GLEN VELEZ AND LORI COTLER

"Performances of primal exhilaration ...
seizing the soul of the music at hand."
– Cleveland Plain Dealer

"East-West hybrids that combine a Western sense of proportion with non-Western improvisations and meditative depths —
music that earns a place between two worlds."
– New York Times

Four-time Grammy Award-winning master drummer, composer and educator Glen Velez is considered one of the most influential percussionists our time, as well as being responsible for a world-wide resurgence in the popularity of the frame drum. Glen and Lori's live performances create a sacred-space, a musical setting where the ancient and modern worlds collide, where sound and pulse become a sanctuary. While Glen draws upon the great drumming traditions of the Middle East, South India and the Mediterranean world (ancient and modern), he plays in a totally original style. Utilizing a vast culmination of complex hand and finger techniques, he creates a symphony of sounds and textures from just a single hand-held drum.

"Extreme virtuosity and imagination ... astonishing sophistication" - New York Times

Lori Cotler is a world acclaimed rhythmic vocalist and educator. Cotler's stunning rhythmic adeptness and genre-bending dexterity puts her in a class all her own. Drawing from the highly sophisticated South Indian rare art form known as Konnakol (Slang name: Indian Beatboxing), she can execute with the human voice, vocal maneuvers which don't seem possible in their rhythmic speed and clarity. Her scat-inflected improvised solos create an exciting counterpoint to Glen's earthy drumming virtuosity. Look out for their new recording 'Rhythms of the Chakras Vol. 2' to be released in 2008 on the Sounds True label.

"Cotler sings konakkol, Southern Indian-style chants at impossibly breakneck speed ... She performed with peerless artistry and in a seemingly effortless manner. "
- The Jerusalem Post

"The audience was rapt, absolutely still, except for those dancing in place."
- The Village Voice