Bulletins
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Sep 27, 06:34 PMMy Road to Somewhere: Sarod & Beats CD Release Party, October 4th, 2009 at Remedy Teas
"My Road to Somewhere: Sarod & Beats" is James Whetzel's new album. The CD release party for it is happening October 4th. James says: "You should come if you can. It will be very cool and will rock you like a whoop of hurricanes."
About the disc? It's an instrumental disc which features James' sarod playing. It lives on the upbeat edge of downtempo, with tracks based on classical Hindustani ragas and taals. He applies his hard earned, DJ Baba James, electronic music production skills and his love of African polyrhythms to keep the sound both fun and funky.
Preview the album online at CD Baby:http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames5
To repeat the CD release party is going down Sunday, October 4th. It will occur at Remedy Teas on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA, USA, from 8pm - 10pm James will open the night with a solo set of sarod & beats. After a short break in which James says: the new CD will be "relentlessly hawked, flogged, and sold," violinist extraordinaire Sebastian Lange will join James for a set of sarod, violin, and beats. Deepayan Acharjya aka Shree D. will join at the very end (he's coming all the way from Montreal!) and bring some manic live dhol energy to finish the evening in high style. Not only will this event be cool and rock like a whoop of hurricanes, but it's free! and all ages! Who loves you? Clearly it's JW and funketabla. . .
We hope to see you there, peace, cheers, and musica!
James Whetzel and the funketabla family
btw: Remedy Teas is located at 345 15th Avenue East on Capitol Hill in Seattle, USA.
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Jun 02, 09:36 AMSaturday, June 6th: James Whetzel, Sebastian Lange, DJ Collage, Verna Halley and R.I. Productions at Westlake Park 12pm - 4pm
Good People!
Here the lowdown on an amazing show happening Saturday, June 6th in Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, 12pm to 4pm.
Taking part are:
James Whetzel: sarod, beats, percussion and throat singing.
Sebastian Lange: violin and beats.
DJ Collage: dancehall reggae vocals and original dancehall beats
Verna Halley: vocals
R.I. Productions: dhol
The music will begin at 12:05pm and go until 4pm
There will be solo sets by James Whetzel, Sebastian Lange, and DJ Collage, and then Verna Halley and R.I. Productions will join Whetzel, Lange and Collage for a finale set of DJ Baba James, Mean Deep, and Das Dhoom music.
Here's the tentative schedule:
12:05 - 1pm James Whetzel, Sarod & Beats set
1pm - 1:30pm Sebastian Lange solo set
1:30 - 2pm James Whetzel and Sebastian Lange collab. set
2pm - 2:30pm DJ Collage solo set
2:30pm - 4pm DJ Baba James, Mean Deep, and Das Dhoom set with James Whetzel, Sebastian Lange, DJ Collage, Verna Halley and R. I. Productions.
We will have an excellent sound system thanks to our friends at the Transcendent Church of Bass. This will be an amazing one of a kind show right in the heart of downtown Seattle!
For more info about these artists:
James Whetzel http://www.google.com/profiles/james.whetzelhttp://www.funketabla.com
Sebastian Lange http://eqlateral.com/
DJ Collage http://www.lasarletter.com/DJCollage/
DJ Baba James http://cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames3
Mean Deep http://cdbaby.com/cd/meandeep
R.I. Productions: http://www.myspace.com/riproductions
This event is part of the Art Sparks program: http://www.artsparksseattle.org
Special thanks to the Transcendent Church of Bass, Ingrid Lahti, Carrie Bodle, Victoria Schoenberg, Adrienne Caver-Hall and the City of Seattle, Department of Parks and Recreation.
Hope to see you there, cheers, best musical wishes,
James WhetzelPS The photo at top is of the one and only DJ Collage . . .
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Jan 20, 12:35 PM"I Have a Dream Remake" free download on Global Noize
In celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America, my remake of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech is available from Global Noize (Global Noize is the blog of Six Degrees Records out of San Francisco).
Click on this link to visit the site and download the track.
http://globalnoize.blogspot.com/
Peace, respect and hope!
James Whetzel
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Jan 02, 09:13 AMA Funke Year of Good Juju and Mean Deep!
Ladies and Gents it's been quite a year! The election of Barack Obama and imminent departure of the Bush administration is a great cause for celebration. At Funketabla we have additional cause to be jolly—the summer of 2008 was when we put out our two first funketabla releases.
The first was DJ Baba James (James Whetzel) "The House of Good Juju," the second was Mean Deep "Mean Deep." Now it goes without saying if you do not yet possess these albums you must purchase them immediately; you can either download the music on itunes, amazon, rhapsody, or you can buy the discs here at funketabla: http://www.funketabla.com/store.php or at CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/whetzeljames3http://cdbaby.com/cd/meandeep
Both albums came out this summer and have been getting a lot of airplay across North America. Both albums also made it onto the charts! "The House of Good Juju" was #10 on the September 23rd top thirty overall list of KAOS radio in Olympia, WA, Evergreen College radio. On October 19th "The House of Good Juju" was #5 on the World Top 10 of Toronto, Ontario, station CIUT.
Both Mean Deep and The House of Good Juju made the top ten weekly electronic chart for CJSF of Burnaby, BC. Mean Deep was #7 and The House of Good Juju was #8.
Mean Deep went on to chart again on CJSF's electronic music charts at #3 on December 2nd, rating higher than Thievery Corporation!
