Hello everyone:

Just a little note to say there's a new album on Tzadik that we're excited about....it's an homage to the Romanian-Jewish poet and Holocaust survivor Paul Celan, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. The album was released this month on John Zorn's Tzadik label. It's made up of eight new pieces written by Dan and performed by Barbez. We recorded and mixed the album over about a year with our dear friend and long-time recording genius, Martin Bisi.

Force of Light features Barbez: Pamelia Kurstin on theremin, Peter Hess on clarinets, Dan Kaufman on guitar and lap steel, Danny Tunick on vibes and marimba, Dan Coates and Peter Lettre trading off on bass, and John Bollinger on drums. Joining the core group are some very special guests: Scottish poet and playwright Fiona Templeton reads Celan's words, Catherine McRae and Sarah Bernstein contribute on violin, and our old friend and collaborator from the past, Julia Kent, plays cello.

For New York friends we're having a record release party. The details are:

@Issue Project Room
Saturday, Nov. 3
232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor (corner of 3rd Ave and 3rd St. Subway: F train to Carroll or 4th Avenue)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
http://www.issueprojectroom.org for more info and directions
8 pm
For this performance we're thrilled to have Fiona reading Celan's poems live with the band. There will be Sarah Bernstein joining us on violin and Brad Kemp on cello.

We'll also be hitting the road in our yellow and black Kansas school bus....here's where we'll be heading....if you go to http://www.barbez.com/shows.html there are links and more details about the shows....

Barbez Fall Tour for Force of Light

11/1 Portland Maine @ The Space
11/2 Boston, Mass @ The Church w/Black Forest of Opium, Plumerai
11/3 Brooklyn, NY @ Issue Project Room
11/4 Philadelphia PA @ The Rotunda w/Oscura Quintet
11/5 Pittsburgh PA @ Duquesne University
11/6 Oberlin, OH @ Oberlin College
11/7 Louisville, KY @ Pink Door
11/8 Madison, WI @ Gates of Heaven synagogue
11/9 Chicago, IL @ Elastic Arts w/Matnia
11/10 Bloomington, IN @ Space 101
11/11 Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge w/Janel and Anthony

"Force of Light is among the best of 2007; it is sophisticated yet accessible to anyone, heartbreaking in its articulation, and provocative in its assertions because its speaks gently enough for the moral authority of both spoken and musical text to be not only heard and assented to, but grasped for its context in history and in this present future moment."–allmusic.com (5 stars)

On the website you can also see some new pictures (Pamelia sleeping, shots of vodka lined up on a table in Moscow) and for those with a turntable we are now offering our new limited edition 7" on red or white vinyl on the site....

There is more about the album and Celan on our website http:www.barbez.com. You can also purchase it there (http://www.barbez.com/things.html) or at at http://www.tzadik.com as well as in stores and elsewhere online.


-dk