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Sonal Anu, pronounced 'Soan-all Ah-new', is founded upon the friendship, common world-view, and wildly bent sense of humor of bassist Brent-Anthony Johnson (BAJ) and multi-instrumentalist Chris Ball. They originally met in 1987 and played in several live situations together in the early 1990's. Chris and Brent-Anthony also found themselves involved in sessions around the Denver Metropolitan Area. By 1997, Chris was focused on writing and contemplating forming his own quintet, while Brent-Anthony had begun writing a number of pieces toward a solo disc. Though both musicians were playing a number of sideman gigs around Denver with a rather small number of players, they hadn't seen one another since the early 1990's when they had last worked together on a worship team at a large church in Denver. In December of 2000, Chris and BAJ were cutting tracks on a commercial music project Chris was working on. The two began meeting at Chris' house to record musical segments for the project, and also to listen to a few sketches that BAJ was putting together for his premier disc - including the tune "The Right One" that BAJ wrote for his wife, in 1988. Through the weekly writing and planning meetings both musicians realized that a project with the other would be optimal and would benefit both in their endeavors toward something more than their careers as supporting musicians. So... they began to discuss the idea of putting a band together. In January 2001, they began to write material that would eventually become the material included on Sonal Anu's first release, "Sleep Drum". The early ideas for the project spurned the idea of putting out just another "bass player" album or another "sax player shows off his chops" album. Instead, the material would feature both players; their writing, musicianship, arranging and production. The result, "Sleep Drum", was released in mid-March, 2002. 2003 UPDATE FOR CDBABY CUSTOMERS: The song "Little Web" from Sonal Anu's CD "Sleep Drum" receives an Honorable Mention in the 2002 John Lennon Songwriting Competition! Way to go Chris! "I was actually hoping for some money, because I'm really hungry, but this is nice too..." - excerpt from a speech by Chris Ball, at the Unofficial Songwriting Competition Award Party and Ho-Down at the Village Inn in Chickashaw, OK. It's been a very busy year as Tony and Chris continue to produce and arrange music for other artists and recording companies. Both are as busy as ever as session musicians too, but Sonal Anu continues to be at the very heart of who they are as composers, musicians and friends. Summer, 2003: Pre-production work begins for the next recording by Sonal Anu, scheduled for release in the spring of 2004. Stay tuned! Visit www.sonalanu.com for more information on Sonal Anu! Check out the artist's website: http://www.sonalanu.com Track List: 1. Hymn 2. Mertyl By Flashlight 3. Little Web 4. Lookuh Sto' 5. First Light 6. The Right One 7. Selah 8. Sleep Drum 9. Second Light Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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