Twitter: Ancient Future Band (Ancient_Future)
Facebook: Ancient Future Fan Page • Matthew Montfort Fan Page
January 2016 Issue:
Matthew's Got a Brand New Axe!
•Custom Martin with Fretboard Scalloped by Alan Perlman
Ancient Future Bay Area Concerts
•Debut Performances with Matthew Montfort's New Scalloped Fretboard Guitar
- Castle Concert in Pacifica
•Saturday, January 23, 6 PM - Dinner Concert at Fenix in San Rafael
•Sunday, January 24, 6:30 PM - Performers and Special Guests
•Matthew Montfort, Vishal Nagar, Mariah Parker, Georges Lammam, Jason Everett, Mindia Devi Klein
Expanding A.F.A.R.
•2 More Live Tracks and 2 Studio Tracks Recorded, but Funds Needed for Licensing Costs
Ancient Future in Your Home Town
•Send Us the Names of Presenters in Your Area and Tune-in to Live Stream on Sunday, January 24, 6:30 PM PST
Matthew's Got a Brand New Axe!
Hi-Res Photo of Martin guitar by Alan Perlman (3.6 MB)
Custom Martin with Fretboard Scalloped by Alan Perlman
Matthew Montfort is a pioneer of the scalloped fretboard guitar, an instrument with a modified fretboard in which the wood between frets has been carved out in order to facilitate intricate note-bending ornaments. His new custom guitar is the result of a collaboration between Montfort, Dick Boak of the Artist Relations Department of C.F. Martin & Co., and San Francisco luthier Alan Perlman. Dick Boak has been involved in the conception of more than one hundred and forty signature guitar collaborations with the top musical talents of our time. Starting in 2014, he worked with Montfort to help design the instrument, which features a very large sound hole to add volume, an extra upper bout sound hole so that Montfort can hear the guitar better, a cutaway with extra frets protruding into the sound hole to accommodate his extended playing range, and a short scale yet wide neck to allow for greater string bending capability. Master luthier Alan Perlman scalloped the fretboard and added other finishing touches to complete this amazing instrument.
The new guitar will be featured on new tracks to be recorded for the Archive of Future Ancient Recordings and at the upcoming San Francisco Bay Area concerts, one of which streams live so it is possible to tune in anywhere in the world.
Ancient Future Bay Area Concerts
Debut Performances with New Scalloped Fretboard Guitar
Blending ancient world music traditions from fiery flamenco to resonant raga with the contemporary colors of jazz and rock, this variation of the world fusion music group Ancient Future features world guitar pioneer Matthew Montfort, renowned Indian tabla virtuoso Vishal Nagar, and composer/santurist Mariah Parker plus special guests performing new music and favorites from the band's eight ground breaking recordings. These concerts will be Matthew Montfort's debut performances on his brand new custom Martin scalloped fretboard guitar.
Castle Concert in Pacifica
YouTube Video of 'Yearning for the Wind' by Ancient Future
Featuring Matthew Montfort (Guitars), Vishal Nagar (Tabla), Mariah Parker (Santur), and Special Guest Georges Lammam (Violin)
This intimate evening of music at the beautiful and historic Mazza Castle in Pacifica includes a pre-concert gathering with wine and refreshments! Arabic violin master Georges Lammam is the resident artist for the concert series, and plans to sit in on a few of his favorite pieces from his many performances with the band.
Saturday, January 23, 6 PM
The Mazza Castle
900 Mirador Terrace
Pacifica, CA 94044
Adm: $40 per guest, includes wine and refreshments.
Limited to 45 seats. Reserve tickets early at brownpapertickets.com/event/1590813.
6 PM - Gather with refreshments. Music begins promptly at 7 PM.
Info: Call 650-355-0272.
Facebook Event.
Dinner Concert at Fenix in San Rafael
Featuring Matthew Montfort (Guitars), Vishal Nagar (Tabla), Mariah Parker (Santur), and Special Guests Jason Everett (Seven-String Fretless Bass) and Mindia Devi Klein (Bansuri Flute)
Seattle area bassist Jason Everett, who performed on Ancient Future's 2015 Pacific Northwest tour, is passing through and will round out the bottom. Original Ancient Future flutist Mindia Devi Klein will sit in on a few tunes, including a new piece to be recorded for the next Ancient Future album.
