B I O S
Christos Govetas was born in the village of Proti of Serres in Greek Macedonia. He is a well-known singer and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist. Since emmigrating to the US in 1978 he has played classical Turkish music with The Eurasia Ensemble, Greek, Turkish and Arabic music with Karavani and regional Balkan music with Tito's Revenge and Akshambelah in the Boston area. He has performed extensively world-wide and has taught and performed Greek regional music at music and dance workshops throughout the U.S. Currently he performs traditional Greek music with the nationally known bi-coastal band ZIYIA , Stanley and Kip Greenthal and PANGEO in his present hometown, Seattle. Christos is the 1999 recipient of the prestigious Washington State Arts commision folk arts Fellowship award honoring his cultural contribution to the Greek-American and Folk dance communities. He is also a member of Grammy nominated Bill Frisell’s Intercontinental Quartet.file://localhost/WEBSITE%202%3A11%3A12/CULINARYTOUR/Proti.htmlhttp://www.ziyia.comhttp://www.stanleygreenthal.comfile://localhost/WEBSITE%202%3A11%3A12/PANGEO/Pangeomain.htmlhttp://www.arts.wa.gov/default.html?progFA/faFellow.html~accontenthttp://www.billfrisell.com/artists/Frisell/bands_link.htmlhttp://www.billfrisell.com/artists/Frisell/bands_link.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6

Ruth Hunter has been singing and playing music of the Balkans since the early ‘80s. She has taught and performed at music and dance throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Before moving to Seattle she played and sang with Medna Usta, The Bay Area Balkan Ensemble, The Balkan Noyz Boyz and The Balkan Appliances in the San Francisco Bay area and with Karavani, Akshambela and Tito’s Revenge in the Boston area. She now lives in Seattle and plays and sings with the Balkan-European quartet Cerise as well as PANGEO.

Kane Mathis has studied Turkish Classical music and oud in Turkey with Mutlu Torun, the head of the strings and composition department at ITU conservatory following which he did a 4 and a half year 'Meshk' style apprenticeship with oud virtuoso Munir Nurettin Beken in the United States where Kane performs and teaches oud. In addition to his work with Turkish music, Kane is a master player of the African Kora and performs in the Seattle area with PANGEO, The SAHEL band, the ANDREW OLIVER KORA BAND and SPECTRATONE INTERNATIONAL .

Will Dowd studied Jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music and Berklee. Since moving to Seattle in 1988, he has played and recorded with artists and groups as varied as Amy Denio, Tone Dogs, The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, Laura Love, Point no Point, Reggie Garrett and the Snake Oil Peddlers, Tor Dietrichson and Global Village, Linda Waterfall, Scott Law, Orville Johnson, The Mazeltones, Sugartown, PK, and Jessica Lurie. He has toured In Europe and Africa seven times, and has performed on over 60 album projects and film scores. He brings his diverse musical influences to his unique percussion set-up, combining elements of a traditional drum set with congas and other hand percussion. He can be heard playing this kit with the Hanuman Collective, a funky, eclectic acoustic group he recently joined.http://home.earthlink.net/~amydenio/index.htmlhttp://www.jessicalurie.com/thetiptons.htmlhttp://www.jessicalurie.com/http://www.paulbenoitmusic.com/Music/Hanumancollective/Hanumancollective.htmshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3
Copyright © Christos Govetas. All rights reserved 2008

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Beth Bahia Cohen has performed with various chamber music groups, symphony, ballet, and opera orchestras throughout the US and Europe.   In addition, she has spent many years exploring the musical traditionsof her mixed heritage (Syrian Jewish and Russian Jewish)  as expressed on the violin and other bowed instruments. Beth also plays traditional Greek music on the violin and various lyras, as well as Turkish music on the violin  and bowed tanbur, and Hungarian village music on the violin.  She has traveled, studied, and performed extensively in Greece, Turkey, and Hungary, and has been the recipient of many travel/study grants, including a NEA/Artists International grant.   Beth has performed  with The Klezmer Conservatory Band (with Itzhak Perlman), with  Michael McLaughlin in Shirim, and many other Klezmer groups. She was a World Music faculty member at Longy School of Music, a Radcliffe  Bunting fellow, and teaches privately in her studio and at Tufts University.  Beth received her BA from Brandeis University and her MM in Violin Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.