| Asiana is an idea that has been in the mind of keyboardist, Jeremy Monteiro for some time now. His idea was to combine some of the best jazz oriented Asian musicians and plays an interesting blend of music that would couple the interesting sounds of Asian instruments with jazz harmony and improvisation. The idea in itself is not new. Groups like Asiabeat and Hiroshima as well as a few others have explored this musical terrain with successful results. But unlike mainstream rock and roll genre where almost every nook and cranny of possibility has been explored, the combination of ethnic Asian instruments and Jazz still exist in a domain where one can find room to explore and mark out a piece of musical territory and create a sound and a style that is distinct and refreshing. Asiana had its inaugural performance as the opening act for the last Simon & Garfunkel concert. It had a tumultuous reception from the 7,000 odd crowd. The local press who reviewed the concert actually praised Asiana for being more cohesive and energetic than Simon & Garfunkel. The group consists of a varying Asian jazz all-star line-up led by Asian jazz maestro Jeremy Monteiro namely, drummer Tama Goh from Singapore, guitarist Eugene Pao from Hong Kong, bassist David Inamine from Hawaii, Indian percussionists Mohd Noor from Singapore as well as Kiruba Karan from Malaysia. The group also features top Asian Saxophonist Tots Tolentino. Asiana plays mostly original compositions. Among the highlights are the compositions entitled Asiana and Price Hike, written by Jeremy Monteiro. In 1996, Asiana did a performance tour of the U.S., playing at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Other than the leader/Music Director Jeremy Monteiro, members of Asiana may change but will be replaced with musicians of equal stature/standard. |
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| "Showtime!" they say |
| artistes' vote: |