Monsieur Camembert
Encyclopedia
Monsieur Camembert is a five-piece Gypsy fusion band formed in Sydney
, Australia in 1999. They have won three ARIA Music Awards
for Best World Music Album in 2002
for Live on Stage
(released in 2001), in 2003
for Absynthe
and in 2005
for Monsieur Camembert
. The linguistic repertoire of Monsieur Camembert's music includes English
, Russian
, Hebrew
and Yiddish.
, Australia in 1999. Their first album, was the live
release The Gypsy Hot Club Presents Monsieur Camembert
, which featured Svetlana Bunic on accordion
, Julian Curwin on lead guitar
, Yaron Hallis on vocals and rhythm guitar
, Michael Lira on double bass
and Daniel Weltlinger on violin
and was recorded at The Gypsy Hot Club. Released in 1999, it is also titled, Live @ The Basement and demonstrated their styles including Gypsy swing
, Greek
, Hungarian-Russian gypsy, klezmer
, tango
and original songs.
Their second album was also a live performance, Live on Stage
which was released on 11 September 2001. Performing on the album were Mark Atkins on didgeridoo
, Eddie Bronson on percussion
, Bunic, Curwin, Shenton Gregory on violin, Hallis and Mark Szeto on bass.
They have won three ARIA Music Awards
for Best World Music Album (2002
, 2003
, 2005
). The linguistic repertoire of Monsieur Camembert's music includes English
, Russian
, Hebrew
and Yiddish.
Guest artists including:
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia in 1999. They have won three ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
for Best World Music Album in 2002
ARIA Music Awards of 2002
The 16th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 15 October 2002 at the Sydney SuperDome.-ARIA Awards:...
for Live on Stage
Live on Stage (Monsieur Camembert album)
Live on Stage is the second album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in 2001, it won the 2002 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album...
(released in 2001), in 2003
ARIA Music Awards of 2003
The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome.-ARIA Awards:*Album of the Year**Powderfinger – Vulture Street...
for Absynthe
Absynthe (album)
Absynthe is the third album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in June 2003, it won the 2003 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.-Track listing:*All arrangements by Monsieur Camembert....
and in 2005
ARIA Music Awards of 2005
The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the previous year's innovation of televising the awards on Sunday evening...
for Monsieur Camembert
Monsieur Camembert (album)
Monsieur Camembert is the fourth album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in March 2005, it won the 2005 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.-Disc one:#"Fiddler Feidman Medley"...
. The linguistic repertoire of Monsieur Camembert's music includes English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Yiddish.
History
Monsieur Camembert formed as a five-piece Gypsy fusion band in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia in 1999. Their first album, was the live
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
release The Gypsy Hot Club Presents Monsieur Camembert
Live @ The Basement
Live @ The Basement is the debut album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert.-Track listing:#"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"#"Tchavola Swing"#"Sirba"#"Cliches"#"Tziganskaia"#"Erev Shel Shoshanim/Yiddish Medley"#"Swing-A-Ling"...
, which featured Svetlana Bunic on accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, Julian Curwin on lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, Yaron Hallis on vocals and rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, Michael Lira on double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and Daniel Weltlinger on violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and was recorded at The Gypsy Hot Club. Released in 1999, it is also titled, Live @ The Basement and demonstrated their styles including Gypsy swing
Gypsy jazz
Gypsy jazz is an idiom often said to have been started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively, "manouche jazz," even in English language sources...
, Greek
Music of Greece
The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music, with more eastern sounds...
, Hungarian-Russian gypsy, klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
, tango
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
and original songs.
Their second album was also a live performance, Live on Stage
Live on Stage (Monsieur Camembert album)
Live on Stage is the second album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in 2001, it won the 2002 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album...
which was released on 11 September 2001. Performing on the album were Mark Atkins on didgeridoo
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
, Eddie Bronson on percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, Bunic, Curwin, Shenton Gregory on violin, Hallis and Mark Szeto on bass.
They have won three ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
for Best World Music Album (2002
ARIA Music Awards of 2002
The 16th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 15 October 2002 at the Sydney SuperDome.-ARIA Awards:...
, 2003
ARIA Music Awards of 2003
The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome.-ARIA Awards:*Album of the Year**Powderfinger – Vulture Street...
, 2005
ARIA Music Awards of 2005
The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the previous year's innovation of televising the awards on Sunday evening...
). The linguistic repertoire of Monsieur Camembert's music includes English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Yiddish.
Band members
As of 2009:- Yaron Hallis (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar)
- Matt Ottignon/Edouard Bronson (Saxes/Clarinet/Flute)
- Marcello MaioMarcello MaioMarcello Maio is an Australian jazz pianist and composer. A student at Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 2003, Maio was the accordion player on the television variety show In Siberia Tonight , during which he communicated with the host through his instrument...
(Accordion/Piano) - Julian Curwin (Lead Guitar)
- Mark HarrisMark HarrisMark Harris may refer to:*Mark Harris , Welsh professional bodybuilder*Mark Harris , American writer of the baseball novel Bang the Drum Slowly*Mark Harris English association football player...
(Double Bass/Vocals)
Guest artists including:
- Shenzo Gregorio (Violin)
- Vladimir Khusid (Trumpet/Flugelhorn)
- Anatoli Torjinski (5 String Cello/Balalaika)
- Daniel Weltlinger (Violin)
- Svetlana Bunic (Accordion)
- Jim Pennell (Lead Guitar)
- Stuart Vandegraaf (Saxes/Clarinet/Flute)
Discography
- Live @ The BasementLive @ The BasementLive @ The Basement is the debut album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert.-Track listing:#"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"#"Tchavola Swing"#"Sirba"#"Cliches"#"Tziganskaia"#"Erev Shel Shoshanim/Yiddish Medley"#"Swing-A-Ling"...
(1999) - Live on StageLive on Stage (Monsieur Camembert album)Live on Stage is the second album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in 2001, it won the 2002 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album...
(11 September 2001) - Winner of 2002 ARIA AwardARIA Music Awards of 2002The 16th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 15 October 2002 at the Sydney SuperDome.-ARIA Awards:...
for Best World Music Album - AbsyntheAbsynthe (album)Absynthe is the third album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in June 2003, it won the 2003 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.-Track listing:*All arrangements by Monsieur Camembert....
(2003) - Winner of 2003 ARIA AwardARIA Music Awards of 2003The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome.-ARIA Awards:*Album of the Year**Powderfinger – Vulture Street...
for Best World Music Album - Monsieur CamembertMonsieur Camembert (album)Monsieur Camembert is the fourth album from Australian Gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. Released in March 2005, it won the 2005 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.-Disc one:#"Fiddler Feidman Medley"...
(March 2005) - Winner of 2005 ARIA AwardARIA Music Awards of 2005The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the previous year's innovation of televising the awards on Sunday evening...
for Best World Music Album - Famous Blue Cheese - the Leonard Cohen Show (20 June 2007) - 2CD set