Born in 1969 in Petah-Tikva, Israel, Asaf Sirkis later moved to the town of Rehovot, where he spent his teens and early twenties. This was an influential move for Asaf, as it was here amongst the diverse cultural influences he found in Rehovot that Asaf began to show an interest in music and rhythm. In Rehovot he lived amongst people from North Africa, east and central Europe, and the Middle East. Living in Shaarayim, the Yemenite neighbourhood in Rehovot, Asaf was particularly drawn to Yemenite culture, music, and rhythms.

At the age of 12 Asaf began drum lessons, while also having a strong interest in playing electric bass. Varied music influenced Asaf at the time and still influences his writing and playing to this day: The Beatles, Police, Yes, Genesis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allan Holdsworth, and Weather Report to name a few.

From 1987 to 1990 Asaf did his compulsory national service. Upon leaving he started his professional career as a musician playing with many different young Jazz-Rock, Kletzmer, world music, and Free Jazz bands. During that time he co-operated with Israel’s local Jazz/world luminaries such as Harold Rubin, Albert Beger, Yair Dlal and Eyal Sela.

In 1993 moved to Tel-Aviv. While making his living playing mainly Jewish music Asaf continued to develop his own style as a drummer and composer until, in 1995, formed his own trio and recorded his first solo album One Step Closer. Inspired by French Church Organ composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Maurice Durufle and Cesar Frank in 1996 he formed a unique new band The Inner Noise consisting of Church Organ, Electric Guitar and Drums. The Inner Noise’s first project was commissioned by the Tel-Aviv City Council and was performed around Israel in 1997-8.

In October 1998 Asaf left Israel to Europe and eventually settled in London in April 1999. He soon become part of the UK Jazz and world music scene, and started working with Adel Salameh, a Palestinian Oud player/composer with whom he recorded the album Nuzha which featured Asaf’s Middle Eastern frame drum playing. Soon after arriving in the UK Asaf re-formed the Inner Noise band with Steve Lodder (Church Organ) and Mike Outram (Guitar).

In 2000 Asaf met Gilad Atzmon, which was the start of a major creative collaboration. With Atzmon they formed The Orient House Ensemble, and this band went on to record 7 albums, OHE’s album Exile won the Best CD of the Year category at the BBC Jazz Award 2003 and nominated for the Best Band category in 2004. Asaf performed with The OHE in many prestigious festivals and venues in the UK and in Europe until April 2009 when he left the band to focus on his own writing and work with his trio.

In 2006 Asaf started a unique collaboration with the highly acclaimed saxophonist/composer Tim Garland and has enjoyed making seven albums with him so far; notably The Mystery (featuring Chick Corea and the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra), Lighthouse (released on ACT, featuring Gwilym Simcock on piano), and Songs For The North Sky. Asaf has tours around the world with Tim's various projects.

While developing his own compositions, Asaf formed the Asaf Sirkis Trio in 2007 which features Greek guitarist Tassos Spiliotopoulos and Israeli bassist Yaron Stavi. This trio has released three albums with Shepherds Stories (2013) selected twice as one of 2013's best Jazz albums of the year at the All About Jazz website.

Since 2014, Asaf has been co-leading the Sirkis/Bialas IQ together with Polish composer/singer extraordinaire Sylwia Bialas. In recent years Asaf has been studying Konnakol (the south Indian vocal percussion language) with master mridangamist Paramasamy Kirupakaran and has been integrating this system into his teaching, composing and rhythmic approach.

Asaf has been playing around the world with artists such as Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Larry Coryell, John Abercrombie, Norman Watt-Roy (of the Blockheads), Wilco Johnson, Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, Dave Liebman, David Binney, Gary Husband, pianist John Taylor, Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler, Andy Sheppard, John Law, Peter King, Stan Sulzman, John Etherigde and as many International World Music artists.

The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet demonstrates how well a vocalist can work as the featured soloist in a quartet. Even better, they make you forget the instrumentation in the beauty and joy of the music they make. Collectively could come from anywhere and everywhere. Co-leaders Sirkis and Bialas composed all of the music (each is responsible for half of the tunes), with Bialas taking credit for all of the lyrics. Since the lyrics are in Polish, for many listeners there won't be much difference between the songs with lyrics and the vocalese, but the lyrics do seem to have an effect on the melodies, and Bialas' delivery.

