CALIN MATEI
Calin Matei was born 1992 in the Romani village of Dumbraveni, Romania and raised in America. Embracing his heritage as a Roma, Calin has felt a natural connection with the folksongs of Eastern Europe; songs that possess a dissonant, harrowing sound that speak of the long and mysterious history of his race. His music draws life from these wild, sometimes unruly strains of ancient traditions as well as those with closer connections to America such as Jazz and the Blues. In addition, Calin is greatly influenced by the depth and melodic intensity found in Flamenco and North African music, while drawing rhythmic understanding from Arabic, Indian, and Latin traditions. It is his desire to create a fluid conversation between the diverse musical cultures that have captured his imagination.
Calin has performed as a multi-instrumentalist in many contexts including opening for Phil Keaggy, Alathea, & Solo Via, and in guest appearances with David Ornette Cherry, Chasing Ebenezar, Julianne Johnson, LifeDuringWartime, Enric Sifa, and Keb’ Mo’. He has had the honor of studying privately with Stephen Novacek, Mike Pardew, and Dan Balmer.
Beyond his work as a live musician in both solo and group settings, Calin has a growing portfolio of content within the fields of sound design and cinematic soundscape. He is currently available for collaboration in musically-based and technical aspects of sound recording for film, commercial videography, and musical record production. Calin Matei was born in the Romani village of Dumbraveni, Romania and raised in America. Embracing his heritage as a Roma, Calin has felt a natural connection with the folksongs of Eastern Europe; songs that possess a dissonant, harrowing sound that speak of the long and mysterious history of his race. His music draws life from these wild, sometimes unruly strains of ancient traditions as well as those with closer connections to America such as Jazz and the Blues. In addition, Calin is greatly influenced by the depth and melodic intensity found in Flamenco and North African music, while drawing rhythmic understanding from Arabic, Indian, and Latin traditions. It is his desire to create a fluid conversation between the diverse musical cultures that have captured his imagination. Calin has performed as a multi-instrumentalist in many contexts including opening for Phil Keaggy, Alathea, & Solo Via, and in guest appearances with David Ornette Cherry, Chasing Ebenezar, Julianne Johnson, LifeDuringWartime, Enric Sifa, and Keb’ Mo’. He has had the honor of studying privately with Stephen Novacek, Mike Pardew, and Dan Balmer. Beyond his work as a live musician in both solo and group settings, Calin has a growing portfolio of content within the fields of sound design and cinematic soundscape. He is currently available for collaboration in musically-based and technical aspects of sound recording for film, commercial videography, and musical record production.
COLE MCLESTER.
Cole was born in New York in 1962. Growing up in Spain and England between the ages of 5 and 13 years old. Has resided in the United States since 1976 Cole currently lives in Camas WA.
Much of his work revolves around a wide variety of musical artists and clients. So far, he has worked for X Media to film open mic acts which led the production of a seven-part web series for musician Pedro World Citizen. For the past few years, he has been working with Caravan Redsmith to produce novel videos featuring the creation of bamboo flutes and metalwork, which encompass a beautiful mix of music and craftsmanship and is one of the highlights of Cole's career. Additionally, he has produced music videos for SALT, a band based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has created promotional videos for HX Records, a small record company based in England. Outside of the music space, he has collaborated with One Big Family, an African non-profit that aims to shed prejudices that have been brought over to the United States.
In 2014, Cole attended Portland State University Graphic Arts Program discovering the wonder of video. In 2016 he transferred to Portland Community College to study video production. During this time, he had a school internship for Metro East, a community media outlet, and edited countless commercial videos for the internet. He also volunteered for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) by contributing his videography skills to record people talking about living with their mental illness.
In 2021 Cole released a short documentary on Filmfreeway receiving several awards and entries to film festivals. Cole also released a music video with HX Records for the band SALT which was also on FilmFreeway.