For 3 weeks in November, Saturday mornings at Gandharva Loka will be transformed into a small world music academy with Paj. Come and pick up new skills from different parts of the globe. All levels and instruments welcome!

After the success of previous African guitar workshops I have decided to devise a shorter, concise and more affordable set of courses for a wider range of students interested in global music.

Each class is an hour long and, and students can drop in for individual workshops at €15 or for a discounted 3-class day pass for €35.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2424797884455963/

Full 3 weeks signup deal is €100 (eventbrite link below), that's 9 hours of global music goodness. Spaces are limited so reservation is recommended.

Course description:

1) 10.30am - Indian Solfege

We will explore the fundamentals of indian rhythmic solfege, an old system of understanding rhythms through syllables Ta-Ka-Di-Mi. Just like our Do-Re-Mi, the system allows us to develop simple rhythms that seem advanced through the eyes of western notation. This is such a useful tool for all styles and instruments.

2) 11.45 - African Guitar styles & rhythms

African guitar is vast and varied and we will briefly cover West Africa (Mali), central (Congolese Soukous) and East styles (Tanzania). Acoustic guitars are best for this workshop, but if you are a percussionist/bass player/lead instrument/vocalist you are most welcome as we can make a small ensemble. We will learn how phrasing is approached, how patterns are built, and how to make our own phrases.

3) Brazilian guitar & rhythms

In this workshop we will explore rhythms from Bossa Nova, Samba & MPB. Taking a look at Salvador & Rio de Janeiro we will learn the most important clave rhythms and how they work on a solo instrument and in a group. We will learn how the music evolved and how to sing and play some classic Brazilian repertoire.

contact: [email protected] / 087-9706491

Classes payable by card/ revolut /cash

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Paj (Paddy Groenland) is a colourful singer & producer with years of collaborative experience alongside soul/RnB/trad/world music acts like Loah, Fehdah, Ensemble Eriu (Award winning trad group, collaborators with Martin Hayes of The Gloaming), Rob deBoer & Manden Express.

Paddy studied jazz improvisation & performance at Berklee College of Music in 2010 and has a Masters in global Music & Pedagogy from the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland. During this time he travelled to Brazil twice & spent 2 months in Mali, West Africa, studying local music.

"As a musician with Ensemble Eriu, RiZa and Feather, Groenland is no stranger to global sounds and new ways of using them. The lead track on his new Nativism EP (“a reference to the current global struggle for identity and ownership”), is a beautiful guitar piece that has an African, jazz, blues and folk in its DNA." - Nialler 9

"A colourful feast of entrancing sound and melody" - Evening Herald

Listen to Paddy's solo guitar album from 2016 here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0qHH8Z2k1dwzow3XLzS6wo

Paj's latest release (2019) https://open.spotify.com/album/2CdFbIcNoAnn2bLjHhtfXu