New Trio: Shisha Group

[Janos]

Hi there,

This is a video of the new trio: Shisha Group.

I play mainly mandolin (a beautiful Heiden) in this band, but also some guitar and piano. Haytham Safia is a great U'd player and Arthur Bont adds nice textures and groove with his drums and percussion. You can find us at www.facebook.com/theshishagroup



We want to record an album with our own compositions and are looking for support through crowd funding. You can check this page for all the information: https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/5290-de-nieuwe-cd-van-shisha-group-1

Cheers! Janos

[Bluegrassbboy85]

I absolutely love this!

[Janos]

Thanks!

[Mandolin Cafe]

Some really nice music between instruments that typically might not share the same page. The group is crowd funding the project and for 20 Euro you can help them make the project a success by buying an advance copy here. It's in Dutch but you should be able to figure it out.

Janos told us it's a Heiden mandolin he plays.

Shisha Group on Facebook
Janos' web site

[atbuckner21]

Gorgeous man!!!!

[Don Grieser]

Fantastic! Gorgeous tone on that Heiden. Tell us about it.

[Janos]

Thanks guys! I've played several mandolins, but the Heiden has all I look for in a mandolin with f-holes. I have it now for two or three years. In December 2015 the top was severely damaged and Michael Heiden agreed to replace it. It's back with me since last October and it didn't take long to awaken again.

Shisha Group is a new trio with Haytham Safia on U'd, Arthur Bont on drums and percussion and myself on mandolin, guitar and piano. I will play the mando most of the time, but think it will be nice to use some other colours now and then.

Haytham is classically trained and reads music very well. It's great to hear the U'd play all the melodies and counterparts I come up with. Even bluegrass kind of licks can work. Haytham can improvise beautifully in the Arabic scales and the stuff he writes is a challenge for me. So this is a truly inspiring meeting of musicians.

All three of us make a living as musicians in The Netherlands and for us the only way to record an album with our music is through crowd funding.

If there is anything else you want to know, feel free to ask!

[JeffD]

Not what I was expecting. Really wonderful.

[JEStanek]

That was beautiful.

Jamie

[billhay4]

Very nice, very.
Bill

[Janos]

We have a new video online. I'm afraid it has no mandolin, because this is one of tracks where I play guitar. This is a piece by Haytham in which Arabic music meets Tango and I add a little bit of a Bill Frisell feeling.

[LKinser]

That's great!!

[Janos]

The CD launch will be held at De Parel van Zuilen, Utrecht in The Netherlands on the 28th of May. This might be of interest for the Dutch, Belgium and German members of this forum. The crowdfunding is going quite well. We're not there yet, so all donations are very welcome. Thanks!
We're hoping to get some gigs outside of The Netherlands as well. Our U'd player, Haytham already plays in The States regularly, but I'd love to hear suggestions for nice venues for this kind of music.

[Kirk Albrecht]

Great stuff. Having lived in Jordan for 10 years, I came to love the Oud. Wonderful instrument, great combo with that Heiden! Works for me!

[Janos]

Thanks, I played five gigs in Amman in Jordan last year with Haytham and the band NO Blues. It's was great to be there and talk to the locals and get a feel for the city and culture. I had to give up a lot of preconceptions! Which was a very good thing.

[Janos]

Our album is done and available! I play mandolin on five of the ten tracks. This is a teaser:
I'm not sure if it's okay to mention, but you can download the album at amazon. Thanks to all the people contributing to the crowdfunding!