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| bio - glen kniebeiss + chris sprague |
“A truly creative and unexpected crossing of cultures. When outsiders enter the world of traditional music there is always pressure to conform, to become a virtuoso clone, but these two Australians eloquently point the way forward” (fRoots Magazine, UK).
"New amalgams that sound distinctly contemporary and..distinctly Australian” (Jessica Nichols, THE AGE).
Glen Kniebeiss and Chris Sprague are one of the most innovative acoustic duo's in Australia today. Deeply informed by the musical traditions of India and the Middle East, minimalism and the element of trance, they conjure new textures using the Indian tabla, surbahar (baritone sitar) and the mandocello.
Having spent their formative years in the broad open landscapes of the South Australian desert and the Wimmera, Chris and Glen’s music is imbued with the same sense of depth and spaciousness.
The listener is drawn into multiple shimmering layers of sound, and taken on an inward journey where time is stretched and brought to a standstill.
A decade long musical partnership and extensive training in India has resulted in a chemistry that draws deeply on tradition whilst allowing a style of spontaneous intuitive interplay that is a joy to experience. |
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Glen and Chris first met each other at the Victorian College of the Arts in 1996, where they were studying the Bachelor of Music course in Improvisation. They have been composing, rehearsing, recording and performing together throughout the past decade. They perform regularly in Melbourne and have played many of the major festivals in Australia including:
- Melbourne International Festival
- Port Fairy Folk Festival (VIC)
- Bellingen Global Carnival (NSW)
- Woodford Folk Festival (QLD)
- Apollo Bay Music Festival (VIC)
- Maldon Folk Festival (VIC)
- National Folk Festival (ACT)
- Fairbridge festival (WA)
- Jamberoo (NSW)
Other notable concerts include:
- ABC Iwaki Auditorium
with Ria Soemardjo for Radio National Music Deli ‘Deli Divas’ concert.
- Footscray Community Arts Centre
‘Interplay’ concert. listen to this concert
- Melbourne Museum
‘Global sounds at Sunset' concert series.
- Federation Square
‘Global dance for Peace’
- Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre (Adelaide)
with Afghani sitar virtuoso Ustad Khalil Gudaz, (Glen).
- Boite World Music Cafe
(Fitzroy).
- World Harmonies
(Eltham).
- Melbourne concert and workshop series
with Kolkata based classical Indian vocalist Raka Mukherjee (Glen).
- Delhi, India
Glen performed tabla in several concerts during 2004.
- ABC radio national, 3PBS, 3RRR, 3MBS and 3CR
Live to air performances.
- channel 10 TV
live to air performances.
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glen and chris have been involved in many recordings including:
- “Raga Malkauns”
Glen Kniebeiss and Chris Sprague (2006)
- “Resonance”
Glen Kniebeiss and Chris Sprague (2003)
"resonance" received rave reviews in fRoots magazine (UK) (read it )
and is rated '4 stars....... highly recommended' by indie-cds.com.
- “Sift”
with Ria Soemardjo (2006)
- “Aeroplane”
with award winning Aboriginal group Yilila (2006)
- “Manila Manila”
with Yilila (2005)
- “Celebration”
ABC Radio National Music Deli CD (2006)
- “Beyond the Backyard”
ABC television documentary (2006)
- “Refuge”
Actors for Refugees compilation CD (2004)
listen to selections from these albums here |
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Other projects include CDs with Ria Soemardjo, ARIA nominated world-fusion group AKIN, 'Into the Ether' (Jenny Thomas), 'Into the Indigo Night' (Cate Bailey), 'April Della' (Naad), 'Riot Slacks' (Disasterware), 'Audioweave' (Disasterware), electric trance band 'Chakradar', and 'darknesses' (an album of dark and strangely hypnotic guitar loops by Chris Sprague) Click here to listen.
Glen and Chris are featured on the television documentaries 'Beyond the backyard' (ABC TV 2006), 'Islam Explained' (2004) and 'Hazaribag' 2002. |
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| "resonance" received rave reviews in fRoots magazine (UK) (read the review) and is rated '4 stars....... highly recommended' by indie-cds.com. |
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bio - glen kniebeiss
Glen has studied tabla for the past eight years under several gurus including the Late Ustad Anthony Dass of the Delhi Gharana, Sri Pankaj Kumar of Rishikesh, Sri Uma Kanta Dash of Puri, and Sri Akhilesh Gundecha. Glen's interest in Indian Classical music began in 1994, when he undertook Carnatic vocal studies through the Academy of Indian Music Australia. He completed the Advanced Certificate Music Preformance at NMIT in 1995, and a degree in improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts in 1998.
Glen continued his vocal studies in Madras and tabla studies in Puri during his first study tour in India in 2000. He undertook a second extensive trip in 2004 during which he lived in his teachers' house in Delhi in the traditional Guru-Shishya relationship. He also performed a solo tabla recital in Delhi, and several other programmes in India as an accompanist with sitar and vocal. This study tour was funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Ian Potter Foundation. In 2005 Glen was Artist in Residence on Clifton Pugh's Dunmoochin estate. He is currently teaching, and performing tabla with many artists in Melbourne including Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (sarod), Ustad Khalil Gudaz (sitar), and Ria Soemardjo.
For more infor, visit Glen's home page: tabla.com.au
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bio - chris sprague
Chris’ musical life has been a journey from eclecticism to specialisation. Though he is now completely absorbed in mastering the surbahar (a rare 19 string lute from North India), he plays the oud, sitar, mandocello and guitar and has explored music as diverse as, Indonesian Gamelan, Bach, Be-bop, Minimalism, rock music and the Blues.
He studies Dhrupad in India with the world renowned Gundecha Brothers, as well as surbahar maestro Pandit Pushpraj Koshti, and Beenkar Pandit Asit Kumar Banerjee. These studies are in the traditional Guru-Shishya manner whereby the student lives in the teacher’s home.
Chris learnt the oud from Christos Baltzidis (Greece), Fouad Haraka (Lebanon) and Shahram Gholami (Iran).
His formative years were spent studying jazz guitar and improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts and the Gordon Institute of TAFE, where he also discovered the Indonesian Gamelan, the music of Steve Reich, and began to develop his interest in composition.
In 2006 Chris was awarded the Australia Council for the Arts ‘Professional Development Grant’ to study surbahar in India and, in 2005, a travel grant from the Ian Potter Foundation to study oud in Iran.
During 1999 and 2000, Chris was Artist in Residence on Clifton Pugh's 'Dunmoochin' estate where he produced the 'Listening Room’ concert series, recorded a solo album of his experimental guitar music (‘Darknesses’), and constructed a permanent gong installation piece for the Walter Burley-Griffin ‘Incinerator Arts Complex’ in Melbourne.
Chris has been teaching instrumental music for fifteen years. He runs the jazz program at Trinity Grammar School, has been a guest lecturer on Indian music at Monash University and once in a while teaches workshops on Dhrupad singing. He is also actively involved in promoting Indian Classical Music concerts and study tours.
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