Eyvind Kang

Canadian-raised violinist Eyvind Kang moved to Seattle in the 1990s and studied in India. Kang debuted with the single Driftwood And Dreams (1995) and the first series of compositions titled "NADE", 7 NADEs (october 1995 - Tzadik, 1996). He collaborated to Doghead's first album Doghead (1996), New Skin's album Mount Analog (1997) and with several established rock bands (such as the Sun City Girls), and released a second album, Sweetness Of Sickness (Rabid Dog, 1996).

We's As Is (december 1996), featuring vocalist Caroline Honeychild Coleman and percussionist Raz Badawi Mesinai, Line 4's Pieces of Time (november 1997 - Spool, 1998), a collaboration with Francois Houle, the 24 brief vignettes of Theater Of Mineral NADEs (Tzadik, 1998), the jazz-metal trio Dying Ground (september 1996 - Avant, 1998) with bassist Hideki Kato and drummer Calvin Weston, the albums with Secret Chiefs 3, MBEK (november 1998 - Meniscus, 1999), a collaboration with bassist Michael Bisio, and the collaborations to Sinister Kitchen (2000) and Two Loons for Tea (2001), exposed him as one of the most eclectic musicians of his generation.

Influenced by jazz violinist Michael White and Indian violinist Rajam, Kang matured in the new century. The Story Of Iceland (Tzadik, 2000) scores a journey through space and time that aims at reconstructing the mythological story of Iceland. Kang depicts each chapter of the journey using a different style of music, jumping from rock to ethnic and from new age to classical music.

Live Low to the Earth in the Iron Age (2002) contains the 27-minute mostly-droning Binah for guitar, violin and bass.

Virginal Co-ordinates (may 2000 - Angelica, 2003), that documents live performance of chamber compositions with a 22-member orchestra and Mike Patton on vocals and electronics, (the baroque variations Go In A Good Way To A Better Place, the 19-minute gamelan-inspired minimalism of Doorway to the Sun, the funereal march Sidi Bou Said, the romantic 13-minute elegy Innocent Eye, the tidal 10-minute pattern of Virginal Co-ordinates), and his role in the Bill Frisell Quartet further increased his reputation.

Orchestra Dim Bridges (2004) is an electronic work in collaboration with electronic keyboardist Tucker Martine.

Athlantis (may 2006 - Ipecac, 2007) is an ambitious "cantata eretica".

Yelm Sessions (2008) is a more relaxed blend of prog-rock, pop, classical and world-music.

Aestuarium (august 2005) is a collaboration with vocalist and percussionist Jessika Kenney.

Visible Breath (2011) with trombonists Stewart Dempste and Julian Priester, trumpetist Cuong Vu, oboist Taina Karr, violinist Timb Harris, vocalist Jessika Kenney and pianists Cristina Valdez and Steve Moore, includes the 15-minute title-track (november 2008) and the 17-minute Thick Tarragon, (july 2011).

The Narrow Garden (Ipecac, 2012) documents a live performance of october 2007 with the Embut 35-musician ensemble.

Grass (Tzadik, 2012) collects eight chamber compositions recorded over five years.

Eyvind Kang's and Jessica Kenney's The Face Of The Earth (june 2012) and Reverse Tree (recorded during the same sessions but released only 4 years later - Black Truffle, 2016), containing two side-long compositions (Thoughts on Being Exiled to the Frontier and Elm) featuring Ilan Volkov on violin, Hildur Guonadottir on cello, Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley on guitars, a gamelan ensemble, etc, were the follow-ups to Aestuarium.

John Zorn composed Alastor (Tzadik, 2014) for Eyvind Kang and large ensemble.

At Temple Gate (Weyrd Son, 2015) was a collaboration with Jessika Kenney (voice, electronics), Hyeonhee Park (percussion, electronics) and Timm Mason (modular synthesizer) and contains his composition Faites le Mal (17:39).

Mother Of All Saints (Puppet On A String) was recorded in various sessions between 2012 and 2016 with Bhutanian guitarist Tashi Dorji, Krusnedi Sukarwanto (cello) and Yaw Amponsah (percussion).

Three new compositions appeared on Plainlight (Abduction, 2017) that featured several ethnic musicians plus Timm Mason (synthesizer), Randall Dunn (effects), Steve Moore (trombone) Samantha Boshnack (trumpet), and Kang on vielle, tambura, electric guitar and electric organ. Both Plainlight and the 14-minute Sanjaya The Sceptic rank among his artistic peaks.

Sonic Gnostic (november 2016) contains live improvisations by an ensemble consisting of Eyvind Kang on acoustic guitar and kemanche (an Iranian bowed string instrument), Bill Frisell (electric guitar), Jessika Kenney (voice), Timothy Young (electric and acoustic guitars), Diego Gaeta (electric piano), Tim Tsang and Adrienne Varner (both on piano), Louis Coy (clarinet and flute), Breana Gilcher (oboe and flute) and Jesse Quebbeman-Turley (drums).

Chirality (may 2015) collects orchestral compositions.

Kang played tanpura and tuba on Ajaeng Ajaeng (recorded in 2019), including the 19-minute Tanpura and Harpsichord, with an acoustic ensemble comprising Lilac Atassi (harpsichord), Yoon Na Geum (so ajaeng, a Korean instrument), Han Lim (dae ajaeng, another Korean instrument), Jessika Kenney (woodblock), Hyeonhee Park and Ches Smith (bass drum), Miguel Frasconi (glass), Janel Leppin (cello), Erica Dicker (violin) and Dan Peck (tuba).

Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang also composed the 26-minute soundtrack to the film The Cypress Dance (2020).

Eyvind Kang performed the two side-long compositions of the solo Riparian (march 2025) on viola d’amore.