Good People!

Here the lowdown on an amazing show happening Saturday, June 6th in Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, 12pm to 4pm.

Taking part are:

James Whetzel: sarod, beats, percussion and throat singing.
Sebastian Lange: violin and beats.
DJ Collage: dancehall reggae vocals and original dancehall beats
Verna Halley: vocals
R.I. Productions: dhol

The music will begin at 12:05pm and go until 4pm

There will be solo sets by James Whetzel, Sebastian Lange, and DJ Collage, and then Verna Halley and R.I. Productions will join Whetzel, Lange and Collage for a finale set of DJ Baba James, Mean Deep, and Das Dhoom music.

Here's the tentative schedule:

12:05 - 1pm James Whetzel, Sarod & Beats set

1pm - 1:30pm Sebastian Lange solo set

1:30 - 2pm James Whetzel and Sebastian Lange collab. set

2pm - 2:30pm DJ Collage solo set

2:30pm - 4pm DJ Baba James, Mean Deep, and Das Dhoom set with James Whetzel, Sebastian Lange, DJ Collage, Verna Halley and R. I. Productions.

We will have an excellent sound system thanks to our friends at the Transcendent Church of Bass.  This will be an amazing one of a kind show right in the heart of downtown Seattle!

For more info about these artists:

James Whetzel http://www.google.com/profiles/james.whetzelhttp://www.funketabla.com

Sebastian Lange http://eqlateral.com/

DJ Collage  http://www.lasarletter.com/DJCollage/

DJ Baba James http://cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames3

Mean Deep http://cdbaby.com/cd/meandeep

R.I. Productions: http://www.myspace.com/riproductions

This event is part of the Art Sparks program: http://www.artsparksseattle.org

Special thanks to the Transcendent Church of Bass, Ingrid Lahti, Carrie Bodle, Victoria Schoenberg, Adrienne Caver-Hall and the City of Seattle, Department of Parks and Recreation.

Hope to see you there, cheers, best musical wishes,

James Whetzel

 

PS The photo at top is of the one and only DJ Collage . . .

 

 

 

 

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Ladies and Gents it's been quite a year!   The election of Barack Obama and imminent departure of the Bush administration is a great cause for celebration.  At Funketabla we have additional cause to be jolly—the summer of 2008 was when we put out our two first funketabla releases.

The first was DJ Baba James (James Whetzel) "The House of Good Juju," the second was Mean Deep "Mean Deep."  Now it goes without saying if you do not yet possess these albums you must purchase them immediately; you can either download the music on itunes, amazon, rhapsody, or you can buy the discs here at funketabla:  http://www.funketabla.com/store.php or at CD Baby:  http://cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames3http://cdbaby.com/cd/meandeep

Both albums came out this summer and have been getting a lot of airplay across North America.   Both albums also made it onto the charts!  "The House of Good Juju" was 10 on the September 23rd top thirty overall list of  KAOS radio in Olympia, WA, Evergreen College radio.  On October 19th "The House of Good Juju" was 5 on the World Top 10 of Toronto, Ontario, station CIUT.

Both Mean Deep and The House of Good Juju made the top ten weekly electronic chart for CJSF of Burnaby, BC.  Mean Deep was 7 and The House of Good Juju was 8.

Mean Deep went on to chart again on CJSF's electronic music charts at 3 on December 2nd, rating higher than Thievery Corporation!

Each record has garnered one review each so far.

"The House of Good Juju" was reviewed on October 25th by the interestingly named "Joel Shit" who is affiliated with KSCU radio in Santa Clara, CA.  Our favorite part of his review was his description of the song Kitten, which includes a Super Mario Bros video game reference:

"It is not clear to me why the song is called "Kitten," but I am sure it is obvious to people that pay attention during the song. At any rate, I like it, because it is what Mario would be hearing if he touched a star and a mushroom at the same time. He'd be invincible and big together. It's not just the Starman music. It's got something extra. I bet Pee-Wee Herman would like this song too."

You can check his full review at: http://joelshitshow.com/2008/10/25/dj-baba-james-james-whetzel-the-house-of-good-juju/ or on The House of Good Juju CD Baby page.

