Speaking in Tongues is four astonishing musicians from four different cultures with four native tongues. The group features master drummer and multi-instrumentalist Sowah Mensah from Ghana; Gao Hong, Chinese pipa master; Enrique Toussaint, the virtuoso bassist from Mexico City, and Minnesota-born master percussionist Marc Anderson. Their performances worldwide are as diverse as the group itself. They opened a new Chinese music series at the prestigious Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam, performed at a Nobel Peace Prize Conference in America’s heartland, and have performed for enthusiastic audiences on university campuses and in concert halls throughout the U.S. Their collaboration with the Indian dance troupe Ragamala was performed at Ted Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis as well as the Southern Theater. A recording of their version of Gao Hong’s composition “Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream” is included in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s “Wild Sounds” exhibit that is currently touring the U.S including Washington D. C. Chicago... With superb musicianship and an infectious camaraderie, Speaking in Tongues creates an environment that is engaging and exhilarating. The collective sound of the group draws on so many sources that listeners from all walks of life can connect easily. Four outstanding musicians blend music from four different cultures on a stage full of instruments from all over the world. The result - a concert experience that is spellbinding, entertaining, and unprecedented. When considering the individual voices, one is struck by the truly distinctive quality of this music and the level of skill and musical maturity required to shape it into the spirited and the coherent musical expression that it is. Their music has been described as a West African drum ensemble driving along under the butterfly wings of an Asian melody, the romance of Brazilian jazz orchestrated with Middle Eastern drums, and folk music from a new world. Rich compositions set up by free roaming improvisations lead the listener through open landscapes of gentle rustlings and sparse instrumentation and then, with a subtle turn, plunge them into thick forests populated by percussion and bass.
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