07/10 - Saturday ::The Bethany & Rufus Roots Trio

In 2003, Bethany Yarrow released her debut CD, entitled "Rock Island", to amazing (and amazed) reviews. Beautifully produced by Kevin Salem (Mercury Rev, Bad Brains, Chocolate Genius) and Knox Chandler (David Gahan, Siouxsie & the Banshees), the CD mixed the gloss of pop production with banjos, dulcimers, harmonicas, slide guitars, gospel choirs, and the sampled ghosts of some of the great blues singers in America. In totally unexpected ways, Bethany took traditional slave lullabies, prison songs, and murder ballads, and turned them into grooving electronic pop for a new generation.

Bethany's brand of folk has certainly struck a chord across the country, and ears are beginning to perk up noticeably... HBO recently featured her version of "Black is the Color" in their series Cat House, and listeners have been knocked out by her "fascinating" and "dramatic" interpretations. Her voice has been called, "mesmerizing", "intense", "powerful", "spell-binding".... "A cross between PJ Harvey and Annie Lennox... Dido and Grace Slick..." Bethany has been dubbed a "musical medium", crossing genres and time, and in re-inventing these deeply American songs, Bethany has not only taken them into the future, she has made them deeply her own.

Giada's Website

Gaida is a vocalist and composer working at the intersection of the New York Arab and improvised music scenes. Her compositions draw at once on classical Arabic song, Syrian folk traditions, and free improvisations that expand on traditional Arabic maqams (modes) to produce an original and highly personal style marked by great emotional intensity. An acclaimed singer from an early age, Gaida was born in Germany and raised in Damascus. Later she lived in Kuwait, Paris, and Detroit, where she received classical voice training at Wayne State University. Now settled in New York, Gaida works with leading music artists such as Amir ElSaffar, Brahim Fribgane, Tareq Abboushi, Zafer Tawil, and Rufus Cappadocia. Gaida has recorded for major motion pictures, including Jonathan Demme's Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, in which she recorded with Gillian Welsh and Alejandro Escovedo. She also appeared on Jonathan Demme’s latest film Rachel Getting Married and recorded with Robyn Hitchcock, composed and recorded a song for The Hennegan Brothers' documentary film "The First Saturday in May".