The River ETHEL & Robert Mirabal

• 1An Kha Na05:13
• 2Tuvan Ride04:25
• 3Skywatchers03:55
• 4Chant06:18
• 5Peace Calls05:40
• 6Clean Dirge, Dirty Dirge02:38
• 7Run For Rain03:41
• 8Rana Run03:22
• 9Tsintskaro Memory03:17
• 10In the Eyes of E04:09
• 11Jay-Red04:46
• 12Marshmallow Experiment Fails00:24
• 13Wi-wa02:08
• 14Tsoma03:25
• 15Gatte06:57
• Total Runtime01:00:18

Info for The River

This release is a celebration of the successful relationship between ETHEL and Native American musician, instrument builder, and Grammy Award-winner, Robert Mirabal. The River is a live performance, which immerses the listener in a seamless flow of music, narrative, and ritual. Ethel and Mirabal created this program exclusively for this recording, calling upon traditional Native American traditions and exploring the bounds of contemporary artistry. ETHEL, which was founded in New York City in 1998, earned a reputation for being one of Americas most adventurous string quartets. They quickly immersed themselves in the culture of young artists who blended together conservatory musicianship with boundary pushing, genre-bending compositions. Robert Mirabal is a best-selling artist, and in addition to the instruments he builds and the music he composes, he is an accomplished painter, playwright, and poet. In addition to three Grammy awards, he has also received a National Endowment for the Arts Award.

One of America’s most adventurous string quartets, ETHEL blends uptown, conservatory musicianship with downtown genre-crossing, playing with the intensity of a rock band. In this cross-cultural collaboration with Robert Mirabal, Native American musician, instrument builder and three time Grammy Award winner, they evoke the magic and majestry of The River. Inspired by water as the embodiment of spirit, the audience is immersed in a flow of music, narrative, and ritual that evokes timeless Native American traditions through contemporary musical artistry. As delivered by these master performers, the effect is breathtaking, even ecstatic.

“Vital and brilliant” (The New Yorker)

Ralph Farris, viola, voice, kalimba, shaker
Kip Jones, violin, low-strung violin, voice, mandolin, shaker, drum
Corin Lee, violin, voice, shaker
Dorothy Lawson, cello, voice, shaker
Robert Mirabal, voice, flutes, didgeridoo, shaker, drum
Aspen Mirabal, voices (on tracks 1, 5, 13)
Kona Mirabal, voices (on tracks 1, 5, 13)
Masa Mirabal, voices (on tracks 1, 5, 13)

ETHEL
Established in New York City in 1998, ETHEL quickly earned a reputation as one of America's most adventurous string quartets - heirs to the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Soldier String Quartet, and part of a generation of young artists blending uptown, conservatory musicianship with downtown genre-crossing - by playing with the intensity and accoutrements of a rock band. The New York Times has described them as "indefatigable and eclectic," and The New Yorker has deemed them "vital and brilliant." Nearly two decades into their singular career, ETHEL has in turn become seminal in its own right, a path-breaker for countless younger genre-spanning ensembles, and a prolific commissioner of new music.

At the heart of ETHEL is a collaborative ethos - a quest for a common creative expression that is forged in the celebration of community. In addition to premiering 21st century works by a broad range of groundbreaking composers, the quartet creates and tours rich, often multimedia, productions in which community engagement is a key element. ETHEL is currently touring the evening-length ETHEL's Documerica, inspired by the tens of thousands of images shot as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's decade-long Project Documerica. Launched in 1971, the initiative commissioned photographers across America to document the state of the environment and its impact on society. Directed by OBIE Aware-winner Steve Cossin, with projection design by Deborah Johnson, ETHEL's Documerica features new work by ETHEL members and music the quartet commissioned from other uniquely American artists. The quartet released a Documerica album in 2015. Other current evening-length programs include The River, a collaboration with Taos Pueblo flutist Robert Mirabal (album to be released June 2016), the introspective Grace, featuring ETHEL's arrangements of music by Ennio Morricone and Jeff Buckley, and Blue Dress, which pays special homage to women making their musical mark on the 21st century.

ETHEL has collaborated with artists including David Byrne, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kaki King, Todd Rundgren, Carlo Mombelli, Ursula Oppens, Juana Molina, Tom Verlaine, STEW, Ensemble Modern, Jill Sobule, Dean Osborne, Robert Mirabal, Howard Levy, Simone Sou, Andrew Bird, Iva Bittova, Colin Currie, Thomas Dolby, Jeff Peterson, Oleg Fateev, Stephen Gosling, Jake Shimabukuro, Polygraph Lounge and Vijay Iyer.

The quartet regularly performs works by all of the members of the ensemble, along musib by Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe, Phil Kline, David Lang, Dan Friel, Mary Ellen Childs, John King, Raz Mesinai, John Zorn, Missy Mazzoli, Anna Clyne, Steve Reich, Kenji Bunch, Don Byron, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Marcelo Zarvos, Pamela Z, Evan Ziporyn and Terry Riley. Over the past five years, ETHEL has premiered 150+ new works, many of them commissioned by the quartet.

ETHEL is the Resident Ensemble at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Balcony Bar and Ensemble-in-Residence at Denison University.

Booklet for The River