Tomchess + Kevin Nathaniel

Spiral Music presents acoustic music every Wednesday evening at the base of the Museum’s spiral staircase. Artists who specialize in music from the Himalayas and South Asia are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries.

About the Musicians

Tomchess (oud, ney) is a New York City”“based multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and composer who has played and recorded with some of the heaviest players in the improvisational scene (Dewey Redman, Butch Morris, Pharoah Sanders, Drew Gress, Ronald Shannon Jackson) as well as Moroccan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun. Having thoroughly studied Near Eastern and North African traditions, he incorporates the tonal palette, rhythms, and forms of these traditional music styles while never losing sight of his American roots and the importance and freedom of improvising. He has performed around the world and at New York City venues like Lincoln Center, the Turkish and Pakistani embassies, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the United Nations He has played on Grammy Nominated recordings, and wasawarded grants from the Turkish American Society and the Maryland Council for the Arts. In 2012 he was nominated for an Independent Music Award.

Kevin Nathaniel is a pioneer on the world music scene and one of the first musicians to introduce New York audiences to the magical sound of the mbira. He is an internationally celebrated musician in the new age, meditation, percussion, and yoga worlds. Nathaniel has composed and performed music for the film Beloved, the audio book of Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy, Ali MacGraw’s Yoga Mind and Body DVD, and countless other productions. He produces live music events weekly in New York City that encourage peace and global harmony. Kevin also serves as musician-in-residence at Omega Institute.