Mystique

MYSTIQUE Mystique perform instrumental melodies from India, Iran, Turkey, the middle-east, near-east and eastern Europe. Each musician also brings in his own influences, from hindustani and folk to western classical and jazz.
With performances in Pakistan, Spain and Switzerland to their credit, Mystique are pioneering east-east fusion everywhere they go. In India, they’ve featured at the Jaipur Virasat Festival, Delhi’s Kamani Auditorium and Udaipur’s Lake Palace.
Mystique’s CD Melodies of the Orient features eight stunning musicians including MV Chandra Sekhar on mridangam, AJ Sen on guitars and Kirill Parenchukki on percussion. It was released on Da-Saz Records, and with the original master lost when the CD printing company went bust, you should hold on to your copy dearly. Their second CD is expected Autumn 2009.
Mystique are based out of New Delhi, India.
Mystique are:
Lionel Dentan (Switzerland) Saaz/Rebab
Lionel studied classical guitar at the Lausanne Classical Conservatory, then saaz with Mousto Mustafa and for the last ten years has trained on sitar. He is also an electronic composer who runs the Da-Saz studio. His music encompasses shades of jazz coupled with occidental improvisation.
Expect the unexpected when he takes the stage, shifting seamlessly from poetic to frenzied. Lio lives with kathak-dancer wife Namrata Pamnani and daughter A'Idah learning sitar, composing music and appreciating India.
Suchet Malhotra (India) Percussion
Suchet’s training has been in Hindustani vocal music and tabla, with two years of western band music thrown in (bugle/trumpet/jazz & march drums). He has also studied the darbouka, djembe and didgeridoo.
A musical traveller, he plays many different drums and spends part of every year exploring world music traditions and instruments. Passionate and playful, Suchet is a performer who translates even technically demanding music into a feeling accessible to listeners.
He lives in New Delhi at his ancestral home-performing, teaching and occasionally appearing on TV as a sports presenter.
Gennady Lavrentyev (Russia) Guitar/Violin
Gena has performed with Lobotomic Express and singer Zulya Kamalova. His other projects are Soundskill, Capitan Dubrovshnev and Anna Hoffman (all on the friends list below). He came to India in 2000 to study Hindustani music with a specialisation in tabla. Playing with Mystique & working as a sessions-musician filled his other time.
Influenced by western classical music and Frank Zappa, Gena believes in playing music as a serious joke.
Andrey Demidenko (Russia) Santoor/Ney/Def
Born in a family of musicians in Moscow, Andrey started learning classical European music from the age of five. In 2000 he started learning tabla. Being connected with Moscow Conservatory World music department, he had masterclasses from different Indian artists. His other serious interest was Persian music--the ney and def. He also learned tombak (also known as doumbek or zarb). At presenthe is in India on scholarship granted by the Government of India.
MYSTIQUE (INDIA) GUESTS
Rajesh Prasanna (bansuri)
Rajesh is only twenty two, but already a seasoned performer. Versatile, virtuoso and very down-to-earth, he adds the highest voice to the Mystique line-up. The bands' first choice guest artiste.
Siraj Khan (mandolin)
Siraj's claim to fame is he was the mandolin plyer on the Bollywood film Kareeb. He is equally versed in folk and film music, and can also play classical and Greek music on his little instrument. A robust improviser and very quick between frets, Siraj is often the second voice in the line-up.
Kashif Ahmed (sarangi)
Kashif is a trained gharanedaar musician, his entire family plays or sings. He has travelled to the Gulf and Europe and is the frontman of his own band, in which he also sings. His instrument is "the instrument of a hundred colours", and the quintessential voice of the desert state of Rajasthan.
MYSTIQUE (INTERNATIONAL) GUESTS
Sandro Mariotti (France) Saxophone
Sandro started sax at a young age, and has been playing ever since (four decades or more!). He has fine technique and good understanding of many styles of music, namely jazz, Arabic and Hindustani, among others. He is a rare bird to find as his time is spent largely in Paris, with performing and recording forming a major part of his work.Pieter Lenaerts (Belgium) Contrabass
Matija Solce (Slovenija) Accordeon
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