“a convincing Melbourne trio… with plenty of interplay and improvisation” | Doug Spencer, ABC Radio National, The Weekend Planet
“Cygnet festival director Steve Gadd, who named … Camoon (now Alwan) … as this year’s best acts” | Hobart Mercury, January 11, 2010
Personnel
Alwan (Arabic: colours) with
Yuval Ashkar (Israeli oud player/ singer/ percussionist)
Phil Carroll (accordion, ney flute, duduk, vocals, ex-“Yalla” )
Matt Stonehouse (percussion)play sublime Turkish, Arabic and Israeli music.
Download Alwan CD
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About the band
Yuval Ashkar trained with oud master Yair Dalal and has performed with sublime Ladino singer Yasmin Levi. He moved to Australia 16 years ago .Yuval has played in many festivals arround Australia with great musicians including Cleis Pearce, Greg Sheehan, Tunji Beier, Kurdish Earth and more.
Phil Carroll studied ney in Egypt and lived in Turkey where he studied ney and worked as a musician in weddings, cafes and sufi ceremonies. He was leader of the Melbourne middle-eastern band Yalla! for 10 years , who played festivals in every Australian state.
Matt Stonehouse (The Reefers, Unified Gecko, Fingers of Fury) has worked extensively throughout Melbourne to great acclaim in a variety of percussive styles . He studied drumming overseas in Turkey and Iran and travelled through the middle-east directing the feature length film ‘The Rhythmic East.’
Performances have included: The National Folk Fest ACT , Cygnet Fest TAS, Blue Mountains fest, Yackandandah fest, Mullumbimby Fest, Viva Victoria Multicultural Fest , Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Globe to Globe fest, support for Mercan Dede at Vic Arts Centre, Melbourne Food and Wine Fest, Taste of Melbourne fest, Vic Market Night Market, Camelot(Sydney), residencies at Claypots St Kilda and Maha restaurant and other events. Montsalvat Festival 2022, The Open Space Abbotsford, Ottoman Fest with Latitude 39 in Hobart and Melbourne, Victoria Premiers Ball 2023, Led Zepplin Unledded with Arabic orchestra Australia tour 2024.
Their version of Foug el Nakhal was performed on the feature film “Ali’s Wedding”.
What people are saying…
“I really love the CD – some excellent sets.” Malcolm Fielding , indie-cds.com
“absolutely relaxing, beautiful music” Gabriele Urban, Trans Europa Express, 3PBS-FM
“a great CD” Mike Glover, Border Crossings, 3PBS-FM
“I approached with skepticism but I think its great. You’ve put a real bluesy feel to this music.” Richard Field, Local and Live, 3CR radio.
“what a lovely surprise to get your new CD Alwan. I have just finished listening to it, and am still bobbing my head and smiling.” Lindsay Coker, 3MBS-FM
“The CD is so beautiful…” Brahim Benhim , Music Sans Frontieres, 3CR radio.
“fantastic gig at the Boite last Saturday night with Alwan.” Damien O’keefe. Across the Planet. 3mbs-fm.
“What a beautiful band. Its a totally beautiful CD. It’s old world. There’s not one track that shouldn’t be there”. Kavisha Mazella, ARIA award winning singer.
It was such a pleasure to have you play at our wedding. We had so many people ask us about your band. Genevieve & Karim
Corporate functions
Alwan also work with dancers for corporate functions and events:
Alwan with with Underbelly at Crown 2011
Buy our Cd on Amazon
or from Readings Carlton