The Fenix is a sought-after stage crafted by world-renowned acoustic designer John Storyk (Jazz at Lincoln Center) for accomplished musicians from all over the world. The menu features Southern cuisine with a healthy twist from Executive Chef Glenn "Gator" Thompson.
Sunday, January 24, 6:30 to 9 PM
Fenix
919 Fourth Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
Adm: $20 adv./$25 door plus dinner.
Tix: Advance tickets highly recommended at www.fenixlive.com and in person at the Fenix.
Info: Call 415-813-5600.
Facebook Event.
Concert Poster (150k pdf)
Performers and Special Guests
Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard and fretless guitars)
Matthew Montfort is the leader of Ancient Future. He has expanded boundaries of guitar playing through the study world music traditions and released two solo guitar recordings: Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar and Sympathetic Serenade, for which he is recognized as one of the world's 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists by DigitalDreamDoor.com. 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. 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 at his studio in San Rafael, California, and online via Skype.
Solo Recordings by Matthew Montfort
Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar by Matthew Montfort. (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2008). "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, INDIA CURRENTS
Sympathetic Serenade by Matthew Montfort. (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2012). "An expression of solo virtuosity on a variant axe which isn't employed by very many. Brilliant modern semi-neoclassical work with very strong ties to the traditional residing within progressive annals." — Mark S. Tucker, FAME
Vishal Nagar (tabla)
"He has magic in his hands" - Hindustan Times
Vishal Nagar is considered one of the most gifted tabla players of his generation. Born into a family of musicians, Vishal had his initial training with the late Ustad Latif Ahmed Khan of the Delhi Gharana and continued under the guidance of Ustad Shamim Ahmed Khan. He also has had intense rhythmic training from his mother, the renowned Kathak dancer and vocalist, Urmila Nagar. Starting his performance career at the age of eight,Vishal has been praised in the Indian press for his unique combination of melodic tabla sound production with masterful command of rhythm and has also been awarded with the Ministry of Culture Scholarship from the Department of Culture.
Ancient Future Recording Featuring Vishal Nagar
Yearning for the Wind by Ancient Future. (Ancient-Future.Com AF-90352). "Matthew is joined by Vishal Nagar on tabla, and they clearly show (sonically) the joy than can be achieved by well-placed and strictly focused music. The tabla percussion makes it far more than 'just another raga'." — Dick Metcalf, ZZAJ PRODUCTIONS
Mariah Parker (composer, santur)
Mariah Parker, while completing her degree in music at UC Santa Cruz, worked with ethnomusicologist Fred Lieberman and Mickey Hart on the “Planet Drum” project. The CD release party for her first solo recording as a composer, Sangria (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2017), drew a full house at the famous Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland. The band she leads featuring such veteran performers as Paul McCandless of the group Oregon has performed to rave reviews at notable festivals and concert venues. Her live album will be released in 2016.
Indo Latin Jazz Recording by Mariah Parker
Sangria by Mariah Parker (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2017). "Parker and friends blend the rhythmic syncopations of Latin jazz music with the entrancing, asymmetrical meters of East Indian rhythms resulting in first-class world music." — LATIN BEAT MAGAZINE
Georges Lammam (Arabic violin)
The second of three brothers who are professional musicians, Georges Lammam was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He lived for 14 years in the United Arab Emirates and is well-known in the Middle East as well as the U.S.A. as a master violinist excelling in improvisation and lyricism. Having performed with the most well-known singers of the Middle East, his reputation as an instrumental accompanist with a strong command of maqamat precedes him. He is on the faculty of the Near East Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino.
Ancient Future Recording Featuring Georges Lammam
Planet Passion by Ancient Future (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2010). "If the members of the United Nations formed a world-fusion band, it might look and sound a little something like Ancient Future’s re-issue of their seventh recording." — Ryan Allen, LEO WEEKLY, Louisville, Kentucky
Jason Everett (seven-string fretless bass)
Jason Everett performs on his custom Conklin seven-string fretless bass guitar. He attended Northern Arizona University on a full scholarship for music and started playing professional gigs at sixteen years old. He was originally inspired to explore world music after hearing Quiet Fire, Ancient Future's third album. This passion for world music evolved to avid listening to the works of Indian masters like Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, and Zakir Hussain. Jason started his own world fusion group in 1990 called Tal Maya and has since played with many well-known Indian, Arabic, flamenco, and fusion artists including Andre Feriante and John Wubbenhorst and Facing East.
