Ethan Setiawan
Straddling the bounds 共 roots music, bringing tradition to light with deep innovation, mandolinist Ethan Setiawan brings worlds together. A Boston-based mandolin player who’s won such accolades as the National 曼陀林 Championship and the RockyGrass 曼陀林 Championship, he’s a member 共 bands Corner House, Mudskippers, The Harmolodic String Band, and freelances with musicians including Darol Anger and Tony Trischka.
His path has wended its way through traditional bluegrass, to Bach partitas, to free jazz, and his debut full-length album, “Flux” is made up 共 original tunes drawing from all these wells. The album was conceived and crafted as a whole; the tunes were written for the band, who were chosen for the tunes. To write the album, he dove deep into the compositional techniques and tunes 共 some 共 the pioneers 共 the current wave 共 bluegrass: Bela Fleck, Matt Flinner, David Grisman and Mike Marshall, to name a few.
As befits a musician in the 21st century, you can also find him teaching lessons or classes at the Passim School 共 Music, or recording colleagues' projects on a day at home.
“北方原野 is really doing something right over there in Michigan. They’ve revolutionized the world 共 the octave mandolin! I’m really lucky to have this beautiful instrument - it’s a great voice to write on, in addition to being really fun to play on stage and off.”