Sylwia Bialas was born in 1980 and raised in Poland, where the seeds of a huge love for music were planted early. At the age of seven, she sang to an audience for the first time, sharing a music festival stage with professional musicians, the early beginnings of an unwavering pathway to a heartfelt and fulfilling career. Listening to blues, jazz and prog rock LPs in her formative years, she enjoyed discovering new types of music, memorising and singing the instrumental solos she encountered, as well as experimenting with sounds and learning to play a diversity of instruments. Studying at international jazz workshops in Chodziez and Pulawy, she discovered new directions in jazz, learning from great musical teachers including Bogdan Holownia (piano), Cornelia Giese (vocals), Artur Dutkiewicz (piano) and Joe Lee Wilson (vocals), as well as attending the legendary jazz history classes of Henryk Holinski, with its roots in the folklore of her homeland, plus a history of social rebellion and a move towards freedom of expression. Polish jazz became exciting and fertile ground for Sylwia, thus confirming music as her natural life path. She discovered that the human voice would be the most honest, personal and intense tool of her expression, the directness, vulnerability and clarity of this ‘instrument’ fascinating and motivating her to develop and experiment with its possibilities.

Sylwia worked with many bands and projects on the local scene. After two years of mastering rhythm, Sylwia moved to Germany to study jazz vocals, digital music production and musical education at the Music University in Würzburg. She also participated in many ensemble workshops such as the International Band Workshop in Trier, where she first met respected British singer and lyricist Norma Winstone (whose contribution to the development of the European vocal jazz became a subject of Sylwia’s diploma work).

In 2007, legendary Italian-born percussionist and composer Andrea Centazzo (Los Angeles, USA) invited Sylwia to appear on his trio album Voyagers, which also featured German trumpeter and flugelhornist Hans Peter Salentin. Sylwia founded the SB Quartet in 2010 with whom she recorded an album of her original compositions and lyrics – The Forest of Mists. She also co-founded, with South American guitarist Ernesto Cortazar Lara, the Plexus Quartet.

In June 2012, Sylwia met London-resident Israeli drummer/composer Asaf Sirkis at the Jazzahead conference in Bremen, prompting Asaf to feature her vocals on a track from his 2013 trio album Shepherd’s Stories. This brief but exciting collaboration inspired Sylwia and Asaf to co-lead their current band, choosing to work with favourite musicians and friends Patrick Bettison (UK/USA) on bass and chromatic harmonica, Frank Harrison (UK) on piano and keyboards (and also including Scottish 6-string bassist Kevin Glasgow). Acclaimed debut album Come To Me was launched at the London EFG Jazz Festival in 2014, and the band continues to delight audiences as they tour extensively. In 2015, Sylwia moved to London to develop her creative projects.

Frank Harrison is one of the UK’s unique pianistic voices, taking up the piano at 11, and began playing gigs when he was 15. After taking up a scholarship at Berklee School of Music, in Boston, he returned to the UK and joined Gilad Atzmon’s band. In 2000 they started the Orient House Ensemble, with whom Frank has recorded seven albums. The band regularly tours Europe, playing at major Jazz and World music festivals. Frank has also performed with Peter King, Julian Arguelles, Julian Siegel, Don Weller, Alan Barnes, John Etheridge, Louis Stewart and Iain Ballamy.

In 2006 Frank formed a trio with drummer Stephen Keogh and bassist Aidan O’Donnell. Their debut album, First Light, launched to critical acclaim and they have since toured regularly in Europe and the Far East, as well as collaborating with special guests such as Louis Stewart and Tina May. Frank's new trio features Davide Petrocca on bass and Stephen Keogh on drums.

Kevin Glasgow was born in Inverness in 1983 to musical parents. When he was 9 years old the family moved to Northern Ireland, where he started learning guitar and playing traditional Irish music sessions with his parents. At 16 Kevin began playing bass guitar and later moved back to Scotland to study Popular Music at Napier University in Edinburgh, whilst there he played regularly on the Edinburgh jazz circuit.

Since graduating, he has played internationally at venues such as Ronnie Scott's, the 606, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Lincoln Centre, NYC) and festivals such as Glastonbury, Rochester International, Edmonton International Jazz Festival, and Hong Kong International Jazz Festival. He has performed and recorded with many different artists including Tommy Smith, Tim Garland, Clark Tracey, Joe Locke, Asaf Sirkis, Gareth Lockrane, and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (featuring soloists such as John Scofield, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker and Peter Erskine). Kevin has also performed on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 3. In 2008 he moved to London where he now resides. He currently plays in a number of projects, including Tommy Smith’s ‘Karma’, the Asaf Sirkis Trio, the Sirkis/Bialas IQ, the Nicolas Meier Trio+, and Preston-Glasgow-Lowe.

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