The Colorado Musicians Consortium is honored to introduce you to the musicians who are donating their time, talent and passion to making a difference for the people of Haiti and bringing beauty into our world.

We are thrilled to present them to you!

Nii Armah Sowah & 1000 Voices Project

NII ARMAH SOWAH is a native of Ghana. He earned his first degree in Theatre Arts with a focus on dance at the University of Ghana in 1987. After graduating from the African Center for the Training of Performing Artists in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in 1991, he obtained a Master of Arts in Expressive Arts Therapies at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA in 1997. He has conducted workshops for schools, communities and organizations across the U.S., Canada, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. Currently, Nii Armah is an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he teaches courses in African Dance and Music.

Since 1996, Nii Armah has been using songs, rhythm games, storytelling and dance to facilitate community building, cultivate multi-cultural understanding and encourage personal growth.  Through the vehicle of The 1000 Voices Project, Nii Armah blends his African heritage and understanding of Western psychology to provide powerful and unique experiences for participants.

http://www.1000-voices.com

Sandra Wong

Sandra Wong was too young to remember, but her parents say she displayed a deep love of music from a very early age. With Beethoven's 5th as her nighttime lullaby, Sandra beganstudying the violin at age seven with the intention of becoming a concert violinist. This remained her sole focus for fifteen years until she discovered fiddling…and her entire musical world was turned upside down! Suddenly music became about connecting with other people in a joyful, communal way rather than an isolated striving for perfection. It began with Irish, Old-time and Bluegrass festival jams and has grown into her current livelihood of teaching, performing, recording and collaborating with other musicians from a diverse range of world music genres. In 1999, Sandra fell in love with a wonderful Swedish folk instrument called the nyckelharpa, a 16 stringed, keyed bowed instrument. It is now an integral part of her work and musical expression.
www.myspace.com/sandrawongmusic
www.sandrawongmusic.com

Jayme Stone

Jayme Stone keeps an ear to the ground. His curiosity and unlikely set of reference points started early with the quirky physics of the banjo, led to a mysterious librarian who stocked his local public library with a vast trove of banjo recordings, and landed him long-lasting lessons with a series of maestros, from Béla Fleck to Bill Frisell. Influenced by Japanese poetry and Brazilian literature and featuring what he calls a “tiny symphony that takes placeinside an imaginary light bulb”, Stone’s album, The Utmost, won the 2008 Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.

The most recent chapter in Stone’s musical travelogue takes place in Africa. He went knowing what’s still news to most: that the hide-covered instrument with an “extra” drone string we call the banjo actually comes from West Africa. He became particularly curious about the music that may not have made it across the ocean on slave ships headed west from Senegal and Mali in the 1700-1800’s. An eight-week trip to Mali was supported by a prestigious Chalmers Arts Fellowship and found Stone sitting in with Toumani Diabate and the Symmetric Orchestra in downtown Bamako, lost in circles of Wassoulou polyrhythms and in a rural Dogon village with no electricity where he inadvertently discovered a banjo predecessor unheard of in the West. The resulting album, Africa to Appalachia, is a boundary-crossing musical collaboration with singer and kora maestro Mansa Sissoko. Produced by David Travers-Smith and featuring celebrated ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate, the recording won the 2009 Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year.

www.jaymestone.com

Grant Gordy

Grant Gordy is an astounding guitarist who is quickly turning heads in the acoustic music scene. In 2007, he was chosen to play the Young Artists Concert at Carnegie Hall alongside Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas and Mike Marshall. When not leading his own band, Grant can found playing regularly with the Jayme Stone Quartet, Africa to Appalachia.  Recently Grant has become the newest member of the legendary David Grisman Quintet, which has played all over the country at concert halls and festivals including Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in June 2009. He has also shared the stage with such luminaries of the acoustic music world as Béla Fleck, Darol Anger. He is quickly becoming known for pushing and blurring the boundaries of acoustic music in his compositions, love of jazz exploration, and his exceptional facility with his instrument. His debut album featuring Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers), Alex Hargreaves (Big Trio) and Dominick Leslie, is due out in early 2010.
www.myspace.com/grantgordy
 

Bamboche

Bamboche is a three decade old performance ensemble and study group which plays authentic Afro-Haitian as well as Afro-Cuban music. Founded by Boulder area musician Dave Lyons, Bamboche employs traditional chants and drumming, bringing the spirit and vitality of Afro-Cuban music to audiences and gatherings throughout Colorado’s Front Range. This performance version of the group includes, Dave Lyons, Dave Crowder, Maurizio Capparelli,  Eric Walker, Isaac Hilpman, Tober Schorr, and Willow Duhamel.

Saltanah Middle Eastern Ensemble

The Saltanah Ensemble performs mostly Arabic music, including classical, popular and folkloric music from countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Algeria. Styles of music performed include Tarab, Egyptian dance music, Dabke music of the Levant (Lebanon / Jordan / Syria), Moroccan Shaabi music, and Rai, the modern music of North Africa. They can also play music from other traditions such as Turkish, Persian and Armenian, upon request.  The group includes instruments such as qanun (Middle Eastern zither), oud (lute), ney (bamboo end-blown flute), violin, upright bass and percussion instruments such as riq (Arabic tambourine), darbuka (goblet-shaped drum) and def (frame drum).  The ensemble includes Moroccan native Chakib Hilali  (ney,violin, vocals), Kylie Hilali  (qanun),  Pete Jacobs  (contrabass),  Daune Greene  (riq), and Brett Bowan (darbuka).

