Ability to play numerous instruments. Fluidity across genres. Years of stage experience. Ginger Beat is built around a core of musicians with these qualities. Five multi-instrumentalists combine to play many instruments: keys, plucked and strummed strings, bowed strings, horns, woodwinds, bass, and numerous percussion instruments. With songs influenced by salsa, rhythm and blues, groove, blues, rock and roll, and bluegrass, Ginger Beat instrumentalists need to have lots of experience and interest across all of these genres. Arjan's songs are composed with charts and scores, navigating complex chord changes and orchestrated melodies. Pairing high quality musicians with these compositions is what makes Ginger Beat a stunning listening experience.
Vocals, Guitar, Octave Mandolin, Banjo, and Keys
Arjan is a composer, writer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer. Throughout a career of business entrepreneurship, Arjan performed in bands like The Occidental Community Choir (voice), Cheap Therapy (keys and blues harp), and Corpus Callosum (keys and mandolin). For years, he was the "Raffi" for his kids' elementary school, performing regularly at all-school assemblies. He has led musical meditations (vocals with harmonium, guitar, and more) at retreats with over 1,000 people chanting along. With his career in the rear view mirror, Arjan focuses on Ginger Beat where he composes at a piano and usually has a stringed instrument in his hands while singing and performing.
Violin, Mandolin, and Octave Mandolin
Marco brings a world palette to his performances on violin, mandolin, and octave mandolin. (He also plays sax!) Born in Italy at the foot of the Alps, he began to play the violin as a young man for dance parties in his mountains. The violin then took him to Romania to study Roma music, and onward to Mexico and Nicaragua. Marco landed in the Bay Area where he participates in Eastern European music scenes (Balkan, Jewish, Hungarian, and more) playing in groups like Arcush, Spaga, Metanastys, and Arcus. He travels and performs constantly, retracing his steps in Italy, Nicaragua, and Mexico to perform in ensembles, film projects, and festivals.
Congas, Cajon, and Bongo
Stan “Cachimbo” Corpus has been performing with the California rhumba community for over 20 years. Inspired at a young age by Afro-Cuban folkloric music, Stan plays time-honored rhythms with a deep respect for the traditions they represent. Stan is well known for his company, Pacific Coast Percussion. He builds shekere, guiros, and other percussion instruments for musicians around the world, including Michael Spiro, Michael Miranda, Robertito Melendez, Chris "Flaco" Walker, and many others. Stan has played in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area with The Danny Ess Project, El Vente Tu Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Dream Efx.
Bass, Banjo, and Vocals
Salsa bassist, folk singer, and bluegrass banjo picker. Ted carries a lifetime of performance experience across a variety of genres. He was raised in South and Central America, singing in dirt-floor churches and grooving on the Latin American folk repertoire. He spent years as a working bass player for Latin dance bands around the Bay Area. His toolkit includes material from Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, England, Ireland, and the American South. He is primarily known today as a banjo-busting organizer for the California Bluegrass Association, where he founded Bluegrass Pride and leads many Bay Area acoustic jams with a combination of hard-driving experience and a nurturing spirit. You can often hear him at the Willowbrook Ale House and the Aqus Cafe in Petaluma and at Mantra Wines in Novato.
Piano, Organ, Saxophones, Flutes, and Vocals
Amar has been a fixture on the Bay Area music scene for over 30 years, lending his voice and playing organ, piano, flute, and saxophones. On Sunday mornings, he often performs at the prestigious First Congregational Church in Berkeley. On early summer weekends, he features in the nationally-renowned Mountain Play in Marin County. Throughout the year, he performs with groups like Berkeley Playhouse and provides musical accompaniment for dance troupes. Amar has contributed his talents to new age albums, some on the Spirit Voyage label, that are recorded in a professional studio located in Amar's home and run by his son, Ram Dass. Amar has shared the stage with Bobby McFerrin and Sly and the Family Stone, and has contributed his vocal and instrumental talents to classical, new age, and spiritual ensembles around the country. He played in Arjan and Dalbir's wedding ceremony in the Pecos Wilderness of New Mexico in 1976!
Cajon, Conga, Bongo, Shekere, Rythm Instruments
Dalbir was a tap dancer from her childhood into her young adult years, creating rhythms with her feet. She started playing percussion in the 1970s when she purchased a conga built by Kenneth Nash of the notorious Michael White Band. Dalbir focused on learning classic beats and applied her studious approach to Indian tablas. She took classes with the great Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, famous in the US for his iconic performances with Ravi Shankar at Monterrey Pop and Woodstock. Dalbir played in local Bay Area meditation events, accompanying Arjan and other kirtan leaders. Dalbir toured India with an all-women kirtan group from the US. Today, Dalbir studies congas and bongos with teachers from the Bay Area and beyond as she adds new textures to Ginger Beat compositions. All the while, she has kept making rhythms with her feet, most recently dancing Cuban salsa in rueda circles in Cuba, Mexico and the Bay Area.
Vocals
Gina has been on stage for years, mostly as a tier-one leader in the non-profit community. Gina has been singing gospel melodies for years, often as a member of her Bayview - Hunters' Point church choir. She has been around great music for years, as the wife and soul-mate of the late, great R&B artist and vocal teacher, Reed Fromer. Singing in Ginger Beat puts together all of these passions for her.
Vocals
Krystal Collins has a voice that bridges the earth tones of soul with the heavenly tones of opera. Arjan heard her singing on a YouTube video with her late father-in-law, Reed Fromer, and knew she would be a perfect fit for the band.