Mean Deep was reviewed on November 21st by Sadie O at Stanford University's radio station KZSU in Palo Alto, CA.  We liked her description of what we do:

"Electronica/Indian/etc mashup – but probably not like what you're thinking. First outing from a pair of guys (Shri Deepayan and James Whetzel), and tending towards the rave rather than trance end of club. Lots of energy and beat with layers of musical ideas from all over, although India is the strongest identifiable element. Most of the vocals are a bit goofy, but the music is killer."

Her description of the track "Minuit" is also worth noting:  "downtempo, deeply warped. Sort of the march of the large lopsided robots on opium."

"March of the Large Lopsided Robots on Opium" sounds like a good name for a Das Dhoom track . . . hmm.

You can check her complete review at the Mean Deep CD Baby page or directly at KZSU: http://zookeeper.stanford.edu/index.php?s=byAlbumKey&n=882299&q=10&action=search&session=

We've been getting great play at other stations around North America, including KBCS in Seattle/Bellevue, KUNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, KALX in Berkeley, California, KSJS in San Jose, California, KWCW in Walla Walla, Washington, KDVS in Davis, California, WNCW in Asheville, North Carolina, KSER, in Everett, Washington, WMNF in Tampa, Florida, and KTRU in Houston, Texas.

Special thanks to Emch at WNYE in NYC, The Spice Route DJs at KBCS, Matt Kane at WZBC in Boston, and Darek Mazzone at KEXP.

We would like to thank James Whetzel and our unstoppable volunteer Anita Darbo for getting this music out to the world.  The work of sending the CDs out to radio is actually still ongoing and we look forward to connecting with more radio stations around the world in 2009.

2009 looks to be a good year for funketabla.   James Whetzel is working on two very cool new albums: "Sarod & Beats" and "Everything Strange."  Shree D. & James are collaborating with Sebastian Lange from EQlateral in a new project called Das Dhoom, which is making wild poly-rhythmic Indian Industrial music!

James W. is currently in Seattle, WA, USA.  Yas is currently in France, moving between Paris and Nantes and working with her new group Yas and the Lightmotiv.  Yaw Amponsah is in the Northwest and leading a new drumming ensemble, and is also in demand as a session musicians for NW African performers.  Shree D., pictured at top, is currently in Lyon, France acquiring new management skills and business acumen which he intends to apply to a several musical cultural projects when he returns to the Pacific Northwest.

Best wishes and good juju to you in 2009 from all of us at Funketabla!  May it be a good year for us all!  Cheers!

P.S. 01/07/09 This just in! We have just learned that The House of Good Juju was 2 on KTRU's top 35 overall charts for the Week of December 28, 2008, and that The House of Good Juju was on the top ten albums list of the Existential Happy Hour show on KAOS radio, and that both Mean Deep and The House of Good Juju are getting airplay on Minneapolis - St. Paul station KFAI! It looks like 2009 should be a good year for funketabla!

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A performance by Elodie O with her three piece group, EQlateral & James Whetzel at Skylark. Thursday December 18th, 2008. 8pm - Midnight.

elodieO is a staple of the New York City LES/Nublu electro scene that nurtured Kudu and The Brazilian Girls. Her sound is an elegant mix of 60's Nico-esque pop and 90's golden era trip-hop and down-tempo. She has received kind words from Rolling Stone and others in the national media and blog community. Her Wake Up Without You remix 12" (out on Tip of The Iceburg Records) has been charting .. dance charts, and, has been very well received by djs. The singles "Crazy" and "Wake Up Without You" are receiving plays from key college and specialty radio stations around the world, and, .. taste-maker radio stations like KCRW (Los Angeles), Resonance Fm (UK) and Francophonie Express (Canada). Relentless touring has also helped to build elodieO's story. She has just returned from a very successful European tour. elodieO is touring in support of her new release "Stubborn." http://www.elodieo.com/Listen to elodieO on the BBC and NPR: http://www.theworld.org/?q=node22601 EQlateral is the Northwest's only, perhaps planet Earth's only, psycheclassical quartet. For this show EQlateral will be John Ames ..o, Sebastian Lange on violin, and Peter Toms on upright bass and percussion. The members of Eqlateral mix live sounds with electronic effects and beats. The music ranges from funky grooves to ambient atmospherics. A piece could begin as trip hop then morph into chamber music before ending as a heavy industrial stomp. James Whetzel will be sitting in with EQ on their set. For more info on EQ check: http://eqlateral.com/ James Whetzel is a polyrhythmic eclecticist. A child of Seattle's Capitol Hill, he's seen grunge come and go, seen KCMU become KEXP, but has always remained resolute in his desire to stir things up. He mixed up Middle Eastern music, Rock, Bollywood, Bhangra, Hip Hop, Highlife, Asante beats, and Congo music in the Globalista, Habbibi, Tandav, and Beat Council club nights. Just released is a compilation of his electronica tracks called "The House of Good Juju." http://cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames3 For this show he will present a set of sarod & beats http://www.veoh.com/videos/v15903880tDzPXGBg which features James playing sarod, 25 stringed fretless lute, doing throat singing, singing, and tabla rapping, over original acoustic based beats. Sebastian Lange from EQlateral will sit in on James' set. This will be an exciting and excellent time! http://www.funketabla.com/jwhetzel.php Skylark is located at 3803 Delridge Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106 http://www.skylarkcafe.com/

