Bang on a Can

aleba gartner associates
648 broadway • suite 607 • new york, ny 10012
tel: 212/206-1450 • fax: 646/536-2730 • e-mail: aleba@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Aleba, 212/206-1450

Bang on a Can
to make rare appearance at TONIC
Tuesday, August 2, 2005 at 8:00 p.m.

featuring musicians & composers from UZBEKISTAN* (N.Y. debuts)
and members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars Event showcases work created at the
2005 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA

*Part of a unique new Arts Exchange Program between Bang on a Can and Central Asia

Tickets: $10 (212-358-7504)

Tuesday, August 2 at 8:00 p.m. at New York's premier art-music club Tonic, Bang on a Can presents a one-time-only appearance by boundary-breaking musicians and composers from Uzbekistan and members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, showcasing some of the work created at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in the Berkshires). The Summer Music Festival - affectionately known as "Banglewood" - is now in its fourth season, and takes place July 12 - 31. Tonic is located on the Lower East Side at 107 Norfolk Street, between Delancey & Rivington Streets.

Energized by the Festival's daily performances and exploration throughout the museum galleries and spaces of MASS MoCA, the tireless innovators at Bang on a Can will head home with an unusual evening of music, composed and improvised, acoustic and electric, new and newer.

Bang on a Can is thrilled by the rare opportunity to work with performers of traditional Uzbeki instruments, most of whom are visiting the United States for the very first time. They attend the 2005 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival as part of an exciting new Arts Partnership between Bang on a Can and Central Asia. This unprecedented exchange program pairs Bang on a Can and CEC ArtsLink, an international arts service organization. CEC ArtsLink's programs support the exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Central Europe, Russia, and Eurasia, opening an arts dialogue - often for the first time ever - between the U.S. and formerly isolated cultures.

In exchange, members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars will travel to Central Asia in October 2005 for an eagerly anticipated residency of workshops and performances in Bishkek, Kyrgystan and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Additional performers on August 2 include percussionist David Cossin (Bang on a Can All-Stars, Tan Dun's Water Passion, featured soloist on the academy award winning soundtrack of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"), guitarist Mark Stewart (Bang on a Can All-Stars, Polygraph Lounge, Paul Simon), cellist Wendy Sutter (Bang on a Can All-Stars), bassist Gregg August (Paquito D'Rivera, Bang on a Can All-Stars), and more TBA.

For bios of the Uzbek participants and more about the CEC Artslink, see next page.

CEC ArtsLink Central Asia Program Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA

Profiles of Selected Participants:

Sharofiddin Ahrorov, a 29-year-old percussionist, plays both European and traditional Central Asian instruments. Originally from the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Sharofiddin has incorporated the Uzbek drum doyra into both folk music and jazz ensembles. He looks forward to his residency at Bang on a Can's Summer Institute, which is his first venture abroad, as an opportunity to expand his creative vision and to establish contacts for possible future international collaboration.

Shavkat Matyakubov specializes in playing the Uzbek flutes surnay and kornay and the stringed instruments dutar and tanbur. Growing up in a musical family, Shavkat developed an early love for music. Recently he has begun studying Uzbek regional variations of the maqam, the modal system used in classical music across the Middle East and Central Asia. Shavkat, 27, has already performed in India, Italy, Russia, Taiwan, and most recently the US.

Jakhongir Shukurov is a composer born in the historic Muslim cultural center of Bukhara. At only 24 years of age, he has had his compositions performed in Austria, Italy, and Britain and participated in international masterclasses for composers in Germany. Jakhongir teaches at the Khamza Music College and conducts the Omnibus Ensemble, which performs under the auspices of Tashkent's Ilkhom Theater. He is eager to share his experiences at the Summer Institute with his colleagues in the Omnibus Ensemble, the Uzbekistan State Conservatory, and Tashkent's concert-going public.

CEC ArtsLink is an international arts service organization whose programs encourage and support exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Central Europe, Russia and Eurasia. With solid expertise and lasting partnerships in 27 countries, CEC ArtsLink promotes communication and understanding through collaborative, innovative projects for mutual benefit. CEC was founded in 1962. Through VisArt Central Asia CEC ArtsLink organizes visual arts residencies for Central Asian artists at the Vermont Studio Center; exchanges between the contemporary music ensemble Bang on a Can and musicians from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan; and workshops, performances and seminars by U.S. artists and arts managers in Central Asia. The initiative is made possible by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State.

For further information and to arrange interviews, please contact Aleba Gartner Associates at 212/206-1450 or visit www.bangonacan.org