morgan doctor

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With ten years of recording and performing experience, Morgan Doctor has developed a diverse repertoire of drumming and percussion, including the traditional kit, tablas (East Indian drums) and such exotic instruments as the Swiss made Hang . In addition to playing in bands of all genres (ska, jazz, folk, pop and world music), Morgan is involved in musical production for dance, theatre, circus and Kirtan, on occasion traveling to the US and Europe to play for dance workshops with Gabrielle Roth and her teachers.

Soon after relocating from California to Toronto in 1997, Doctor took up drumming duties with ex-Blue Rodeo keyboardist Bob Wiseman. From here she moved on to a four-year stint with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble, where she fused her jazz, pop and East Indian rhythmic background; this collaboration earned her a Juno nomination and a Dora award (the latter of which she received again in 2005 for sound design/composition for "Between us Goddesses"). In 2000/2001 she received a Canada Council for the Arts grant to further her tabla studies with Indian classical music phenomenon Sri Swapan Chaudhuri.

Doctor's debut album, Is This Home (2005), in part grew out of her experience as a drummer for movement/dance workshops: many of the tracks began as live improvisation in the musical accompaniment for such workshops, weaving together ambient and percussive elements, looping samples, field recordings and aspects of traditional songwriting. In the process of writing Home she fused this with a focus on traveling and displacement as a way of asking what it is that makes our surrounding mental and physical environment home for each of us. Songs like "Belgium," "Montreal" and "Centre Island" all tie in with the lead-off track, "Where you Live," in their attempt to explore what binds us to the places we call "home."

As a collaborative effort, many of the tracks featured on Home were co-written through the mail, frequently with little or no guidance given. Knowing when to stop writing—when to stop tweaking a track—was part of her desire to write an album of direct songs that appealed to one's emotions and perhaps serve as inspiration for personal reflection. That said, music for Doctor is not simply a tool for insular meditation; indeed, Home is to a large extent motivated by Doctor's belief that music, in addition to being entertainment, functions as a catalyst for societal transformation through individual enlightenment. To this end she has led drum circles in disabled children's schools, rape crisis centers and has played for various community events and fundraisers.

Newly signed to Toronto's Aporia Records, Is This Home promises to be the first of many albums that harness Morgan's unique insight on the synthesis of music, body and spirit.

What the press is saying...

Most of the tracks are musical accompaniments to yoga movements, so it's easy to get a sense of the pace of the songs, but Doctor's impact is something else altogether. Ambient percussion, sample loops, violins, field recordings and programmed drums come together in a mesmerizing experience.

• For more information about Morgan visit her website: morgandoctor.com
• Find Morgan on MySpace.