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“This duo is a force. The music comes from the heart, and bristles with excitement and inventiveness… Much of the country and world hasn’t tuned in yet, but they will. One listen is all it takes.”
-Aer Stephen (“Folk & Beyond” WTJU)

A sound that’s hard to describe, yet impossible to forget.  With a cutting edge vibe that explodes with originality and soulful expression, Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun‘s music redefines the acoustic origins of violin and guitar.  Both graduates of Berklee College of Music, the violin & guitar duo started playing together in 2004 and have continued to push the boundaries of “acoustic” music.  The release of their highly anticipated 2nd CD Chioggia Beat illustrates their ability to reinvent the limits of their instruments and in the process produce a lush range of original work that is sure to move your soul and mind.  A worldly mix of 12 brand new tunes, the album showcases Morwenna and Jay’s heartfelt composition skills, along with their knack for introducing unexpected musical tangents and motifs in a way that keeps you wanting more.   The CD features their signature duo sound, their full band, as well as a few special guest musicians such as legendary world artist Pierre Bensusan, soul singer Ezra Hamilton, and Dave Matthews Bandtrumpeter Rashawn Ross.

Morwenna is one of the most original and creative violinists of today.  After seeing Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street at age 3, she begged her mom for a violin and began lessons shortly thereafter.  As a child, she studied  classical music with Richard Errante and also played in a band that she and her father co-founded called Cafe Musette that focused on Gypsy Swing, Celtic, and other genres.  Morwenna graduated early from high-school to attend Berklee College of Music in 2000 where she continued her studies in Jazz, Bluegrass, and other styles and graduated in 2003.  At Berklee, she was honored to have shared the stage with such greats as Brian Blade, Charlie Hayden, andSteven Tyler of Aerosmith.  Over time, Morwenna has developed her own unique sound and tone, that is simply unmistakable.  She plays with purpose and sincerity, and has often been compared to the great jazz violinist Stuff Smith and the haunting sounds of Scottish fiddler, Johnny Cunningham.

Jay began to study classical piano at the age of 5 and soon after decided to move on to drum lessons. The guitar was picked up accidentally in some sense, when his middle school band member did not show up to rehearsal and someone needed to fill in.  Jay put down his drum sticks, picked up a guitar, and soon discovered a passion for the guitar.  During high-school he studied with jazz/blues guitarist Jamal Millner and became fascinated with funk music when he discovered the sound of groups like Parliament Funkadelic and The Meters.  One day, his Spanish teacher told him that world renowned finger-style guitarist, Pierre Bensusan was playing a show in town and suggested that he should attend.  After that concert Jay’s perception of how the guitar was played and what one could extract from the instrument changed forever.  He was so taken by the performance that he later studied with Bensusan at an intensive master class held in Chateau Thierry, France.  After graduating high-school, Jay moved straight to Boston, MA to enroll at Berklee College of Music where he studied songwriting, music business, and performance.  Jay plays with deep emotion and clarity and his sound is often compared to the late great Michael Hedges.

Together, they have shared shows with such greats as Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band, Avett Brothers,Toubab Krewe, The Duhks, Frank Vignola Quintet, Jesse Colin Young, Ralph Stanley, Corey Harris, Ben Taylor, and more. They’ve also had the great pleasure and honor to play at some wonderful festivals and clubs such as FloydFest, Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots, The Prism Coffeehouse, Club Passim,Eddie’s Attic, Down Home, and the list goes on…

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Emerging from a long tradition of gypsy circus troubadours come the solar- powered travelers: carriers of a new musical light; Taarka. This merry band is the culmination of the new millennial, sonic adventures of David Tiller (mandolin, tenor guitar, vocals), Enion Pelta-Tiller (five string violin, vocals), Daniel Plane (cello, vocals), and Troy Robey (bass, vocals) – a virtuosic cadre of performers who have roamed the freeways and backroads of the new and old acoustic caravan trail in search of a revolutionary ancient sound for modern times. While the four musicians have individually been spreading song and tune over the aural superhighway since the last century, their collaborative intersection marks a new era of Taarkan tunesmithing. Taarka has realesed their 4th CD, Seed Gathering for a Winter Garden, in March 2009; a collection of beautifully written and arranged songs and original instrumentals swimming the gamut of indie-gypsy chamber folk.

