Stephen Kent is a professional didgeridoo performer, percussionist, composer and recording artist. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Forming the band Lights in a Fat City (with percussionist Eddy Sayer & producer/sound engineer Simon Tassano), he made the first contemporary releases of didjeridu music in the northern hemisphere (the landmark LP/CDs Somewhere and Sound Column on These Records, since reissued by City of Tribes) in 1988.[ citation needed ]
With the band Trance Mission, he joined the ranks of Jon Hassell, Steve Roach, and Robert Rich in exploring a primal, techno-tribal music. Trance Mission was co-formed in San Francisco in 1992 by Stephen Kent (Didjeridu/Percussion), Beth Custer (Clarinets/Trumpet), John Loose (Multi Ethnic Drums/Samples) and Kenneth Newby (Asian Winds/Didgital Atmospheres), making up the quartet which produced 3 globally acclaimed CDs on the City of Tribes label over as many years in the mid-nineties. [1] After several European tours and many live appearances on the West Coast of the US, Loose and Newby moved on to other projects while Custer and Kent continued as Trance Mission, with Eda Maxym (also of Beasts of Paradise) joining on vocals and Canadian Peter Valsamis on Drums/Samples. This version of Trance Mission produced a live CD, "A Day out of Time", in 1999. Another version of Trance Mission performed at the Starwood Festival in 2006, featuring Stephen Kent, Peter Valsamis, Geoffrey Gordon, Eda Maxym and cellist Rufus Cappadocia. [2] (Kent had performed as a soloist at Starwood the previous year, opening for Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira. [3] )
In the 21st century Stephen Kent released two more solo CDs, Oil & Water and Living Labyrinths, on his own Family Tree label. Recent projects include several years of combining with Tuvan throat singing sensations, Chirgilchin as Karashay, ongoing work with Moroccan musician Yassir Chadly, performing with Malian oriented bluesman Markus James and his group the Wassonrai (who include Kamale ngoni master Mamdou Sidibe), Eda Maxym's Imagination Club, and the Del Sol String Quartet (with whom he plays the work of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe), who recently performing at the Library of Congress in Washington DC.
His current projects include two trio groups oriented towards Indian music. One is Australian Bebop Ragas [4] with Teed Rockwell (Chapman Stick/Fretboard Tapping Instrument) and Sameer Gupta (Tabla/Drums). The second, Baraka Moon, includes Geoffrey Gordon (Drums/Percussion) and Sukhawat Ali Khan (Vocals/Harmonium). [5]
Kent has released several recordings as a solo artist and appears on recordings of group projects such as Trance Mission, Beasts of Paradise, and Lights in a Fat City. He has also done session work with artists such as Airto Moreira, and Badi Assad (on her album Chameleon). [6] He produced and performed on the album Halcyon Days (1996) together with Steve Roach and Kenneth Newby, and performed on the soundtrack of the Terence McKenna video Alien Dreamtime with Spacetime Continuum. [7]
The 39th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997, at Madison Square Garden, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Babyface was the night's biggest winner, with 3 awards. Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Sheryl Crow, and The Fugees won two awards. Celine Dion for "Best Pop Album" and "Album of the Year" and Toni Braxton for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" and "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance". The show was hosted by Ellen Degeneres who also performed the opening with Shawn Colvin, Bonnie Rait, and Chaka Khan.
John Stanley Body was a New Zealand composer, ethnomusicologist, photographer, teacher, and arts producer. As a composer, his work comprised concert music, music theatre, electronic music, music for film and dance, and audio-visual gallery installations. A deep and long-standing interest in the music of non-Western cultures – particularly South-East Asian – influenced much of his composing work, particularly his technique of transcribing field recordings. As an organiser of musical events and projects, Body had a significant impact on the promotion of Asian music in New Zealand, as well as the promotion of New Zealand music within the country and abroad.
