Natalia Paruz | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Also known as | Saw Lady |
Genres | Classical, Contemporary, Pop |
Occupation(s) | Musical saw player Busker Bell Ringer |
Instrument(s) | Musical saw, handbells, cowbells |
Labels | Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, Universal Records |
Website | sawlady |
Natalia 'Saw Lady' Paruz is a New York City-based musical saw player, bell ringer, busker and film maker. She was the founder and director of the annual Musical Saw Festival in New York City and ran it for 11 years. She also organized the musical saw festival in Israel. She was a columnist of the 'Saw Player News' and a judge at international musical saw competitions. She was also a judge for Music Under New York and for Little Island at Pier 55.
Paruz has played the musical saw on many film soundtracks [1] and can be seen as well as heard in the movie Dummy starring Adrien Brody. She has performed with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Zubin Mehta), the Westchester Philharmonic, [2] the Royal Air Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, the Amor Artis Orchestra, the Riverside Orchestra, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra [3] and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with PDQ Bach composer Peter Schickele and with the Little Orchestra Society. November 2007 marked her Carnegie Hall debut as a musical saw soloist and June 2008 her Madison Square Garden debut. Her musical saw can be heard in many TV commercials. She has also appeared on numerous TV and radio programs around the world. Garrison Keillor of the Prairie Home Companion radio show has dubbed Natalia the show's 'official saw player'. As a studio musician, her musical saw has been recorded by labels such as Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, and Universal Records, for albums of composers such as John Hiatt and Elliot Goldenthal. She has played at festivals, such as the Spoleto Festival USA, the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, Utah Arts Festival, World Trade Center's Buskers Fair and at the Fingerlakes Chamber Music Festival.
Paruz often plays the musical saw in contemporary music, encouraging today's composers to write music for this instrument.
Paruz is considered to be the most knowledgeable about the history of the musical saw, and her own home is a pilgrimage place for saw enthusiasts and students.
The December 3, 2011 'Washington Post' crossword puzzle had Paruz as a question: "Down 5 - Instrument played by Natalia Paruz".
Along with her professional career, Paruz makes a point to also perform on the streets and subways as a busker. She has busked in the US, [4] Italy, Israel, Czech Republic, Poland and France. Paruz has also served as a judge at the Music Under New York auditions for subway musicians.
Paruz also plays a set of 65 pitched cowbells, English handbells, 4-in-hand hand bells, theremin and glass harp. She developed a bell ringing technique called 6-in-hand, and she performs as a musical historic interpreter of Colonial and Victorian times at places such as Historic Richmond Town.
Paruz is a recipient of many awards, including:
Year | Title | Directed By | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Dummy | Greg Pritikin | with Adrien Brody | |
2006 | El Carnaval de Sodoma | Arturo Ripstein | Mexico | |
2008 | I Sell the Dead | Glenn McQuaid | ||
2008 | American Carny | Nick Basile | ||
2008 | Bend & Bow | Ted Fisher | ||
2009 | The Heart Is a Drum Machine | Christopher Pomerenke | ||
2009 | Lullaby | Ben Westbrook | ||
2011 | Another Earth | Mike Cahill | Searchlight Pictures | |
2012 | Strings | Tal Arbiv | ||
2014 | Time Out of Mind | Oren Moverman | with Richard Gere | |
2014 | Rhythm in Motion | Jenny Schweitzer | ||
2015 | The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst | Andrew Jarecki | HBO series | |
2015 | Caihong City | Florina Titz | ||
2015 | Subway: The Series | Veronica Dang | ||
2016 | Miss Stevens | Julia Hart | ||
2016 | Naked-Spurious | Glenn English | ||
2017 | Amanda & Jack Go Glamping | Brandon Dickerson | ||
2019 | Scenes from the Underground | Eric Swiz | ||
2020 | Lost city | Max Cea | ||
2020 | Like a Wild Plant | Natalia Paruz | Finalist at Astoria Film Festival | |
2021 | Belleview Love Story | Michael Wolfe (filmmaker) | ||
2022 | For the Lost Children of Paris | Carrie Robbins | ||
2023 | While Mortals Sleep | Natalia Paruz | Audience Award at Astoria Film festival |
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque friction idiophone with direct friction (132.22) under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification, and as a metal sheet played by friction (151) under the revision of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification by the MIMO Consortium.
Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first American-born conductor to receive international acclaim. Bernstein was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history" according to music critic Donal Henahan. Bernstein's honors and accolades include seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and 16 Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination. He received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981.
Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is practiced all over the world and dates back to antiquity. People engaging in this practice are called street performers or buskers. Outside of New York, buskers is not a term generally used in American English.
