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(left to right): Neelamjit Dhillon, Lan Tung, Ron Samworth
photographer Nenad Stevanovic

click to download the stage plot
BOP quartet tech rider with bass 2015 (quartet version with bass)

Ron Samworth – electric guitar & effects
Ron Samworth Vancouver-based guitarist/composer Ron Samworth is known on the Canadian improvised/contemporary music scene as an inventive textural improviser and a strong fluid melodicist informed and inspired by a variety of music traditions including jazz, rock, new music and traditional music of many cultures. He leads the acclaimed Vancouver-based quartet Talking Pictures and co-directed the NOW Orchestra for ten years and the indie rock bands Darkblueworld and the Luscious. He is also a member of the Peggy Lee Band and the Hard Rubber Orchestra. His has performed and recorded with numerous international artists including John Zorn, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Fred Frith, Han Bennink, Dave Douglas, Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz. He has appeared at all the major Jazz Festivals across Canada, the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, at New York’s Knitting Factory, and the New York Improvisation Festival, New Music America, Vienna’s “Let’s Cool One” Chamber Jazz Festival, Chicago and Berlin jazz festivals and other leading venues in Europe. His inter-disciplinary work includes composition, performance and sound design for theatre, spoken word, film, and dance.

Lan Tung – erhu/Chinese violin & vocal
Lan Tung’s music often experiments with contradictions by taking culturally specific materials outside their context. Her works embody the rhythmic intricacy from Indian influence, the sense of breath/space from Chinese tradition, and her experiences of interpreting contemporary compositions. Lan’s compositions are released on numerous CDs, winning an Independent Music Awards and nominations by JUNO, Canadian Folk Music, and Western Canadian Music Awards. Lan is the artistic director of Sound of Dragon Music Festival, Orchid Ensemble, and Proliferasian and performs with various projects. Originally from Taiwan, she has studied graphic score with Barry Guy, improvisation with Mary Oliver, Hindustani music with Kala Ramnath, and Uyghur music with Abdukerim Osman, in addition to her studies of Chinese music since a young age. Lan has appeared as a soloist with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Metropolitain (Montreal), Symphony Nova Scotia, Upstream Ensemble (Halifax), Atlas Ensemble (Amsterdam & Helsinki), Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taipei), and Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.

Birds of Paradox was formed in 2007 to explore the fusion of composition and improvisation, incorporating three very distinct voices and cultural backgrounds into a creative whole. Guitarist Ron Samworth is an inventive textural improviser and a strong fluid melodicist, informed and inspired by a variety of music traditions including jazz, rock, new music and folk music of many cultures. Lan Tung creates new vocabularies on the erhu/Chinese 2-string violin, drawing inspiration from her background in Chinese music and various other genres: from creative improvisation, western contemporary music to various ethnic styles, such as Indian, Flamenco and Middle Eastern. Neelamjit Dhillon is equally versed as a tabla player in Hindustani classical music and as a jazz musician on the saxophone. Its debut CD Birds of Paradox has been nominated for Western Canadian Music Award and Independent Music Awards.

Neelamjit Dhillon – saxphone, tabla, flutes
International multi-instrumentalist performer-composer Neelamjit Dhillon is a professional musician equally versed in both Eastern and Western traditions. His extensive training in both jazz and classical Indian music gives him a firm rooting in two distinct styles and provides a unique perspective into the universality of music. He has obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies (majoring in saxophone performance) from Capilano University and has also completed a Bachelor of Education degree in Secondary Music Education from the University of British Columbia. He has obtained a Masters in tabla performance from the California Institute of the Arts [CalArts] has just completed his doctorate at CalArts.His latest album Komagata Maru, brings together his diverse musical background to mark the centenary of the Komagata Maru Incident of 1914 in which Indian nationals were barred from Canada and how that event still resonates today. Neelamjit has performed at prestigious festivals and events in locals such as Somaila, Brasil, Canada, India, and the United States.

溫哥華非鳥樂隊於2007年底,由來自臺灣的董籃(二胡&演唱)、愛爾蘭裔的Ron Samworth(電吉他&效果器)、印度裔的尼隆基.迪棱(Neelamjit Dhillon)(印度塔布拉鼓、薩克斯風、長笛)共同組成,專門演奏三人的原創作品。獨特的樂器組合,為三位演奏家兼作曲家提供了豐富的音響元素。非鳥樂隊的同名唱片,獲得加西音樂獎提名「最佳器樂演奏」。

非鳥樂隊的音樂,結合了中國、印度、爵士樂的風格,在作品中預留即興發展的空間。董籃自幼學習中國音樂,之後赴印度、埃及、新疆學習,將當地傳統音樂移植於二胡。又在歐洲與北美學習佛朗明哥音樂、即興演奏,並且首演了許多現代作品。 吉他手Ron Samworth是加拿大著名的即興演奏家,已登上加拿大所有大型爵士樂節的舞台,多次應邀於美國、歐洲爵士音樂節演出,並且是著名樂團Talking Pictures的創辦人及團長。除了為許多樂團創作樂曲,在劇場、舞蹈、短片中,都可聽到他的音樂。迪棱是世界少有同時精通印度古典樂與西洋爵士樂的音樂家。迪棱從小隨世界著名的塔布拉鼓大師 Zakir Hussain學習,擁有爵士薩克斯風演奏的學士文憑、加州藝術學院(California Institute of the Arts)塔布拉鼓演奏碩士、作曲/演奏博士。

“欣賞這優美的音樂,同時是一場探險的旅程,CD的12首樂器像是12個入口,帶聽眾進入一個古典樂、現代樂、即興演奏相融的世界” - BC省報The Province

“董籃的「亞洲市場-中國篇」一曲,逼真的音響效果,讓人感受的繁忙市場裡的人聲與溫度,混著不和諧的嘶號、仍在進行中的對話、嘈雜的車流、不知名的機器的旋轉躁動,抽象的譜出北京絡繹不絕的街景。即使你沒有去過亞洲,也可以在這首樂曲中體會。”—喬治亞週報