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Marassa Duo
James Armstrong & Nicholas Papador, percussion


The Marassa Duo brings together a wide variety of percussion styles and musical genres into a concise and unified whole. The group’s original programming provides a unique chamber setting that includes elements of traditional concert music, world music, mallet percussion, contemporary classical and jazz. The duo combines the talents of James Armstrong, a performer specializing in Afro-Cuban and West African folkloric music and Nicholas Papador, a performer specializing in marimba as well as contemporary and orchestral concert music. The result is a ground breaking and exciting chamber music that opens new musical worlds to its audiences.

AVAILABLE NOW!!
the debut CD release from MARASSA DUO

click here to order your copy

See the MARASSA DUO promo video on YouTube

Jim Armstrong and Nicholas Papador

Marassa Duo performs Songroads
The Marassa Duo performs "Songroads" at Cornell University.

The duo takes its name from the Marassa Twins, divine twins of the Haitian Vodou tradition who speak to us of twin souls that find each other lifetime after lifetime to interact as their karma dictates. Also exemplifying the belief of opposition and duality within the mortal world, the Marassa Twins constitute one of the more perplexing entities of the Haitian religion, beginning with the point that there are sometimes three of them. As anthropologist Maya Deren wrote, "In Vodoun, one and one make three." The Marassa are immensely powerful and are often interpreted as the “affirmation of cosmic unity."

The Marassa Duo is available for:
• Concerts
Clinics and masterclasses
Residencies
Send us an email for further information including current promotional material; contact Marassa Duo.

MARASSA DUO Concerts & Masterclasses
1 hour performance including repertoire from their current program.
90 minute masterclass sessions will include such topics as:
• The Marassa Duo composition process
• Incorporating traditional world percussion in the chamber music setting
• Ensemble performance practice and rehearsal technique

Specialized classes in traditional Afro-Cuban and Afro-Haitian hand drumming, marimba techniques, and composition are also available. Contact Marassa Duo for costs and availability.

News, media, and upcoming events


current tour PROGRAM

AFRICA
John Coltrane/arr. Marassa Duo
(steel drum, marimba, batá)

MARASSA I
Marassa Duo
(steel drum, marimba, vibraphone, congas)

CAFFEINE
James Armstrong
(vibraphone, marimba)

SUMMER EVENING SERENITY
James Armstrong
(vibraphone, marimba)

Reflections on the Nature of Water
J. Druckman
(NP, solo marimba)

CROSS HATCH
Toru Takemitsu
(vibraphone, marimba)

MARASSA II
Marassa Duo
(steel drum, marimba, vibraphone, congas, batá, breketé)

Songs to Obatalá
trad. Afro-Cuban

(JA, vocals/ solo batá)

SONGROADS
Nicholas Papador

(batá, marimba)

SEA JOURNEY
Chick Corea/ arr. Armstrong

(vibraphone, marimba)

 


for print music scores of MARASSA DUO material visit:
House Panther Press



View CD info and purchase your copy here

 

 

 

please take a moment and visit the sites of our sponsors:


VIC FIRTH

YAMAHA

LATIN PERCUSSION

SABIAN


Listen to these excerpts from our debut concert March 2005:

Songroads
(3 batá and 5 octave marimba)

Summer Evening Serenity
(vibraphone and 5 octave marimba)

Hermitage
(steel drum and 5 octave marimba)

Listen to these excerpts from our debut CD:

Africa

John Coltrane/ arr. Marassa Duo

(steel drum, 3 batá, and 5 octave marimba)

Marassa I
Marassa Duo

(congas, steel drum, vibraphone, 5 octave marimba)

 

watch MARASSA DUO Live in action:

on YouTube

VIC FIRTH feature

____________________________________________________

*** UpComing ***

 

 

dates currently being booked for October 2008

check back for updates

 

for info on how you can host MARASSA DUO
email us
___________________________

recent NEWS

MARASSA DUO most recently completed tour dates in Ontario and Michigan. This past August we tracked a version of MARASSA II at Wilburland studios in Newfield, NY. We hope to have a new release sometime in the near future. For details and phots visit our myspace page.

The duo was featured at the 13th Annual International Percussion Festival" in San Juan, Puerto Rico this past August.
Check out the VF write up.

Check out the June issue of PAS "Percussive Notes" and the stellar review of our debut CD
DOWNLOAD review
(pg. 90...scroll)

 

visit us on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/marassaduo

premiering "MARASSA II"
Art Gallery of Windsor, October 2006

 

Marassa Duo in San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 2006



About MARASSA DUO

Nicholas Papador is currently a special, sessional instructor of percussion at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. He completed the Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University as well as a master's degree at Indiana University where his efforts earned him the university's coveted Performer's Certificate. As a soloist, percussionist, and timpanist, he has performed in Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Canada, and throughout the United States. His most recent orchestral appointment was as principal percussionist/ assistant timpanist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. His regular orchestral appearances with regional orchestras have led to recordings on the Ludwig/Elf and RIAX labels. As a chamber and freelance musician, Papador tours and performs with the Richard Grimes Collective, Marassa Duo, Paso Fino, and he appeared with Ensemble X during the 2005 Light in Winter Festival. He was also a founding member of both the High Street Percussion Ensemble and the Tonus Percussion Group. His scores and arrangements are published by Warner Brothers Music, Alfred/Studio 4 Music, House Panther Press, and Matrix Publishing.

Nick Papador on MySpace

Nicholas Papador

James Armstrong currently teaches percussion at Elizabethtown College and is an active freelance percussionist in the Philadelphia area. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Music Performance from Bowling Green State University. He is a specialist in Haitian, Cuban, and West African folkloric drumming, and has done extensive field research and performance of this music throughout the United States and abroad. He has recorded and toured with the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble, Smallstone artists Five Horse Johnson, I-Town recording artist Paso Fino, Rising Sign (9-piece salsa band), PIONEROS del RITMO (latin jazz sextet), and many others. Mr. Armstrong is a Latin Percussion, Yamaha, Sabian, and Vic Firth artist, is the author of Vodou Drumset: Traditional Afro-Haitian Rhythms Applied to Drumset (Carl Fischer Publications), founder and president of House Panther Press, and is published through Drop6 Media.

James Armstrong on MySpace


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