Greg's News

It's been a while since my last newsletter and here we are at the beginning of the new year already. This is a good sign showing that I was kinda busy AND all over the place which, in itself, is quite a combination of time-slurping factors. Yep 2009 was a Goodyear ...I know that, because I got more mileage out of it than usual ...with touring all over Southern Africa as well as shows in Algeria and the Seychelles. While at home-base in Pretoria, in the state of Gauteng, South Africa...I had kept myself involved in writing some music for a feature film called 'Long Street'. A beautifully filmed human drama that was shot in Cape Town and premiered at the Durban Film Festival during July '09. Produced and directed by Reville Fox and Florian Schattauer, this is a stunning piece of work and it was a pleasurable challenge to have had the opportunity to write music for it. I also did a wonderfull collaborative album with the legendary Steve Newman, fiery fingered guitarist of TANANAS fame and the amazing percussionist, Ashish Joshi. The album titled 'IN THE CLOUDS' is all about storytelling with sounds from acoustic instruments such as, nylon flamenco guitar, oud, mbiratar, bouzouki, oudtar, soprano guitar, tabla, darbuka, zarb, bongos, santoor ...and lotsa toys. This album is available at any of our shows and on the internet from www.thatgig.com.

In between touring to promote the album, I busied myself with writing some material for the new GORDON'S SUITCASE album which should be released sometime in March '10. Now this is a hugely fresh electric Afro world music group which is making waves wherever they perform. Ofcourse, I have not ignored the VIVID AFRIKA group with McCoy Mrubata, nor my duo STRINGS&SKINS project with Ashish Joshi, both of which will have new albums out during the first half of the year.

Greetings from the cooler southern hemisphere where the wintery freshness has resulted in rummaging for them pirate woolies....Long Johns...nabbed while his one eye was distracted! Anyway this is the time of the year when I do most of my recording, studio work and touring outside SA, with this season producing some exciting work with some great musicians.

On the recording thing... the collaboration with DJ Chresos and his amazing production team is now nearing completion. This is a remix project (with resultant live band!) of the STRINGS & SKINS 'Passages in Time' album. The album will be out in September and it has aspects of house, lounge, kitchen, garden, shed... and veld!....  sure gonna kick up some dust with fresh feetmovers all over the place.

I know it's been a while since my last newsletter but i've been on a range of musical missions since then which included writing and recording some pieces for a movie, touring with Steve Newman and Ashish Joshi and putting some material together for the new Gordon's Suitcase album while working on finishing touches to the new Strings & Skins house-lounge-kitchen remix of 'Passages in Time'- a truly refreshing and energetic collaboration with DJ Chresos and his team. Feb will see the start of the new VIVID AFRIKA album with McCoy Mrubata and myself co-writing  the material and working it with our top flight line-up of Wynand vd Walt on drums, Siya Makuzeni on vocals and trombone, Ashish Joshi on tabla and percussion and Mlungisi Gegana on double bass. I have also laid down some juicy oud and oudtar tracks for a spicy Arabic dance album with long time friend and colleague, Neil Solomon. It all sounds busy and yummy especially now at the beginning of the year when things are usually more sluggish and not so éscarGO!

