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Thursday @ Ukrainian info

Dec 6 2007 - 8:00pm
Dec 6 2007 - 11:30pm


WORLD ON A STRING BAND
LJOVA AND THE VJOLA CONTRABAND
LUMINESCENT STRING ORCHESTRII
(scroll down for info!)

Thursday, December 6, at 8:30pm
Ukrainian East Village Restaurant - Back Room
140 2nd Ave, bet St. Marks & 9th St.
Manhattan
Subway: 6 to Astor Place, R/W to 8th Street; short walk from Union Square
COVER: $10 at the door.

World on a String Band
Harris Wulfson, Sarah Alden- violins
Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin- viola
Benjy Fox Rosen- bass
Patrick Farrell- accordion

World on a String Band plays traditional music from the Balkans and Eastern Europe along side modern compositions that'll make you want to dance and fall in love (or on the floor).

Ljova and the Vjola Contraband
Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin- viola
Mike Savino- bass
Patrick Farrell- accordion
Mathias Kunzli- percussion
special guest Inna Barmash- vocals

LJOVA AND THE VJOLA CONTRABAND -- is chamber-jam music for the "remix generation". As if by alchemy, Eastern-European and Gypsy melodies, Latin rhythms, Jazz-inspired improvisations, and deeply rooted Classical forms are given new meanings. Inspired by his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Osvaldo Golijov, the Kronos Quartet, the rapper Jay-Z and others, Ljova's compositions dazzle with intricate textures, odd rhythms and lilting melodies, creating music that is both fresh and timeless. Tonight is this quartet's first performance together since before Ljova and Inna's wedding in August, so this is going to be very intense.

Luminescent Orchestrii
Sarah Alden, Rima Fand- violins, vocals
Sxip Shirey- resonator guitar, harmonica, melodica, vocals
Benjy Fox Rosen- bass, vocals

New York's beloved Lumiis close out the evening with their trademark brand of East-European punk-folk- "like tiny, richly arranged musical adventures" (Time Out NY)- certain to make the room stomp. They've been touring every-which-where lately, and this is a rare opportunity to see them touch down in their home town.

Come on down, celebrate Hannukah, drink a beer, swoon to the sound of so many strings in one room and dance your little gazonga off! It's gonna be so good.
And don't forget- there's great food to be had too. Borscht anyone?
See you there!

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Reviews

This self-released debut recording from 27-year-old Russian-born Lev Zhurbin (aka Ljova), one of New York's fastest-rising composers and instrumentalists, is something special... Ljova continually delights
---Anastasia Tsioulcas, Billboard

Rustic dances and evocative soundscapes, all crafted from ... the gorgeously grainy purr of his fiddle.
---Steve Smith, Time Out New York

Eclectic with an ear for texture...Throaty melodies supported by pizzicato rhythms, lush chordal figures and counterpoint.
---Allan Kozinn, New York Times

Though he was born in the string quarry of Russia and refined in the purifying precincts of Juilliard, Zhurbin turned out to be a lover of gritty hybrids. The music he writes and plays is full of Brahmsian tone, Bartók lines, hiccupping Hungarian rhythms, Klezmer soul and the sexy plaintiveness of tango and the blues.
---Justin Davidson, Newsday

Best of June 2006 New Releases
---John Schaefer, host of WNYC's New Sounds and Soundcheck

Like many younger musicians, this leader has absorbed a panoply of music and gleefully undermines rigid notions of genre.
---Sean Patrick Fitzell, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

From the poignant to the jolly... a superb player and composer, a Brilliant Debut. (Top 10 Jewish Records of 2006)
---George Robinson, THE JEWISH WEEK

No barriers...Fluid stylistic grace...
---Ken Smith, GRAMOPHONE Magazine

The off-kilter rhythms he favors ... tug and pull at you in strange and mysterious ways, as do Ljova's melodies, which have the tuneful, emotive quality of good pop.
---Alexander Gelfand, JAZZIZ Magazine

Proves that an integration between seemingly different cultures is possible, inevitable, and fruitful
---Osvaldo Golijov, composer