Audio Samples (mp3)
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Sikhara exists in a constant state of motion, claiming no land as home. This rotating members project, lead by Scott Nydegger was co-founded by drummer Sam Lohman and synth player Paul Beauchamp in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1999. Since then, Sikhara have gone on to perform over 200 concerts in the USA, Europe and Japan. Utilizing both machinery and acoustic elements, Sikhara creates a disturbed enviroment of ritualistic sound. Manipulated sources of primitive voices are collaged into a hypnotic new language, which melds instinctively with animalistic tribal percussion. Numerous Sikhara releases are available on cd and vinyl, but from conception, it is foremost a live band. On stage, Sikhara manifests itself in a trance induced mayhem, blurring the lines between the music and the audience. Having given concerts in a variety of conventional venues such as clubs theaters and galleries, a constant theme of Sikhara is to seek out somehow extraordinary locales. Amongst the examples of these events are: Directly next door to the police station in the bustling Taxim district of Istanbul, Turkey, deep within the tunnels of a Polish coal mine, an abandoned metro passage underneath the city of Linz, Austria, and within the 1400 year old Zenjouki Temple near Kobe, Japan. For this session, they were joined by the master monk of the temple, who was born 55 years earlier in the same room. Sikhara's growing work with non-profit and cultural organizations has opened the opportunity to gain an audience outside the realm of night-life concert goers. Sikhara have appeared on multiple events of Slovenia's DMRK collective, Portland's 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts and in city funded venues such as Lisbon, Portugal's Fiera do Livro, Bratislava, Slovakia's Dubravka an the Palais de Tokyo inside the Paris Museum of Modern Art. In the coming months, Sikhara will expand the scope of their travel, to include yet unvisited countries and regions.
Scott Nydegger
In addition to his work with Sikhara, Scott Nydegger occupies himself with
a wide variety of activity, having toured with such acts as Steve Mackay's
Radon Ensemble (a rotating band for which Nydegger serves as a musical
director) Damo Suzuki's Network, Mecanosphere, Master Musicians of Hop-Frog
and Temple of Bon Matin. These numerous collaborations have been documented
by such labels as Bar La Muerte (Italy) Chrome Peeler (New York) Samboat
(France) and Bulb (USA). Other live efforts include soundtracking for both
film and stage and conducting La Orchestra du Lingua for the 2003 Enteractive
Language festival in Portland.
In the studio he has worked as an engineer, producer and guest musician including
projects such as Steve Mackay's Michigan and Arcturus, USA is a Monster's Weedblood,
and currently producing a series of releases in co-operation with the Fonoteca
Municpal Lisboa.
Paul Beauchamp
Though Sikhara co-founder Paul Beauchamp took part in nearly all of the band's
first tours and appears on all releases to this date, he has minimalized
his participation in recent months due to a relocation to Italy. Still
highly essential in the core of Sikhara, his defection from the US has
opened opportunities for expanding his own range of action including his
position in Torino's OFF studio and the formation of the thematic ambient
project Gullinkambi.
-past and recurring Sikhara percusionists-
Sam Lohman (most
consistent participant and co-founder, see 36 section for profile)
Jason LaFarge (Pineal Ventana, Seizure's Palace)
Jason Waugamen (Obe Skupla, Moe! Kestra)
Noah Mickens (Nequaquam Vacuum)
Tyler Armstrong (Nequaquam Vacuum)
Sasha Drumure (Samadi)
Bruno Dorella (oVo, Ronin)
Il Bue (Larsen)
Yann Geoffriaud (George Bitch Jr)
TZII (Night on Earth)
Gustavo Costa (Stealing Orchestra, Genocide)
Jonathan (Soopa)