Yep gimme summer anytime (a totally different song to summertime) and I feel more alive and operative ...all I need is someone whose daddy is rich and whose mama's goodlooking...but wait that's the other song and that set-up always sounded like a disaster waiting to happen...thank goodness the fish are jumpin ..or one could get seriously bored!
For me, each day begins with music excersizes on my various instruments. I would lie if i said I have no favourites.. but they change from day to day depending on what i'm hearing...so it may be oud on one day, bouzouki, guitar,oudtar or sarod on another..or just a rod, reel and some intoxicating country air on yet another. Imagination...a heluva thing, seems to be the active ingredient no matter what is going down. Now i'm not saying that I have 'it' or that if one does have 'it' then it's going to be a dynamic,fresh, usefull and entertaining aspect of any prevailing activities...but one often hears that one can go as far as ones imagination....I wonder just how far that is sometimes. It seems that ones imagination needs to be challenged, expanded and fed on an ongoing basis in order for it to grow. Imagining that one is dreaming is far more usefull than dreaming that one is imagining... whatever...I suppose that is why I play a bunch of instruments...they tend to cross -pollinate each other in spirit and technique resulting in seemingly endless tides of ideas..the food of imagination. I reckon one should take ones imagination out for a regular brisk walk on the wild side and then let it off the leash and hope it bites you first when it gets excited!..Of course, bumping into a few others taking theirs for a walk sure helps and pretty soon, if one is lucky, all those unleashed imaginations will start to exhibit pack behaviour and go on the hunt ...this is where things get really exciting...I suppose I just love collaborating and playing with various musicians whose imaginations come from different kennels but exhibit the same trait of easily returning to the wild when set free...no chihuahuas please! 'Imagination' aint no lapdog that one has to carry around, but rather the type that drags you around all over the place till you have to let it loose! Now i'm also not saying that chihuahuas can't do that thing...but it will take quite some imagination eh!...Jonathan Livingstone Chihuahua!
Well it all comes down to this,.... if you see me taking my imagination for a walk, be cool, join in and throw a stick for it!....better still, bring your imagination along and let's have some fun!...
Cya on da wild side
FETCH!
FUN&SPIRIT!
Greg

Hi to all,..
while busy having some winter fun, I was suddenly surprised by an extremely sproingy sprung spring with blossoms bursting out all over the place like popcorn on sticks and audiences following much the same pattern.. By the time you read this we will all be enjoying the more varied and entertaining summer scene, having discarded our winter spacesuits...(longjohns and all!) for more user-friendly party togs. Now I must mention that although our winters here in the S of A are at times quite chilly, we are certainly not a 'hiber'-nation...However, we really come into our own when 'da summa' arrives and life seems to become one big picno-party, both indoors and out. This is also the time for us musicians to show what we've been up to during the cooler months, where most 'original' musos have been hard at work recording new albums(ofcourse while still playing some winter shows). So it is that spring and summer heralds the arrival of a bunch of new album releases to spice up the change of season with launch parties, promotional tours and concerts. Well for me it was the 'arrival' of the new JAzzZOMBIES 'DUG UP' album which was great fun to record and now, even more fun to play live. We JAzzZOMBIES are very proud of the fact that this album has managed to revive the spirit of picturesque adventure and sonic story telling that is encompassed in the attitude called 'jazz'. Yep...ATTITUDE not style..as styles tend to age and are continually replaced by more fabricated so-called 'hip' styles which inevitably go stale and end up passing their stylistic sell by dates necessitating those music industry 'hip replacements'(with few exceptions!) I am extremely lucky to be involved with six groups, each with it's own unique line-up, approach, and albums. They are: STRINGS&SKINS / VIVID AFRIKA / The JAzzZOMBIES / The AQUARIAN QUARTET / The SUR BANDITS / GORDON'S SUITCASE...these are the 'regular' but by no means 'ordinary' groups that I often perform with...presenting me with a continually changing and varied musical menu that keeps me on my toes and breathing deeply. In addition to this, I am a sucker for interesting and cool yet spicy collaborations with some hot, yet cool musos, such as the legendary Piet Botha, Ernest Mothle, Guy Buttery, maskande master Madala Kunene, acoustic guitarist extraordinaire Steve Newman and the inimitable Syd Kitchen.

