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Hi Res Photos / Stage Plot / Tech Rider / / MP3s / WAVs

Press Quotes

"Unique... I can't remember the last time I came across a group quite like this.".

-Alan Davis, Small World Music

"Medusa brings the richness of musical culture, spoken through strings, to modern audiences..."

-Katya Nosko, Great Escape Bookstore

"OMG, my other dream band!"

-Chris McKhool, Sultans of String

"Mesmerizing... delightful."

-Susan Snelling, 4elements Living Arts

"Medusa are enthralling, unexpected."

-Steafan Hannigan, musician and sound engineer

Videos

The Story of Medusa

Medusa will be releasing their debut self-titled EP on May 11, 2023, with a release party at Small World Music Centre in Toronto. 

 

Medusa would slay at a Hobbit family wedding. Wielding a sound that would turn classical music scholars to stone, these four folk musicians are reimagining the Western string quartet. By inviting back voices previously regarded as too ugly for “polite society,” Medusa tempts us to redefine what is beautiful.

 

With their forthcoming EP, Medusa’s dynamic arrangement style cross-pollinates the sounds of Middle Eastern, Scandinavian, Celtic, Appalachian, and Eastern European music, as well as original tunes, to create something previously unheard. With this debut release, the band aims to connect audiences across dividing lines of culture and identity to reveal the common threads beneath.

 

Medusa is Georgia Hathaway, Lea Kirstein, Marta Sołek, and Saskia Tomkins. For these four seasoned string players, whose collective experience as side players in successful bands spans decades, Medusa is a refuge for natural creation. Their immediate and electrifying connection is transmuted through a common string language, a love of enigmatic and obscure folk fiddles, and their personal stories of navigating society’s liminal spaces. 

 

One of the most misunderstood figures in ancient mythology, Medusa was wrongfully punished and cast out for being the victim of a violent act, but is remembered solely for her frightful ugliness and lithifying gaze. Through their personal narratives of alienation due to racism, sexism, immigration, queerness, and disability, Medusa the band aims to retell this story by bringing back what has been cast out. Marta Solek and Saskia Tomkins resurrect the Suka, the Płosk fidel, and the Nyckelharpa  -  near-forgotten traditional folk fiddles with disreputable connotations that were rejected for centuries in their home countries of Poland and Sweden.

 

Instead of a snake-haired Gorgon, they see Medusa as a symbol of vision, power, and inclusivity, and a source of inspiration for anyone who has been denied their true self.

Members

Marta Solek (she/her) - Polish fidel and suka, Greek lira, cello
Georgia Hathaway (they/them) - violin
Saskia Tomkins (she/her) - nyckelharpa, violin
Lea Kirstein (she/they) - cello, viola

Performance Highlights

May 3 2023 - Sadleir House, Peterborough, ON

 

March 25 2023 - La FAB sur Mill, Chelsea, QC

 

Feb 12 2023 - Hibernate Festival, Port Hope

 

Sept 25 2022 - “TSO100” Open House, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto

 

July 20 2022 - DROM Taberna, Toronto

 

June & July 2022 - Pop-Up Performances, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto

 

June 11 2022 - Great Escape Bookstore, Toronto

 

Dec 31 2021 - Toronto City Hall New Year’s Eve Concert, Livestream in Toronto

 

Sept 24-26 2021 - Elemental Music Festival, 4elements Living Arts, Manitoulin Island

 

Sept 18 2021 - BLOK Music Festival, Toronto

 

Aug 20 2021 - DROM Taberna, Toronto

 

July 30 2021 - Hidden Kingdom World Music Festival, Livestream from Bhutan

 

Sept 15 2020 - Small World Music Festival, Toronto

Music

HurvenMedusa
00:00 / 03:18
L'Inconnue & Mandira Medusa
00:00 / 06:48
Cretan TuneMedusa
00:00 / 02:33
Polish Lullaby Medusa
00:00 / 05:12
Kitchen Gorgons Medusa
00:00 / 04:02

Weblinks

Official Website: www.sisterhoodofmedusa.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/medusaquartet

Bandcamp: medusaquartet.bandcamp.com

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/medusaquartet

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MedusaQuartet

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@medusaquartet

Contact

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