The music of Arabesk follows many paths at any one time - like a river, it is fed from many different tributaries to form the whole: Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Eastern European gypsy and classical music, and African and Arabic-influenced rhythms.

Date: Saturday, July 13th, 2018
Location: The Boiler House @ The Hydro Majestic

Doors Open: 7:30 pm
First Set: 8:00-8:45 pm

Second Set: 9:15-10:00 pm

Tickets: $35
Book online or call Chris on 0411 954 826

Arabesk play a brand of music that is often described as Gypsy Soul. For those looking to embark on a journey of authentic musical exploration, not contained by any cultural boundary, they are a band guaranteed to put some real “gypsy” in your “soul”.

Since 2003 Arabesk have been travelling with their special brand of global grooves to music lovers in Australia and Japan. If you don’t know them already, they are Rob Shannon (guitar/percussion), Veren Grigorov (violin), Tom Wade (bass) and Calvin Welch (drums).

Rob Shannon:
From a farm in western NSW, Rob set up his first drum kit in the shearing shed. He became interested in Eastern music and studied tabla in New Delhi for eight years with his Guru, Shree Gladwin Charles, and began a lifelong love affair with Hindustani Classical Music. He performed with local world ensembles NAC (New Acoustic Collective), Trio Roshani, Ju Ju (Melbourne based Indo Fusion band) and Heval (Sydney based Indo fusion). Rob plays various styles of jazz, and is a fan of the great Django Reinhardt. For 4 years he led the band The Straight Back Fellows, featuring jazz artists such as George Washingmachine, Ben Jones, John Morrison, Brad Childs, John Blenkhorn, Nigel and Ian Date.

Veren Grigorov:
Veren began his musical adventure at the age of three; his natural dedication to the violin prompted a life of passionate devotion to his instrument and musical frontiers. The Bulgarian born, award-winning violinist/composer immigrated to Australia in 1980. His colourful musical journey has provided rich experiences in orchestral and ensemble, theatre, opera, circus and solo work. Veren has previously played with FourPlay String Quartet, toured with INXS, is a member of KUSH and is in demand as a composer for film and television soundtracks. In 2013 Veren was given the great honour of performing a live violin solo at TEDx Sydney at the Opera House.

Tom Wade:
A founding member of “garage jazz” band The Cooking Club and gypsy-dub party band The Midnight Tea Party, Thomas Wade has been very active on the Sydney music scene since moving from his hometown Nowra to study with Craig Scott at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Thomas tours with acclaimed bluegrass band The Pigs and has recently recorded with the Shenzo Gregorio/Nigel Date band. The 2016 concert season has proved to be a particularly exciting time for Thomas, with the second album of The Midnight Tea Party launched, continuing classical study with Alex Henery and Kees Boersma of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and best of all - recording and touring with Arabesk!

Calvin Welch:
In 2016, Arabesk released their third album MrFi and 2 tracks from that recording won First and Fourth place at the Australian Songwriters Association Awards in November 2017. They are also in the final 16, Instrumental section, of the largest songwriting competition in the world (ISC), The 2018 International Songwriting Competition.

". . . Eastern European, Afro-Cuban and Arabic musical traditions converge into a modern day celebration of jazz-driven global grooves"