch, Kadar Khan, Tony Maimone(Pere Ubu), Dustan Louque and many others in NYC. Recently Harvey received a BFA from the New School Jazz & Contemporary Music Program. Christopher Hoffman Cello Christopher grew up living in and around Chicago and Wisconsin where he performed with such artists as Scott Rosenberg, Fred Longberg-Holm, Matt Turner, Howard Levy, Jeb Bishop, the vig, cock e.s.p. several rock bands, various theatre groups and his own ensemble aberration quartet. Upon moving to New York Christopher has performed and/or recorded with artists such as Andrew Drury, Michael Attias, Tom Rainey, Michael Sarin, Manuel Valera, Nate Wooley, Anat Fort and his own ensemble iosono. John Hadfield Percussions B.M. from University of Nevada-Las Vegas where he studied with Dean Gronemeir. M.M. from University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory where he studied with and was a teaching assistant to Dr. Laurence Kaptain. Since living in NYC, Hadfield has performed at many venues including Alice Tully Hall and the Walter Read Theater in Lincoln Center, Symphony Space and the Blue Note. Hadfield has performed with the Ethos Percussion Group, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Las Vegas Symphony, BMI Jazz Orchestra, Combo Nuvo, and in the Kansas City Stravinsky Festival. He has also performed with many ethnic music groups including Music from China, NYC Gamelan Group Dharma Swara and the Marimba Yajalon, a marimba group performing works from the southern most state of Mexico, Chiapas. He has also premiered works by Chen Yi, James Mobberly, Trey Files, Paul Hogan, Hu Xiao-ou, Xie Peng, Jeffery Jacobs, Michael Schelle and (his favorite) Seongah Shin. Hadfield spent a summer in Bali Indonesia studying gamelan and currently lives in Manhattan and is an Associate member of the Ethos Percussion Group and an Adjunct-faculty in the NYU jazz department. EJ Fry Percussions EJ was born in San Francisco, went to school in Oakland, and avoided the south Bay altogether. He moved to New York in 1998, where he started studying drums at the Drummer's Collective then later at the New School Jazz Program. Aside from Anistar, EJ can be heard playing with Harel Shachal's trio, The 2uo, El Zilcho!, Junkie, Airlock, and Slow to Wake. Tomer Tzur Percussions Tomer’s up bringing in Israel has been the essential ingredient in shaping his musical style. He moved to New York in 1993 to study Jazz Drum-set and received a BA from Mannes Jazz at the New School University. Tomer is involved in a number of ensembles of Sephardic tradition. He is a co-founder of the band The Sway Machinery which combines elements of Klezmer and of Blues\Rock, and performed internationally on television, radio, in the theater and local venues. Tomer is also a company member of Storahtelling: Jewish ritual theatre revived. He has performed internationally and recorded with Cyro Baptista’s Beat the Donkey, Pharaoh’s Daugther, Avishai Cohen, Shira Kline, Daniel Freedman, Yoel Ben-Simhon, , the Moroccan-Jewish and Syrian-Jewish Congregations. Mr. Tzur is a residence musician at congregation “Bnai Jeshurun”. Mr. Tzur has Performed in venues such as Central Park’s Summer Stage, the Stockholm Jewish theater, Carr in Amsterdam, Hasidic Blues directed by BBC veteran filmmaker Robert Mullan, Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, Smithsonian FolkLife Festival and Kennedy Center Washington D.C. Mr. Tzur teaches private lessons in the New School, and gives workshops on Middle Eastern percussion. Uri Sharlin Accordion Israeli born accordionist, pianist and composer Uri Sharlin started his training as a classical pianist at the age of 7. Years later, after he discovered jazz, he started performing around the Tel Aviv jazz scene. In 1998, Uri came to New York City where he residents until nowadays. While in New York Uri discovered his hidden passion for “world music” and became an accomplished Latin Jazz pianist, performing at some of the best known clubs in town. While at it Uri studied with some of the best teachers in New York, among them Jackie Byard , Ron Carter, Arthuro O’Farrell, Cliff Korman, Nancy Garniez, and others. While co-leading a Brazilian Jazz group “Sul/Norte” along with vocalist Gretta Panetieri, Uri traveled to Brazil, where he studied percussions. While there Uri discovered another passion of his- the accordion. Through the accordion Uri started to find his way back to his roots- middle Easter music. Today, leading his own group, the Cardamon Quartet, he melts all those influences into a unique sound. Alon Carmelly Bass Born in New York and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel where he attended the music department at the Tel Aviv Arts School. Upon moving to New York, Alon Joined the New school University's Jazz department for 2 years where he studied with bassists such as Andy McKee, Jeff Andrews and Avishai Cohen. Alon has recently graduated form CCNY as a music performance major. During this period Alon studied with classical bassist John Schaffer and John Patitucci. In addition to his studies, Alon has been active in New York's music scene, particularly in the Afro-Cuban field. He has been a member of Ray Santiago's band and Cuban "Timba" group "Rico Tumbao." Photo By Tine Kromer ANISTAR at Tonic N.Y

Cover disigned by Ankita Saha

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