Toronto-born Niel Golden is a talented percussionist specializing in the subtle yet powerful, tuned, paired, hand drums called tabla. Niel played guitar as a teen, hauling it along on an overland trek from Europe to India in 1972. Whetting his appetite for exotic music, he began his studies in world music and attended York University upon his return to Canada. While at York, he first studied mrdangam with Trichy Sankaran, and then tabla with Bob Becker of the world renowned percussion ensemble, Nexus. Niel received his honours B.A., specializing in ethnomusicology, and soon after became the disciple of the tabla master, Pandit Sharda Sahai, the fifth generation leader of the Benares style of playing. Pandit Sahai taught regular two month intensive summer tabla classes in Toronto throughout the 1980's and Niel spent as much time he could learning from his Guru during those months.
In 1986 he became a resident of Victoria. Diving into the vibrant music scene, he helped form the world, folk fusion trio, New Earth. Their self-titled CD took them to Seville, Spain where they represented Canada for 6 weeks at Expo '92. Moving in a new direction, 1993 saw the creation of Djole. Blending African, Indian, Western and other world music, their first CD, "Indiscretion" earned them a Juno nomination as best global recording of 1995.
Niel is a skillful and versatile performer, accompanying Indian classical music's vocal, instrumental and dance styles as well as playing tabla solos. In both 1990 and 1995 Niel returned to India to further his tabla studies receiving a Shastri Indo-Canadian grant to do so. He has also collaborated with many Canadian and International artists, including composer Robert Rosen, Kokoro dance, Joseph "Pepe" Danza, Celso Machado, Harry Manx, Andre Thibault, Daniel Lapp, The Gettin' Higher Choir, Xavier Rudd, Rhiannon, Gina Sala and Sal Ferreras to name a few. Working with composer and orchestra director Moshe Denburg for the past 16 years, Niel is a member of his Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra. The orchestra performed as part of the 2000 , 2001 & 2002 West Coast Sacred Music festival finales and for the Dalai Lama at the Celebration of Peace concert in 2004.
Recently, Niel has played with slide guitar, blues performer, Harry Manx and appears on his Juno nominated CDs "West Eats Meet" and "Mantras for Madmen". He has also been part of "Mystic Journey" evenings in Victoria which feature improvised, world music along with the poems of Rumi and Hafiz. In August of 2003, Niel also had the experience of performing with and being the co-presenter with Russill Paul at Hollyhock on Cortes Island and in Vancouver. Niel began 2005 playing at the Festival au Desert near Timbuktu, Mali with the Ottawa based Indo-folk roup, Galitcha. Throughout the last several years, Niel performed regularly with Harry Manx at concerts and festivals across Canada. He has also had the recent opportunity of recording and performing with Xavier Rudd and appears on his CD "Food in the Belly". Niel has recently formed a new world music trio with Ken Hall and Enrique Rivas known as SAFFRON. Watch for Niel's new release "It's a Journey". It's his first CD and it has many guest artists including Harry Manx and George Koller,
NIEL GOLDEN It's a Journey
Inter-Cultural World Acoustic Music,
Western Canadian Music Award Nominee, Oustanding World Recording 2008
Niel Golden's first solo CD release can best be described as music without borders. It's an eclectic instrumental journey through world musical cultures as diverse as Indian, African, Latin and the Blues. Niel is an accomplished musician specializing in playing the tabla (drums of North India). On this new CD he also plays guitar, all of the percussion instruments and vocalizes! Many of his original compositions feature the hang (hung), a hand played, melodic steel drum invented in Switzerland in the year 2000.
Upon becoming a resident of Victoria, BC in 1986, Niel helped form the
world, folk fusion trio, New Earth. Their self-titled CD took them to
Seville, Spain where they represented Canada at Expo '92. His desire to explore a new musical direction was instrumental in the creation of the band Djole, a blend of African, Indian, Western and other world music. Their first CD, 'Indiscretion' earned them a Juno nomination in 1995.
Niel has recorded and toured in the last few years with the acoustic
blues/roots artist, Harry Manx, and is featured on his Juno nominated CDs
"West Eats Meet" and "Mantras for Madmen". He also appears on Xavier Rudd's
recent release "Food in the Belly" and Jaime RT's "Spark" and "Reach".
Niel is a member of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra and had the
opportunity to play his Tabla Concerto "Kusumamaya" with professor Trichy Sankaran at the orchestra's "Imagined Worlds" concert in Vancouver in November of 2007. He also performed for and met the Dalai Lama at the "Celebration of Peace" concert in 2004. Over the past ten years, Niel has played at many of the major summer music festivals across Canada including those in Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Mariposa, Montreal and Ottawa. He began 2005 at the Festival au Desert near Timbuktu, Mali with the Ottawa based Indo-folk group, Galitcha.
‘It's a Journey" is an auditory adventure in instrumental world acoustic music. Niel's first solo release contains nine original compositions and three of his arrangements and was just nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding World Recording 2008. It was co-produced with Wynn Gogol (Sarah Marreiros and Sarah Metzner). Some of the guests featured are Harry Manx, renowned bassist George Koller, Steve Marriner, Jaime RT, Ken Hall and members of Djole.
DISCOGRAPHY
Niel Golden, It's a Journey, (WCMA nominated)
Jaime RT, Spark
Blue Klezmer Moon, Blue Klezmer Moon
Harry Manx, Mantras for Madmen (Juno nominated)
Xavier Rudd, Food in the Belly
Jaime RT, Reach
Paul O'Brien, Sacred Lines
Harry Manx, West Eats Meet (Juno nominated)
A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot, Beautiful
Echoes of the Infinite, Volume 2, Instrumental Bhajan Impressions
Daniel Lapp Fiddleharmonic, Live and Kickin'
Djole, Saltwater
Djole, Indiscretion (Juno nominated)
New Earth, World Music from Canada's West Coast