FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7/25/2010
Contact: Ancient-Future.Com Records
1-415-459-1892
info@ancient-future.com
World Music for Guitar Performance by Matthew Montfort at Peña Pachamama
With Pre-Show Dinner Percussion Playshop Party
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Dinner Starts: 6 pm
Dinner Percussion Playshop Party: 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Guitar Concert: 8 pm
Peña Pachamama
1630 Powell near Union
San Francisco CA 94133
Tix: Guitar concert only or dinner percussion playshop party only: $12, $14 if no food is ordered. Both the guitar concert and dinner percussion playshop party: $20, $24 if no food is ordered. Peña Pachamama Special: Dinner entree, drink, dinner percussion playshop, and guitar concert: $39.95
Info: 415-646-0018 or visit www.penapachamama.org
Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145173652162207
Download poster (448 k): www.ancient-future.com/pdf/8_18_10_pachamama.pdf
Ancient Future leader and world music for guitar pioneer Matthew Montfort will perform an after dinner concert on both the scalloped fretboard guitar, a special modified instrument able to produce ornaments more characteristic of the sitar, and on a Godin Glissentar, an 11 string fretless guitar based on the oud.
There will be a 'Dinner Percussion Playshop Party' held before the show, in which Montfort will instruct and encourage the audience to perform simple rhythms from his book, Ancient Traditions — Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India, using dinner utensils and body percussion. The playshop is open to anyone, regardless of musical background. The best playshop student(s) may be chosen to perform on a song with Matthew Montfort later in the evening.
Matthew Montfort Bio
Matthew Montfort Hi-Res Photo by Julie Marten (2 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/matthewmontfort600.jpg
As leader of the world music group Ancient Future, Matthew Montfort has devoted himself to the scalloped fretboard guitar since 1978. Featured in the December 2009 commemorative Les Paul issue of Guitar Player Magazine, Montfort is a pioneer among guitarists who have had their fretboards scalloped in order to play various forms of world music that require intricate note-bending ornaments while still being able to play chords. Montfort immersed himself in an intensive study with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to fully apply the South Indian gamaka (note-bending) techniques to the guitar. He has performed concerts worldwide, from the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the golden coast of Spain to the Festival of India in Mumbai. He has worked with many world music legends, including tabla phenomenon Zakir Hussain and Chinese zither master Zhao Hui. Montfort wrote the book Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India, which has been used by many musicians to improve their rhythm skills.
Ancient Traditions — Future Possibilities by Matthew Montfort
Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and India. By Matthew Montfort. Kentfield: Ancient Future Music, 1985. ISBN 0-937879-00-2. Comb bound book, $46.95 (summer sale: $33.95): Buy Link . Companion 2 volume audio CD set plus CD-ROM with MIDI soundfiles: $39.95. (summer sale: $27.95): Buy Link . Book and audio CD Set with MIDI soundfiles: $74.95 (summer sale: $53.95): Buy Link.
Ancient Traditions, Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, & India
“This is one of the finest, well planned, easy to understand instructional texts I have ever read. Matthew, founder of the trendsetting world music ensemble, Ancient Future, has written an excellent book on mastering rhythmic techniques of India, Bali and Africa. Not only is the music of each culture well explained, but also there are chapters on combining these elements to create new rhythmic possibilities. He presents the rhythmic structures from three cultures in graduated exercises that all musicians can utilize to expand their musical horizons. If you're bored with playing the same old 4/4 rhythms then this book is for you. Highly recommended.” — Ben Kettlewell, AlternateMusicPress.Com, July, 2010.
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Matthew Montfort
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Matthew Montfort. (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2008) $17.98. Buy Link. (>YTmusic)
Hi-Res CD Cover Art of Seven Serenades (912 k):
http://www.ancient-future.com/images/serenade300dpi.jpg
One Sheet for Seven Serenades with Streaming Audio:
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/serenades_1sheet_dig.pdf
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar is the debut solo recording by Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort. The recording showcases his pioneering work on the scalloped fretboard guitar, a special modified instrument able to produce ornaments more characteristic of the sitar. This first solo effort features his improvisational music.
Quotes
Seven Serenades Media Report (3.9 MB):
http://www.ancient-future.com/pdf/MediaMatthewMontfort.pdf
“This unusual guitar album brings together world instruments to complement the scalloped fretboard guitar. Starting with 'Gauri the Golden,' an improvisational piece drawing heavily on Indian raga, this is an intriguing collection of the resulting compositions. In fact, the entire CD is based on improvisation and includes one tune with an ancient Celtic theme, which Montfort suggests has many parallels 'to the Vedic tradition.' I must admit that sometimes ragas played by guitar players seem to wander on forever, changing a note here and there and weaving a kind of slow, hypnotic journey. However, this guitar work is stunning, intricate and wonderfully melodic. If you are looking for good listening and something different for your CD shelf, this is it. But don’t go carving up your fretboard until you've really figured this out.” — J.W. McClure, from review of Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar, VICTORY REVIEW ACOUSTIC MUSIC MAGAZINE, April, 2010.
