SIRKIS/BIALAS IQ
featuring:
ASAF SIRKIS (ISR / UK) - DRUMS / COMPOSITIONS
SYLWIA BIALAS (POL / UK) - VOICE / COMPOSITIONS
FRANK HARRISON (UK) - PIANO / KEYBOARDS
KEVIN GLASGOW (SCO) - ELECTRIC BASS
The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet is a fresh new collaboration between Israeli UK-resident drummer/composer Asaf Sirkis, known for his work with the Lighthouse trio (ACT), Gilad Atzmon, Tim Garland, Larry Corryel, John Abercrombie & the Asaf Sirkis Trio, and Polish vocalist/composer extraordinaire Sylwia Bialas.
The quartet features London based, scottish bassist Kevin Glasgow, and the acclaimed Frank Harrison on piano and keyboards (UK).
With an emphasis on band interaction and sheer joy of playing, this band celebrates music from both collaborators, covering a wide range of influences such as contemporary classical music, Polish folk, South Indian & Middle Eastern musics as well as a wide range of dynamics – from the most delicate ballad all the way to high-energy electric virtuoso 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.
The quartet`s album „Come To Me“ was released 2014 at the London Jazz Festival and the band has been touring in the UK and Europe since.
The New Album “Our New Earth” has been released in October 2019!
“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. ”
“Our New Earth is a spell bounding release that I strongly recommend for fusion and jazz enthusiasts. The album goes far beyond these core genres, and fans of progressive, contemporary classical, world beat, folk and avant-garde will likely find a home here too.”
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“The album consists of ten journeys, they are much more than tracks, which contain many moments of intense yearning, sorrow, happiness and love.“
„The music is highly emotional, with long-limbed melodies that unfold slowly, encircling the sound stage. Time stops for the duration as the music uncovers multiple layers of meaning“
”The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet has a sound all its own, despite having influences from all over the world. This sound is one of beauty, love and hope.”
“Come To Me, is a true tour-de-force of musicianship and innovation.“
„...this is what music is all about: colorful, infinitely creative, and full of heartfelt, emotional intensity. Each musician is such a talent unto themselves that when playing together you cannot help but feel completely transported to a better place while you listen.“
„This album is truly magnificent! …a musical experience without peer!“
„COME TO ME” IS A MASTERPIECE!”
“Come To Me is more than merely a fine vocal jazz album, since like other singers such as Norma Winstone, Bialas uses her voice as an instrument and not just as a means of expressing lyrics, whilst her colleagues provide sumptuously arranged and executed music”
“The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet demonstrates how well a vocalist can work as the featured soloist in a quartet. Even better, they make you forget the instrumentation in the beauty and joy of the music they make”
“Come To Me includes excellent compositions and superb performances, turning the entire listening experience into a most pleasing aesthetic adventure.“
„...Intelligent, emotional, moving music of this magnitude is rare in today’s chilling reality of non-culture and gems like this one should be embraced and admired...“
„The entire quartet seems to act as a symbiotic organism, in complete contrast to the usual singer/band circumstances.”
“THE INVITATION to share in the rarefied, positive atmospheres contained within this debut release from the Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet is tangible from an ensemble who evidently love what they create together.
„... this is no ‘singer plus band’ set-up, but rather a fully integrated quartet whose conception feels unique.“
„`Come To Me` is an outstanding album by all means and hopefully many people around the world will be eventually exposed to it.”
“Come To Me is a gentle, sometimes dreamy, poetic album where the empathetic relationship between the playersis a critical and a very evident factor in its success.”
“Come To Me is a rich, melodic jazz/world fusion. All four musicians are eloquent melodists, and the soundscape is warm and wide. The fact that Białas sings the lyrics in Polish makes all the vocals more like pure music for us non-Polish speakers and that adds an attractive lack of specificity to the music.”
“The debut album of the Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet captivates almost from the first tones with it`s genuine freshness, created by the four musicians drawing their joy and inspiration from each tone shared among each other. The delicate, pulsating and melodically rich soundscapes from the verge of Jazz, World Music and Progressive Rock, enchant the listener with their wide range of moods and high-class musicality, sensitivity and the brilliance of each of the four musicians.”
“This is emotionally-charged music, with each member weaving their own part of a tapestry that when pulled together results in a work of beauty.”
“There are albums you have to live with for a while to enjoy all the detail and glory they have to offer. Come To Me is just such an album. Come To Me is an inviting experience at any point on the globe.”
COME TO ME - ALBUM / LIVE REVIEWS
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
NEWS!