What is Taarka? While meaning many things in many tongues to many peoples, the musical Taarka of your concern hails from Lyons, CO and performs a patented and irreplaceable blended evolution of Western and Eastern folk traditions of jazz, rock, bluegrass, old-time, gypsy, Indian, and Celtic music interpreted through the highly capable ears and hands of four of today’s top classically trained, eclectic-acoustic music pioneers.

Collectively and individually, members of Taarka have shared stages with members of the Grateful Dead, Phish, and String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Darol Anger, Joe Craven, ALO, Keller Williams, Mike Marshall, Danny Barnes, Leftover Salmon, Steve Kimock, Garaj Mahal, Widespread Panic, The Samples, Colonel Bruce Hampton and Aquarium Rescue Unit, Kevin Mohagoney, Kaki King, Drew Emmit Band, Rob Wasserman, Tony Furtado, The Slip, The Motet, Dan Bern, The Everyone Orchestra, and have been Mark O’Connor fiddle camp performers and instructors.

Taarka has performed at such music festivals as High Sierra, Joshua Tree, Northwest String Summit, Oregon Country Fair, Whole Earth, Telluride Bluegrass, Bumbershoot, Seattle Folklife, Earthdance, Full Moon Dream Dance (String Cheese Incident), Horning’s Hideout with Leftover Salmon, Faeirieworlds, Willamette Valley Folk, Seattle Hemp Fest, Seattle Rhythm Fest, Bite of Portland, Nedfest, Lightening in a Bottle, Berkeley World Music, Stone Soup World Music, Bend Summer Music, Boise Alive After 5, Frogville Records Frogfest, Yellowstone Music Festival, Garden Valley Bluegrass, Remembering Jerry, Eagle Island Experience, Solano County Fair, Dancin’ in the Dunes, Groovefest, Crested Butte Festival for the Arts, Aspen Bluegrass Sundays, Rogue Valley Earthday Celebration, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and The Millpond Folk Festival.

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Correo Aereo (Air Mail) is an award winning multi-instrumental and vocal Latin/World Music trio performing traditional and original music of Latin America; primarily of Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina.

Together, Abel Rocha and Madeleine Sosin along with Evan Flory Barnes combine a stunning array of string and percussive instruments with silken vocal harmonies described as “locked in carnal embrace” by the Austin Chronicle. Abel plays harp, guitar, cuatro and quinta huapanguera. Madeleine plays violin, maracas, bombo and jarana. Evan Flory Barnes adds hot stand up bass. Their music is richly polyrhythmic, soulfully melodic; fiery, haunting, joyful!

Correo Aereo has performed at festivals, theaters and music venues throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Holland’s prestigious Moondive; an international media project/concert produced by VPRO Television-Radio Amsterdam, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Austin Music Hall, the EMP in Seattle and the Knitting Factory in NYC. Their music has been featured on NPR Radio programs Latino USA, All Things Considered and on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now.

The critics speak:

“Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo has often stated that to play harp extremely well you most often cannot play other instruments. Abel Rocha calls that wisdom into question since his considerable skill on the harp is matched by his flying fingers on quinta huapanguera, guitar and cuatro. His high, affecting vocal attack often soars above Madeleine’s lower register, singing in a startling and affecting reversal of traditional male female harmony…the musical skill of this couple complements the impressive reach of their pan-hispanic musical repetoire and marks Correo Aereo as one of the most exciting acoustic ensembles to appear in many years.”

DIRTY LINEN MAGAZINE

“I loved the Provinces recording. I had it in my car and when I played it, I was blown away by it; it was really good. I liked (their) arrangements and the way they know what to leave out and what are the bare essentials to make the song, in whatever style they are playing, work. Abel, who plays the harp and the huapanguera as well as sings, is amazing.”

DAVID HIDALGO / LOS LOBOS

“I won’t even try to catalog the styles and instruments that Abel Rocha and Madeleine Sosin bring to the stage – does it mean anything to you that Rocha’s a master of the huapanguera? – but these South by Southwest darlings have a pan-ethnic, global gypsy sound that’s stirring, passionate, and bittersweet. Trading off an assortment of stringed and percussive tools, they create world music with true heart and intelligence.”

SEATTLE WEEKLY