Julie Taymor is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for her direction and costume design. Her 2002 film Frida, about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Original Song nomination for Taymor's composition "Burn It Blue." She also directed the 2007 jukebox musical film Across the Universe, based on the music of the Beatles.
Margaret Nixon McEathron, known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She was the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, although her roles were concealed from audiences when the films were released. Several of the songs she dubbed appeared on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.
Jack Lukeman, usually simply known as Jack L, is an Irish songwriter, musician, record producer, vocal artist and broadcaster.
Music Under New York (MUNY) is a part of the Arts & Design program by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that schedules musical performances in transportation hubs across its rapid transit, ferry, and commuter rail systems.
Catherine Manoukian is an Armenian-Canadian violinist.
Another Earth is a 2011 American science fiction drama film directed by Mike Cahill and starring Brit Marling, William Mapother, and Robin Lord Taylor. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January, and was given a limited theatrical release on July 22, 2011, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film earned two nominations at the 38th Saturn Awards for Marling's performance and for Cahill and Marling's writing. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it slow paced but soulful.
NYC Busker Ball is an event conceived and organized by busker, musician and artist Theo Eastwind, an active subway performer. His first NYC Busker Ball, which took place on January 23, 2013, was staged at a nightclub called Spike Hill in Brooklyn, NY, and was organized as a charity event to raise money to be donated to the American Red Cross to assist in their effort to aid those suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Dale Henderson is an American cellist. He plays a 1914 Thomas James Holder cello. Henderson is the founder and thought leader for the worldwide music movement Bach in the Subways, and has toured the world performing equal access concerts to renew interest in classical music.
Showtime is a type of performance litefeet/pole dancing done as a busking routine using hand holds installed inside New York City Subway cars. Showtime includes acrobatic flips, hat and shoe tricks, and pole tricks. Estimates have placed the number of Showtime dancers in the low hundreds.
Women in music have many roles and types of contributions. Women shape music movements, events, and genres of music through their roles as composers, songwriters, instrumental performers, singers, conductors, and music educators. Women's music has been created by and for women in part to explore ideas of women's rights and feminism within musical expressions. The impact of women in music influences concepts of creativity, activism, and culture.
Harold Rosenbaum is an American conductor and musician. He is the artistic director and conductor of the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Canticum Novum Singers. The New York Virtuoso Singers appear on 48 albums on labels including Naxos Records and Sony Classical. He has collaborated extensively with many ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Juilliard Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can, Mark Morris Dance Group, Orchestra of Saint Luke's, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Riverside Symphony, and Brooklyn Philharmonic.
Buskers and Angels is a rock musical written by Australian rock musician Jon English. This was his second musical, following Paris in 1990. The show follows a busker going from the streets to stardom as well as canvassing the pitfalls of the entertainment industry for women. English said "It's probably the most misogynistic industry left" and cites his feisty mother and suffragette grandmother as role models, and points out that both his musicals deliberately feature "forthright, strong women trapped by circumstances but not by their own sex. And I sort of miss that badly in a lot of musicals."
Abby Roach, known by her stage name Abby The Spoon Lady, is an American musician, former radio personality, and free speech activist. Her music focuses on the American roots genre.
Leonardo Pellegrino, also known as Leo P, is a baritone saxophonist from Pittsburgh who is based in New York City. He is a member of the "brass house" band Too Many Zooz and former member of the Lucky Chops brass band. He is known for his energetic dancing that he performs while playing, often in public areas.
Amiri and Rahiem Taylor are American singer-songwriters. They lead the psychedelic rock band Blac Rabbit and are identical twin brothers.
Elayne Viola Jones was an American timpanist. An African American woman, born in NYC to Barbadian immigrants, she overcame challenges. From learning piano to excelling in timpani, she graduated from Juilliard, her mentors being Saul Goodman and Morris "Moe" Goldenberg. Jones's career was marked by remarkable firsts. She became the first Black opera orchestra member in 1949, played with esteemed ensembles, and won a blind audition to join the San Francisco Symphony in 1972, becoming the first black principal in a major American orchestra. Also, Jones was the first documented African American to play with the New York Philharmonic. In 2019 she became the fourth female member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Another Earth (Music from the Motion Picture) is the score album to the 2011 film of the same name directed by Mike Cahill. The score is written and composed by former LCD Soundsystem band members, Phil Mossman and Will Bates, and produced by Lucy Alper. Although, they had credited Bates' music production company Fall On Your Sword for the soundtrack. The score was released by Milan Records on July 19, 2011, three days before the film's release.