Catherine Potter DUNIYA PROJECT profile picture

Catherine Potter DUNIYA PROJECT

A unique world fusion ensemble

About Me

MyGen Profile GeneratorBansuri player and composer, Catherine Potter is carving out a distinctive niche in the international world music scene with her sophisticated music, the fruit of a long musical odyssey between Montreal and Mumbai. She has been studying the art of North Indian classical music with the world's preeminent bansuri exponent, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, for close to 20 years. Now considered “Canada's master bansuri flautist”, her North Indian classical concerts have been appreciated by audiences across Canada, USA and India. She has performed along side the greats of this tradition including Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain, Subhankar Bannerjee and Shuben Chatterjee and her debut album of classical ragas, Bansuri, was recorded in Mumbai with tabla player, Kalinath Mishra. Catherine Potter regularly participates in a wide array of collaborations in concert and in studio, appearing with Simon Shaheen, Ramasutra,Tasa and Boubacar Diabaté. Founded in 2002, DUNIYA PROJECT, faithfully renders the intracate beauty of Indian ragas while creating jazzy atmospheres and enticing rhythms with forays into flamenco, funk and gamelan. Duniya, which means "world" in several Asian and African languages, speaks to both the international flavour of the music and to the diverse backgrounds of the outstanding musicians who make up DUNIYA PROJECT's unique melding of ancient and current traditions.The group presently features Catherine Potter on bansuri, Ravi Naimpally on tabla, Nicolas Caloia on double-bass, Thom Gossage on drums and among guest guitarists, Jorge Martinez, John Gzowski and Joy Anadasivam. The project has often featured additional guests from several world tradition.Released to critical acclaim in Canada in 2006, Catherine Potter's Duniya Project cd is now available in India on the Music Today label under the title, Following in the Footsteps of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.DUNIYA PROJECT has performs regularly at key Canadian stages including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Guelph Jazz Festival, Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the Festival du Monde Arabe and Small World's South Asian Music Fest in Toronto. Several concerts have been broadcast on Canadian national radio and web-casts. is just back from an exciting and successful international tour with nine performances in India including National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai, Congo Square Jazz Festival in Kolkata, India International Centre in Delhi, East-West Encounter Festival in Bangalore, as well as concerts in England, Ireland, France and Belgium.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 9/20/2006
Band Website: catherinepotter.net
Band Members: CATHERINE POTTER - bansuri (and composition); SUBIR DEV - tabla; NICOLAS CALOIA - double-bass; THOM GOSSAGE - drums. (note - on Duniya Project CD : Lubo Alexandrov - guitar)
Influences: (among many and in no particular order, except the first) Hariprasad Chaurasia, John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, S. Burhan (Sundanese Degung), Trilok Gurtu, J.S. Bach, L. Shankar, Eric Dolphy, Debussy, Paco de Lucia, Miles, Ali Akbar Khan, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Pannalal Ghosh, Dave Holland, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Bismillah Khan, Charles Lloyd, Astor Piazzolla, Philip Glass, Bill Laswell, Eric Satie, Bhimsen Joshi, Joe Zawinul, Shahid Parvez
Sounds Like: "What sets this CD apart from others that explore or experiment in world music is the blending of styles that occurs so effortlessly...mystical rhythms, fast runs and glides that shift the feel and emotion of the song from excitement to pure pleasure." (Paul J. Youngman, The Live Music Report)"Potter is Canada’s master bansuri flautist, deftly handling the hollow, windy tones of the venerable Indian instrument and building off a template of North Indian classical music and jazz in a calm but vivid manner. ****" (Rupert Bottenberg, Montreal Mirror)"On sent la virtuose en phrase parfaite avec ces superbes ragas indiens et autres procédés compositionnels dont elle transgresse les régles ancestrale. Sur les registres de la douceur, de la finesse et de la fluidité, Catherine Potter a ouvert une voie. Et trouvé assurément sa voix (...) ****" (Alain Brunet, La Presse)"Bansuri (Indian flute) player Catherine Potter leads this truly one-of-a-kind Montreal project, a coming together of the city's finest musicians from an array of divergent circles." (Steve Guimond, Hour)“Une fois tombé sous le charme de son Duniya Project, délicieux album paru l'hiver dernier, on se réjouit à l'idée de voir Catherine Potter faire chanter sa flûte traversière indienne bansuri. Un voyage empreint de douceur au croisement du jazz et de la musique classique hindustani.” (Alexandre Vigneault, La Presse)"On sent l’entrain, la joie, l’exaltation à jouer une musique qui évite comme la peste les clichés. … Duniya Project est une belle réussite, un progrès sur le front de la musique d’ici." (Jean Beauchesne, Journal de Montréal)"Catherine Potter's music is a beautiful example of a passionate meeting between Indian classical music and jazz elements (...) it's not simply a fusion of genres but rather a veritable dialogue. Bravo!" (André Rheaume, Radio Canada)"l'une des œuvres world les plus riches produites à Montréal. ****" (Denys Lelièvre, Voir)
Record Label: Disques Shadaj (Canada) Music Today (India)
Type of Label: Indie