Ariel Publicity

HuDost is a musical ensemble whose core musicians are singer/songwriters Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines from Montreal and New York.

What commenced as an acoustic duo project has developed into a fully produced ensemble with Dan Walters on bass, George Tortorelli on flutes, Julian Douglas, John de Kadt and Michael Rutherford on percussion and other occasional guests. The ensemble functions as a collective, bringing in musicians of varying sensibilities and backgrounds.

HuDost’s material is best described as experimental Indie world rock. Their original work ranges in style from 'Alternative World Music' to their own 'Country and Eastern' fusion, and an atmospheric, rich, experimental sound. This is mixed with the rich, eclectic blending of traditional Sufi music, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian and Balkan folk music, Farsi, Turkish, Arabic, Folk, Pop and Rock.

HuDost has toured throughout the US, Canada and Europe, including shows in Turkey, and have performed extensively on the east coast doing shows at Alex Grey’s CoSM in NYC, the Salvador Dali Museum, the Shakori Grassroots Festival, Omega Institute, Rumi Festival, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and many others. HuDost has also opened for the California Guitar Trio and Jefferson Starship as well as working with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Neko Case and Mercan Dede.

HuDost is currently putting the finishing touches on their third album of all original material with Grammy award winning producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois). It is set for a Spring 2009 release. They’ve just released a six song ‘Royal Mountain EP’ featuring two songs from the upcoming album and four B-sides. Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines are also currently creating a program featuring their music for nationally broadcast CBC’s ‘Outfront’ which will be aired in the spring of 2009.

HuDost performances range from the duo of Moksha and Jemal Wade to the full ensemble mode, which includes performance art, video installation and dance.

Their debut CD, titled 'In an Eastern Rose Garden', was released in 2005 and received rave reviews. CDBaby says about HuDost’s debut album: “These beautiful atmospheric, warm and resonant songs weave the evocative… With stylistic colors of folk and pop presented with the colorful harmonic vocabulary of the East, this album delicately pairs the two art forms with great success.”

In a recent review of HuDost’s 2006 release ‘Seedling’, CHRONOGRAM Magazine said “HuDost has a folk quality yet is quite post-modern; the band offers new takes on ancient words and melodies, cross-cultural hybrid transcendental chill-out music with an edge. (The album will even be agreeable to those whose spiritual music is punk.)… This is not fluffy new-age music—it's serious, complex fare with no aversion to addressing agony. Sommer's vocal execution is precisely orchestrated, her voice-opening, hollow-toned vortexes piercing through the tough spots. This album is a journey of music and spirit.”

HuDost has been touring constantly since April 2006.