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Here's a little something to get you in the holiday mood.  This is a new version for 2008; this one is infused with the dhol playing of monsieur Shree Deepayan. 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Funky-Bhangra-Mean-Deep/dp/B001M07OXI/ref=dm_ap_alb1

 

Please enjoy and know that bhangra for dreidel spinning will be coming in the future.

Cheers!

 

James Whetzel

 

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A collaborative World Premiere with (in alphabetical order): Nir Ben Gal (Choreographer) - Israel, Donald Byrd (Choreographer/Director) - US, Liat Dror (Choreographer) - Israel, Wissam Murad (Musician/Composer) - East Jerusalem with additional music by Muslimgauze and James Whetzel.

 

A Chekhovian Resolution represents a full collaborative work inspired by the on-going middle-East tensions and conflicts. Employing a literary analogy, writer and philosopher Amos Oz believes that tragedies "can be resolved in one of two ways: There is the Shakespearean resolution, and there is the Chekhovian one. At the end of a Shakespearean tragedy, the stage is strewn with dead bodies and maybe there's some justice hovering high above. A Chekhov tragedy, on the other hand, ends with everybody disillusioned, embittered, heartbroken, disappointed, absolutely shattered, but still alive. And I want a Chekhovian resolution and not a Shakespearean one for the Israeli-Palestine tragedy." International collaborators will join forces together in conveying their different perspectives and shaping their version of A Chekhovian Resolution to the Middle East conflicts.

http://www.theparamount.com/artists/?artist=773

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A few quick words about a wonderful production of Mary Zimmerman's Arabian Nights at Balagan Theatre on Capitol Hill.  Based on tales from "alf laila wa laila," aka "A Thousand and One Nights," (nahaki 'arabi hinna fi funketabla wallahi!), Balagan Theatre's production is a treat. This is a fun and sensual production, and as the weather in Seattle gets colder this is the show to heat you back up!

 

Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of A Thousand and One Nights focuses on some lesser known tales from the Arabian Nights.  One of these is the story of Sympathy the Learned which tells of a great female scholar who comes to the court of the Caliph Harun Al-Rashid and bests his greatest scholars in challenges of erudition.  Also included is the tale of an Egyptian king who ruins his wedding day, and life, with a colossal fart, plus the tale of an unplanned "menage a six" and other tales of romantic hubris, intrigue, and betrayal.  Last but not least, during intermission and in part of the performance the show features music from James Whetzel's album "Capitol Hill: Secret Tracks."  http://www.funketabla.com/fnews/?page_id=13  http://cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames4  Clearly a must see show!

 

You can get tickets via Balagan Theatre's website:

http://www.balagantheatre.org/Arabian_Nights.php

 

Balagan Theatre's production of Mary Zimmerman's Arabian Nights is directed by Jake Groshong and the excellent cast includes: Ashley Bagwell as Sharyar, Ty Boice as Greengrocer, LaChrista Borgers as Perfect Love, Adam Davis as clarinetist, Curtis Eastwood as Harun Al-Rashid, Susan Graf as Jester's Wife, Jason Harber as Madman, Wilder Nutting-Heath as Jester, Toni Rose as Dunyazade, Allison Strickland as Schehezade, Sam Tsubota as Pastrycook, and Terri Weagant.

