News and Info:
  CBC Radio 2
recorded the full Tambura Rasa show on Thursday Jan 17, 2008 at Jazz Cellar, Vancouver.
The band featured Ivan Tucakov on guitar, Pepe Danza on Percussion, Michael Fraser on Violin, John Bews on Bass and Trevor Grant on Drums.
The show was scheduled to air on March 9th, 2008 at 8 pm on CBC Radio 2.
  Tambura Rasa Podcast

Now you can subsribe to the Tambura Rasa audio and video podcasts and download various interviews, announcements and concert footage.
You can get all the information about it here:
  - July 06 - Cinnabar Mix was released on "Café del Mar Vol. 13 " in June 2006.
www.cafedelmarmusic.com

  March 3, 06
- Ivan fully promoted the Strunz and Farah concert in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom.
- Tambura Rasa opened up the evening for the guitar legends.
- It was an honor to work with Strunz and Farah.



  - In November 05 - Ivan and Tarun composed music for the Brian Harris's Seva slide show called "Beauty and Transformation" which is released on his pictures compilation CD.
They also performed these songs during the slide show at the Ridge Theatre (3131 Arbutus Street) on November 23 & 25 Show.

For more information, visit: www.seva.ca/show
  - Until October '05, Ivan was travelling through Europe, writing music for his next CD and also living in Spain, studying flamenco. Here are some details from the trip:
  - 1. Oct 05 - Granada - last day. Today I did some recording with an incredible flamenco singer David Sorroche for one of my new songs. This basically marks the beginning of making of my next CD. Meanwhile, I had my last class yesterday. Even though the classes are over the experiences that I get from this place continue as intensely as before. I am still immersed in the whole world of flamenco and playing a lot. Tomorrow, I am off to Madrid to see the solar eclipse and send to Vancouver a little kitten I had found about a month ago.

- 24. Sept 05 - Granada, three weeks into the school, I am really feeling my hands moving from all the numerous exercises and forms I've been taught. The main thing is that my right hand is feeling very strong which is what intended to work on.

The latest news is that I have a brand new handmade flamenco guitar. It is quite a unique instrument in the way it was built. It is amazing how much a great guitar can improve playing and articulation. Cypress wood at the back, German Fir at the front, Cedar neck, Ebony fret-board and Ebony tuning pegs - yes, the pegs are made out of wood, the guitar tunes like a violin. This gives it a nice rich wooden sound.

- 10. Sept 05 - Granada - last night I went to a local outdoor flamenco event in a small plaza at the outskirts of Granada. There were only locals there, we were one of the few foreigners there. It seems like the tourists seek out only the events made for tourists. World class musicians, playing a free concert for four hours. Great atmosphere on a Saturday night and incredible music. I liked the 'rural' feel of the whole place, garbage-trucks passing by the stage while the singers are immersed in their performances. Smell of barbeque at the back and young and old staying up late listening. Another great thing about the shows here is that the biggest events that would in Canada cost 100$ here cost 15$. A few weeks back I show a surrealist theatre-flamenco concert (Based on Lorca's play) within the Alhambra itself. One of the best events I've ever seen.

- As of September, the classes started and in the next month, we will be covering Siguiriyas, Bulerias, Alegrias and Tango. It is very exciting to be immersed into the world of Flamenco, students taking dancing classes, compas, cajon, language, history of Flamenco, choreography.. I'm getting great exercises to work on and slowly learning the forms. The compas class where we learn the clapping is also very helpful to understand and get familiar with the rhythmical structures. One interesting fact I found out about Flamenco is that it was not developed by the gitans (gypsies) only. At the end of the eighteenth century, both the gitans and arabic inhabitants of Moorish descent were involved in creating Flamenco. They were at that time fugitives and cast-outs in their own country. Compas and singing came first and guitar only got introduced later.

- 25.Aug 05 - Spain - Granada - After seing some incredible performances, I got invited to spend a night with some local flamenco musicians. They were very open, friendly and willing to share their time socializing, playing music until early hours in the morning. Incredible musicians with no attitude. I had a great time in this nice and relaxed atmosphere. Really looking forward to the start of my school in september! I also met my instructor amongst these musicians...

