Atlas Maior makes original music informed by Jazz, Arab, Turkish and Latin American musical traditions. Our trio performs at private events, art galleries, film festivals, night clubs, and currently has a monthly residency at several of Austin's unique music venues. Atlas Maior is diverse in that we possesses the ability to perform both soft dinner music, and upbeat dance music for larger events. We strive to forge positive relationships with like minded individuals throughout the Austin music community, and would welcome the opportunity to contribute international sounds to you your event!
1 review
Varun B.
November 15, 2011Atlas Maior gave a free 1 1/2 hour performance for a benefit I organized for the American Red Cross. They did an excellent job-- I couldn't be happier! They were very flexible in terms of booking, and were very polite and professional on the day of the event. And of course, the performance was phenomenal! The audience really appreciated their fusion of musical styles from across the world, and were completely engrossed in their performance. I highly recommend this band, not only for fundraising events, but for any type of event. Truly a great band!
Hired as: World Music
Price range: Contact for rates
Languages: English
Gig length: 60 - 180 minutes
Atlas Maior delivers an experience of sounds from the Middle East, India, Sub-Saharan Africa, and North and South America.
Atlas Maior is a music project based in Austin, Texas that maps diverse musical traditions, placing Jazz, Arab Turkish, and Latin American musical idioms in dialogue with one another. Atlas Maior composes music that pays homage to the stewards of these traditions and their cultural and geographic origins. Their unique sound balances intimate moments of sincerity with powerful cinematic melodies and incendiary rhythmic passages.
The band takes its name from the “Atlas Maior”, the first world atlas published by Joan Bleau in Amsterdam in the 17th century. Atlas Maior was inspired by the idea of creating original music that encompassed the group’s wide range of musical inspirations, including Egyptian composer Mohammad abdul-Wahhab, Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil, bassist Avishai Cohen, jazz artists Jackie McLean, Pharaoh Sanders, Sun Ra, and fusion projects such as Amalgama, Ojos de Brujo, and Shakti. The core members of Atlas Maior, saxophonist Joshua Thomson and oud player Charlie Lockwood, write original melodies exploring maqamat (the Middle Eastern modal system) and harmonic progressions of American jazz (utilizing melodic minor theory, and modal approaches). The group then adopts a wide variety of non-Western rhythms and percussion instruments including Indian tablas, West African shekere, Middle Eastern dumbek, and the Peruvian cajn to Lockwood and Thomson’s melodies as part of the creative process.
Atlas Maior performs original music that incorporates the sounds and sentiments of various music cultures from around the world, as well as traditional and popular songs of Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Turkey.
World Music
