The Epichorus

Fronted By The Sudanese-Born Alsarah And A Rabbi The Epichorus Returns Hebrew Love Songs And Mystical Acrostics To The Sounds Of The East. An Arabic Ensemble And A Heavy Dose Of World Percussion Create A New Sound In World Music Carrying Listeners At Once To A Tunisian Marketplace In Festival Season Or A Yoga Class In The Village. The Epichorus Releases Their Debut Album "One Bead" On March 5th 2013. Band Members Zach Fredman Is Awad Oudist Producer And Composer For The Epichorus. He Grew Up On Classical Guitar And Passed To The Oud At The Spell Of Hamza El Din He Has Studied With Arabic Master Bassam Saba And Spent The Last Few Months Learning The Baqashot Music Of The Aleppo Jews. Zach Is Rabbi At The New Shul In Manhattan. Alsarah Lead Vocal Is A Sudanese Born Singer Songwriter And Ethnomusicologist. Born In The Capital City Of Khartoum Where She Spent The First 8 Years Of Her Life She Relocated To Taez Yemen With Her Family To Escape The Ever Stifling Regime In Her Native Country. She Abruptly Moved To The US In 1994 When A Brief Civil War Broke Out In Yemen. Alsarah Started Her Musical Training At The Age Of 12. After Attending The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School In Hadley MA She Spent 4 Years At Wesleyan University Studying Music With A Concentration In Ethnomusicology. Residing In Brooklyn NY She Performs Music From Different Parts Of The Middle East And East Africa. New Age Chassidic Master Shir Yaakov Lead Vocal Composition Is The Music Director Of Romemu The Hippest Synagogue In New York City Where His Sound Brings Hundreds To Ecstasy Weekly. Bridging Backgrounds In Hip Hop And Mystical Chant With A Voice Like Sweet Water Drawn He Leads To The Quiet Before The Storm. He Is Half Of The Musical Duo Darshan And Has Released Four Solo Albums To Date. Www.Shiryaakov.Com Originally From Kfar Saba Israel Bassist And Composer Daniel Ori’s First Exposures To Music Were Classical Piano Recitals At His Grandmother’s Apartment In Tel-Aviv. Her Attempts To Teach Daniel Traditional Piano Lessons Were Disrupted By His Interest With Contemporary Music. At Age 14 Daniel Took His Older Brother’s Electric Bass Into His Own Hands. The Connection With The Instrument Came Immediately And Daniel’s Musical Voyage Had Begun. His Growing Interest In Jazz Music Brought Him To Rimon School Of Music Where He Studied Jazz Performance And Collaborated With Some Of Israel’s Top Jazz Prospects. In 2006 Daniel Decided To Take On Studies Again As A Scholarship Student At The Berklee School Of Music. There He Studied With World Class Musicians Matthew Garrison Dave Samuels Alain Mallet John Lockwood Ed Tomassi And Many More As He Earned His Degree In Composition With Honors. Since His Move To New York In 2008 Daniel Has Been A Prominent Young Voice In The Contemporary Jazz Scene And Has Performed/recorded With Oz Noy Kenwood Dennard Lew Soloff Marcus Printup Jamie Haddad Alon Yavnai Mark Turner Logan Richardson And Aaron Goldberg Among Others. Daniel Has Played At The Chicago World Music Festival Red Sea Jazz Festival Montreal Jazz Festival Bean Town Jazz Festival And The Tel Aviv Jazz Festival To Name A Few And Can Be Heard Regularly At New York City Venues Such As Smalls Cornelia Street Cafe And Blue Note. Www.Danielori.Com Megan Gould Violin Is One Of NYC's Most Versatile Performers Of Middle Eastern Greek And Popular Music. Her Comfort Within A Wide Range Of Styles Her Responsiveness To Other Musicians On Stage And A Soulful Improvisational Style Make Megan A Sought-After Element In Many Musical Projects. Since Completing A Master's Degree In Ethnomusicology With A Concentration On The Middle East From The University Of London She Has Performed In Cities As Far-Flung As Paris London Budapest Copenhagen And Dubai And Nationally At Venues Including Carnegie Hall The Kennedy Center And Lincoln Center. She Has Performed Onstage With Artists Such As David Byrne John Mellencamp Sean Lennon And Donovan And Her Work Has Appeared On Recordings For Many Artists Including Lou Reed Philip Glass And Metallica. While Taking On A Significant Amount Of Freelance Work Her Ongoing Positions Include Assistant Music Director Of The New York Arabic Orchestra Under Lebanese Master Musician Bassam Saba Member Of 'oud Virtuoso Mavrothi Kontanis' Maeandros Ensemble And Violinist For The Popular Greek Band Mikrokosmos. Www.Megangouldmusic.Com Since Her Arrival In New York At Age Twenty One Flutist Composer And Arranger Hadar Noiberg Has Established Herself As A Major Force In The Cuban Jazz And World Music Scenes. With A Language That Transcends Her Middle Eastern Roots She Fuses Styles Seamlessly Distinguishing Herself As Both Innovative And Highly Skilled. Hadar Began Her Career From A Young Age As A Classical Musician Playing And Touring With The Young Philharmonic Orchestra And Studying At The Tel Aviv Academy Of Music. Later She Transferred To The City College Of New York Where She Completed Her Bachelors Degree Majoring In Flute And Composition Studying With The Acclaimed Composer David Del Tredici.
In 2007 Hadar Received An Outstanding Award From The ASCAP Foundation For Her Composition Skills. Hadar's Sophomore CD Journey Back Home Has Hadar’s Original Compositions For Her Trio Which Slide In And Out Of Jazz Improvisation And Western Harmonies With Middle Eastern And North African Rhythms And Semitones. The Trio Has Toured Israel Europe And The US And Has Been Featured In Festivals And Major Venues In Germany USA Hungary Poland Czech Republic Cyprus Taiwan Romania Israel And More.
Hadar Has Been A Featured Performer With Acclaimed Artists Such As Yemen Blues Dave Valentin Anat Cohen Omer Avital And Showcased In Venues And Festivals As Blue Note NY WOMEX Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Babel Med Music Central Park SummerStage To Name A Few. Hadarnoiberg.Com Originally From Virginia Beach Virginia Hand Percussionist Rich Stein Has Been Playing Percussion Since He Was Ten Years Old. Most Of His Training While Growing Up In Virginia Consisted Of Rudimental Orchestral And Rock Drumming Styles. After High School Rich Was Awarded Two Scholarships To Study At Berklee College Of Music In Boston Massachusetts. While Attending Berklee Rich Had The Great Honor Of Studying With Casey Scheurell Joe Galeota And Jamey Haddad. It Was Through Them Rich's Interest In Hand Percussion Really Grew And He Eventually Dedicated Himself To Studying Traditional Ghanaian Drumming Styles As Well As Traditional And Contemporary Frame Drumming Styles. Rich's Studies Have Also Taken Him To Ghana And India Where He Studied Traditional Drumming Styles With Emmanuel Agbeli Alhaji Abubakari Lunna And Guru Karaikudi R. Mani. Rich Has Shared The Stage And The Studio Around The World With Many Great Performers Some Of Which Are Lila Downs Lauryn Hill Sultan Khan Zakir Hussain Steve Smith Slavic Soul Party Gato Loco Uri Sharlin's DogCat Project Richard Stoltzman John Guth Howard Levy Basya Schecter's Pharaoh's Daughter And Songs Of Wonder Projects John Zorn Jon Madof's Zion 80 Project Frank London Matt Darriau Clare And The Reasons Big D And The Kids Table And More. Rich Is Currently Based In Brooklyn. read less