Each record has garnered one review each so far.
"The House of Good Juju" was reviewed on October 25th by the interestingly named "Joel Shit" who is affiliated with KSCU radio in Santa Clara, CA. Our favorite part of his review was his description of the song Kitten, which includes a Super Mario Bros video game reference:
"It is not clear to me why the song is called “Kitten,” but I am sure it is obvious to people that pay attention during the song. At any rate, I like it, because it is what Mario would be hearing if he touched a star and a mushroom at the same time. He’d be invincible and big together. It’s not just the Starman music. It’s got something extra. I bet Pee-Wee Herman would like this song too."
You can check his full review at: http://joelshitshow.com/2008/10/25/dj-baba-james-james-whetzel-the-house-of-good-juju/ or on The House of Good Juju CD Baby page.
Mean Deep was reviewed on November 21st by Sadie O at Stanford University's radio station KZSU in Palo Alto, CA. We liked her description of what we do:
"Electronica/Indian/etc mashup – but probably not like what you’re thinking. First outing from a pair of guys (Shri Deepayan and James Whetzel), and tending towards the rave rather than trance end of club. Lots of energy and beat with layers of musical ideas from all over, although India is the strongest identifiable element. Most of the vocals are a bit goofy, but the music is killer."
Her description of the track "Minuit" is also worth noting: "downtempo, deeply warped. Sort of the march of the large lopsided robots on opium."
"March of the Large Lopsided Robots on Opium" sounds like a good name for a Das Dhoom track . . . hmm.
You can check her complete review at the Mean Deep CD Baby page or directly at KZSU: http://zookeeper.stanford.edu/index.php?s=byAlbumKey&n=882299&q=10&action=search&session=
We've been getting great play at other stations around North America, including KBCS in Seattle/Bellevue, KUNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, KALX in Berkeley, California, KSJS in San Jose, California, KWCW in Walla Walla, Washington, KDVS in Davis, California, WNCW in Asheville, North Carolina, KSER, in Everett, Washington, WMNF in Tampa, Florida, and KTRU in Houston, Texas.
Special thanks to Emch at WNYE in NYC, The Spice Route DJs at KBCS, Matt Kane at WZBC in Boston, and Darek Mazzone at KEXP.
We would like to thank James Whetzel and our unstoppable volunteer Anita Darbo for getting this music out to the world. The work of sending the CDs out to radio is actually still ongoing and we look forward to connecting with more radio stations around the world in 2009.
2009 looks to be a good year for funketabla. James Whetzel is working on two very cool new albums: "Sarod & Beats" and "Everything Strange." Shree D. & James are collaborating with Sebastian Lange from EQlateral in a new project called Das Dhoom, which is making wild poly-rhythmic Indian Industrial music!
James W. is currently in Seattle, WA, USA. Yas is currently in France, moving between Paris and Nantes and working with her new group Yas and the Lightmotiv. Yaw Amponsah is in the Northwest and leading a new drumming ensemble, and is also in demand as a session musicians for NW African performers. Shree D., pictured at top, is currently in Lyon, France acquiring new management skills and business acumen which he intends to apply to a several musical cultural projects when he returns to the Pacific Northwest.
Best wishes and good juju to you in 2009 from all of us at Funketabla! May it be a good year for us all! Cheers!
P.S. 01/07/09 This just in! We have just learned that The House of Good Juju was #2 on KTRU's top 35 overall charts for the Week of December 28, 2008, and that The House of Good Juju was on the top ten albums list of the Existential Happy Hour show on KAOS radio, and that both Mean Deep and The House of Good Juju are getting airplay on Minneapolis - St. Paul station KFAI! It looks like 2009 should be a good year for funketabla!
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Nov 27 2008, 10:33 PMGod Rest Ye Funky Bhangra (Mean Deep Mix)
Here's a little something to get you in the holiday mood. This is a new version for 2008; this one is infused with the dhol playing of monsieur Shree Deepayan.
http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Funky-Bhangra-Mean-Deep/dp/B001M07OXI/ref=dm_ap_alb1
Please enjoy and know that bhangra for dreidel spinning will be coming in the future.
Cheers!
James Whetzel
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Nov 17 2008, 03:43 PMA Chekhovian Resolution, November 21 -22 @ The Moore Theater
A collaborative World Premiere with (in alphabetical order): Nir Ben Gal (Choreographer) - Israel, Donald Byrd (Choreographer/Director) - US, Liat Dror (Choreographer) - Israel, Wissam Murad (Musician/Composer) - East Jerusalem with additional music by Muslimgauze and James Whetzel.
A Chekhovian Resolution represents a full collaborative work inspired by the on-going middle-East tensions and conflicts. Employing a literary analogy, writer and philosopher Amos Oz believes that tragedies "can be resolved in one of two ways: There is the Shakespearean resolution, and there is the Chekhovian one. At the end of a Shakespearean tragedy, the stage is strewn with dead bodies and maybe there's some justice hovering high above. A Chekhov tragedy, on the other hand, ends with everybody disillusioned, embittered, heartbroken, disappointed, absolutely shattered, but still alive. And I want a Chekhovian resolution and not a Shakespearean one for the Israeli-Palestine tragedy." International collaborators will join forces together in conveying their different perspectives and shaping their version of A Chekhovian Resolution to the Middle East conflicts.