Mindia Devi Klein (bansuri flute)
Ancient Future cofounder Mindia Devi Klein is an award winning musician, composer and educator. She sings and performs on bansuri (classical bamboo flute of India), silver flute, Balinese gamelan (bamboo, bronze, and wood tuned percussion). She is a disciple of Indian classical music legend Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. She began her training in Indian classical music at age 19 at the Ali Akbar College of music in San Rafael, California. While at the college she also studied under bansuri maestro Pandit G.S. Sachdev and world renown tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain. Mindia was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Balinese gamelan music and spent a year studying gamelan in Bali.
Original Ancient Future Recordings Featuring Mindia Devi Klein
Visions of a Peaceful Planet by Ancient Future (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2004). "The first thing that makes this LP a delight is the magnificence of the instrumental blending...the Bansuri flute of Klein over a harmonic bed of sitar, tabla, sarod, zither, and tanpura; great stuff sounds like a dove whistling in a forest of stringed instruments." — Philip Elwood, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Natural Rhythms by Ancient Future (Ancient-Future.Com AF 2005). "One of the most intriguing albums you're ever likely to hear. Exceptionally beautiful." — Colorblind James, S. F. MUSIC CALENDAR
Expanding A.F.A.R.
2 More Live Tracks and 2 Studio Tracks Recorded, but Funds Needed for Licensing Costs
The Archive of Future Ancient Recordings by Ancient Future. (Ancient-Future.Com AF-2030)
The Archive of Future Ancient Recordings, Ancient Future's fan funded recording project, has 10 tracks and over an hour of music in it so far, and supporters of the archive can purchase a limited edition CD of all of these tracks, appropriately titled A.F.A.R. So Far.
Another four tracks have been recorded, mixed, and mastered for the archive. To add the new tracks, we need to finalize the licensing fee for Ancient Future's first ever and very unique cover of a popular song, but that has proven to be a difficult project because the rights holders don't answer inquiries. This means we are going to have to issue a compulsory license, which means additional paperwork and legal expense. The time spent trying to reach them has caused a delay in our upgrade plans, and now we also need to raise some additional funds to pay for the licensing and filing fees.
The new tracks recorded will represent a 40% expansion of the project! 17% of the funding goal has been raised, which is substantial, but we need additional supporters to finish the project. And if you are already a supporter, you can still upgrade until each supporter level is sold out. We also have just a few CDs left of the last version of the archive that will fit on one CD. This is the last chance to get one of these CDs, and it's on sale at a reduced price of only $15 once you are a supporter of the project! Because the archive will soon not fit on a CD, the next A.F.A.R. CD offering will be The Best of A.F.A.R. So Far and won't have all of the tracks that have been added to the archive.
Please become a supporter at one of the levels below, starting at just $15. Once you become a supporter, you will receive all of the tracks in the archive (and all of the tracks that will be added in the future), and you will be eligible to buy the CD-R. Only a very few copies of each edition of A.F.A.R. So Far are made, as new tracks are added as money is raised.
Recording Newsletter. $15 (receive 128 kbps downloads): Subscribe @ $15. Download Supporter. $25 (320 kbps downloads): Subscribe @ $25. Limited Edition CD Sponsor. $50 (all previous plus CD quality audio): Subscribe @ $50. Honorary A & R Representative. $75 (all previous plus video and 24 bit audio): Subscribe @ $75. Donor VIP. Make Additional Donation. A.F.A.R. So Far CD-R. $20 Additional. Sale $15. Buy CD-R Now.
Ancient Future in Your Home Town
YouTube Video of Ancient Future World Without Walls Reunion Concert, October 16, 2013
Suggest Your Favorite Home Town Venue (Also Tune-in to the Live Stream January 24)
Do you live in an area where Ancient Future never seems to tour? Ancient Future is available to perform anywhere in the world. The catch is that we need a budget to pay for the travel costs and musician honorariums. If you know of a concert presenter or festival with a budget for travel, you can help by sending their contact information to info@ancient-future.com. It is important that you also reach out to the concert presenter and suggest that Ancient Future perform. Examples of concert presenters that may have travel budgets from time to time can include major festivals, university fine arts concert programs, publicly funded fine arts venues, and corporate events.
While it will take quite some time to arrange a concert tour to your area, you can tune into a live concert stream of Ancient Future's show from the Fenix at original.livestream.com/fenixlive on January 24 at 6:30 PM Pacific Time.