Name Oran Etkin Role Composer · oranetkin.com | ||
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Origin New York, New York, United States Instruments Singing, clarinet, saxophone, drums, piano, trombone, bass Labels Timbalooloo (Motema Music /Allegro-NewSound) (ASCAP) Albums Gathering Light, What's New? Reimagining Benny Goodman, Wake Up Clarinet!, Kelenia Awards Independent Music Award for Best Album - Children’s Music, Independent Music Award for Best Album - World Beat Genres Children's music, World music, Independent music, Jazz, Folk music Similar People Charnett Moffett, Abdoulaye Diabate, Jana Herzen | ||
Oran etkin gratitude w lionel loueke curtis fowlkes nasheet waits ben allison motema
Oran Etkin is an internationally acclaimed jazz and world music musician and composer who is known for giving music classes for children in New York City. He recently released Wake Up Clarinet!, his first album in the genre of family music. In 2010 he formed the music education program Timbalooloo.
Contents
- Oran etkin gratitude w lionel loueke curtis fowlkes nasheet waits ben allison motema
- Oran etkin trio with nasheet waits ben allison gambang suling
- Biography
- Reception
- Awards and honors
- Discography
- Band members
- References

Oran etkin trio with nasheet waits ben allison gambang suling
Biography

At age 14, Etkin began his musical studies in Boston with the saxophone under the tutelage of George Garzone. He expanded to the clarinet and completed a bachelor's degree in classical clarinet and composition from Brandeis University. He spent one year of that at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where he studied Arabic music. He got his master's degree from Manhattan School of Music, where he was taught by Dave Liebman and David Krakauer. He continued to study jazz with Garzone and Charlie Banacos during this period. His exposure to Malian music is also a significant influence, having played in Mali with Toumani Diabaté, Super Rail Band, and Habib Koité.
Reception

Oran Etkin has been described as a "great clarinet player" and "an excellent improviser" by The New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff and a "woodwind maestro" by PRI's internationally syndicated show, Afropop Worldwide.

He has performed around the world with musicians ranging from jazz guitarist Mike Stern to rapper Wyclef Jean. His 2009 album Kelenia (Motéma Music), fuses traditional Malian and Jewish music with modern jazz, creating what the Boston Globe dubbed a "hypnotic balance between straight-ahead jazz and world music. The album was named "Best World Music Album of 2009" by the Independent Music Awards.

Ken Burns and Julie Burns remarked that they were "very happy to see how Oran Etkin's Timbalooloo classes awakened an excitement about music in our daughter, enabling her to be creative and express herself through music." According to Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, "His ability to teach children...and keep them fully engaged and willing to learn was really really remarkable." Harvey Keitel and Daphna Kastner Keitel stated that "Oran Etkin makes music from all over the world accessible and fun for children to listen to and learn about. From the age of two, our son was talking about Herbie Hancock, Mozart, Samba, and African music – and he knew the difference."
Awards and honors

In January, 2011, Wake Up, Clarinet! won in the Children's Music Album category in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards. Etkin received a Grammy nomination for his song "Unique Monique" which appears on Healthy Food for Thought, nominated for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.