Electro-acoustic
world music ensemble steeped in the Middle East, Balkans, and beyond…
Internationally
acclaimed world music ensemble Stellamara premiers electro-acoustic sets
emphasizing their signature passionate rhythms and eastern melodies with
dramatic orchestral sections, otherworldly ambience and deep bass grooves.
Evolving for over a decade of recording and performing, Stellamara unites
world-renowned musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds in a shared devotion
for folk and classical music rooted in Near Eastern, Eastern European, Medieval
European, Arabic and Persian traditions. Stellamara is regarded as being at the
forefront of contemporary world music, giving new life and a fresh, modern
expression to the beautiful and mysterious qualities of traditional modal
music.
At
Stellamara’s core is vocalist and producer Sonja Drakulich and
multi-instrumentalist Gari Hegedus. Their ensemble includes an all-star cast of
musicians: percussionist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist: Evan Fraser,
percussionist: Sean Tergis, and their newest member, accordionist, vocalist,
programmer / keyboardist: Dan Cantrell
…………………
Stellamara
began when vocalist / producer Sonja Drakulich created a vehicle for the
development of devotional music based in Near Eastern and medieval modal
traditions. Extraordinary musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds have
since come together within the vessel of Stellamara, creating music with a
common intention: to celebrate love, beauty and unity through transcendent
harmony and passionate rhythms. Rooted in Turkish, Arabic, Balkan, Medieval
European and Persian musical traditions, Stellamara carries a deep devotion to
the music of these cultures with a unique timeless expression. As an actively
touring ensemble, they are internationally regarded as being at the forefront
of contemporary world music, giving new life and a fresh, modern expression to
the beautiful and mysterious qualities of traditional modal music.
Stellamara’s
founder and Producer, Sonja Drakulich, was born of Serbian and Hungarian decent
and raised in Los Angeles. She sought out the study of Eastern European singing
on her own as a young girl, and its expression quickly became, for her, a
homecoming. She began performing Balkan and Medieval European music as well as
her own compositions at the age of 18. At that time she also began her studies in
classical Hindustani and Persian singing, and later continued to expand her
voice through Turkish, Greek and Arabic singing. She was adopted as protégé by
the legendary Bulgarian vocalist Tatiana Sarbinska at the age of 20, and
continued her studies with both Tatiana and the renowned Bulgarian vocalist
Tsvetanka Varimezova. She has toured with the Mevlevi Dervishes as a singer and
percussionist and has provided music for Sufi gatherings and devotional events
around the country. She toured Indonesia in 2006 as part of the Gamelan theater
group, Situbanda, where she performed a lead role in a contemporary rendition
the Ramayana. Her voice and music can be heard in many independent films and
she has been sought after by composers, producers re-mixers, as well as the
extraordinary Cirque du Soloeil, for lead roles in their productions.
Throughout her successes as performer and producer, and throughout her
continued studies, Sonja has maintained a voice that is unique, reverent and
exquisite. She is not confined by any one tradition, and uses her voice with
the freedom of a soaring musical instrument. In her voice, one can hear her
center residing in the devotional aspect of song, as she carries within her a
signature passionate and rhythmic style, graced with the delicate
ornamentations of Eastern melody.
Gari
Hegedus began devoting his life to music with the study of Celtic and Bretagne
music. From there he was led eastward into the intense practice and performance
of Turkish classical and Mevlevi ceremonial music and he toured with the
Mevlevi Dervish Order of America for several years. Gari is widely sought after
as a highly accomplished and versatile recording and performing artist. His
repertoire and playing styles reach outward from Turkey and Greece into the
Arab lands, Iran and India. Gari began his musical career with fiddle and
mandolin, and had devoted a decade of his life to the violin before learning of
his ancestral Hungarian name, Hegedus, meaning “violinist.” Gari’s main
instruments are the oud, violin, saz and mandocello, yet his talent is also
proficiently expressed on many other instruments, including the yayli tanbur,
sarod and setar. Being largely self taught, with an insatiable drive for the
discovery of new depths and intricacies of playing, he asserts a distinctive
talent for capturing the delicate essence of traditional music, offering a
passionate, heartfelt uniqueness and freedom of expression. As a composer and
performer, Gari has developed the art of taksim (improvisation) to a deeply soulful
level for which he has become highly recognized. He is co-founder of the
beautiful musical duo “Teslim” with violinist and composer, Kaila Flexer.
Originally
from Orcas Island in Washington State, Evan Fraser ( Dirtwire, Dogon Lights) is
a world renowned multi-instrumentalist, performer, teacher, and recording
artist currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. His
teachers include: John Bergamo, Randy Gloss, Alfred & Kobla Ladzekpo,
Sulley Imoro, Nyomen Wenton, Jim Santi Owen, Mark Growden, Mamadou Sidibe &
Yacouba Diarra. , Evan learned to play music at an early age in Waldorf school
and studied the piano. Through his love
of music and the outdoors, he discovered the smaller, more portable instruments
and has never stopped exploring the vast diversity of musical instruments,
music cultures, their histories, and how they relate to each other. Today Evan
has a collection of over 200 instruments. Each one is a unique tool, a special
sound in Evan’s palate of musical expression. Keyboards, kalimbas (thumb
pianos) kamale ngonis (African harps), winds, slide guitars, drums & global
percussion. Evan has been collecting and playing jaw harps from around the
globe for over 20 years. With a collection of over 50 jaw harps from 15
different countries, Evan enjoys sharing the many styles & techniques of
playing this very small and portable instrument with everyone who wants to lear
Line-up:
Sonja Drakulich
Gari Hegedus
Sean Tergis
Dan Cantrell
and guest
appearances by:
Rufus
Cappadocia and Faisal Zedan
Stellamara –
Discography
Star of the
Sea (1997)
The Seven
Valleys (2004)
The Golden
Thread (2010)