“Some guitarists spend decades chasing their ideal instrument, while others find a guitar they like early in their career and stick with it. Matthew Montfort, who leads the world-fusion group Ancient Future, has not only had the same guitar for almost four decades, but has significantly modified the instrument to suit his evolving playing style. Purchased around 1974 for Montfort by his father ... the Gibson SJ Deluxe ... has not only served Montfort through dozens of recordings and hundreds of concerts, it has helped him develop a unique playing style that merges the sounds of the South Indian vina with that of a flatpicked steel-string guitar. Having moved to California to study at the Ali Akbar College of Music after graduating from high school, Montfort began studying sitar but decided that he wanted to be able to bend notes on his guitar in the same way that he did on the classic Indian instrument. In 1978, Montfort met Ervin Somogyi, who was still early in his career as a luthier, and together they began experimenting—first lightly scalloping the guitar’s existing rosewood fingerboard, then installing a scalloped replacement fingerboard made out of ebony.” — Teja Gerken, from full page feature on Montfort's guitar “Great Acoustics: 1974 Gibson SJ Deluxe,” ACOUSTIC GUITAR MAGAZINE, August, 2010.
“Playing both a scalloped fretboard and fretless guitar, he wowed the audience with soulful renditions of his own compositions and arrangements. Montfort was by turns informative and virtuostic, explaining the Indian raga (or musical mode) and then demonstrating with his Hendrix-drenched 'Purple Raga' and Hibernian 'Celtic Raga.' The construction of both guitars were conducive to the easier shaping of notes, allowing for glissandos and a wide finger vibrato common in the Arabic/Indian tradition that Montfort wove into his compositions. His highly animated playing style threw into stark contrast Gerken’s quieter, more focused performance. When both were on stage, however, Montfort’s energy was infectious; soon both performers were bobbing and swaying to the beat as only musicians having a good time can” — James Keith, from concert review of the San Francisco Guitar Summit, CaliforniaBeat.Org, June 7, 2010.
"Because Montfort’s guitar has a scalloped fretboard, his fingers touch only the strings, enabling him to produce ornaments more characteristic of the sitar. This album reveals a thorough knowledge of Hindustani microtonal ornaments, transferred in ways that create one of the most distinctive guitar sounds in contemporary music. However, it also reveals a lifetime of exploration in world music, which can be immediately summoned in a flash of inspiration. When this level of mastery is reached, there is no need to rewrite. The first improvisation has the depth of a reworked composition." – Teed Rockwell, from review of Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar, INDIA CURRENTS, March 2009
"Leader of the world-music band Ancient Future since 1978, Matthew Montfort has adapted many string instrument styles – from sitar to zither – to his guitar. His special scalloped fretboard allows him to tweak the strings in unique ways, but his virtuosity is a lot more than technical." – David Rubien, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"It isn't every day that acoustic guitarists make their instrument sound a lot like an Indian sitar, but that is exactly what Matthew Montfort accomplishes on the instrumental 'Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar.' Through it all, Montfort demonstrates that even though he has considerable chops and technical prowess, he is much more interested in feeling and expression than technique. This 56-minute CD is an adventurous, consistently engaging demonstration of what Montfort can accomplish on the scalloped fretboard guitar." – Alex Henderson, ALL MUSIC GUIDE
166 Word Radio Announcement
Ancient Future leader and world music for guitar pioneer Matthew Montfort will perform on the scalloped fretboard guitar and a fretless Godin Glissentar on Wednesday, August 18, at 8:00 pm, at Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell near Union, San Francisco, California. A 'Dinner Percussion Playshop Party' will be held before the show from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, in which Montfort will instruct and encourage the audience to perform simple rhythms from using dinner utensils and body percussion. The playshop is open to anyone, regardless of musical background. For more information call 415-646-0018 or visit www.penapachamama.org. There is a $12 cover charge for admission to either the dinner percussion playshop party or the guitar concert, or $14 if no food is ordered. The cover charge for both the dinner percussion playshop party and guitar concert is $20, or $24 if no food is ordered. For $39.95, a special dinner is available including an entree, drink and admission to both the dinner percussion playshop party and the guitar concert.
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