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Daniel Bernard Roumain

Woodbox Beats & Balladry

Thirsty Ear

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Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) - Music from New Album Woodbox Beats & Balladry
Between Classes: Season 2, Episode 8, Daniel Bernard Roumain
DBR (Daniel Bernard Roumain)
DBR | Composer. Violinist. Artist Entrepreneur.
1 Spaceships Over Haiti  
2 Sonata For Violin and Turntables, Part 4  
3 Simone  
4 Armstrong  
5 Sonata For Violin and Turntables, Part 6  
6 Moonshine  
7 Sonata For Violin and Turntables, Park 2  
8 JMDL  
9 Sonata For Violin and Turntables, Part 1  
10 The Loss  
11 Slowly Fooled  
12 Our Country  
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Haitian-American violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) continues to establish himself as one of today's most relevant artists on the contemporary classical music scene.  An innovative violinist, composer, performer, re-mixer, and band leader, DBR has won world-wide acclaim for his eclecticism and fearless exploration, whether through extended violin techniques, the infusion of electronics, or in his perspectives on the definition of chamber music.

On Woodbox Beats & Balladry (Thirsty Ear Recordings), his profusion of classical composing and performing talents are uniquely exposed.  Echoing his own career, Woodbox Beats & Balladry contains elements of classical minimalism, dance club beats, traditional ballads, and thick distorted noise.  Fitting coming from an artist who has performed with everyone from the Seattle and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, to the dancers Bill T. Jones and Savion Glover, to the composers Philip Glass and Derek Bermel, to DJs Radar, Scientific, and Spooky, to the jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, the pop-singer Lady Gaga, and the infamous 2 Live Crew.

Woodbox Beats & Balladry is aggressive, danceable, and fully annotated.  DBR's style and compositional process are reflected in his scoring of each and every track on the album; he uses a variety of compositional techniques and notation systems, including traditional, numerical, graphic, and prose-based notation.  "Woodbox Beats & Balladry is an amalgam of what contemporary composers are doing and where contemporary classical music might be going," says DBR.

The core of the recording (and impetus for the album's title) is DBR's signature custom 6-string amplified violin.  While utilizing an array of extended techniques, effect pedals, and additional MAC-based processing, DBR's frequent aggressive, percussive lower-string bowing (an extra two strings are added to his instrument for bass lines) makes his violin a vital sonic and compositional force. 

  • Bamuthi and DBR return to Orcas Center / The Islands Sounder
    Posted At: March 1, 2023 12:00 AM
    The Islands Sounder writes….Woman in the Woods Productions is pleased to bring back to Orcas Center Marc Bamuthi Joseph (“Bamuthi”) and Daniel Bernard Roumain (“DBR”), on April 8th, for our most ambitious production to date.When they were here in June of 2018, that duo quickly won over a sold-out Orcas Center audience with a unique combination of music, stories, and movement artistry, in a performance entit...
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  • Daniel Bernard Roumain's 'The Telling' displays hard truths of society / Rhode Island Monthly
    Posted At: September 16, 2022 12:00 AM
    Violinist and activist Daniel Bernard Roumain gives a voice to those without the means or audience to do so, accompanied by impactful music, poems and dance.Rhode Island Monthly's Edelinda Baptista writes….Witness performances that exhibit both anguish and hope for a better future for BIPOC communities. Photo by Robert Torres.Reflect on the ongoing issues of society during the multimedia performance “The Te...
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  • Vermont Symphony Orchestra seeks contributors for New DBR piece / SEVEN DAYS
    Posted At: August 24, 2022 12:00 AM
    SEVEN DAYS - AMY LILLY writes….The Black, Haitian American musician-composer-activist Daniel Bernard Roumain, aka DBR, has composed a strikingly democratic piece that will receive its world premiere in Vermont."Riots and Prayers," co-commissioned by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the University of Vermont Lane Series and the Flynn, will be performed at the VSO's season-opening concert at the Flynn Main Sta...
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  • Watch DBR on 'Between Classes'
    Posted At: May 25, 2019 12:00 AM

    Daniel Bernard Roumain's acclaimed work as a composer, performer, educator, and activist spans more than two decades, and he has been commissioned by venerable artists and institutions worldwide. "About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets" (NYT), DBR is perhaps the only composer whose collaborations span Philip Glass, Bill T. Jones, Savion Glover and Lady Gaga. Known for his signature violin ...
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  • Daniel Bernard Roumain presents 'Woodbox Beats & Balladry'
    Posted At: August 12, 2013 12:00 AM

    Haitian-American violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) continues to establish himself as one of today's most relevant artists on the contemporary classical music scene. An innovative violinist, composer, performer, re-mixer, and band leader, DBR has won world-wide acclaim for his eclecticism and fearless exploration, whether through extended violin techniques, the infusion of electronics, o...
    Bookmark and Share
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