I know that this all sounds like rolling mass action or, at least, musical chairs, but there's a whole lotta music in that big waterfall of originality and we, as artists, and our audiences, will stand no chance of quenching our thirst, or even being splattered by a few drops, unless we ignore the recording industry 'lifeguards' with their restrictive swimming beacons and just dive in anyway and anywhere! It's a known fact that, in their effort to control the source(musicians composing) and the consumption(audiences paying!) of music, the music industry has divided music into byte size bits called 'styles' which are either 'in' or 'out' of fashion and with each style being more suitable for this or that venue,radio station, festival and audience. This 'divide and rule' principle is the main factor behind the death of communal adventurous creativity in both musicians and audiences. Add to this the abuse of computers to replace inner vision, musicality and 'hands on' musicianship with heaps of digitally sampled loops...and Bob becomes, not just your uncle or the prez of Zim, but a hit makin', dancefloor shakin', money rakin' superpopstar that can now give up that daytime job as a postman to more efficiently satisfy the homogenous herd of industrially brainwashed sheep also known as his fans.

After saying all of this...I feel I should add that there really is light at the end of the tunnel and not just some lost soul with a torch!... an awakening instinctual urge in audiences, all over, to unite across the barriers of style...for the ultimate freedom.....the freedom to choose, without restrictive music industry categories , from an open selection of music......the freedom to dive in and feel the waterfall just the way you like it...the freedom to ditch that sell by date and be permanently hip! ----Last one in is a funny banana!....
Hey Ho Silver Surfers!
Let's hear it for all that freely original SA music!
FUN&SPIRIT!

Greetings all!
Sitting here in the middle of our South African winter...makes one appreciate this absolutely stunning part of the world that we call home. It' also the season of more recording activity and less live shows...at least that's how I plan it each year. So it is that I find myself working on various new collaborative albums...projects where I luckily get to work with some cutting edge musicians (the ones with the scars to prove that's where they've been hanging out!)...yeah sometimes it feels just like Hendrix's 'Dolly Dagger...she drinks the blood from a jagged edge!' ..but whichever way one looks at it, the business end of the 'music lathe' or 'plough' is, no doubt, it's cutting edge. Hard on the heels of the 'cutters' come the industry bandwagon planters with their genetically texturised and modified seed copies of the original.....and hard on their heels are a motley flock of seed stealing twittering birds. So why do we continue with this almost predictable cycle of events?....simply because the true spirit of music seems to live in the 'hear and now' rather than any tried and tested preset-instant-mass appeal-formula....noodles with flavouring sachét!
I stand under correction (or tippex!) but I think it was Zappa who said 'If music be the food of love....prepare for indigestion!..'
No I don't claim to be a master 'chef' when it comes to cooking up something musically, but I think half the fun is dreaming up some new recipes with nutritional substance...... and the other half is in the eating (a truly communal affair) and the down to earth boogie woogie of it all as it unfolds live.

Well the menus are being put together for some tastebud kicking stuff:....there's the new album from the VIVID AFRICA project of McCoy Mrubata (saxes, flute) and myself (oud, nylon guitar, bouzouki) that features the amazing talents and input from Ashish Joshi (percussionist extraordinairé...tabla, darbuka, zarb, djembe, toys), Mlungisi Gegana (upright bass), Wynand vd Walt (drums) and Siya Makuzeni (trombone and vocals). This project is a celebration of the rich diversity of the sounds of Africa all played on acoustic instruments with emphasis on strong rhythmic structures....then there's the new STRINGS&SKINS album...featuring the duo of myself and Ashish on a whole pile of traditional instruments....including bouzouki, sarod and oudtar (a Mervyn Davis innovative hybrid of a guitar and arabic oud). Leading the pack, so to speak, is the JazzZombies first album which should be completed within the next few weeks..These guys are wicked, mischievious adventurers in the field commonly UNKNOWN as 'jazz'...their point of view being that 'jazz aint dead it just walks funny!' and they are:..myself on guitar, Kevin Davidson (sax), Hugo de Waal (guitar), Lanie vd Walt (bass) and Jorik Pienaar (drums). There's also an amazing remix 'dance album with a difference' nearing completion.. of the STRINGS&SKINS 'Passages in Time' album. Ofcourse this will be performed live with an appropriate line up.
DJ CHRESOS is the creative force at the remix workbench and I believe that his visionary work on this album will set a benchmark and serve as an inspiration for others in the dance genré.
That sure sounds like a busy time and I did'nt even include fishing (not phishing!) or upcoming concerts and tours of Namibia and East Africa and other projects such as writing music for a feature film. Actually if one looks at any of my colleagues of the 'cutting edge clan' (to which I humbly aspire), one would find a similar scenario...creative survival ...work hard/play hard...just enough money...no sellout...take no prisoners - just friends!...and ofcourse loads of fun and spirit!

