Ancient Future Performs at The Henry Miller Library in Big Sur 3/20/11
Ancient Future Duet In Concert
Featuring Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard and fretless guitars) and Mariah Parker (santur)
March 20, 2010, 7 pm
The Henry Miller Library
Highway 1
Big Sur , CA 93920
Venue Website: www.henrymiller.org
Tix Tel: 831-667-2574
Tix: $20 adv/$25 door. Seating is limited to 60. Advance purchase recommended at www.henrymiller.org/events.html.
Poster (400k): www.ancient-future.com/pdf/3_20_11_henrymiller.pdf
Facebook Event.
Ancient Future In Concert
Ancient Future Duet Hi-Res Photo by Jialiang Len Gao (3.9 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/afmariahmatt300dpi10.4x6.9.jpg
Matthew Montfort - scalloped fretboard and fretless guitars
Mariah Parker - santur (hammered dulcimer)
This duet version of the pioneering world fusion music group Ancient Future features scalloped fretboard guitarist Matthew Montfort and santurist Mariah Parker. After leading their March 18 weekend world music workshop retreat at Esalen, they will perform this rare California Central Coast concert at the Henry Miller Library. The concert features music from Ancient Future's broad repertoire, including three current releases on Ancient-Future.Com Records celebrating 30 years of world fusion music: Planet Passion by Ancient Future (remastered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band), Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort, and Sangria by Mariah Parker.
Duet Performance by Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar) and Mariah Parker (santur)
Youtube Video Duet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGIliJuyfvs
Ancient Future is the first and longest running musical organization dedicated exclusively to the mission of creating world fusion music. The term was coined by bandleader Matthew Montfort in 1978 to describe Ancient Future’s unusual blend of musical traditions from around the world. BILLBOARD calls the group “trendsetters” for their early contributions to the movement, which seeks to show how people from different cultures can grow by learning from each other. There are more than 12 versions of the band, each with different musicians from different cultures in order to fully explore the varieties of world fusion music. The Ancient Future duet concentrates on Arabic, Indian, and Spanish musical themes, and has performed in Spain at festivals in Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Botarell, Torredembarra, and Salou.
85 Word Radio Announcement
On Sunday, March 20, at 7 pm, Ancient Future will perform at Henry Miller Library, on Highway 1 in Big Sur, California. The concert features a duet version of this pioneering world fusion music group. Scalloped fretboard guitarist Matthew Montfort and santurist Mariah Parker will perform music from Ancient Future's broad repertoire including three current releases on Ancient-Future.Com Records celebrating 30 years of world fusion music. For more information, call 831-667-2574 or visit www.henrymiller.org. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
Planet Passion by Ancient Future
Planet Passion by Ancient Future (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2010) $17.98: Buy Link . (>audio.)
Hi-Res CD Cover Art of Planet Passion (1.6 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/planetpassioncvr300dpi.jpg
One Sheet with Streaming Audio for Planet Passion:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/planetpassion_1sheet_dig.pdf
Liner Notes for Planet Passion:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/planet_passion_digital_liner_notes.pdf
Planet Passion by Ancient Future has been re-issued with 64-Bit Tuned Harmonic Mastering to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band. The seventh Ancient Future recording features nineteen top masters of of Indian, Nepalese, African, Cuban, Celtic, Arabic, Palestinian, Jewish, Indonesian, Chinese, Eastern European and American music traditions performing music on the theme of mythical stories of love.
“If the members of the United Nations formed a world-fusion band, it might look and sound a little something like Ancient Future’s re-issue of their seventh recording. Featuring instrumentation from Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East, Planet Passion is a mythical story of love, flirtation, seduction, courtship, marriage and longing. Manose Singh’s bansuri flute and Matthew Montfort’s scalloped fretboard work stand out in this eclectic, visionary global village, where each track features its own unique set of players. At its best, Planet Passion strives to preserve the world’s vast musical heritage via international collaboration: the idea that one protects the old by creating something new. This is at the heart of fusion music and the heart of Ancient Future’s global aesthetics, too: a diverse, unified world without borders, a multicultural community, a new, reconstituted sonic reality.” — Ryan Allen, LEO WEEKLY, Louisville, Kentucky
Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar, Godin Glissentar)
Matthew Montfort Hi-Res Photo by Julie Marten (2 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/matthewmontfort600.jpg
5 Page Guitar Player Magazine Feature and Lesson:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/MatthewMontfortGuitarPlayerMag.pdf
The leader of the world music group Ancient Future, Matthew Montfort, released his first solo recording, Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar, in 2009. He is a pioneer among guitarists who have had their fretboards scalloped in order to play various forms of world music that require intricate note-bending ornaments while still being able to play chords. Montfort immersed himself in an intensive study with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to fully apply the South Indian gamaka (note-bending) techniques to the guitar. The December 2009 Les Paul issue of Guitar Player Magazine includes a full page feature on Matthew Montfort with a corresponding GuitarPlayer.Com video and lesson entitled “The Music of Jimi Hendrix Applied to Indian Raga.” He has performed concerts worldwide, from the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the golden coast of Spain to the Festival of India in Mumbai. He has worked with many world music legends, including tabla phenomenon Zakir Hussain and Chinese zither master Zhao Hui. Montfort wrote the book “Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India,” which has been used by many musicians to improve their rhythm skills.
