Satu Jiwa Collaborative Presents: Isolate/Unite, an improvised music performance

Tasha Baron plays and composes on keyboards, trombone, flute and computers in an aspiration to get what is inside of her head outside of it for the enjoyment of others.  She grew up playing classical and jazz piano, composing free improv music, playing flute in woodwind choir, studying South African Township music and playing trombone in jazz combos and concert orchestras.  Her original music projects include Black Blondie, This Debris with Toki Wright, Sound System Sabotage and Heiruspecs.  Baron has played and recorded with artists such as Atmosphere, P.O.S./Doomtree, Michael Bland, Jef Lee Johnson, Robert Robinson and Kill the Vultures.  She debuted Dizzy Fae and composed film scores with co-producer Marc Rice and released an album “Laughing at Ghosts” with Sarah White.  Most recently she has recorded and performed with Charlie Parr and Southside Desire.  Baron loves teaching music in many contexts from private lessons to group hip hop and jazz classes.  Her vision and direction with music is all about artistic honesty, positive social change, community collaboration and pushing creative boundaries. 

Liz Draper, classically and jazz-trained versatile bassist, has performed, recorded and/or toured internationally with such groups as the Grammy Award-winning Okee Dokee Brothers, Soul Asylum, Charlie Parr, The Rose Ensemble, Ben Weaver, Orkestar Bez Ime, and Davina and the Vagabonds. A professional musician since age 16, Liz has performed in an astonishing array of musical genres and ensembles, from jazz and classical to folk, metal, improvisational, experimental, Balkan, and chamber strings. Liz holds a Bachelor of Music in Double Bass Performance from the University of Minnesota and has studied at The School For Improvised Music in Brooklyn, New York. She was awarded a 2019 fellowship through Giant Steps Music Action Women, a partnership with the University of San Francisco.

Nima Hafezieh, Iranian pianist and composer, began to learn Persian traditional  music from his mother and took private lessons in music dictation, theory and composition, and Classical piano  performance from an early age. He studied piano under supervision of Dr. Tamara Dolitze and Maestro. M.R. Laka; music aesthetic and  analysis with maestro. Hosain Pishkar; orchestration and chamber music with Dr. M.T.  Zarraby; composition with Maestro Nima Gouran, who all had a great potential influence on his musicianship. Nima has style-studied composition and performance in Baroque, classic, romantic, and contemporary music. Nima has performed in numerous concerts and recitals in Iran and has been in collaboration with many visual artists and musicians  in the U.S and Canada. His technique and vision is heavily rooted in free polyphonic and heterophonic improvisation, modal and microtonal language, Quartal and Quintal harmonic structures,  classic Indian rhythm and melodic cycles, Middle Eastern  Maqam music systems, electronic-experimental  music, fusion genre with influences of flamenco and latin jazz. Currently,  he is active as Electro-Ambient performer, producer, Piano instructor and working as mentor in support of upcoming artists and young musicians.

Munir Kahar is a Javanese American Artist born in Malang; East ~Java, Indonesia. He has lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota for 19 years. His art forms explored include theater, puppetry, experimental music, poetry performance, and dance, with a focus on visual arts. His artworks has been collected by collectors such as from Minnesota; Florida; Chicago and New York. Munir is a 2005 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Partnership grant. He presented a solo painting exhibition, curated theater performances and performed at the Heart of the Beast theater in Minneapolis. Since 2012 he has curated “BEYOND” an avant-garde musical and performance cabaret, at various locations in Minneapolis.

Drew Kellum (sometimes stylized as Drew d'Lakes) is a multi-instrumentalist who explores the nooks of both maximalist composed music and free form improvisation. In a composed setting, Drew has worked on cartoonish chamber music for a large scale puppet show (Action Sequence - 2017), art pieces for solo violin (The Wallower's Sail - 2018), and more recently, a collection of high energy bubblegum pop songs for his band, d'Lakes (late spring 2021 - Konstiga Records). In an improvised setting, Drew has performed in the past four Drone not Drones festivals at the Cedar Cultural Center (Six Families, Civic Radar, Balung Getih), wrote and directed an outdoor performance art piece that relied heavily on chance opportunistic soundscapes for a mixed chamber group (Driftwomen - 2019), all while performing regularly with Balung Getih around the Twin Cities. Though these two forms of music creation can seem at odds, Drew masterfully combines the two by using heightened emotions as the source of all sounds he puts forth. Drew is currently preparing for the release of his band's debut album Unforgettable Cheer later this spring!

Maja Radovanlija was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Belgrade, as a student of Prof. Srdjan Tosic. She has been awarded several academic and competition prizes including 1st prize at the International Competition in Kjustendil, Bulgaria, and 2nd prize at the Latin-American music completion at Indiana University. Maja has performed extensively as solo and chamber musician, touring US, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Macedonia, Greece, Tunisia, Switzerland, Luxemburg, and other European countries. As a graduate student (M.M and D.M) at Indiana University, she studied guitar with Ernesto Bitetti and early music with lutenist Nigel North.  Maja’s eclectic musical background includes performances with Mu Daiko Japanese Theater, Szilard Mezei flute and strings Trio, KolektivArt Belgrade, Improvised Ecosystems project, Jandek project, Intuitiva collective, and several chamber ensembles (flute-guitar Duo with Linda Chatterton, Guitar Duo, and Minneapolis Guitar Quartet among others). In 2011, Maja was appointed to the guitar faculty at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.