CEA ENSEMBLE
PHOTO BY MONICA "MOMY" MANETTI BODILSEN
featuring:
SYLWIA BIALAS - VOCALS / COMPOSITION
ANTONIO ZAMBRINI - PIANO / COMPOSITIONS/ARRANGEMENTS
TORE JOHANSEN - FLUMPET / COMPOSITION
JESPER BODILSEN - DOUBLE BASS / COMPOSITION
JÖRG BRINKMANN - CELLO / COMPOSITION
MICHELE SALGARELLO - DRUMS
MONIKA S.JAKUBOWSKA - PHOTOGRAPHY / VISUAL ARTWORK
The CEA Ensemble, conceived by Sylwia Bialas, is inspired by the long-standing musical friendships between her and the other members of the project.
The ensemble plays original compositions, contributed by all members, and arranged by pianist Antonio Zambrini. The band has a very specific and homogenic sound – an instrumental way of integrating the voice into the arrangements, with strong international musical influences creating the unique atmosphere and character of the compositions.
The music of the ensemble strikes a balance between beautiful arrangements, dynamic interaction, open spaces and the incorporation of silence. The associated visual artwork – created to interact with the compositions – intensifies the expression of the overall atmosphere which features:
• the expansiveness and rawness of Nordic soundscapes combined with the lyricism of Polish folklore and Italian melody, enhanced by modern visual artwork.
• dynamic interplay of diverse European origins: Eastern (Polish) Northern (Norwegian and Danish), Southern (Italian) and Western (German), linked in a contemporary jazz project.
• acoustic purity of sound with subtle electronic effects based on the interplay of solo instruments (voice, horn and cello) and piano trio.
The CEA Ensemble’s new album, recorded at Rainbow Studios, Oslo, is due for release in 2016.
SB QUARTET
PHOTO BY SEBASTIAN MÜTZEL
featuring:
SYLWIA BIALAS - VOICE / COMPOSITIONS
MARCO NETZBANDT - PIANO / TOY PIANO
WOLFGANG KRIENER - DOUBLE BASS
MICHELE SALGARELLO - DRUMS
Painting soundscapes, telling the thrilling, lyrical stories full of contrasts, pulsating
movements, interaction, metaphors...
Projecting the intensity of emotions on the listener using dynamics and creative
sound effects...
An exciting balance between catchy melodical lines and complex rhythm patterns.
That would be the closest way to describe the musical approach of this music formation.
The dynamic interplay of 3 cultural european origins: polish, german and italian
linked in the modern contemporary jazz project.
Acoustic purity of sound based on voice and the piano–trio underlines the
individual character of own compositions. Tasteful vocal jazz far from all cliche`s,
sometimes wordles, sometimes with poetic lyrics in two languages: polish
and english.
LATEST ALBUM
PRISMA
ALL THE PHOTOS (GALLERY) BY LENA SEMELROGGEN
featuring:
SYLWIA BIALAS - VOICE / COMPOSITION
MARCO NETZBANDT - PIANO / COMPOSITION
RAFFAEL HOLZHAUSER - GUITARS / COMPOSITIONS
IGOR KLJUJIC - ELECTRIC BASS
CHRISTOPHHOLZHAUSER - DRUMS / COMPOSITIONS
Prisma’s music is a dynamic balance between lyrically smooth lines and vital, powerful grooves; a young quintet with a fresh, remarkable sound which can become both stimulating and compelling in its intense, emotional atmosphere.
The band’s diverse, original compositions – combining elements of pop and free improvisation (and lyrics sung in two different languages) – make their music full of tensions and colours. It’s an impressive fusion of acoustic sound and electronics combined with sung poetry and folk elements.
The soulful voice of Polish-born vocalist and composer Sylwia Bialas paints pictures of imagination, as she interacts and improvises with her colleagues in music (including fairytales and lullabies) which is grounded in the roots of her national culture.
German pianist, composer and arranger Marco Netzbandt is the resonant, acoustic backbone of the band, his sophisticated compositions and clear tones creating a musical dialogue with the electrical and spheric sound of guitarist Raffael Holzhauser and the grooving melodics of bassist Igor Kljujic. Completing Prisma’s line-up is drummer Christoph Holzhauser, whose approach is as harmonic as it is rhythmic.
ALBUM RECORDED IN 2007
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DEEP ENDEAVOUR
SCANDINAVIAN ETHNIC MULTIMEDIA PROJECT
ALL PHOTOS (GALLERY) BY MORTEN WILHELM KELLER
featuring:
BJÖRN LARSON (SWE) - FILM DIRECTOR
ROINE SANGENBERG (SWE) - DRUMS, STUDIO WORK
MORTEN WILHELM KELLER (DEN / IBIZA) - PHOTOGRAPHY
RAY ADAMS (SWE) - FOLK HARP, VOCALS
SYLWIA BIALAS (PL / UK) - VOCAL
MARCO NETZBANDT (GER) - PIANO, KEYBOARDS
IZABELA BUCHOWSKA - SMORAGIEWICZ (POL) - VIOLONCELLO
ASAF SIRKIS (ISR / UK) - DRUMS, PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
BARTOSZ SMORAGIEWICZ (POL) - SAX
CARSTEN ANDERSSON (SWE) - BASS
