Fishtank Ensemble was a gypsy rock music group from Los Angeles, California, known for their unique, high-energy and virtuosic stage show that blends a wide range of styles including Balkan, Romanian, gypsy, French hot jazz, flamenco, Turkish, Greek, and a little rock 'n' roll.

Band history

Fishtank Ensemble first formed and performed together at The Fishtank in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in January 2004. They are one of many bands to be commonly associated with the California-based eclectic indie band Estradasphere. The band's premiere performances were recorded live. These recordings would become the band's debut full-length CD, '' Super Raoul'', which was released November 2005. In November 2007, Fishtank Ensemble self-released a second full-length album of material called '' Samurai Over Serbia''. On ''Samurai Over Serbia'', traditional eastern European, gypsy jazz, klezmer and original tunes are arranged to fit the ensemble’s unconventional, but imaginative sound. In recent years, the group has been performing consistently throughout the

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and Europe. In 2010, the band released their 3rd full-length CD,
Woman in Sin
'. Like the ones before this, it featured a unique and unusual blend of traditional and original music and was both self-produced and self-released. In 2021, on the band's Facebook page, it was announced that the group had disbanded.

Band bio

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' calls them "cross pollinated gypsy music ... one of the most thrilling young acts on the planet." Formed in 2005 and playing everywhere from the hippest LA clubs to festivals, cultural centers, museums, parades, and even on the street, the band includes two explosive violins, the world's best slap bass player, musical saw, flamenco and gypsy jazz guitar, trombone, opera, jazz and gypsy vocals, accordion and one little banjolele. Tackling everything from French hot jazz to wild Serbian and Transylvanian gypsy anthems, Flamenco, and oddball originals, the band is a not to be missed event for world music lovers. The dynamic, virtuosic, fiery and peripatetic quartet that comprises Fishtank Ensemble take their roots both from their own varied musical and national backgrounds, as well as from their adventures and travels. The singer Ursula sang opera on the streets and town squares of Italy, until she found a love of gypsy music ... their French violinist voyaged around all of Europe in a handmade mule-drawn caravan for ten years, collecting music and experiences. Their Serbian bass player has spent time playing with gypsies as well as some of the rock and roll's legends, and aptly defends his reputation as the best slap bass player in the world ... and the guitarist is a master of flamenco and gypsy jazz guitar who honed his craft in the gypsy caves of Granada, Spain.

Band members

Current members

* 2004 to 2021 - Fabrice Martinez;

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and violintromba. * 2004 to 2021 - Ursula Knudson;

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

, vocals,

, banjolele, percussion,

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

* 2004 to 2021 - Douglas Smolens (aka El Douje);

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

guitar. * 2007 to 2021 - Djordje Stijepovic;

Double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Past members

* 2004 to 2008 - Aaron Seeman (aka Duckmandu);

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

. * 2004 to 2007 - Kevin Kmetz;

shamisen The , also known as or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually b ...

* 2004 to 2006 - Tim Smolens; double bass (recording sessions) * 2004 to 2005 - Glenn Allen; double bass (2005 tour) * 2004 to 2005 - Adam Stacey; percussion * 2007 to 2008 - Mike Penny;

Discography

*''Fishtank at the Fishtank'' (2004) (limited release) *'' Super Raoul'' (2005) *''Fishtank Ensemble, Live at the Freight & Salvage'' (2007) DVD of live performance, includes interviews with members. *'' Samurai Over Serbia'' (2007)Yugo Crazy With a rollicking sound, Fishtank Ensemble swims upstream
/ref> *
Woman in Sin
' (2010) *
Edge of the World
' (2014)

Reviews

"The whimsical name of the group belies the fact that these musicians play hard, fast, and serious. There’s nothing fishy about them. In fact, there’s no slouching or mannered excesses, as Fishtank Ensemble comes armed, loaded and ready to serve you up a platter of intense nearly cosmic gypsy music."—Joel Okida

Notes

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control American world music groups