PRESS KIT
Bio, Reviews & Photos
WALTER STRAUSS BIO
Press & booking inquiries: booking@walterstrauss.com
This California guitar maestro's songs are full of the groove and fire of an African dance party, the dynamics and textures of a string orchestra, and the back-porch soul of American roots music. A composer and songwriter in diverse genres, he also translates music from other instruments to the guitar, resulting in mind bending guitar renditions of the multi-layered music of the kora (the 21 stringed West African harp) and other far-flung instruments of the world.
Tours
In addition to touring solo in the US and UK, Walter has collaborated with wide-ranging talents, including a duo with Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate, guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, Wassoulou hunter's harp player Mamadou Sidibe, and west coast songbirds MaMuse. He has performed internationally, solo and in cross-cultural collaborations, at venues as diverse as the Celtic Connections festival in Scotland, Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA, and Le Diplomat in Bamako, Mali.
Global Influences
Walter Strauss’s innovative approach to the guitar weaves contemporary gusto with elements of ancient global music traditions to create an utterly unique style. He has rendered music to guitar from the kora, the traditional 21-stringed harp of West Africa, and he blends tonal and rhythmic contours of instruments like the kamal’ngoni (a West African hunters harp) and Spanish guitar into his playing and compositions. His songs soulfully trace forgotten histories and life’s paradoxes in the 21st century, and his guitar interpretations of far-flung global music are showstoppers.
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Walter Strauss & Collaborations
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PRESS REVIEWS
“Glorious... master guitar playing.”
– ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris, legendary British music broadcaster, host of BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris Show
“I am very impressed with the way Walter plays the kora’s sound with his guitar. It’s inspirational.”
– Toumani Diabaté, 2 time Grammy winning kora player
“Walter Strauss kicks global arse... encompasses Western classical and jazz-values, plus rootsy African and Americana with bewildering aplomb.”
– Paul Pledger, Allgigs.co.uk
“Walter Strauss brings a whole new sonic dimension to the fingerstyle guitar scene with his signature West African influenced technique, heavily syncopated rhythms, and richly textured lines. Lyrical, totally grooving, and always from the heart, Walter is a true original and one of the most distinctive players today!”
– Alex de Grassi, Grammy nominated American guitarist
“HOW has this innovative guitarist stayed off the radar for so long? Technically, stylistically and most important of all, passionately he is up there with the greats... he genuinely has what they have and in similar quantity. “
– Trefor Patten, Taplas Magazine (Wales)
“Wizard of the fingerstyle guitar... a singer-songwriter who drags rootsy Americana from the open spaces of the West out into the far reaches of the globe... exceedingly satisfying, indeed tasty.”
– David Kidman, Folk and Roots
“If you haven’t encountered Strauss’s guitar take on kora music, this is a great place to start. He brings his incendiary technique to George Harrison and even Woody Guthrie songs as well, and his own stuff is left-field and good, too... The man is class.”
– fRoots Magazine
“A stellar guitar player...an accomplished lyricist with an ear for a good tune, managing to make music which is hooky and memorable, and at the same time so complex in parts as to be almost prog rock... [Planet Solitaire] a truly extraordinary album.”
– Sam Wise, Acoustic Magazine
“The California-based Strauss is playing intriguing guitar-based music with an artistry that’s unparalleled. Not generic singer-songwriter fare, but something a cut above the rest. His instrumental prowess is dazzling, and a spiritual quality hovers over his work. Delightfully different...”
– David Malachowski, The Daily Freeman, Kingston, NY
“A fine player with a voice of his own in the world ... beautiful, fluid and sophisticated.”
– Martin Simpson, British guitar luminary and multiple BBC Award winner
“A many-layered, multi-textured, one-man folk festival.”
– Maverick Magazine (UK)
4 stars “...a glimpse into the ear-bending possibilities of bringing the harp-like phrasing and polyrhythms of West African kora music to the steel-string acoustic guitar. Strauss is a spirited player and a strong vocalist. ”
– Guitarist Magazine
“Virtuoso guitarist Walter Strauss brings something extraordinary to his guitar playing as he continues to explore World influences [West African kora, kamal’ngoni, sitar]...Transferring these complex pieces onto just six strings is no mean feat; the results are astonishing...the instrumentals hint at places the guitar has never before ventured.”
– Alan Wilkinson, Northern Sky
“Jaw dropping fretwork... One of the most completely original guitarists I’ve ever seen. Simply the most dazzling guitarist since Michael Hedges.”
– Jonathan Holden, Rhythm and Roots, Tucson, AZ
“An amazing guitarist, composer, stylist, and humorist, he made the 350+ seat theater seem like a very special private show in his living room.”
– Eric Taber, Artistic Director, Margate Performing Arts Center, Margate, NJ
“A class act... Walter Strauss has a natural and infectious curiosity for music from other cultures that informs his own creativity and evolves into his own unique sound.”
– Marianne Kennedy, BBC3 and BBC Scotland
“Walter Strauss has the scope and musicianship to express himself in multiple genres... in a fresh way, without cliché or repetition. A soulful journey of stellar guitar playing and songs suffused with tenderness and wit.”
– Patti Witten, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
“A rich mélange of several styles... a musical quilt that covers quite a sonic area... smooth and fluent world beat rhythms and runs. Walter Strauss can make those strings sing!”
– Matt Kramer, Pacific Sun Weekly, San Francisco Bay Area, CA
“Jaw dropping fretwork... One of the most completely original guitarists I’ve ever seen.”
– Rhythm and Roots, Tucson, AZ
