Soja
2406 Webster, Oakland, between 24th & 25th St. (near 19th St. BART, 1 block from 21 Grand)

Improvised Music & Movement: Soja Martial Arts Studio presents a special CD Release Concert for "Idea of West" (Creative Sources) featuring Tony Dryer, Jacob Felix Heule, and Jacob Lindsay. Also performing is Sextet: Kristian Aspelin (guitar), Tony Dryer (contrabass), Phillip Greenlief (saxophones), Jacob Felix Heule (drums), Jacob Lindsay (clarinets), and Kanoko Nishi (koto), with special guest Peter Ajemian and others performing traditional martial arts.

The trio of Dryer/Heule/Lindsay was formed to explore musical territories made prominent in recent years emphasizing quiet and static musical structures. The trio seeks to relate to these new territories through pragmatic application of improvisation and compositional structures, rather than through stylistic imitation. Also of note is the trio's adherance to purely acoustic sound production in a music typically dominated by electronics. The trio's first release, "Idea of West", was released November 2008 by innovate Portuguese label Creative Sources (http://www.creativesourcesrec.com/).

Sextet was formed by clarinetist Jacob Lindsay to investigate large ensemble improvised music dynamics in a slightly reduced and conductor-less ensemble. The focus is on building an orchestral group dynamic within a collectively improvised setting, including specific investigations of orchestration and dynamics inspired by the lineage of composed and improvised large ensemble musics, physics, metaphysics, and socio-political and community idea(l)s.

Peter Ajemian, Founder and Chief Instructor of Soja, has taught White Crane Silat Kung Fu throughout the United States, and trained at various times at the PGB-Silat World Headquarters starting in 1995. Peter is also an assistant instructor of Bay Mountain Wing Tsun, having studied since 2004. In 2006 he decided martial arts needed to be a the forefront of his life and has subsequently opened Soja Martial Arts. He is fascinated with all forms of martial arts, self expression through flowing movement, and human awareness.


Cost: $6-$10 suggested donation

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