 

Rehearsal Stage Manager: Jenna Schmidt. Production Stage Manager: Faisal "Fes" Naqvi. Production Manager: Angel Welter.  Assistant Director: Andy Fife. Props Designer: Emily Bullard. Lighting Designer: KT Goeke. Co-Costume Designer: Adaam King. Perfect Love Choreographer: Saqra. Co-Costume Designer: Holly Theriot. Live sound design by Elvis Titus.

 

And this show provides a sadly useful reminder of the depth of culture that exists in the area of ancient Iraq.  The region has a history of civilization and culture that goes way, way back.  The ending of the play makes a brief reference to what has become of Iraq and its people following the U.S. invasion and occupation.


And don't just take my word for it that the show is good! Read these reviews in the Seattle press.

 

Seattle P-I:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/theater/383869_arabian20q.html

Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2008288850_zart20arabian.html

Seattlest:

http://seattlest.com/2008/10/24/the_arabian_nights_balaganized_for_1.php

Photo at top of Ashley Bagwell as Sharyar, and Allison Strickland as Schehezade, by Adam Sanders.

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Anathem is a new novel by author Neal Stephenson.   It is set on Arbre a planet much like our own Earth except that on Arbre people are divided into two main groups, the saaecular and the avout.  The avout live apart from the saecular world and inside their monastic sanctuaries they preserve science and philosopy.  While the saecular world lives in the short term and goes about cycles of booms & busts, wars, religions, marketing, and fads, the monks live their lives based on a longer sense of time; time which is measured not just in fifteen minute intervals, but in millenia.  Many interesting things ensue in the book and suffice it to say the monks are called to leave their cloisters and interact with the saecular world because of  an unprecedented event in the history of Arbre. http://www.nealstephenson.com/anathem

Now you may ask how the heck does all of this relate to James Whetzel? Well, the monks on Arbre make music as part of their daily rituals and on the occasion of special events.  And this is where James W. connects with Neal S. via a musician/vocalist/composer named David Stutz. http://synthesist.net/music/

David Stutz composed several math based musical pieces to represent the music of the monks of Arbre.  http://synthesist.net/music/anathem/ He called funketabla's favorite throat singer aka yours truly to bring my throat singing skills to this recording project.  http://www.funketabla.com/jwhetzel.php

My low throat singing is featured in the piece called "Thousander Chant," which is a solo piece in which I play the role of Fraa Jad a thousand year old monk.  In "Quantum Spin Network," My singing is multi-tracked and arranged by David Stutz to emulate quantum mechanical effects.  i also did low throat singing for the piece "Deriving the Quadratic Equation" in which it plays the role of drone for the other singers.  You can listen to these pieces on my artist page on funketabla http://www.funketabla.com/jwhetzel.php or my ilike page or my myspace page:  http://www.ilike.com/artist/James+Whetzel  http://www.myspace.com/jameswhetzel

These pieces along with other beautiful pieces of vocal music inspired by the Pythagorean Theorem, the numeral Pi, and cellular automata, are included on a CD called "Iolet: Music from the world of Anathem."  This music was originally used to promote the novel in advance of its release.  A promotional video was made also: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=41718483

The music is now available for purchase online.  All proceeds benefit The Long Now Foundation. http://www.longnow.org/about/

The CD can be bought directly from Long Now and also from CD Baby:

http://www.longnow.org/shop/longnow-merch/iolet-music-of-anathem/

http://cdbaby.com/cd/davidstutz

I hope you enjoy the music of the avout of Arbre.

