Jeni Jol (Tev Stevig, Lloyd Thayer and Brian O’Neill) and Dolunay

Date/Time
Date(s) - 05/02/2015
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location
Club Passim

Categories No Categories

Jeni Jol (“New Path” in Macedonian) is the brainchild of Tev Stevig, who has been exploring the potential of playing the fretless nylon string guitar in the clawhammer style. Clawhammer, or frailing, is typically associated with old time American folk music played on the banjo, but Tev has been using this uniquely American playing style on the fretless guitar to arrive at new arrangements of his favorite tunes from the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey, as well as some original material. He was inspired to do this after listening to recordings of the great Turkish musician, Erkan Ogur (credited by many for having invented the fretless guitar), and shortly thereafter to banjo virtuoso Adam Hurt’s recording “Earth Tones” in which he plays exclusively on a fretless gourd banjo. There is a certain simplicity to the clawhammer style, that when combined with the intriguing dance rhythms of the Balkans, brings a dance-like rhythmic drive to the music. While clawhammer is quite common amongst banjo players, there is only a very small community of guitarists utilizing this style, most apply it to the performance of old time American folk or Celtic music. By combining Balkan, Middle Eastern and American traditions in this way, Tev hopes to create a new folk music that is both listenable and danceable, while paying deep respect to all of his cultural and musical influences. The duo formation of Jeni Jol features Brian O’Neill on marimba/percussion.

www.tevstevig.com/jeni-jol

The Brooklyn, NY based trio Dolunay (Turkish for “full moon”) draws upon the songs from the Turkish people living across Rumeli, the former region of the Ottoman Balkans. Dolunay’s intimate sound, sparse in loudness and textured with the dissonance of eastern blues, gives way to a sound at once earthy and celestial, the size of which defies that of the small makeup of the band. Inspired to engage with the unique repertoire of lesser-known songs and empowered with a knack to enrich the uncovered sounds with a personal note, Dolunay creates the opportunity to breathe new life into melodies of a region culturally diverse and historically rich.

Jenny Luna – vocals and percussion
Adam Good – ud, tambura
Eylem Basaldi – violin

https://www.facebook.com/DolunayNYC