- 21.Aug 05 - France - Stes-Marie-de-la-Mer is a small village in the south of France where the Romanies make their pilgrimage from the Balkans and from Spain. I visited the statue of their saint Black Sarah which they carry to the sea after Mass on May 24. That statue can be seen in the movie Latcho-Drom. It seems that gypsies arrive there at all times to spend some time with the statue, praying and touching her.

- 4.Aug 05 - Serbia - I went to one of the most well known Serbian Folk Brass Music Festivals called "Dragacevski Sabor" which is organized in a small village named Guca (Goocha). It is located in a valley surounded by hills, small village roads lead to it, yet people from all around the globe travel to see it. This event lasts a whole week and the music rarely stops. There is a lot of passion that the locals put into this music. There were international bands as well.


Granada Aug 05
© 2005 TR
Here are a few quick samples from some musical events I've seen..

Black Sarah, France, Aug 05
  - july 05 - Ivan finished producing 6 songs for Suzka's "Wake Up" project. The music is a blend of hip-hop, electronica, R&B, World fusion, poetry and much more.
Listen to the songs at: www.suzkamusic.com




  
  - Apr 05: Ivan was working on electronica-fusion project with Tarun Nayar who was in India. They were composing and collaborating over two oceans...

    
  - Apr, 05: The Electronic Mix of Cinnabar is now ready. Check out the new downloadable mp3 digital package of "Sunrise on a New World" which includes this track! go there

   
  - Mar, 05: Ivan finished a soundtrack for a Documentary Film by Jesse Miller and Andrew White called 'On the Bag' that features music styles of Ireland, Italy, Portugal.
The movie is about Dennis, a traveller that spent some time working as caddy. It portraits his bohemian lifestyle looking for his passion in life while learning from his mistakes. 		   
 

- The Nada Video was featured on MuchMoreMusic on Monday March 7th @ 12:30pm ET (9:30am PT) and on March 28th in a show called 'ClipTrip' hosted by Diego Fuentes which features International, multicultural, and multilingual music videos. To request it, write to: cliptrip@muchmoremusic.com .

- It also premiered on Bravo, Thursday, 17 March and Monday March 7th and is still playing weekly. It made it #13 in the Bravo Top 30 Videos Countdown and is still climbing the charts!
You can help out even more by dropping a line to: bravovideo@bravo.ca and asking for it to play again or just giving some comments about how you liked the video. Thanks for the support!!
 
 

- The Video for the song Nada is finished, with the help of Greg Ng, a skilled and upcoming post-production editor and producer.
- It was be featured on Channel M, with an interview withBelle Holder on the World Beats program on Saturday, 27th Nov at 10:30pm and Sunday 28th Nov at 2pm.



- You can also check out the behind the scenes photos from 
the filming of the video.

Ivan will be making more ChannelM appearances so keep an
eye open.

- The Video will also be featured on 
Bravo and MuchMoreMusic soon!







Ivan and Belle Holder - Nov 04 
 
19.Nov 04
- Check out the Ubyssey article about
Ivan Tucakov and Tambura Rasa.
It is about Alex Leslie's (journalist) experience while sitting in one
of the Tambura Rasa rehearsals.
 
Aug 04
Europe was great, I had time to meet with Goran Bregovic's
manager in Paris to discuss potential collaborations in the future.		 
 
more info coming up soon...
 
            Tambura Rasa - Etymology
 
   Tambura Rasa is derived from a few ideas and philosophies to create a concept
   of bringing the music and cultures across the globe together in a new, undiscovered way.
   - Tabula Rasa , or "blank slate" (in latin), means the basic idea that individual human 
     beings are born "blank" (with no built-in mental content), and that his or her 
     identity is defined overwhelmingly by events after birth. This theory was advocated 
    by philosophers John Locke, Sigmund Freud and the Stoics in the Ancient Greece.
   - Tambura is a  word of persian-arabian origin. It is a cordophonian instrument from  a
     family of long necked lautas (luths). This instrument has different name variations and forms: 
     tanbur, tamburica (Balkans), tunbur (Afghanistan), baglama (Turkey), sharkija, saz (India), 
     bozuk, buziki (Greece), dotara (Bangladesh), tambura (South India),  tanpura (North India).
   - Rasa - in sanscrit it means the 'spice' of sound and music. It is also a definition for a playful 
       Indian dance.

 

Selcuk, St. John's Basilica, Turkey Aug '04
© 2005 TR 
   Tambura Rasa
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