THE AQUARIAN QUARTET


While touring their new guitar group around South Africa during 2000, The Aquarian Quartet (so-named for their shared astrological sign) found themselves performing in The Cathedral at the annual Grahamstown Festival. Six of those performances were recorded and later slimmed down and selected for inclusion on their debut album. Steve Newman, Tony Cox, Greg Georgiades and Syd Kitchen make up The Aquarian Quartet.

Steve, Tony and Syd had been appearing for many years as The Flying Sombreros, and Tony and Steve had released a number of collaborative LPs. This intermingled with Steve's central role in Tananas, where he played guitar alongside drummer Ian Herman and bassist Gito Baloi. Tony Cox has released three excellent acoustic guitar albums over the past few years - Cool Friction, Looking for Zim, and 1999's acclaimed Matabele Ants.

Poet and guitarist Syd Kitchen began with the Kitchen Brothers in the '70s before exploring the jazz/rock movement of the '80s. He formed Syd the successful Syd Kitchen and the Utensils band before working with Tony Cox and Steve Newman in the Flying Sombreros. Syd has performed extensively nationwide, both solo and with various combos, at all the major festivals.
Greg Georgiades has been playing guitars and various other instruments since his schooldays. He also plays the oud and bouzouki and has written albums for and appeared with The Jazzhounds, Mutant Harmony Trio, and more recently with Ashish Joshi on the Strings 'N Skins album.