Mathew Joseph grew up in the lush green, richly cultural, coastal state of Kerala in south western India and was profoundly influenced by his father’s eclectic music collection. In his teens he found himself drawn to finger style guitar and was writing songs and composing music by the age of sixteen. In 1987 his creativity found new expression in the quaint hill town of Kodaikanal in South India where he met Oliver Rajamani and David Estes. In 2004 they joined Mathew to record "Firefly", an all acoustic album, in Austin, Texas and New York city. The album is a delightful tapestry of sound and a fine blend of different styles combining a string section of guitars, violin, cello, and piano with a percussion ensemble including tablas, mrdang, dumbek, drums, handchimes and bells. Backed by tight vocal harmonies, the six songs and two instrumentals reflect Mathew's life and experiences in his homeland and of his many travels in the high Himalayas. Following it's release Mathew has been interviewed on BBC radio and Power '95. The track "Kaliyug" has had success in the Billboard world song contest, the Great American song contest, the International songwiting competition {ISC} and the U.K songwriting contest. As one pro reviewer said it is "a fantastic amalgam of jazz, blues and traditional Indian rhythms - absolutely some of the fiercest, finest playing I have heard anywhere".
Mathew scored and performed the music for Waterspout theatre's production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" staged at the historic Fort Hamilton in June 2005. His duet performance with Joy Barnum of their original composition "Need to rest" to open the final night of the 10th annual Bermuda Music Festival {headlined by Patti Labelle} was very well received.
"Mathew Joseph and Friends" headlined the Bermuda Classic Guitar festival 2006 at City Hall, Hamilton on 27th May - a performance that received repeated standing ovations. Excerpts from a review in the Royal Gazette read- "Joseph puts his friends on stage and his life to music" - "the sound Joseph gets from his guitar is unmistakably Indian"- "the intermission came with the audience on their feet applauding"- "prolonged applause brought them back and they performed Joseph's anti-war anthem 'Lay Down'."
Mathew's new album titled "Eclectia"- is a mosaic collection of instrumentals and songs written, arranged, performed, produced, recorded and mixed at his home studio over the last two years. The album features guest performances by David Estes, Robert Smith and Joy Barnum while Kamilo Kratc once again did the honours with the final mix and mastering at Soundworks Recording, Astoria, N.Y. "Eclectia" was released on December 15th 2006. As Ron Lightbourne noted in his review in the Royal Gazette - "The sounds of this album, the lyrics { try getting the words of "Between my eyes" out of your head once you've heard them }, the gentle whimsy and sense of other spheres that pervade this album are quite intriguing. There is a sense of intelligence giving way to deep feeling that is special."
Mathew plays the Godin Multiac SA nylon string {MIDI} guitar triggering Reason 3.0 software synths and records with Ableton Live 6 in his home studio.
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