Mathew Joseph

Mathew Joseph grew up in the lush green, richly cultural, coastal state of Kerala in south western India and was profoundly influenced by his father’s eclectic music collection. In his teens he found himself drawn to finger style guitar and was writing songs and composing music by the age of sixteen. In 1987 his creativity found new expression in the quaint hill town of Kodaikanal in South India where he met Oliver Rajamani and David Estes. In 2004 they joined Mathew to record "Firefly", an all acoustic album, in Austin, Texas and New York city. The album is a delightful tapestry of sound and a fine blend of different styles combining a string section of guitars, violin, cello, and piano with a percussion ensemble including tablas, mrdang, dumbek, drums, handchimes and bells. Backed by tight vocal harmonies, the six songs and two instrumentals reflect Mathew's life and experiences in his homeland and of his many travels in the high Himalayas. Following it's release Mathew has been interviewed on BBC radio and Power '95. The track "Kaliyug" has had success in the Billboard world song contest, the Great American song contest, the International songwiting competition {ISC} and the U.K songwriting contest. As one pro reviewer said it is "a fantastic amalgam of jazz, blues and traditional Indian rhythms - absolutely some of the fiercest, finest playing I have heard anywhere".
Mathew scored and performed the music for Waterspout theatre's production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" staged at the historic Fort Hamilton in June 2005. His duet performance with Joy Barnum of their original composition "Need to rest" to open the final night of the 10th annual Bermuda Music Festival {headlined by Patti Labelle} was very well recieved.
"Mathew Joseph and Friends" headlined the Bermuda Classic Guitar festival 2006 at City Hall, Hamilton on 27th May - a performance that recieved repeated standing ovations. Excerpts from Ron Lightbourne's review in the Royal Gazette read- "Joseph puts his friends on stage and his life to music" - "Oliver Rajamani played sang and dazzled his audience"- "the sound Joseph gets from his guitar is unmistakably Indian"- "the intermission came with the audience on their feet applauding"- " another of his compositions 'Between my eyes' with the beautiful refrain 'Moonlight on the shimmering sea and the melody rising in me'- "prolonged applause brought them back and they performed Joseph's anti-war anthem 'Lay Down'."
Mathew is currently recording and producing his next album. He plays a Godin Multiac SA nylon string {MIDI} guitar triggering Reason software synths and records with Ableton Live 5 in his home studio.