Dan Whitehouse & Max ZT

About this event

Brooklyn’s celebrated hammered dulcimer player Max ZT (House of Waters), and Black Country/Tokyo’s dark, sophisticated gem – singer/songwriter/poet Dan Whitehouse – bring interwoven spoken word with music and song. 
This transatlantic collaboration fuses multi-cultural traditions with shared beliefs in the importance of music for communication and well-being; blending haunting virtuosic instrumental, soulful song, and spoken-word in to something at once timeless and decidedly modern.

Tackling subjects as wide-ranging as fatherhood, practising golf swings as a metaphor for life, the way the Japanese sunlight bounces off buildings “like God’s graffiti”, and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Max ZT and Dan Whitehouse’s songs shimmer with restless inventiveness and draw you in with their irresistible intimacy.

The duo will perform music from their album ‘Ten Steps’ (recorded between New York City and Tokyo) as well as intriguing improvisations to create an interwoven set of spoken word, song and virtuoso instrumentation.

Max ZT is a lauded innovator, described by NPR as the “Jimi Hendrix of hammered dulcimer”. Although he takes his roots from Irish folk music, he has created complex and beautiful compositions and expanded that influence through studying in Senegal with the Cissoko griot family and to India where he studied under the santoor master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, he has put out more than ten albums, and in 2005, won the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship.
This year, Max ZT was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for his album ‘On Becoming’ with his American fusion band House of Waters.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Dan Whitehouse continues to renew, reinvent and reimagine – touching listeners with his observations and moving them with his sensitivity and impeccable songwriting. Across seven solo albums, he has gained a golden reputation as “a fine songwriter, a unique vocal talent, and a talented multi-instrumentalist/performer” (Maverick), whose wondrous lyrics invite you to “avert your gaze to the sky” (BBC Radio 6).

“Gorgeous… and intriguing” – The Guardian

“Both extraordinary and beautiful” – KLOF MAG

“A compelling and innovative sound” – Arts Culture Magazine

“Sublime…” – At The Barrier

Watch:
TEN STEPS 
SHIZUKA