Paula Darwish is currently based in Manchester with her band The Country & Eastern Band. The band was established in 2002 and has seen several personnel changes before settling into the current line up. Paula held a monthly residency at the Iguana Bar in Manchester for almost 5 years until May 2007. She is currently taking a break to concentrate on recording. She gigs regularly around the North and beyond performing an acoustic and full band set. Paula and the band also run Club CousCous - the only club night in the North to predominantly feature music from Turkey, Greece, the Middle East and North Africa. To date Paula has recorded 4 cd's - Adim 2000 ( a collaboration with Chris Williams of Troia Nova), Country and Eastern 2002, Island 2003, Autumn Sessions 2004 and is currently working on a new album " Do what you love" to be released in 2008.Reviews:"It's scarcely surprising that the Turkish and Kurdish numbers sound exotic to western ears, but the cavalier appproach she adopts to pitching on the English-language material reminds you that Paula Darwish sails substantially unchartered musical waters " ( Dave Tuxford, Manchester City Life)" a certain dignity in walking it's own musical path" www.geetan.com" I felt purged of something after listening to Paula. It was as if it had cleared away some little musical prejudice I wasn't aware of having. Half digested musical memories of stuff I had heard in the seventies that had become lodged, and somewhat stagnant, moved along and made room for this interesting hybrid of East meets West; this Turkish delight of a musical evolution in process" http://www.geetan.com/kevinduffy.cfmPaula Darwish - some things about the music:I grew up in England, my father is jordanian and my mother is english so I really did grow up listening to both types of music - country and eastern. The first singer that inspired me was Lebanese singer Fairuz . My other biggest influences are Xharis Alexiou, Dolly Parton and Sezen Aksu. I fell in love with Turkish and Kurdish folk music when living in Turkey and I am on a mission to introduce these beautiful songs to as many people as possible. It is without doubt the biggest influence on my music along with my eclectic fellow band members. As a lyric writer my biggest inspiration comes from Paul Weller and Billy Bragg.The mainstream music scene in England is extremely narrow and very closed to music in other languages. The airwaves across Europe are full of international divas and soulboys that never see the light of day in England. The Country & Eastern project is not just about my own music but also about bringing the fantastic music of Turkey, the Mediterranean and the Middle East to a wider audience. Traditionally this sort of music only gets aired in the UK in "arts" type venues and is considered minority interest. We have maintained a monthly residency at the Iguana Bar in Manchester for almost 5 years and hundreds of people have enjoyed being exposed to this music for the first time. I think that in itself proves that "world" music has a wider UK audience who are quite happy to listen to music in other languages. Hopefully, the internet will be one of the main factors in changing this musical blindness. Modern communication has meant we are all now influenced by many different sounds and cultures . I love and celebrate that with my music. See the country and eastern website www.countryandeastern.net or email [email protected] for more detailed information about Paula Darwish, the band and the musicPaula Darwish
-
.. type=".." { src="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=j;y=asikabla;u=defurl1". . Powered by WebRing ...optional-- ..
This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here .