New Global Ensemble

DEBUT RELEASE "Dream Walking" New Global Ensemble
Benjamin Boone (US)
Stefan Poetzsch (D)
Aaron Bebe Sukura (GH)
Baffour Awuah Kyeremateng (GH)
Óscar Mascareñas (MX/IE)
Anthony Monahan (IE)

"Dream Walking" combines the talents of six musicians from the United States, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, and Ireland into a cohesive whole. Saxophonist Benjamin Boone and violinist/violist Stefan Poetzsch, who have collaborated as a duo for over 30 years, surrender any need for primacy to the overall goal: creating fascinating and uplifting soundscapes with a surprising collection of instruments that includes gyil (marimba), mbira, prempensua (two different lammellophones), asalato (two shakers connected by a string), live electronics, voice, electric guitar, and many others.
This mélange of electronic and electric and acoustic has the effect of both grounding the album here on Earth and sending it soaring into the stars, or even into dreams. The entire album is intended to be heard as a multi-movement composition. “Each track has a story and feeling that naturally flows into the next. Sounds from different times and traditions all mix from one track to the other, and also blend within tracks. For example, Óscar Mascareñas' singing is sonically like Irish chant music, or even the sound of Baroque singing, and we recontextualize it by having him sing over modern sounds like pulsating processed guitar loops, processed violin, and jazz-influenced saxophone,” says Poetzsch.
Yes, the album plumbs emotional depths and carries the listener skyward, but much of it is also ebullient and rhythmic and, well, fun to listen to. To paraphrase American poet Walt Whitman, Dream Walking is large, it contains multitudes. And as much as introspection and inspiration are key to the human experience, so are laughter and dancing and communal joy. And all of those are here. The proof is in the pudding, or the soda bread, or the brukina, or the flan: Dream Walking is an important album for both musicians and listeners alike. ~Jason Crane, Benjamin Boone, Stefan Poetzsch

New Global Ensemble is a music group with members from Accra, US, Ireland and Germany.

New. Global. Ensemble.
Each describes the philosophical underpinnings of The New Global Ensemble.
Our music is "New" in that it is fresh and fits into no standard category.
We are "Global" in that we think broadly and explore the intersections between traditional and art music of Africa, Europe, and the United States in a culturally sensitive manner.
And we embody an “Ensemble” – a group of equal partners, united in pursuit of a common purpose: to redefine cultural and musical boundaries through dialogue, equal partnership, sonic experimentation, and co-composition.
In doing so, we hope to model the concept of peace through mutual cooperation and music making. (B.Bonne)