Milica Ilic - Stir the Sky - classical/folk/world guitarist

 

Milica Davies (née Ilić, born 1981 in Bosnia and Herzegovina), is an Australian classical guitarist. She has released three albums, Rouge Guitar (2005), Stir the Sky (2007) and Evie's Song (2012). In 2002, she toured Australia and Asia backing José Carreras. As from 2004, Davies is based in London where she also teaches guitar.

Milica Davies took up classical guitar at seven years old and was 11 when the family relocated to Perth, Western Australia. Davies has toured in Australia, Asia and Europe, performing as a soloist, with orchestra and as an accompanist. She holds a First Class Honours degree in performance, from the University of Western Australia, Perth, where she studied with guitar teacher, John Casey. In 2002, she toured Australia and Asia backing José Carreras. In 2004 she was honoured with a Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award for her contribution to the state's Youth Arts. Davies' work - live and on record - has been played on the BBC, Classic FM (UK) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Milica released her debut album, Rouge Guitar, which had been recorded in Perth in March, 2004 with Paul Wright on violin. From 2006 she has periodically performed and toured with guitar duo, Desert Child, which are Guy Ghouse and Damian Watkiss. For her second album, Stir the Sky (May 2007), she used Wright with Ghouse on guitar, Watkiss on acoustic guitar and Jessica Ipkendanz on violin. She co-produced the album with Lee Bundle and issued it on Twilight Classics.

In 2004 Davies relocated to London where she performs and teaches guitar. During 2009 she toured Australia with Guitar Heaven Quartet, which comprise Ghouse, Watkiss and Simon Fox. Davies released her third album, Evie's Song in November 2012. Again, she worked with Ghouse, Ipkendanz, Watkiss and Wright. The album is dedicated to Davies' idol, Eva Cassidy. Her fourth album, Go South in the Winter, released in 2016, is in collaboration with the flamenco master Ramon Ruiz.

Stir the Sky

Carl Cleves - Tarab: Travels With My Guitar

 

Carl Cleves, singer, songwriter and guitarist was born in Mechelen, a traditional Flemish town in Belgium. Even as a child he would entertain his siblings and schoolmates with his vivid imagination. At 15 he was fronting his own band The Dragons and writing songs. His first recordings were made in Dusseldorf during one of his many escapes from student life, hitchhiking around Europe. In the mid 1960s he worked the folk clubs in London in the good company of Paul Simon, Al Stewart, Bert Jansch, Jackson C. Frank, Davey Graham and others, but instead of following a career path to musical fame like his contemporaries, Carl went travelling.

Carl's nomadic past results in highly original songs, which have won numerous awards in the categories of folk, world & roots, including two of the most coveted national Australian Music Awards (Music Oz and the Australian Songwriters Association). Ranging from polyrhythmic exuberance to intimate subtlety, the personal to the political, styles are interchanged and blended with great ease. Traces of Brazil, Africa, folk, blues and dance are the spice in the stew of Carl's songs. Approach and sound vary widely with each release but always with 'a complete lack of pretence and trendiness' (R. Jasituowicz, Diaspora World Beat). His pallet is as broad as life itself.

Tarab: Travels With My Guitar was released in 2008 and, although stated on the back insert as "this compilation of songs", it was an album of new recordings. The word "Tarab" means "a place where music and poetry bestow true bliss upon the lucky one" (as per liner notes).

1 Texan Lion 4:09

2 To Coroico 3:51

3 Mustapha 4:29

4 Trem Mineiro 7:35

5 Party At My House 4:30

6 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe 8:09

7 Penkele 5:26

8 A Long Way 4:50

9 Welcome Home 1:38

10 Tashi's Song 1:59

Tarab: Travels With My Guitar