Each year, International Guitar Night's founder Brian Gore invites a new cast of guitar luminaries from around the world for special concert tours of North America highlighting the diversity of the acoustic guitar.
We are proud to celebrate our 20th year of touring the U.S. For our special Anniversary Tour, Brian has put together his most eclectic lineup yet: Guest host Mike Dawes (England) and his incredible two-hand contemporary style is joined by exotic fretless guitarist Cenk Erdogan from Turkey; electrifying jazz virtuoso Olli Soikkeli from Finland and Hawaiian Slack Key master Jim Kimo West.
Mike Dawes is an English guitar player known for composing, arranging
and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument using
unique extended and micro-techniques. He is hailed as one of the
world's finest and most creative modern fingerstyle guitar performers.
His debut record with CandyRat Records gained strong critical acclaim
and spawned a variety world tours and singles, notably a viral virtuoso
arrangement of "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye. The lead single
on Dawes' second release ERA, an arrangement of "One" by Metallica, went
viral with over 30 million hits in its first week of release.
Dawes is also lead guitar player for Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues
featuring heavily on multiple DVD and PBS releases, notably "Spirits...Live" which debuted at #2 on the US Billboard chart.
Mike has amassed around 80 million music video views online. He was
voted the 'Best Acoustic Guitarist in the World right now' by MusicRadar & Total Guitar Magazine in a December 2017 readers poll.
Jaw-dropping’ – Guitar Player Magazine (US)
‘The Acoustic Tapping Titan’ – Total Guitar/Musicradar
'Among the best in the world. I know you're going to love him' - Justin
Hayward (The Moody Blues)
Cenk Erdogan was born in Istanbul in 1979. In 1997 he won a four-year scholarship at Istanbul Bilgi University in the Music (Composition) Department. In 2001 he graduated with First Class Honors.
In October 2004, at the invitation of David "FUZE" Fiuczynski, he held a workshop at the Berklee College of Music in Boston MA on fretless guitar and modes in Turkish music. In 2008 Cenk recorded his first album "WITH", which was produced by Sinan Sakizli for Baykus Music. The same year, with the "Aria" soundtrack company, he composed and arranged the soundtrack for the movie "Issiz Adam", which was written and directed by Çagan Irmak, and won the Yesilçam "Soundtrack of the Year 2009" prize.
In 2009 the Cenk Erdogan Trio featuring Tineke Postma played in the 16th Istanbul Jazz Festival and 19th Akbank Jazz Festival. Cenk also played with the Yinon Muallem ensemble in the "Karawane 2009" festival, organized in Bochum. Cenk recorded the album "The Chark" in 2009 with his Trio, including Nihan Devecioglu and Adam Matta, and performed at the Zaltsburg Music Fest, Bayreuth Young Artists Fest, and Bonn Summer Fest.
In 2010 Cenk played in the "Turkophony All Star" band with Trilok Gurtu and Doninique di Piazza. In 2011 he played in the "Turkophony All Star" band with Dave Weckl, Kai Eckhardt and Eric Levy. Cenk recorded his second album "Kavis" (Arc) in 2011 in San Francisco with his legendary bass player Kai Eckhardth and Jason Lewis, and this album was released and sponsored by Berkelee Jazz School Records.
In 2014 Cenk made the first educational website for fretless guitar playing, www.fretlessguitarlessons.com , and started to teach the techniques of the Turkish way of playing fretless guitar. In 2014 Cenk also released his last record "KaraKutu," on which he played solo with all acoustic guitars (fretless and fretted).
In 2016 Cenk conducted and arranged for the Orchestra of "Sezen Aksu," which is the diva of Turkish popular music. His composition "Sezenli Yillar" has been performed at 6 concerts with a 35 piece orchestra and visual and dance shows. Cenk still works as a producer, composer and arranger for television and gives concerts as a solo guitarist and with the Cenk Erdogan Trio.
In January/February 2020 Cenk will be joining the troupe of International Guitar Night for a tour of the United States and Canada.
Olli Soikkeli was born in Nurmes, Finland in 1991. Now based in New York City. He started playing guitar at age of 12. After a few years of playing Olli was introduced to the music of great Django Reinhardt and Gypsy Jazz has been Ollis main focus ever since. Soon Olli was playing in jazz clubs and festivals all around Finland. After touring all around Europe with musicians such as Paulus Schäfer and Arnoud Van Den Berg Olli decided to move to New York City in 2014. Olli has played legendary venues such as Birdland Jazz Club, Blue Note and the Lincoln Center.
Despite his young age he’s already played with stars such as Bucky Pizzarelli, Stochelo Rosenberg, Tommy Emmanuel, Andreas Öberg, Cyrille Aimee, Anat Cohen, Antti Sarpila and Marian Petrescu.
