Sun Feb 27, 2005
new site introduction
Firstly, this introductory entry is a permanent piece, so for updates - and i am updating regularly now - scroll immediately below.
Now, thats done - so welcome to the new site...!
I hadn't anticipated a redesign, but in the wake of current technology for interactive platforms, and studying those a bit for regular work - I'm sensing some intriguing ways to use a more interactive, supple technology for the music and writing work.
Consider, for example, the idea of a more open process for music: Why does it have to be 'top-down'? I get tired of the classic music business model, still prevalent today, when asking for a festival gig or trying to get an agent and the question you always get:
' do you have product'? ' something to 'present?' a 'finished release?'
music is a living breathing thing, not some record of artifice. So if we have to have product, let's at least share the process - so you can expect for instance, podcasts of each gig and of rehearsals, so that the evolution of the work is a shared one. Comments and thoughts and discussions along the way are of course more than welcome.
The writings and other musings will of course continue, but Im hopeful this platform will generate some dialogue and feedback, which wasn't easily possible on the old site.
Without you as listener, as reader, this work is nothing. Together, it happens.
I'm grateful for all the support, and I'm glad to have found some new ways to share the work with you, so that together, we can walk this journey a little closer.
I'll be adding in all the old material and writings, etc over time, so bear with me - its a cut and paste by hand operation, as the old site was not database driven. We'll catch up soon.
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Mon Feb 28, 2005
who am I?
Guitarist/improvisor/oudist/sarodiyya Mustafa Stefan Dill was born in New Mexico to a Mexican mother and German-Irish father. His mutli-national and cross-cultural childhood experiences include strong memories with Lebanese relatives in Mexico and formative years in the culturally diverse city of Montpellier, France.
His initial music - an intense and unique convergence of traditional flamenco and Middle Eastern elements and modern free improvisation - won critical praise with recordings such as Warning Clothed in Bright Robes of Dawn, Sangre Del Rio, and Six Peaces, paving the way for the current approach of combining modern and traditional improvising techniques within a deep immersion of various cultural musical traditions.
A guitarist for over 30 years, he earned a Masters degree in composition from the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying with Joe Maneri. He has performed in solo concerts throughout Europe since 1992 in both improvised music and guitar circles at such venues and festivals as FMP's Total Music Meeting, Wirral Guitar Festival, Paderborn Guitar Festival, Zuid Nederlands Jazz Festival, Festival HispanoAmericano de la Guitarra, Erlbach, Nickelsdorf, and others.
He has performed with artists such as Cecil Taylor (special invitation as part of the Ensemble, Knitting Factory, May 1996), Guus Janssen (Eindhoven 1995), and more recently with mJane and Out of Context.
He also maintained the adventurous energy of classic progressive rock and free jazz in such projects as the Stefan Dill Trio's release Run For Heaven (2002).
His current focus is the Sama Duo, with percussionist Jefferson Voorhees, a groove-oriented energetic jamrock improv/ free jazz duet with a south Asian twist (think Bill Frisell and late Coltrane guesting with the White Stripes in Calcutta).
Sama' Duo retains an improvisational focus, applying a deep core of both cutting-edge and ancient improvising methods within the musical traditions of India and the Middle East. The Duo reaches into the inner aspects of form and method from the established traditions, adds their previous experience as post-modern improvisors to the process and wraps it all with a rhythmically- driven, wide-ranging classic rock/funk ethos.
The group takes as its name a nuanced Arabic term that describes the spectrum of relationships between intense listening, sprituality, and music-making itself.
The Duo was chosen in 2006 to provide the music score for the independent film "Birth of a Pillow" by director Sharmy Pandey, from Kolkata, India. The film is a 47 minute feature with no dialogue, requiring a continuous music score that would amplify and emotionally detail the story to a very high degree.
The Duo's current instrumentation is fretless electric guitar and drum set, though they still use the sarod/tabla combination that marked their earlier phase, as well as the underutlilzed oud/gome combination.
After a self-imposed exile in Clayton, New Mexico, Mustafa Stefan moved to Santa Fe in 2002, and then to Albuquerque in 2007, where he resides with his wife Micci, and their two children Francisco (13) and Sofia (10). His daughter Sofia shares his passionate hobby for Bollywood.
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PARTIAL LIST OF ENGAGEMENTS
some highlights of where the work has taken me over the years:
Netherlands concerts and Erlbach Gitarren Concert series, Europe (Nov 2002)
High Mayhem Festival, Santa Fe (Oct 2002)
Festival International de la Guitarra Hispanoamericano, Tijuana, Mexico (Nov 1998)
International Gitarren -Festival Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany (Sep 1998)
Kulturhaus Mitte ,Berlin, Germany (Oct 1998, Nov 1995)
Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf, Nickelsdorf, Austria (Sep 1998, Nov 1995)
College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (Mar 1998)
Red Rose Theatre, London, England (Nov 1997)
Other Music Concert Series, Sheffield, England (Nov 1997)
International Guitar Festival of Great Britain, Wirral, England (Nov 1997)
Strings Festival, Chamizal Theatre, El Paso, TX (May 1996)
Knitting Factory, NY, special invitation as part of the Cecil Taylor Ensemble (May 1996)
Zuid Nederlands Jazz Festival, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (Oct 1995) (solo and duo with Guus Janssen)
FMP Total Music Meeting, Berlin, Germany (Nov 1994)
Hochschule fur Musik Köln, Cologne, Germany (Nov 1994)
Het Appolohuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (Nov 1994)
New Mexico State University , Las Cruces NM (performance and Master class, Jan 1996, Oct 1992)
and others...
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