Best literary, musical, and lengthy temporal regards,

James Whetzel

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On Friday September 19th, 2008 two great events are happening featuring James Whetzel and friends. 
1) The first is a solo performance of sarod & beats by James Whetzel at the Seattle Art Museum downtown from 12noon to 1:30.  This is part of the PARK(ing) day celebration. In which grass will be laid in the place of six parking spaces downtown, and then fun, freedom and frivolity will ensue.
For those of you who have never seen James do his Sarod & Beats thing, here's a sample of James doing live Sarod & Beats:
http://../video/1178173/affiliate/69355/james-whetzel-sarod-beats/

2) The second is a performance for the city of Seattle at Cascade Playground from 5 -7.  This show will  feature Sebastian Lange, James Whetzel and special guest from Kolkata, India, tabla virtuoso Kuntal Roy.
Sebastian Lange is an amazing player who mixes electronic music with vioin.  With his skillful use of electronics he produces sounds both sublime and other-than-sane. Sebastian is part of the group EQlateral and also plays in Das Dhoom.
Here is a sample of Sebastian's artisty from 2008's Burning Man Festival:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x2G0DgZ3Sn4

Kuntal Roy aka Kuntal-da  is a great tabla player who can handle any sort of beat with aplomb and vigor. To hear some of his fine tabla playing check:
http://www.kuntalroy.com/index_files/samples.htm
Sebastian and James will start of the show with a set of live sarod and violin and beats and electronics.  Kuntal-da will join in for the second set and the group will do some completely live improvisation.
Definitely two shows not to be missed!
Hope to see you there, best musical wishes!
James Whetzel
PS. extra info about the shows below, including addresses:

1) Seattle Art Museum is located at: 1300 First Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
For more about Park(ing) day check:
http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parkingday/
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/calendar/eventDetail.asp?eventID=14266&month=8&day=19&year=2008&sxID=&WHEN=&sxTitle=

2) Cascade Playground is located at: 333 Pontius Ave, Seattle, WA 98109
http://www.seattle.gov/PARKS/park_detail.asp?ID=350

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Yes! Yes! Funketabla artistes Mean Deep have at long last come out with their debut CD!  And you can get it by going to CD Baby:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/meandeep

 

And I-Tunes:

 

http://www.apple.com/itunes

(then search for "Mean Deep" and voila the album will appear!)

 

And direct from Funketabla:

http://www.funketabla.com/fnews/?page_id=183

 

Here is some more info about this fantastic disc:

Mean Deep is Shri Deepayan & James Whetzel.
Their first CD, eponymously named “Mean Deep,” is an amped up high-energy affair which mixes cutting edge electronica with Indian classical and folk music, and blends sarod, tabla, and throat singing, with rock, West African drumming, and awesome beats. The rhythms of some tracks reference hip hop and rock while others are so fresh and unique that is no name yet exists in either Western or Eastern vernacular to describe them.
The CD features a collaboration with the Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble on the track “Lindjo Remix,” which is an explosive club rocking remix of the raw and heavy traditional Croatian dance known as lindjo. Also featured is a collaboration with French rappeuse YAS who bring her slam poetry energy to the track “Goodabbad (les ecolos).” Also African percussionist Yaw Amponsah brings his fantastic drumming skills to the track “Gotham City.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Hey Excellent people!

Word on the street is that the CD by my group Mean Deep is at last available!

And that word is true! You can get Mean Deep at CD Baby!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/meandeep

You can also get Mean Deep at Funketabla!

http://www.funketabla.com/store.php

And you can check out Mean Deep on ilike:

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Mean+Deep

And on my space . . .

http://www.myspace.com/funketabla

For those of you who don't know: Mean Deep is Shri Deepayan & James Whetzel.

This first CD, eponymously named "Mean Deep," is an amped up high-energy affair which mixes cutting edge electronica with Indian classical and folk music, and blends sarod, tabla, and throat singing, with rock, West African drumming, and awesome beats. The rhythms of some tracks reference hip hop and rock while others are so fresh and unique that is no name yet exists in either Western or Eastern vernacular to describe them.


The CD features a collaboration with the Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble on the track "Lindjo Remix," which is an explosive club rocking remix of the raw and heavy traditional Croatian dance known as lindjo. Also featured is a collaboration with French rappeuse YAS who bring her slam poetry energy to the track "Goodabbad (les ecolos)." Also African percussionist Yaw Amponsah brings his fantastic drumming skills to the track "Gotham City."


Beautifully mastered to audiophilic quality by Jake Perrine at RFI.

You can listen to the CD at CD baby and ilike and also keep up with the band at ilike, myspace, and of course at http://www.funketabla.com

funketabla for the future!

James Whetzel

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