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SIKHARA
exists in a constant state of motion, claiming no land as home. Their
music has evolved over the years into a pan cultural synthesis of all that
is brutal and primitive - pounding polyrhythmic drums, swirling sample
storms of voices howling and chanting, and a live show characterized by
savage rigor and ecstatic abandon. The members come from a small core
group of rotating contributors, who unite to back Scott Nydegger, the
group founder and songwriter, in the quest to create increasingly
disturbing environments of ritualistic sound.
From its origins in an irradiated basement in North Carolina, Sikhara
became the flagship artists for the Radon Collective, pioneers in the ways
of trans-Atlantic exchange as practiced in current exploratory music
circles.
At the beginning of 2004, Sikhara relocated to Europe for a period of
about 2 years, establishing an international line-up as an American,
French and Portuguese trio with Gustavo Costa and Yann Geoffriaud. In
the duration of this stay, Sikhara performed nearly 100 times in 16
countries, as well as recording featured concert material, for the cd "Bardos
State" a documentation of this period and a turning point to comprehensive
recorded work, they embarked on a tour ambitious even by Sikhara
standards, returning to reclaim the American homeland amidst a
tri-continental tribal road fury.
Although defined by the project’s nomadic ways, Sikhara have,
through their years of travel and touring, integrated into musical
communities across the US and Europe, laying claim to multiple
"home-towns", such as Portland, Or, Porto, Portugal, and Paris, France.
On stage, Sikhara manifests itself in a trance-induced mayhem, blurring
the lines between the music and the audience. Having given concerts in a
variety of conventional venues such as clubs, theaters and galleries, a
constant theme of Sikhara is to seek out somehow extraordinary locales.
Amongst the examples of these events are: Multiple visits to the bustling
Taxim district of Istanbul, Turkey, deep within the tunnels of a Polish
coal mine, an abandoned metro passage underneath the city of Linz,
Austria, under circus big tops in France and within the 1400 year old
Senkoji Temple near Kobe, Japan. For this session, they were joined by the
master monk of the temple, who was born 55 years earlier in the same
room. Work with non-profit and cultural organizations has opened the
opportunity to gain an audience outside the realm of night-life concert
goers.
Sikhara's increasingly prolific output of recorded material has been
accompanied by an ever reaching search for techniques in sound that
maintain the highest audio standards, yet place the material upon new
grounds. "Anduni" and "IV War Haka" have tightly structured songs, with
the sensibility of more abstract music forms.
In partnership with URCK, Sikhara have found a label that offers the
appropriate presentation of their demented visions.
The worlds musical landscape has drastically altered over the past 10
years, yet Sikhara continue to occupy a point on the world stage otherwise
unfilled. Audiences have recognized the legitimacy in the parallel paths
in the band’s lives and the characters they invoke with their art.
In the
coming months, Sikhara will continue to explore new methods and
instrumentations in their recorded works and expand the scope of their
travel to include yet unvisited countries and regions. |
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