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2024 Issues: April • May

Ancient Future Times

May 2024 Issue:

Ancient Future Times: Spring Returns

Spring Returns
•S.F. International Arts Fest, Himalayan Fair, and Occidental Center for the Arts

Free Music Workshops
•Study World Rhythms and All Styles of Guitar

Existential Threats to the Art of Music in the Digital Age
•How You Can Help Mitigate Them

Spring Returns

.Global Guitar Summit

S.F. International Arts Fest, Himalayan Fair, Occidental Center for the Arts

Spring brings return performances to the S.F. International Arts Festival, the Himalayan Fair, and the Occidental Center for the Arts.

Global Guitar Summit with Matthew Montfort and Teja Gerken Returns to SFIAF

Matthew Montfort YouTube Video
Teja Gerken YouTube Video

This Global Guitar Summit presents two international acoustic guitar virtuosos who will perform solo and ensemble pieces: American scalloped fretboard guitar and world fusion music pioneer Matthew Montfort and German fingerstyle guitarist extraordinaire Teja Gerken. The music performed will include new arrangements of classical works, Celtic music, Indian classical, contemporary compositions, popular songs, and much more. The Global Guitar Summit was first formed by Gerken and Montfort in 2016 as a forum to present guitar round robins.

Use GUITAR20 Code NOW for 20% Discount!

Ancient Future Returns to the Himalayan Fair

Ancient Future has performed at the Himalayan Fair in all but a few of their 41 years where weather or schedules did not align. It is great to be part of the continuation of this wonderful community event.

Indo Latin Jazz Returns to Occidental Center for the Arts

Celebrating the release of Mariah Parker's Windows Through Time on Ancient-Future.Com Records!

Free Music Workshops

Study World Rhythms and All Styles of Guitar

A series of free introductory in-person music workshops taught by guitarist and Ancient Future bandleader Matthew Montfort starts June 12, 2024, at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance in downtown Cloverdale, California. After the series is complete, ongoing classes will be offered tailored to the individual goals of workshop participants.

Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale, CA 95425
Sign up: lessons@matthewmontfort.com.

To be notified of separate online workshops, email lessons@matthewmontfort.com with "Online Workshops" in the subject line.

Guitar Workshops

Free Guitar Workshops Poster

Poster (658k .pdf)

Free In-Person Beginning and Intermediate Guitar Workshops

Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale, CA 95425
Sign up: lessons@matthewmontfort.com

Beginning Guitar
Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 7 to 7:45 PM
This free 45 minute introductory beginning workshop can help aspiring guitarists get started on the right track with good practice habits. 

Intermediate Guitar
Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 7:45 to 8:30 PM
This free 45 minute workshop explores exercises, music notation, theory, and popular repertoire.

World Rhythms Workshop

Workshop Poster

Poster (565k .pdf)

Got Rhythm? Get the Beats of Africa, Bali, and India

Free 60 Minute In-Person Workshop
Juneteenth, Wednesday, June 19, 2024, 7 to 8 PM
Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale, CA 95425
Sign up: lessons@matthewmontfort.com
Coming soon: West African rhythm workshop, Balinese gamelan workshop, Indian tala workshop (all 90 minutes)

This free introductory workshop is presented in an easy to follow, entertaining yet educational format for all music lovers. African polyrhythms, Balinese kotèkan and Indian classical music were chosen as the source material for the training because these three traditions in combination cover the major types of rhythmic organization used in most of the world's music.

Not just for percussionists, this workshop can help any musician, singer, dancer, or music lover improve their rhythmic skills. No musical background is required. Very simple to play percussion instruments will be provided, and participants are free to bring an instrument.

The first of a series of 90 minute workshops, each focusing on a single musical tradition, will be announced after the free workshop.

Rhythm Training Materials

Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities

Ancient Traditions--Future Possibilities Book

Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and India by Matthew Montfort. Book/Enhanced Audio CD Set with MIDI Soundfiles: $52.95 (SALE! Normally $69.95): Buy Link.

