Community Corner
Janam's Soulful & Exotic Journey Travels the World's East European Borders
Janam (My Soul) blends Balkan, Near Eastern
and American roots and original music, creating rapturous acoustic
textures, whirling rhythms and stunning vocal harmonies.
Led by Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble veteran Juliana Graffagna, Janam
unites some of the San Francisco Bay Area's most imaginative and devoted
practitioners of Balkan and Near Eastern music,
who weave together Eastern exoticism, gritty Appalachian folk melodies
and their own inspired compositions. The resulting music is
transcendent, sensuous and irresistible.
Setting out to explore her passions for Balkan and American folk
music, vocalist Juliana Graffagna formed Janam in 2008. The group has
since evolved into a tight-knit
ensemble of talented multi-instrumentalists who create unique and varied
textures with their mix of crystalline strings, dissonant vocal
harmonies and sultry rhythms. Janam has garnered
recognition throughout California and the Northwest, playing to
mesmerized audiences and frenzied folk dancers in venues as diverse as
Yoshi's San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara Multicultural Center,
Cafe du Nord, Ashkenaz and the de Young Museum.
Janam's repertoire includes Albanian, Macedonian,
Hungarian, Romanian, Greek, Turkish, Sephardic & Ashkenazi Jewish,
Romani (Gypsy) and American roots music as well as
original compositions inspired by these traditions. Janam proves that
the foothills of the Balkans and the Appalachians lie in Oakland. The
group's funky meters, bittersweet modes,
driving tunes, and sultry ballads invoke the nightingales and dark eyes,
the hot love and cold hollows of Europe and America's most musical
mountains.
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Video: "Sec na ra debora" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rqtsYzFH38
"To Alogaki ti nihtias" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SoqNLEEq6c
Band Members:
Juliana Graffagna: Vocals, Daire
Lila Sklar: Violin, Vocals
Tom Farris: Laouto, Guitar, Accordion
Gari Hegedus: Oud, Mandocello, Saz, Violin
Dan Auvil: Percussion
Media
Quotes:
innovative ensemble that explores a dizzying range of styles from
Applachia and Asia Minor to Eastern European. They play swirling,
hard-driving music that always seems to end up in unexpected places " - San Francisco Chronicle
“They’re a band to watch, with some sterling musicianship and a real sense of fervour about them.”- Sing Out!