While writing this newsletter I got separate calls from three well known and respected musicians, each with an astounding CV and track record who, besides having produced albums of their own for big record labels, have played on and produced albums for other big names on the SA scene. This is where the crunch comes in.....each brother had phoned to find out if I was a bit more fortunate thismonth and if I could lend them some cash to help out till the next show/concert/recording/festival. Hard to believe or accept...I immediately felt a deep sense of identity and belonging....one family living on the cutting edge of hardship and creativity...helping each other out and sharing the joy. The next call was from anutha brutha who was having a particularly good run of fortune....this month... and working hard at building on this without agent/promoter input!
So next time someone asks "what's cutting bra?" it will certainly have a whole lot more meaning to me..(including the fishing!)
Adventure!
FUN&SPIRIT!

Greetings all!
...from deep cyberspace at our fingertips! This has indeed been an enjoyable month of varied and exciting live shows played with wonderfull musicians in front of really 'spirited' audiences around the country. It is these audiences that give one a real glimpse of the future of SA music....'live' audiences wanting a 'live' music experience, both feeding off each other with creative purpose and fun till musicians and audience become one big 'band'...Certainly good to hear that 'live' music is the way things are going these days...it sure beats the 'dead' one hands down!...with the added bonus of selling CD's/DVD's and other merchandise directly to an eager audience...up close and personal.

March kicked off with STRINGS&SKINS (Greg-oud,guitar,bouzouki,oudtar/Ashish-tabla,darbuka,zarb/Wynand-drums) at PLOT6..where a good pod of keen audience arrived early during a downpour armed with raincoats and umbrellas( it's an outdoor venue!) to get good seats. Happily the weather cleared before the show started and a fun time was had by all. The JazzZombies( Greg-guitar,Hugo de Waal-guitar,Marc Duby-bass,Kevin Davidson-sax,Jorik Pienaar-drums) played a burning 'jazz aint dead it just walks funny' set at Tings and Times in Pretoria. This also doubled as a fairwell show for our awesome bassist, Marc Duby, who has accepted a proffessorship department head of music at Rhodes University..good one Marc!
The STRINGS&SKINS international collaboration with Algerian vocalist and oud player Fethi Tabet and his stunning six piece band was an absolute blast with the energetic audience dancing from beginning to end. The rest of the month was spent on an exciting and successfull whirlwind tour of KwaZulu/Natal and the Eastern Cape with Steve Newman as a special guest in STRINGS&SKINS..where we promoted Steve's new solo album 'Flavours' and the new STRINGS&SKINS 'Passages in Time' CD...ja well it was a very full month with many kilometers,places and faces..something like a travelling salesman but with a whole lot more benefits starting off with the concept that you get to keep what you sell while the buyers also get to keep what they buy!..COWABUNGA!!..yep..as with 'live' music ,I prefer 'live' audiences as well...