http://www.saltanah.com/

Ian Hutchison

Ian Hutchison is one of the busiest bass players in Colorado. Ian has played with several notable jazz artists including Javon Jackson, Peter Eldridge (New York Voices), Steve Barta, David Amram, and Darrell Grant. He has also performed with Darol Anger, Tony Trischka, Monty Alexander, Mike Marshall, Joe Craven (David Grisman), and Andy Stein (Prairie Home Companion). Ian graduated magna cum laude from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music with a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance. In college he won several distinctions, including jazz student of the year and outstanding senior jazz recital. Ian also was awarded a two week trip to study at Lamont’s sister university in Nagoya, Japan. In 2007 he toured Argentina with the Denver Young Artist’s Orchestra. Ian performs regularly with The Saurus, the Grant Gordy Quartet, The Expedition Quartet (2008 IBMA showcase), and Gypsy Swing Revue, the best Hot Club band in Colorado. Ian has opened for Tony Trischka, Punch Brothers, The Samples, Casey Driessen, Steep Canyon Rangers, and The Del McCoury Band.

www.myspace.com/hutchjazz

James Grubb

James Grubb is originally from Virginia and has lived in Colorado for 11 years. He recently relocated from Fort Collins to Denver and is a member of the Hot Club of Boulder (in the tradition of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli). He has played guitar for about 25 years and his main musical interests are jazz, gypsy jazz, bluegrass flatpicking, and Latin music.

www.myspace.com/jamesbgrubb

Daune Green 

Daune Greene was introduced to Middle Eastern music, rhythm and dance by her parents who lived in Iran in the 1970s. Daune began studying Raqs Sharqi (Oriental Dance) in 1994, which led her to darrabukka (drum) and riq (tambourine). Daune currently performs with The Saltanah Middle Eastern Music Ensemble and The All-Woman Ensemble; Jabella. Daune teaches privately in Boulder, Co. and has taught Arabic Rhythms for Dancers at Suzanna del Vecchio’s annual Summer Middle Eastern Dance Camp., where she is the resident percussionist. Daune has played with Rachid Halihal, Souhail Kaspar, Yair Dalal, Georges Lammam and Joanna Lynden.

 

Daune can be heard on "The Straight Path To The Garden," a cd of Turkish Sufi Music and Anne-Stackpole-Cuellar's, "Branching Out".

Sheldon Sands (Libra Moon Trio)

A gifted composer, keyboardist, educator and concert producer, Sheldon Sands’ dizzying array of musical projects in the past year have included performances with the Rachid Halihal Ensemble (Middle Eastern Music), Shmelkie & The Clueless Goys/The Boulder Klezmer Consortium, Soul Sacrifice/a Tribute to Santana, Bat Kol (Sacred Jewish Liturgical Music), Marta Burton (Vocalist), and “Sand-Between-the-Toes”, Mr. Sands’ original compositions set to the verse of A.A. Milne.  He is currently engaged in the development of a musical, “Nathan the Wise”, working with directors Ami Dayan and Philip Sneed for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

During an artistic residency in Israel, Sheldon composed music inspired by his Jewish roots and the history, landscape and unique convergence of cultures in the Middle East. These instrumental compositions became the highly acclaimed Dead Sea Strolls (Shalhevet Productions 2002), recorded with a group of distinguished Israeli and Palestinian musicians. Sheldon's creative work is fueled by his passion for world music and his awareness of music's ability to build bridges between diverse peoples.  
In that spirit, Sheldon created Shalhevet Productions Inc, producing concerts since 1999 of such notable musicians as Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Yair Dalal, Naser Musa, Nabil Azzam, Davka, Latif Bolat, Rachid Halihal, Yinon Muallem, Eyal Sela & Darma, Charming Hostess, and more.  Sheldon is a board member and featured artist of the Colorado Musicians Consortium.

 www.sheldonsands.com

http://www.coloradomusiciansconsortium.com/CMC/Sand-Between-the-Toes.html

Marta Burton
Marta Burton has held audiences spellbound in theatres and concert halls throughout the U.S. and abroad.  She has starred with dozens of major orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the Detroit Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra in Ottawa.

The classically trained actress studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is a graduate of the University of Wyoming. While still a student, she began her career touring with the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua as Jesse Benton Fremont, later moving to  Minneapolis where she performed extensively in the musical theatre. From there she went to NYC, where she began her concert career with Maestro Jack Everly and the Symphonic Pops Consortium starring in A Celtic Celebration. While in New York, she focused on classical singing and had the sheer joy of working with some of New York’s finest instructors and conductors including David Leighton and Maestro Richard Woitach of the Metropolitan Opera.

Since moving to Denver she has brought her own concert creations to venues from the Ellie Caulkins Opera House to Swallow Hill and St. John’s Cathedral. She has produced concerts and albums on behalf of The Spirituals Project, The Interfaith Alliance and Bread for the Journey. Recent concert creations and performances include A Celtic Faire, a symphonic pops concert; Southern Journey: Tribute to Alan Lomax, Amazing Grace: Songs of Faith and Folk; the chamber opera who are you, little i, based on the poetry of e. e. cummings; the new cantata, The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew;  Phantom of the Opera: Dark Duet; and Sand-Between-the-Toes, written by Sheldon Sands to the verse of A. A. Milne.  New projects this year include a recording and performances of original compositions by Colorado composers entitled Standing on Fishes.

Marta’s discography includes two solo albums; Echo and Amazing Grace; a live recording of The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew; They Slice the Air for The Spirituals Project; and Southern Journey. Marta is a founder of The Colorado Musicians Consortium, a member of Actors Equity and Phi Beta  Kappa.

http://www.martaburton.com/

THE MUSICIANS