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PUZZLE OF LIGHT is the name of the performance group of Michael & Sandy Bashaw.  While the personnel varies, PUZZLE OF LIGHT always includes musicians with individual musical backgrounds and experience ranging from jazz and rock to ethnic and world music.  These blended influences produce a distinctive "New World" sound that is both original and familiar; a repertoire that is traditional and experimental.  The current group's instrumentation includes Michael Bashaw on flutes, harmonica, whistles, vocals, kalimbas, balafons, and exotic handmade instruments; Sandy Bashaw on guitar, melodica, kalimbas and vocals; Dick Roll on electric bass; John Taylor on drums; and Erich Reith on percussion. Their educational programs use instruments from all over the world to illustrate traditional musical forms and to introduce improvisational concepts.

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Tiramisu

Always SayGoodby

    With a diverse repertoire and love of improvisation, PUZZLE OF LIGHT can fashion an evening of music to fit any event.  They hosted a reception for, and created a performance with, principal members of the Sarajevo Circle theater company at the first anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in Dayton, Ohio, November 1996.  Held in Bashaw's studio loft and attended by international heads of state, diplomats, peace keeping groups and international press, this powerful and emotional performance moved many in the audience to tears.  During a visit to Bosnia in June, 1999, PUZZLE OFLIGHT was asked to perform at Sarajevo's International Music Festival for the year 2000.  In November, 1999, they performed with the Sarajevo Philharmonic during the Dayton Peace Accords Anniversary celebration.
    They perform as the group described above, and in larger settings as the Theatre of Sound Ensemble, playing Bashaw's Sound Sculptures.  The Bashaws created and recorded an improvised musical work, CHINA MEMORY, for Michael Lyons, former vice president of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.  In spring, 1998, the music was played as part of Lyons'  twenty year retrospective at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, England.  The CD, CHINA MEMORY, is now available in limited edition.  On several occasions, the Sound Sculpture Ensemble has been joined in concert by Steve White (Blue Man Group, NY), Gordon Gottlieb (NY Philharmonic percussionist, instructor at Julliard) or Jamey Haddad (Berkeley School instructor, Paul Winter Consort; on tour with Paul Simon). 
    In 1998, PUZZLE OF LIGHT created and recorded incidental music for The Dream Catcher, an independent film by Ed Radtke. On July 22, 2000, Michael and PUZZLE OF LIGHT gave a Sound Sculpture concert at Fallingwater, the house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Edgar Kaufmann family, located in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.

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    "Their music is a living melting pot which mixes jazz, world and folk music in a perpetual movement of invention and transformation. Easy to listen to, their compositions are an ode to peace and harmony, a song dedicated to nature. They communicate a profoundly spiritual vision of art and music."   Gerard Nicollet for EcouterVoir Dossier, No 124 Avril 2002

    "original genre-blending sound, emphasis on instrumental work, improvisational impulses and heavy use of percussion . . .  [Puzzle of Light] is a title fitting for the band and its intricate musical journey through the elastic regions of light, time and space."  Don Thrasher,  Dayton Voice, April 23-29, 1998;  Jan. 7-13, 1999.

    "the most interesting and inventive troupe of music-makers in our area . . . so diverse that it's beyond categorization" . . . "Go ahead and try to fit PUZZLE OF LIGHT into our preconceived . . .  notions of what things are supposed to sound like.  [they] have chapels to fill with sound, rocks to play, grand adventures to undertake. Just thank your lucky musical stars that they always come back here to share the things they learned. " Ron Rollins Dayton Daily News, May 2, 1998.

INDIVIDUAL BIOS
MICHAEL BASHAW - artistic director
    Sculptor/musician Michael Bashaw is well known for his Sound Sculpture concerts, installations and collaborations, appearing in a variety of venues and events.  Performing Arts Series -- Hope College, Holland, MI 1994;  University of Dayton 1996; Beloit College, Beloit WI, 1998; Clark State Community College, Springfield, OH, 1998; Edison State Community College,  Sidney, OH 1998; Earth Rhythms 99, for the benefit of Aullwood Audubon Center at Shiloh Church, Dayton, Ohio in April, 1999.  He performed at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio with Grammy winner Paul Winter, and was twice commissioned to create works at Winter's home in Litchfield, Connecticut.  His Sound Sculpture Ensemble performed for the International Sculpture Center's 1996 Conference in Providence, RI.  Dance Company Collaborations include:  the Maori National Dance Ensemble of New Zealand; Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; University of Dayton Dance Company; and Rhythm in Shoes. Bashaw taught at the award winning Dayton Living Arts Center.  He worked as a resident artist for the Dayton Art Institute, and continues as a resident artist for the Muse Machine in Dayton, Ohio.  He has conducted workshops and residencies in hundreds of schools and art centers in the 
tri-state area, and is on the artists roster of the South Carolina Arts Council.  He was a featured artist/presenter at the national Muse Machine teacher training conference in Colorado Springs, CO, July, 1999.
    Michael and Sandy returned June 24, 1999 from a trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia i  Herzegovina with the Sister Cities delegation from Dayton, Ohio.  While in Bosnia, they performed for children in the hospital in Sarajevo, and for an 
international audience of dignitaries at a reception given by U.S. Ambassador Kauzlarich. Michael Bashaw currently lives and works in Dayton, Ohio.

SANDY BASHAW - artistic director Sandy started her professional musical career at the age of 18, recording a folk album for the Vanguard Recording Society.  With acoustic guitar as her main instrument, she has performed professionally over the years in a variety of genres (folk, blues, rock, western).  She has had the privilege of sharing the stage with artists such as: Odetta, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Eric Anderson, Maria Muldaur, John Renbourne, Tom Paxton, Dougie MacLean, Riders in the Sky, and Peggy Seeger & Ewan McColl.  In addition to solo appearances, she is currently creating and playing traditional and  experimental, improvisational music with PUZZLE OF LIGHT, as well as with the Sound Sculpture Ensemble.  Her own compositions, naturally influenced by the ethnic music forms she studied, are presented in her own artistic voice. Some of Sandy's songs have been sung by folksingers Bill Staines and Peggy 
Seeger.  In November, 1999, Sandy & Michael hosted a soiree for members of  the Sarajevo Philharmonic at Michael's studio loft. 
    Sandy currently lives and works in Dayton, Ohio.

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