Tuesday, July 2, 2013

USA/Canada: Minor Empire Summer Tour 2013

Award-Winning Turkish World Music Ensemble Debuts in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, San Cruz, Calgary and Fort MacLeod


2013 Summer Tour
MINOR EMPIRE

July 26-28 Calgary Folk Festival, AB
July 25 Yoshi’s, San Francisco, CA
July 24 Moe’s Alley, Santa Cruz, CA
July 19-21 South Country Fair, Fort Macleod, AB
July 18 Drom, New York City, NY
July 17 Chopin Theatre, Chicago, IL

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Variously described by reviewers as “trippy”, “dreamy”, “cinematic”, “stylishly hip” and “deeply exotic,” award-winning Turkish world music group Minor Empire has racked up a lengthy list of plaudits for its seamless blend of Turkish traditional music and modern sounds.They’ve earned praises from Exclaim, Songlines, Le Devoir, the George Straight, the Edmonton Journal and the Wholenote – among countless other places – and CBC Radio has described their music as “an important way forward for Turkish and world music in general.”
Its debut album, Second Nature, earned it a Canadian Folk Music Award for World Group of the Year, an Indie Music Award for Favourite World Artist of the Year and a nomination for the About.com World Music Readers Choice Award.
Minor Empire’s unique sound uses mostly-organic instruments from both East and West to create an ambient, almost electronica-like bed of sound for Ozman’s soaring otherworldly vocals. The musicians include top Juno-nominated Toronto world and jazz players Debahis Sinha (Autorickshaw), Chris Gartner (Tasa) and Michael Occhipinti (Sicilian Jazz Project).
Since releasing their debut album in January of 2011, the band has performed at Luminato, Sunfest, Harbourfront, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the Hillside Festival and the Arab World Music Festival in Montreal. Now the band is showcasing its captivating blend of ethereal vocals and trancey, trip-hop-inspired arrangements for the first time this summer in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Calgary and Fort MacLeod.
Minor Empire’s tour is made possible by the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
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