Bret H. Hart - "NC maverick outsider artist"

Ken Hyder (dungur shaman drums, voice) began his recording career thirty years ago with Talisker, a pioneering band which fused his home-boy traditional Scottish music with avant garde jazz. Gradually the specific jazz element decreased and his music expanded to take in other Celtic musics, South American and South African forms, and two spirit genres - Tibetan Buddhist, and shamanic musics. He played drums with the Bardo State Orchestra which recorded and toured Europe with Tibetan monks. He's also played with and studied shamanic music with shamans in Siberia - principally in Tuva. He has made over two dozen albums with a range of jazz, folk and avant-garde musicians. "Ken Hyder's drumming always appears connected to the world beyond narrow musical concerns. It comes with a context, picking up on place, the past, people met and local practices. At the same time he favours strong, well-defined musical statements, entirely free from ornamental excess and fuss." - Julian Cowley, The Wire He has worked with and recorded with many musicians, including Elton Dean, Chris Biscoe, Tim Hodgkinson, Paul Rogers, Maggie Nicols, Don Paterson and Frankie Armstrong.
=========================================== Ken Hyder and Bret Hart - Duets Volume 1
"...the Hyder/Hart team are at a zenith stage on this CD! Actually, if mem'ry serves me correctly, I don't think I've heard Bret improvising against a percussionist all that frequently... but this guy Ken is a killah...There are some reviewers who tend to write this kind of experimentation up as something that "anybody with a washboard & a guitar" coulld do... & while that may be true (in one sense), it is pure balderdash with music like this duo is playing...anyone with even a dollop of adventure in their blood will fall in love with this beautifully odd CD... I did... enough so that it gets our MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating!" - Rotcod Zzaj Improvijazzation Nation # 59

Ken Hyder + Bret Hart - "Duets Volume One"
Bret really scored with this duet with Scottish drummer and Tuvan throat singer Ken Hyder. I'd never heard of Hyder before Bret enthused about him, but cruising his web site it's clear he's had an interesting and varied career. In addition to performing and traveling all over the world, he has collaborated with such luminaries as Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow), Elton Dean (Soft Machine), Nick Evans, Phil Minton, and many others. Bret's free-improv works are often heavy on the percussives so having an actual drummer participating is a treat. One of my favorite tracks is the spacey tribal free-jazz "Paltry Origin", with its steady drumming, playful piano, spacey efx, and whining howls. And I'm guessing the efx'd chanting is Hyder doing the throat singing thing. More of this singing style (along with some traditional Celtic song) can be heard on the 14 minute "Eurasian Chassis", which is a symphony of drum and percussion workouts. Another highlight is "Sibi Drone", which is not quite like the drone in the title would suggest. Hyder lays down some free-wheelin drumming while Bret conjures up some cool string manipulated sounds, all against a drifting wall of atmospherics and sedate background drones. An interesting set. There's a wealth of information at Ken Hyder's web site at: http://www.hyder.demon.co.uk.
Be sure and read the account of his trip to Siberia with Tim Hodgkinson. [J.Kranitz/Aural-Innovations]