Luminescent Orchestrii at McMenamins Kennedy School May 15, 2008

Thursday, May 15
McMenamins and opbmusic.org present
Great Northwest Music Tour
THE LUMINESCENT ORCHESTRII
from New York
7 p.m. | Free | All ages welcome

LUMINESCENT ORCHESTRII IS: Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica and bass.

The members of the Orchestrii come from different scenes in New York City, yet come together through their love of Balkan and Gypsy music. Sxip Shirey is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden is an old-time fiddle player, Rima Fand is an experimental theater composer, and Benjy Fox-Rosen is a free-jazz bassist. It is not uncommon to find Sxip playing tampon applicators with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Rima composing music for a Lorca puppet show, Benjy schlepping his bass to a jazz gig, or Sarah fiddling away at some all-night old-time session.

Since 2002, when the band was formed, the Luminescent Orchestrii has toured the East Coast, England, Scotland, and Germany, and have traveled to Romania, Macedonia, Turkey and Serbia for inspiration. They most recently returned from a 47-year-old festival in Serbia, where hordes of competing gypsy brass bands take to the streets and restaurants.

The Luminescent Orchestrii formed as a quintet, which included Kaia Wong playing fiddle and singing, and Aaron Goldsmith playing guitarron. Both Kaia and Aaron can be heard singing and playing on the live CD and on Too Hot to Sleep. Kaia is currently performing with Mixel Pixel, and Aaron is currently playing with Chad Parks and the Near Death Experience. Also included on Too Hot to Sleep is Julianne Carney, who spent a year with the Luminescent Orchestrii as a third violin.

The Luminescent Orchestrii has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK), The Spitz (UK), The Blue Note (Germany) , Malzhauz (Germany), The Trowbridge Festival (UK), The Orkney Islands (UK), The Penn State Arts Festival (USA), The Lake Eden Arts Festival (USA), The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival (USA), The Knitting Factory (NYC), Joe's Pub (NYC), The DUMBO Arts Festival (NYC), The Brooklyn Museum of Art, and many underground parties in New York City.

"The balancing of frenzy and finesse is evidently a trademark Luminescent Orchestrii approach, displayed to its utmost in the insanely frenetic dance tunes... The three violins flirt willfully with a cacophony teasingly offset by elegant classical flourishes, swirling and eddying above the rhythm section's bruisingly aggressive but sharply-aimed attack." -The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visit www.lumii.org for more information.

Official Website: http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=57&id=81&eventid=55960