Dana Kerstein

Dana Gillespie first made her name as a teenage singer (and songwriter) in the 1960s, with a string of memorable singles and albums for Pye and Decca.

Today, with the amount of recordings aimed at rediscovering the buried treasures of past centuries, it is difficult to ignore the work of Rebecca Clarke. Viola player Vinciane Béranger, along with Dana Ciocarlie, Hélène Collerette and David Louwerse, have devoted a recording to the Clarke's works for viola. Both a composer and a performer, Clarke was one of the foremost professional women in England. Her music, at the crossroads of various currents, navigates at different moments through French music, modality, British folklore, harmonic boldness and exoticism. There is, however, no pastiche: Clarke creates her own honey from these trends in order to construct a quite atypical language that is resolutely modern. From her masterly Viola Sonata to the poetic Morpheus, and not forgetting the trio Dumka or the duet Chinese Puzzle, the performers are keen to paint the musical portrait of this iconoclastic composer. The recording is enhanced with the world premiere of Irish Melody, a long lost score that was recently rediscovered.

Aes Dana is the main moniker for Vincent Villuis, a French composer, sound designer, Dj and co-owner of Ultimae records as well as one of the founding members of Asura. Bass player and singer in several coldwave and industrial bands as a teenager, Vincent then moved on to composing with machines and specialised in sampling and layering of acoustic sounds digitally transmuted. His music is a fusion of Deep Ambient, Downtempo, IDM, infused with hints of Neo-Classsical Electronica, Industrial and Liquid Drum 'n' Bass.
As Aes Dana, he produced solo albums, an audio samples library, participated to about 3 dozen compilations while collaborating on three albums with Swedish artist Magnus Birgersson under moniker H.U.V.A. Network…

Stravinsky suffered from the First World War and its consequences for Europe; Bartok spoke out before and during the Second World War against the nationalist mood in twentieth-century Europe; Bartok’s friend and colleague, the Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti, to whom he dedicated his Contrasts trio, had to flee Hungary for the USA in 1939 on account of the dangerous antisemitic climate in the country. Mordechai Zeira and Yaakov Orland suffered from the violence and antisemitic attacks in Imperial Russia at the start of the 20th century; they had to emigrate and found a new homeland in what is now Israel. The German composer Jörg Widmann addresses the political question: “Do the Muses have the right to remain silent when the weapons speak?”. And finally there is the “Poema” trio by Roglit Ishay. It is dedicated to the people of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (France), who risked their lives to save strangers from their Nazi persecutors. Music in spite of all – that is the principle common to our whole musical program.

Dana Fuchs is proud to announce the release of eighth album, Borrowed Time on April 29th. It’s her fourth release for German indie Ruf Records.

What are the origins of the Mexican/Dutch/Russian violist Dana Zemtsov and Ukrainian/Dutch pianist Anna Fedorova? Throughout years of friendship, they discovered many similarities in their upbringing. Both Dana and Anna’s parents met in Moscow’s conservatory. Dana’s parents - Julia Dinerstein and Mikhail Zemtsov - are both renowned violists. Anna’s parents - Tatiana Abayeva and Borys Fedorov - are incredible pianists and famous piano professors.

Dana Fuchs is a throwback to another time: the late '60s and early '70s, when blues-based shouters like Janis Joplin and Robert Plant (in a somewhat different style) were capturing the attention of a generation. Her debt to Joplin is unapologetic – she starred in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis – and at times maybe a bit too slavish. That's not to say that she brings no other elements to her interpretation of blues and soul-rock styles, only that there are moments on Love to Beg when one might be forgiven for wondering why one would listen to Fuchs when Joplin recordings are still so easily available.