"You've heard Afro-Pop, sitar, gamelan and world music for years. But do you know what they are and how they work? Better yet, would you like to play those twisted cross-rhythms and melodies? In Ancient Traditions--Future Possibilities, Matthew Montfort, a founding member of the world music band Ancient Future, has put together the book for people who want to dig into world music with both hands. The first section of the book covers traditional music of West Africa, Bali and India with theories and exercises. Wherever possible, Montfort has provided beat counts alongside the standard musical notation so even if you can't read music, you can still learn the rhythms. The last section of the book mixes patterns from different cultures, demonstrating the powerful music these simple exercises can generate." – Richard Kadrey, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Existential Threats to the Art of Music in the Digital Age

How You Can Help Mitigate Them

It's well known that the extremely low payouts from streaming platforms to artists has caused harm to musicians. Algorithms suggest music that sounds exactly like what listeners are already streaming to keep them on the platforms longer, so they may never be exposed to many forms of high quality music that they otherwise would acquire a taste for. Add to that the use of generative A.I. to create music, and the human art of music is facing an existential threat. This April, the Artist Rights Alliance released a widely publicized letter signed by 200 artists ranging from Billie Eilish to Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort urging tech platforms to cease the use of A.I. to devalue the rights of human artists.

Making money by touring is a solution that tech companies often point to. But even before the pandemic, artist fees were dropping because many famous artists were forced to constantly tour to be able to afford to pay their mortgages once their royalties were paid in thousandths of a cent increments. While the pandemic isn't over, the lockdowns are and live concerts have returned. But a large percentage of the venues and presenters that booked world music and jazz never reopened, and those that did reopen typically hold fewer events and focus on more mainstream acts to try to make up for lost income. Some presenters of the fine arts had grants that helped to pay artist guarantees, but those grants have for the most part dried up. The result of all of this is that tours are even more difficult to arrange and there's a high risk of losing money. Artist fees for local concerts were cut while gas prices rose, so many of the gigs that are available barely pay for travel costs to rehearsals and the venue.

This is all disheartening, but there are some things that you can do to help:

  1. Encourage people you know to subscribe to email lists of the artists you enjoy so that they can reach fans without paying social media companies. Please ask your friends to subscribe to the Ancient Future Times:
  2. Make donations directly to artists:
    • Make a Tax Deductible Donation. Ancient Future enjoys a fiscal sponsorship with InterMusic SF, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization. Donations made through them on behalf of Ancient Future are 100% tax deductible to the full extent of the law!
    • Support the Archive of Future Ancient Recordings, Ancient Future's fan funded recording project.
  3. Make your own playlists featuring world fusion music on streaming sites to counteract algorithms designed to keep listeners in tiny genre boxes. Here are the Ancient Future pages on some of the popular streaming sites:
  4. Share artist's posts on social media so that they don't have to pay for people to see them. Here are the Ancient Future pages on some of the popular social media sites:
    • https://www.facebook.com/ancientfuture (Facebook). Ancient Future was unable to post on Facebook for over a year because of a hack. The hack was reported immediately, but when access was finally restored, Ancient Future was banned from advertising due to an algorithm that found that the hackers had violated community standards! Reposting is now the only way to promote Ancient Future's Facebook posts. The good news is that we won't be giving Meta any money.
    • https://www.instagram.com/ancientfutureband (Instagram). Also owned by Meta.
    • https://twitter.com/ancient_future (Twitter). Twitter was never a great place for world fusion music posts, but it's even worse now that it's X. But if you are still on it, use it to spread some positive content.
    • https://ethnocloud.com/Ancient_Future (Ethnocloud). This is a great site to find out about world music artists to add to your playlists!

Ancient Future Times

April 2024 Issue:

Ancient Future Times: New Releases and Events

This year will see the release of new recordings on Ancient-Future.Com Records, including Mariah Parker's third release, Windows Through Time, and several new singles from the Archive of Future Ancient Recordings! There are also a number of Northern California concerts, free introductory music workshops online, and the first in-person music classes since 2019.

Spring Concerts
•Tickets on Sale Now!

Guitar Workshops
•In-Person and Online

Progress A.F.A.R.
•Added that Bass, Now Treble!

Spring Concerts

Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar) and Shenshen Zhang (pipa) on youtube
YouTube Video of Very First Meeting of Matthew Montfort and Shenshen Zhang

Tickets On Sale Now!

Sunday, April 14, 2024, 4 PM, Ancient Future Guitar and Pipa Duet with Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), and Shenshen Zhang (Chinese pipa), Old St. Hilary's Landmark, 201 Esperanza St., Tiburon, CA 94920. Tix: $25, $20 seniors and under 18, $5 more at door. Info: 415-435-1853. Facebook Event. Buy Tix.