In 2011 Olli recorded his first album “Trois Générations” with Hot Club de Finlande and Vitali Imereli and in 2012 he recorded his second album “Kouvola Junction” with Paulus Schäfer and Arnoud van den Berg.
2014 Rhythm Future Quartet’s debut album was released. 2016 Rhythm Future Quartet’s second album ‘Travels’was released which received rave reviews including Best albums of 2016 by Huffington Post and All About Jazz magazines.
The Wall Street Journal wrote: “Olli Soikkeli, a riveting finnish guitarist who combines astonishing dexterity and speed with pure soul in a way that places him among the worthiest current day successors to the legacy of the great Django.”
Hawaiian "slack key” guitarist
Having never even seen Waikiki, Jim "Kimo” West came right to
Hana, Maui in 1985 and spent much of his time there for many
years. It was in Hana where he first heard the music of Gabby
Pahinui, Sons Of Hawaii, Sonny Chillingworth and Atta
Isaacs. Already familiar with alternate tunings, the sound of ki
ho’alu became his favorite "soundtrack”.
Best known as long-time guitarist for the world?s most successful
musical comedy artist, "Weird Al” Yankovic, Kimo is regarded as
one of the world’s foremost "ki ho’alu” or Hawaiian "slack key” guitar artists and his music has garnered many millions of
streams on Spotify and Pandora.
This warm and engaging fingerpicked guitar style has it’s roots in
1840’s Hawaii, when Mexican vaqueros first brought guitars to
the Big Island of Hawaii. If you saw the Oscar-winning film, "The Decendants” you have experienced this great acoustic
guitar tradition.
Kimo is a 2008 winner of the Hawaii Music Awards and three-
time Na Hoku Hanohano (the Hawaiian ‘Grammy’) nominee. He is also a two-time winner of the LA Treasures Award for his
efforts in keeping this important acoustic guitar tradition alive. For
his work with "Weird Al”, he has earned four Grammy’s and a
Billboard #1 CD debut for 2015’s "Mandatory Fun”.
He is a veteran of Hawaii’s famed slack key festivals as well as
the So Cal Slack Key Festival every year from 2008 through
2018. He has shared the stage with almost all the world’s top
slack key players at one time or another.
His numerous CD's feature many original compositions as well
as inventive arrangements of the genre's classic repertoire. His
recent release, "Guitar Stories” goes beyond slack key,
exploring other genres like West African guitar, Middle Eastern
Music and Americana."Slackers In Paradise” features duets with slack and steel guitar legend, Ken Emerson and his latest CD, "Moku Maluhia-Peaceful Island” is a mix of "nahenahe” or very relaxing compositions.
Kimo has also worked as a composer for film and TV for many years and maintains a sophisticated private studio in Los Angeles. He has composed music for features films, network TV shows and specials and cable shows. His slack key compositions have been used in a number of features, TV spots, cable, web and in many documentaries.
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Back to Artist Menu
January
15 W Site TBD, Kodiak AK
16 TH Anchorage AK Donor Party
17 F Discovery Theatre, Anchorage AK
18 S Discovery Theatre, Anchorage AK
19 SU Hering Auditorium, Fairbanks AK
20 M Fairbanks workshop and Travel to Valdez
21 T Valdez Civic Center, Valdez AK
23 TH Cowichan Theatre, Duncan BC
24 F Port Theatre, Nanaimo BC
25 S Massey Theatre, New Westminster BC
26 SU University of Victoria, Victoria BC
29 W Wolf Trap Barns, Vienna VA
30 TH Wolf Trap Barns,Vienna VA
February
1 S Gordon Center, Owings Mills MD
4 T Performing Arts Center, Lone Tree CO
6 TH Fort Lewis College, Durango CO
7 F The Lensic, Santa Fe NM
8 S Flickinger Center, Alamogordo NM
10 M The Ellen, Bozeman MT
12 W Whitefish Theatre, Whitefish MT
13 TH The Myrna Loy Center, Helena MT
15 S Petro Hall, Billings MT
16 SU Warren Miller Performing Arts Center, Big Sky MT
18 T Sun Valley Center, Sun Valley ID
19 W California Center for the Arts, Escondido CA
20 TH Oshman Jewish Community Center, Palo Alto CA
21 F Bankhead Theatre, Livermore CA
23 SU Humboldt Stte University, Arcata CA
26 W The Harris Center, Folsom CA
28 F Arts Place, Portland IN
29 S Elgin Community College, Elgin IL
March
4 W Edmonds Performing Arts Center, Edmonds WA
6 F Whiteside Theatre, Corvallis OR
Herschel Freeman Agency, Inc. has established a reputation for finding innovative, traditional musicians from throughout North America and around the world.
Our roster encompasses established and emerging artists from India, Ireland, Hawaii, Guinea, France, Cuba, Italy, Scotland, Japan, Germany, Sweden and England, and an array of musicians from Canada and the United States.