Kimmo Pohjonen is a Finnish accordionist who is known for his avant-garde and experimental work with his custom-made electrified and modified instrument. He has released nine albums of his work and has toured Europe extensively, as well as performances in Japan and some in North America. He records and performs both solo and in collaboration with musicians and other artists, including the Kronos Quartet, and percussionist Pat Mastelotto and guitarist Trey Gunn of King Crimson. Pohjonen still lives in Finland when not on the road. He has performed with one of his daughters, Saana, who plays the drums.
Michael Gordon is an American composer and co-founder of the Bang on a Can music collective and festival.
The Del Sol Quartet is a string quartet based in San Francisco, California that was founded in 1992.
Ross Edwards is an Australian composer of a wide variety of music including orchestral and chamber music, choral music, children's music, opera and film music. His distinctive sound world reflects his interest in deep ecology and his belief in the need to reconnect music with elemental forces, as well as restore its traditional association with ritual and dance. He also recognises the profound importance of music as an agent of healing. His music, universal in that it is concerned with age-old mysteries surrounding humanity, is at the same time connected to its roots in Australia, whose cultural diversity it celebrates, and from whose natural environment it draws inspiration, especially birdsong and the mysterious patterns and drones of insects. As a composer living and working on the Pacific Rim, he is aware of the exciting potential of this vast region.
Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival was a four-day music festival held annually in early June from 2004 to 2015 at Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas. Named for the Wakarusa River, the festival was first held at Clinton State Park immediately outside of Lawrence, Kansas. It moved to its new location, just outside Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2009. The festival is known for an eclectic mix of music and has featured artists like Grammy award winners the Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Activities other than music included disc golf, yoga, hiking, and swimming in the Mulberry River.
Meanwhile... is the second album by Trance Mission, released in 1995 through City of Tribes Records.
Trance Mission is a world fusion ensemble co-founded in San Francisco by American clarinetist and composer Beth Custer and British-born didgeridoo player Stephen Kent in 1992, with Canadian musician Kenneth Newby and American percussionist John Loose. Their music incorporates elements of jazz, fourth world and ethnoambient music styles. In the 1990s, the group recorded four albums on the ambient label City of Tribes.
Dan Welcher is an American composer, conductor, and music educator.
Matthew John Hindson AM is an Australian composer.
Flood City Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, presented by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.
Kenneth Newby is a Canadian media artist, composer-performer, educator, interaction designer, and audio producer based in British Columbia. He is known for his innovative use of technology in the creation of music, media performances, and installations. He is a Research Associate at the Center for Culture and Technology at the University of British Columbia, and Director of the Flicker Art Collaboratory at Frog Hollow, Mayne Island.
Sirens is the second album by Kenneth Newby, released on April 29, 1997 through City of Tribes Records.
Trance Mission is the debut album of Trance Mission, released in 1993 through City of Tribes Records.
Head Light is the third album by Trance Mission, released on October 21, 1996 through City of Tribes Records.
A Day Out of Time is a live album by Trance Mission, released on April 6, 1999, through City of Tribes Records.
The earliest western musical influences in Australia can be traced to two distinct sources: in the first settlements, the large body of convicts, soldiers and sailors who brought the traditional folk music of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland; and the first free settlers, some of whom had been exposed to the European classical music tradition in their upbringing. An example of original music by a convict would be an 1861 tune dedicated to settler James Gordon by fiddler constable Alexander Laing. Very little music has survived from this early period, although there are samples of music originating from Sydney and Hobart that date back to the early 19th century. Musical publications from this period preserved in Australian libraries include works by Charles Edward Horsley, William Stanley, Isaac Nathan, Charles Sandys Packer, Frederick Augustus Packer, Carl Linger, Francis Hartwell Henslowe, Frederick Ellard, Raimund Pechotsch and Julius Siede.
The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on January 31, 2022. It will recognize the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. The nominations were revealed via a virtual livestream on November 23, 2021.