Fishtank Ensemble has been around the world but vocalist Ursula Knudson still remembers her band's first musical gig in Humboldt County in 2005 at the Red Radish (a now defunct Blue Lake eatery). It was a very inspirational experience, she recalled.
While the restaurant did not stand the test of time, the impression of North Coast was everlasting.
”Part of the reason we like coming to (Humboldt County) is we feel a connection to it,” Knudson said. “It's a very artistic area with people living on their terms and really enjoying life. We can appreciate them and they can appreciate us.”
On Thursday, experience the appreciation as Fishtank Ensemble will be performing their unique brand of music at the Arcata Playhouse at 8 p.m.
”Arcata is one of the first places we played as a band and it's one of the first places people welcomed us with open arms,” Knudson said. “It's like coming home when we play there. It's familiar to us. We have a lot of friends there.
”It's one of the places when on the road I tell my husband this is a place I want to live.”
Currently residing in Los Angeles, Knudson and the rest of Fishtank Ensemble are touring to promote their new album, “Woman in Sin,” which will be released today (May 11).
Many critics have described Fishtank's sound as “cross pollinated gypsy music.”
Though Knudson has admittedly grown tired of that description, it's one that she believes is truly accurate.
”We play Roma music, then add our own style with a little slap bass and I'm an opera singer. It all works together very well,” she said, noting disdain for the description. “So I guess our music really is cross pollinated in a playing sense.”
Formed in 2005, the California quartet features Knudson (voice, violin, musical saw, banjolele, percussion), Fabrice Martinez (violin and baglaman), Djordje Stijepovic (upright bass), and Doug Smolens (flamenco and gypsy jazz guitar).
The group's blend of Romanian, Gypsy jazz, Flamenco, Balkan, Turkish and Tango influenced music is a product inspired by the band members' years of travel.
As a teenager, Martinez left his home in Paris and hitchhiked across Eastern Europe, collecting a treasure trove of instruments along the way. Then one day, he heard music near a theater.
”It was just one old man playing violin and singing in an alley. Nothing more, and I loved it! “ he recalled. “I wasn't interested in playing other music anymore, just the violin.”
Smolens, who grow up in the L.A. rock scene, also found himself pursuing Roma music after listening to some flamenco recordings he just couldn't get out of his head.
”I tried to resist for years,” he said, “but in the end, I had to learn to play flamenco guitar. It grabbed a hold of my heart.”
Roma passion struck opera-trained Knudson in Venice, Italy during a Vinicio Capossela performance at a casino during carnival. From across the room, she meet eyes with Martinez and began talking about music. Despite both being engaged at the time, a year and a half later they were married. They began their romantic wanderings and eventually wound up in Oakland, where they teamed up with Smolens.
These traveling troubadours picked up Serbian slap bassist Stijepovic and the roots of Fishtank Ensemble were planted.
With a new emphasis on original material and old-school skills, Fishtank Ensemble has matured into their distinctly odd yet apt name.
”We want to produce music that people have never heard before, taking audiences to new places, so they can experience a range of emotions that we transmit through song,” Knudson said. “That is the best thing we can offer: our heart.”
Tickets are $15 general and $13 for Humboldt Folklife Society members and are available at Wildwood Music, The Works and online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 822-1575.
For more information, visit www.arcataplayhouse.org.
