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Description

Cosa Brava is an experimental rock and free improvisation group formed in March 2008 in Oakland, California, by multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith. The band comprises Frith on guitar, Zeena Parkins on keyboards and accordion, Carla Kihlstedt on violin, Matthias Bossi on drums, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and The Norman Conquest on sound manipulation. All About Jazz described their music as somewhere between folk, Celtic, modern chamber, Latin, funk, Eastern, and prog-rock. Cosa Brava recorded their first album, Ragged Atlas in San Francisco in December 2008, which was released in March 2010. John Kelman in a review at All About Jazz said that the album transcends time and genre and is one of 2010's most auspicious debuts. A second album entitled The Letter was released in March 2012. Fred Friths career began as a rock musician with Henry Cow in 1968, but has since diversified into a number of different genres, from avant-garde jazz to contemporary classical music. He has written scores for film and dance. Carla Kihlstedt is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist from Pennsylvania. She is a member of The Book of Knots, 2 Foot Yard, Sleepytime Guerilla Museum and other groups. Her husband, Mathias Bossi, is an American drummer, percussionist and composer, born in Boston, USA. Zeena Parkins is a composer, improviser, sound artist, well known as a pioneer of the electric harp, and she has also extended the language of the acoustic harp. Zeena makes scores for film, video, theater and dance. Shahzad Ismaily is a largely self-taught composer and musician, having mastered the electric and double bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, flute, drums, various percussion instruments and various analog synthesizers and drum machines. Ismaily has recorded or performed with an incredibly diverse assemblage of musicians, including Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, Tom Waits, John Zorn or Marc Ribot. The Norman Conquest is a US composer, performer, and improviser of music influenced by the art of sound engineering. Feedback is a constant source of musical, psychological, and philosophical inspiration for TNC.