ABOUT WALTER
WALTER STRAUSS BIO
This California guitar wizard's songs are full of the groove and fire of an African dance party, the dynamics and textures of a string orchestra, and the back-porch soul of American roots music. A composer and songwriter in diverse genres, he also translates music from other instruments to the guitar, resulting in mind-bending guitar renditions of the multi-layered music of the kora (a 21-stringed West African harp) that kora legend Toumani Diabate calls “inspirational”, and music of other far-flung instruments of the world.
In addition to touring solo in the US and UK, Walter has collaborated with wide-ranging talents, including a duo with Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate, guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, Wassoulou hunter's harp player Mamadou Sidibe, and west coast songbirds MaMuse. He has performed internationally, solo and in cross-cultural collaborations, at venues as diverse as the Celtic Connections festival in Scotland, Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA, and Le Diplomat in Bamako, Mali.
On the Guitar
Walter Strauss’s innovative approach to the guitar weaves contemporary gusto with elements of ancient global music traditions to create an utterly unique style. He has rendered music to guitar from the kora, the traditional 21-stringed harp of West Africa, and he blends tonal and rhythmic contours of instruments like the kamal’ngoni (a West African hunters harp) and Spanish guitar into his playing and compositions. His songs soulfully trace forgotten histories and life’s paradoxes in the 21st century, and his guitar interpretations of far-flung global music are showstoppers.
Collaborations
Walter’s collaborations are ongoing. He has worked extensively with Malian musicians, beginning with his duo with Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate on several cross-cultural tours in the mid-2000’s, and later recording and performing with kora player and West African star, Sidiki Diabate. He has been working closely with kamale ngoni great Mamadou Sidibe since 2009 - Fula Brothers perform both as a duo and as a trio with percussion. Their ecstatic groove-centered dialogue fuses music from the Wassoulou region of Mali with Walter’s eclectic compositions and style. Walter and Mamadou are also two-thirds of the trio Mamajowali, with American multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, known for his longtime work with mandolinist David Grisman and Jerry Garcia. The trio blends and overlays West African, Appalachian, and other western genres to create their “Afromericana” sound, which they’ve brought to festivals and venues across the States.
Walter has teamed up with top acoustic guitarists, performing with players like Grammy-nominated guitarist Alex de Grassi, Tony McManus, and Bob Brozman. He’s also collaborated with musicians from other musically rich cultures - with violinist Tanmy Moreno in Cuba, fiddler Jonny Hardie of the Old Blind Dogs in Scotland, and he has toured with well loved songwriters, like west coast songbirds MaMuse and late great Australian singer Audrey Auld.
Critical Acclaim
In the US, Walter’s two solo CDs and concert tours have built him an audience as both a consummate acoustic guitarist and songwriter. FAME credits him with a “crystalline beauty… a soulful journey of stellar guitar playing and songs suffused with tenderness and wit.” Rhythm and Roots calls him “one of the most completely original guitarists I’ve ever seen”. Walter’s appearance on the UK scene was summed up by Welsh Taplas Magazine: “HOW has this innovative guitarist stayed off the radar for so long? Technically, stylistically and most important of all, passionately, he is up there with the greats.” Acoustic Magazine calls him “truly extraordinary” and asserts that “he has managed to elevate the instrument and the genre on the whole.”. Both live and on disc, Walter communicates with infectious inspiration and skillful mastery. He renders whatever he does in 3-D – Walter colors outside the lines.
West African Collaborations
Walter began collaborating with West African stringed instrumentalists in the early 2000’s, when he and Grammy-winning Malian kora player Mamadou Diabate ventured on a cross-cultural collaboration that resulted in several groundbreaking duo tours. Known for his syncopated and richly textured playing, he started combining elements of West African music with his roots and jazz-inspired foundations. Walter began transposing the multi-layered music of the kora to guitar, creating mind-bending renditions of this music which famed Malian kora player Toumani Diabate calls “inspirational”. As a kora player would, he layers rhythms and counter-rhythms with highly articulated melodies and harmonies, eliciting the sense and sound of a full ensemble. Informed by over a decade of rendering the music of international instruments to the guitar, Walter’s unique style integrates their exotic fabrics and timbres, and “hints at places the guitar has never before ventured” (Northern Sky).
Walter’s exploration of West African music has spurred other innovative cross-cultural projects. Kora great Toumani Diabaté invited Walter to Mali to deepen his exploration of translating kora music to guitar. Toumani was so moved by the American guitarist’s unique style of playing and his connection to the West African traditions that he brought Walter together with his son Sidiki, a star in his own right and the 72nd in this esteemed lineage of musicians. While they shared no common spoken language, the duo recorded an exquisite and seamless album and unveiled their unique sound to spellbound audiences at the Celtic Connections International Festival in Scotland, as well as on the BBC.
“HOW has this innovative guitarist stayed off the radar for so long? Technically, stylistically and most important of all, passionately he is up there with the greats. “
– Taplas Magazine, UK
“Jaw-dropping fretwork... One of the most completely original guitarists I’ve ever seen.”
– Rhythm and Roots, Tucson, AZ