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Fareed Haque's Flat Earth Ensemble at Yoshi's San Francisco, 8/11/08 |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Monday, 04 August 2008 |
 Fareed Haque
Fareed Haque's Flat Earth Ensemble performs at Yoshi's in San Francisco on Monday, August 11th. Fareed Haque's Flat Earth Ensemble features Fareed Haque on guitar, Kala Ramnath on Hindustani violin, Salar Nader on tabla and percussion, and John Tate on bass. Rob Clearfield will appear as a Special guest for the Saturday night performance on accordion and piano.
Guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque enjoys a career that spans the spectrum of musical styles. Moving easily between jazz and classical guitar, Fareed's versatility has created a demand for him with prominent jazz and classical artists including Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Holland, Sting, Joe Henderson, Joe Zawinul, Javon Jackson, Cassandra Wilson, Kurt Elling, Lester Bowie, Arturo Sandoval, Robert Walter, Karl Denson, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Kahil el Zabar, Defunckt, Ramsey Lewis, Nigel Kennedy, Edgar Meyer, Robert Conant, , Stephen Stubbs, Frank Bungarten, members of the Vermeer Quartet and many symphony orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. He has performed all of the major guitar concertos, is an active transcriber of baroque as well as South American music and has had numerous modern works dedicated to him. In 1989, Fareed joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University, where he currently holds an associate professorship in jazz and classical guitar studies.
Born in 1963 to Pakistani father and Chilean mother, extensive travels, especially long stays in Spain, France, Iran, Pakistan and Chile, exposed Haque to different musics from a very early age. This natural eclecticism has become the hallmark of Fareed's music. The 1981 Recipient of North Texas State University's Jazz Guitar Scholarship, Haque spent a year studying with renowned jazz guitarist and pedagogue Jack Peterson. Fareed's growing interest in the classical guitar led him to transfer to Northwestern University, where he completed his studies in classical guitar under David Buch, John Holmquist and Anne Waller.
In 2001 Fareed co-founded the jam super-group Garaj Mahal, joined George Brooks' group Summit, featuring Zakir Hussein and Steve Smith and continues to record and tour with the Fareed Haque Group. More recently Fareed has become a staple of the 'Jamband' scene and was voted 'Most Valuable Player' at the 2002 High Sierra Music Festival.
In 2004 Fareed composed and performed his Lahara Double Concerto for Sitar/Guitar and Tabla. The work was premiered by The Chicago Sinfonietta, under the baton of maestro Paul Freeman, at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, featuring tabla virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain, to whom the work is dedicated. 2005 promises even more activity as a composer. Fareed has been commissioned to compose a classical guitar concerto for the Fulcrum Point Ensemble, to premiere May 06.
 Salar Nader
Salar Nader, of Afghan origin, was in born on June 20th, 1981 in Hamburg, Germany. It was in his early months of life when his mother and father noticed his passion for the tabla. No matter where Salar was, he had to bring along his personal tabla set, which his father bought for him when he was 6 months old. When Salar was 3 years old his parents moved from Hamburg, Germany to Queens, New York where Salar began playing at family parties. According to his parents, he would weep over the tabla while others were performing. At the age of 7 Salar attended his first tabla class in Berkeley, CA. The instructor of the class, Ustad Zakir Hussain, who is now Salar's Guru is a world renowned master of the Tabla. While Salar continued his guidance under legendary tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, he was rapidly progressing from beginning to advanced levels. In 2003, Salar traveled to India where he had the opportunity to study tabla in Mumbai and attend many major music festivals in India. At the age of 22, Salar began teaching young aspiring tabla players. At San Francisco State University, he began to accompany Pandit Chitresh Das during his Kathak class. Salar was invited to Pandit Ji's school to practice and also accompany principle dancers in the Cchandam Dance Company.
 Kala Ramnath
Maestro Kala Ramnath, the contemporary torch bearer of the Mewati Gharana, stands today amongst the most outstanding instrumental musicians in the North Indian classical genre. Born into a family of prodigious musical talent, which has given Indian music such violin legends as Prof. T.N. Krishnan and Dr. N. Rajam, Kala's genius with the violin manifested itself from childhood. For fifteen years she put herself under the training of Mewati vocal maestro, Sangeet Martand PANDIT JASRAJ. This has brought a rare vocal emotionalism to her art. Kala's violin playing is characterized by an immaculate bowing and fingering technique, command over all aspects of laya, richness and clarity in sur. All this innate artistry and technical brilliance combined with a rare and exquisite emotional quality are the hallmarks of the style. She has completely revolutionized the technique of playing the violin by taking this instrument so close to vocal music that today her violin is called "The Singing Violin".
A native of the Chicago area, Rob Clearfield has had the privilege of a very diverse musical background. Since high school, Rob has shown an interest in many styles of music, studying and performing jazz, gospel, rock, hip-hop, classical and afro-latin. After a brief period of study at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Clearfield has enjoyed a successful career as a performer, working professionally with such artists as Juma Santos, Corey Wilkes, Ernest Dawkins, and Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago. In addition to his work with Fareed, Clearfield is also an active composer. His original music can be heard in the jazz/indie rock group Information Superhighway, whose debut recording is due for release fall 2007.
Yoshi's San Francisco is located at 1330 Fillmore at Eddy on the ground floor of the Fillmore Heritage Center. Yoshi's is on the ground floor on the front side of the building. Valet parking or self parking is available in the garage directly beneath the building. Garage entrance is on eddy Street. For more information visit http://sf.yoshis.com.
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 Monday, 01 December 2008
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