Sirocco - The Breath of Time

Heres another band you most likely haven't heard of, I saw them play
many times, I seem to remember mostly at the Maleny folk festival.
Sirocco are one of the best world music bands this country ever
produced. Truly a joy to watch and listen to. Below is a bio I found
on the web.

Sirocco was formed in 1980 by Guy Madigan, Bill O’Toole
and Andrew De Teliga.
Since then, Sirocco has developed its own unique blend
of music which combines Celtic, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
and South American music with that of Australia’s Aboriginal
and Anglo-Irish heritage.
Members of the group play over thirty different musical instruments
including the Arabic ud, bagpipes, bodhran, bombard, didgeridoo,
electric guitar, flute, Greek bouzouki, hammered dulcimer,
medieval shawm, seedpods, and Turkish baglama.
They also make many of the instruments that they play from Australian timbers.
All of these instruments reflect the diverse influences which
make up Australia’s rich musical background which has developed
through its increasing multicultural society.
Sirroco has toured many overseas countries as cultural ambassadors
for Australia. It was the first Australian band to tour both Russia and China
and it also played in India and other places in Asia and America.
Its performances have included: the Seoul Olympic Arts Festival,
1988, Houston Festival (USA), 1988, Kawaguchi World Festival Fusion,
Japan, 1992, and the Vientiane Theatre, Laos, 1995.
The group has played extensively throughout Australia in concerts for
Musica Viva Australia and also works in schools for the New South Wales
Department of Education, giving concerts and workshops which show
the diversity of music and instruments found in Australia today.


This album is a wonderful journey, a Middle Eastern , Turkish
inspired journey.
I once saw this band at a small Folk festival out from a
Place called Toowoomba,
about 2hrs drive west from Brisbane.
It was about 45mins out again so it was out in the sticks.
Sirocco were the head line band, but We had gone to see
some friends play in a wonderful Latin band Gaviota.
In a performance I'll never forget,
at the hight of an electrical storm the power failed completely.
The band, which I'll add had a lot of electronic gear, samplers
and the like, didn't miss a beat.
Being percussion masters they kept playing and rounded
everyone into a circle for a middle eastern type dance,
by gas light, which had replaced the torches by now.
I don't think there was anyone who wasn't impressed.
These albums are very hard to find now,
I wish I had bought more stuff back then.

Download Here