Good news is that upon arrival back home McCoy Mrubata and I continued to work on the second VIVID AFRIKA album that should be out later in the year. This project, based on compositions from McCoy and myself has a breathtaking live show which has received rave revues on their tour across Southern Africa and Reunion Island. The group is busy with plans for some shows in the south of France at the invitation of Algerian oud player/singer Fethi Tabet. Further more STRINGS&SKINS have also been invited to tour East Africa including Zanzibar during May 2008(this will make it our third time to perform in Zanzibar!)
If one looks at the music industry in SA it is evident that the 'industrious' part of the formula lies mainly with the musicians themselves where they show their multifaceted talents for writing, arranging, rehearsing, recording, forming groups, managing themselves, self-financing, agenting,hustling and organising tours to sell CD's that they produce and sell themselves with very little help from the so-called music business moguls. It is only when we perform outside of our country that we get respect, recognition and appreciation that is mostly absent from our local music industry. Thank goodness for our local 'LIVE' audiences who put heart and soul into the development of SA music and who can recognise something that moves them (when and if they get to hear it)..what a pity that most access to the public is under the control of unmusical greedy music industry fatcats who decide what the audiences should see at our music and arts festivals. Ofcourse not all music industry people are a drag to us musos...some actually have a vision and have acted with conviction in honestly promoting SA music. Peakperformances.co.za is one such bunch of positive irrepressibles who this year won the music blog of the year for their praiseworthy promotion of South African musicians and their music. Congrats guys!!
...and again I say...gimme a 'live' SA audience....you guys rock!
FUN&SPIRIT!
Greg

Greetings all,

This is the first of my regular 'Greg Hadjiyorki Georgiades website' newsletters which should serve the purpose of keeping you all informed of what is going on in my musical career and, if at all possible, even some of those thoughts that flutter in and out of that loft I call my my mind...(sometimes more like a bellfry I suppose!) I like to keep these things short and sweet which is, by far, better than long and bitter.

I'd like to kick off with an apology for this 'spam-like' beginning but one has to start somewhere and the fact that you are on the mailing list merely indicates that you are on my shortlist of first time recipients whom I humbly thought might be somewhat interested. If at any stage you would like to be removed from the mailing list and be spared from what you may feel is an intrusion of nonsensical ramblings..merely press the ejector seat button (make sure it's the one for MY seat and not yours!), sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. If this does not work, I suggest using the molecular vaporizor that comes in every '1st Newsletter Starter Pack'!!

OK!..if you can read this paragragh then i'm still here.....thanks! Now let's get down to some light hearted stuff, like music..and why I play what I play, where I play and with whom. Those of you that know me fairly well will, by now, be aware that, musically, you may find me anywhere but in the middle of the road...which is, by far, too dangerous a place for any fun seeking musician to be. So it is not surprising that the whole of my career has been 'wasted'(so i'm told) with unusual collaborations resulting in many 'strange and out of the ordinary' music groups, each of which have been described by the 'powers that be' as merely small cult-like projects. Well i'm proud to have put out more than 8 CD's of my own stuff and played on numerous other great musicians albums while maintaining my motto of 'FUN and SPIRIT!'... oh yeah..and keeping out of the middle of the road.

At present i'm preparing to complete the second VIVID AFRIKA cd with my brother in music, McCoy Mrubata. This promises to be a real 'cracker' just like the 1st one. I'm also busy with the third STRINGS & SKINS cd with my other brother in music, Ashish Joshi the mesmerising tabla player/percussionist...and in addition to this I have a new project with my long time bra, Ernest Mothle (bassplayer of the legendary late Chris McGregor's 'Brotherhood of Breath') mmm yummy...as well as another extremely fresh and exciting project 'The JazzZombies' which features former metalhead members of 'Not My Dog' (Hugo de Waal, Jorik Pienaar, Lanie vd walt) together with 'off the wall' jazzers Marc Duby and Kevin Davidson... our slogan is "jazz ain't dead, it just walks funny!" ....and I haven't even got around to the amazing Aquarian Quartet (Steve Newman, Syd Kitchen, Tony Cox and myself)...also sometimes called 'the Aquarium Quartet' in Pretoria where we are also asked difficult to answer trick questions like "..so tell me how many guys in the band hey?"

Ja well no fine..there's more but I don't wanna get into biogging...that's for other places and other times....just know this...there's more fun out there off the road than lying in the middle of the road waiting for the inevitable 'gedunk! gedunk!' of some record company exec's tyres as they flatten your soul in their rush to the next party or awards ceremony....

Hey Ho Silver!
'FUN and SPIRIT!'

Greg
www.greggeorgiades.com