Saturday, April 27, 2024, 8 PM, Mariah Parker Indo Latin Jazz Ensemble Windows Through Time Album Pre-Release Party with Mariah Parker (piano), Paul McCandless (horns), Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Jim Hurley (violin), Sascha Jacobsen (bass), Kendrick Freeman (drums), and Michaelle Goerlitz (percussion), Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941. Buy Tix.

Saturday, May 10, 8 PM, Global Guitar Summit with Matthew Montfort and Teja Gerken, S.F. International Arts Festival, Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. Tix: Early Bird (through March 31 only!) - $20, Advance - $25, Door - $28. Facebook Event. Buy Tix.

Saturday, May 18, 2024, +/-4 PM (TBA), Ancient Future with Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Ferhan Qureshi (tabla), and Mariah Parker (santur), Himalayan Fair, Live Oak Park, 1300 Shattuck Ave., North Berkeley, CA 94709. Free. Donations accepted.

Saturday, June 8, 2024, 7:30 PM, Mariah Parker Indo Latin Jazz Ensemble Windows Through Time Album Pre-Release Party with Mariah Parker (piano), Paul McCandless (horns), Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Jim Hurley (violin), Kash Killion (bass), and Kendrick Freeman (drums), Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Murphy Ct., Occidental, CA 95465. Buy Tix.

Guitar Workshops

Skype Guitar Lesson

In-Person and Online

To celebrate opening Ancient Future Studios in Sonoma County, a series of free introductory in-person music workshops was offered at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance in downtown Cloverdale. For those who couldn't attend in-person, a separate set of free workshops is being held online. And stay tuned for the next set of free in-person workshops!

Free Introductory Online Workshop

Sign up for a free online workshop: lessons@matthewmontfort.com. Slots available through Tuesday, April 2.

In-Person Classes

Held Wednesdays at Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale, CA 95425.

Beginning Guitar Class
Starts Wednesday, April 3, 7 PM

This 45 minute class helps aspiring guitarists start on the right track with good practice habits for any style of music. Tuition: $150 for six weeks. Sign up for in-person classes: lessons@matthewmontfort.com

Private Guitar Lessons
Start Wednesday, April 3

Two private guitar lesson slots are currently open: 6:15 PM and 8:15 PM. Sign up for an in-person private lesson: lessons@matthewmontfort.com

Intermediate Guitar Class
Starts Wednesday, April 3, 7:45 PM

This 20 minute class showcases intermediate level topics. Free to beginning guitar class and private lesson participants. Sign up for in-person classes: lessons@matthewmontfort.com

Free Guitar Workshops Poster

Poster (658k .pdf)

Matthew Montfort Bio

Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort is known as a world guitar innovator and an inspiring music instructor who helps students of all levels and ages learn whatever style they desire. He is on the 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists list at DigitalDreamDoor.com along with such luminaries as Michael Hedges, Chet Atkins, and Merle Travis. He performs on many instruments, including scalloped fretboard guitar, Glissentar 11 string fretless guitar, electric guitar, classical guitar, flamenco guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, sitar, charango, mandolin, and gamelan. Montfort wrote the book Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India, which has been used at many music schools including the Berklee College of Music. He was on the faculty of the Blue Bear School of Music in San Francisco for three decades where he taught rock, folk, jazz, blues, classical guitar, music theory, and world music. He teaches all styles of guitar, ukulele, bass, charango, sitar, and mandolin as well as music theory for all instruments and rhythm classes based on his book.

Progress A.F.A.R.

Added that Bass, Now Treble!

The Archive of Future Ancient Recordings, Ancient Future's fan funded recording project, already has 101 minutes of music in it available exclusively to supporters. But there's also well over an hour of music in production awaiting final overdubs, and with help from a recent donation to the cause, upright bass has been added to Fretless Camel, Rasa Flamenca, Ruperías, and Innocent Explorations. It's time to add treble instruments and percussion!

Ancient Future has a soundproof studio location about 90 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge, but many of Ancient Future's musicians reside to the south, so with the cost of gas and frequently stalled traffic, it's been difficult to schedule musicians and pay for their travel costs and time. You can help by becoming a supporter!

Supporter Levels and Premiums

Make a Tax Deductible Contribution