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Matthew Montfort
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Matthew Montfort. (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2008). $17.98: Buy Link . (>audio.)
Hi-Res CD Cover Art of Seven Serenades (912 k):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/serenade300dpi.jpg
One Sheet for Seven Serenades with Streaming Audio:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/serenades_1sheet_dig.pdf
Liner Notes for Seven Serenades:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/serenades_digital_liner_notes.pdf
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar is the debut solo recording by Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort. The recording showcases his pioneering work on the scalloped fretboard guitar, a special modified instrument able to produce ornaments more characteristic of the sitar. This first solo effort features his improvisational music.
“Because Montfort’s guitar has a scalloped fretboard, his fingers touch only the strings, enabling him to produce ornaments more characteristic of the sitar. This album reveals a thorough knowledge of Hindustani microtonal ornaments, transferred in ways that create one of the most distinctive guitar sounds in contemporary music. However, it also reveals a lifetime of exploration in world music, which can be immediately summoned in a flash of inspiration. When this level of mastery is reached, there is no need to rewrite. The first improvisation has the depth of a reworked composition.” — Teed Rockwell, INDIA CURRENTS, March 2009
“The mind-bending playing abilities of guitar virtuoso, Matthew Montfort, stems from the note-bending capabilities of the scalloped fretboard guitar. This produces a different sound than the more familiar guitar, because the fretboard is carved out, so the fingers only touch the strings. Musically, the songs verge on a flamenco-Indian-jazz continuum. This is partly due to Matthew's playing technique and the sitar-like sounds of his guitar.” — Matthew Forss, INSIDE WORLD MUSIC
Mariah Parker (santur)
Mariah Parker with Santur Hi-Res Photo by Ross Pelton (1.6 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/mariah_santur_300dpi5x4.jpg
Mariah Parker is a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose main instruments are santur and piano. Her first instrument was the piano which she began playing at age 5. Later in music school, she fell in love with the sound of the santur when she heard it drifting across campus. The transition was a natural one given that the santur, along with its Western offspring, the hammered dulcimer, is the ancestor of the piano. The strings of the santur are played directly by the delicate hammers, creating a beautiful shimmering sound. The sound of the piano is also created by hammered strings, but mechanically triggered by the fingers striking the keys.
While completing her degree in music at UC Santa Cruz, she worked with ethnomusicologist Fred Lieberman and Mickey Hart on the Planet Drum project. She has performed in the US and Europe, and worked with many musicians of note including composer Pauline Oliveros, the late Dumisani Maraire (renowned composer from Zimbabwe) and others. She has studied with jazz great Art Lande and Latin jazz pianist extraordinaire Rebeca Mauléon.
Sangria by Mariah Parker
Sangria by Mariah Parker (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2017). $17.98: Buy Link . (>audio).
Hi-Res CD Cover Art of Sangria (3.2 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/sangria_cvr300dpi.jpg
One Sheet with Streaming Audio for Sangria:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/sangria_1sheet_dig.pdf
Liner Notes for Sangria:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/sangria_digital_liner_notes.pdf
Sangria by Mariah Parker blends the driving rhythmic syncopations of Latin jazz with the entrancing, asymmetrical meters of East India. This debut recording features her original compositions that draw musical inspiration from Brazil, Cuba, Spain, and India.
“This collection of eight original instrumentals by Mariah Parker is just one of many examples of the infusion of East Indian music into Western music, but to my ears one of the most successful.” — AUDIOPHILE AUDITION
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