f-zero

House band of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto

Click here for recordings, slide shows, and other musical collaborations

SETTINGS:   Acoustic     Electric    Extra Schmaltz

Current and recent lineup:

[GIF Image: The Maestro]

Friends, past members, and sometime collaborators:

  • Susana Béjar - violin
  • Suzanne Bélanger - voice
  • David Bennett - guitar
  • Jun Mo Cho - keyboard, guitar
  • Barry Freeman - voice
  • Chiara Frigeni - pasta, moral support
  • Carrie Gillon - clarinet
  • Mohammad Haji-Abdolhosseini - piano
  • Vince Halfhide - guitar
  • Bobby Hsu - flute, saxophone
  • Rebekah Ingram - keyboard, recorder
  • Bridget Jankowski - horn, trumpet
  • Wenckje Jongstra - clarinet
  • Iza Kamnitzer - violin
  • Catherine Kitto - voice, choreography
  • Annick Morin - recorders
  • Nicole Rosen - violin
  • Iryna Osadcha - voice, guitar
  • Robert Schmaus - guitar, bass
  • Stephen Smith - mandolin
  • Ron Smyth - accordion
  • J. C. Szamosi - recorders, percussion
  • Ruthie Cowper Szamosi - percussion
  • David Wilson - whistles
  • Zsuzsa Wilson - violin, piano

F-Zero plays music from an ever-increasingly wide variety of traditions: English, Irish, Scottish, Ukrainian, klezmer, Bengali, Welsh, Maori, Finnish, Swedish, reggae, baroque, French Canadian, English Canadian, Egyptian, Japanese ...and whatever else we may be called upon to learn for our next gig. The band plays at departmental receptions, conferences, retirement parties, thesis-defence parties, and any other plausible excuse. We also enjoy tinkering with tunes, on the principle that just about anything can be turned into klezmer if you play it in the right mode.

recordings

In 2002, F-Zero recorded a CD called The Olive Sessions:

[JPEG image: The Olive Sessions CD cover]
  • Susana Béjar - violin
  • Elizabeth Cowper - keyboard
  • Elan Dresher - guitar, harmonica, recorders
  • Daniel Currie Hall - cello, bass
  • Manami Hirayama - flute
  • Christina Kramer - clarinet
  • Robert Schmaus - guitar, bass
  • Michael Szamosi - percussion

Track listing:

  1. Gallopede / The Tannerman
  2. The Ashgrove
  3. Holland's a Fine Place
  4. Mari's Wedding
  5. Both Sides the Tweed
  6. Phoolay Phoolay Dhalay Dhalay
  7. Farewell to Nova Scotia
  8. La Bastringue / St. Anne's Reel
  9. Growling Old Man and Woman
  10. Viys'kova / Jenny Lind / Polkas
  11. Divchino moya / Chabans'koho kozachka
  12. Waltz from Levkivka
  13. Polka koketka / Rezvost'
  14. Tantz, Tantz, Yidelekh! / Kolomiyka
  15. A Nakht in Gan Eydn
  16. Terk in Amerike
  17. In Djumalan / Ya Mustafa
  18. Lamma Bada Yatathanna
  19. Divisions on Erev Shel Shoshanim
  20. El-gutrey wagef / Kalu raglayim

Excerpts from the CD (playable with Macromedia Flash Player):

  1. Divisions on Erev Shel Shoshanim
    Original tune by Y. Hadar, divisions by B. E. Dresher
  2. Both Sides the Tweed
    Dick Gaughan, arr. D. C. Hall
  3. Lamma Bada Yatathanna
    Traditional Andalusian, arr. F-Zero
  4. Kolomeyke
    Traditional Ukrainian/Yiddish, arr. B. E. Dresher

In 2003, F-Zero recorded a few songs for use in English language instruction modules created by the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

feature-geometric representation

[JPEG image: A feature-geometric representation of the band]

photographs

Photos from the Second International Conference on Contrast in Phonology (May 2002):

[JPEG image: Robert, Manami] [JPEG image: Elan] [JPEG image: Robert]

Robert, Manami

Elan

Robert
[JPEG image: F-Zero at the Contrast Conference] [JPEG image: Fans]

The Band

The Audience

Photos from Celtic Music of All Cultures, The Attic, University of Toronto at Scarborough, January 2002:

The Attic

[JPEG image: Elan, Christina, Manami, Susana]

 [JPEG image: Elan]

Elan, Christina, Manami, Susana

The Maestro

Older photos:

[JPEG image: Susana Bejar] [JPEG image: The band at AFLA VI] [JPEG image: David Bennett]

Susana

The band at AFLA VI

David
[JPEG image: Judith, Elizabeth] [JPEG image: Daniel, Elan, Susana] [JPEG image: Ron, Elan]

Judith, Elizabeth

Daniel, Elan, Susana

Ron, Elan
[JPEG image: At Elaine Gold's thesis-defence party] [JPEG image: David, Jun Mo] [JPEG image: Michael]

At Elaine Gold's thesis-defence party

David, Jun Mo

Michael