Chords for Angels Musicians

Chords for Angels Musicians: Nick Melidonis, Anne Rowe, Keith MacDonald, Tim Strahan, Nigel Shaw with Garry Baverstock and his  band ‘Anugaia’, and Rod Christian, presented a foot tapping concert with a fusion of sounds from favourite 1960s to 1980s covers and original music created for this event.

During the concert two fabulous songs  ‘Chords for Angels’  and  ‘State of Emergency’ created by Nigel Shaw and Garry Baverstock, were aired live for the first time. You can buy the new CD produced by RodMusic through the contact page. Each CD has the 2 new songs.

More about the musicians:

Nick Melidonis

Nick started playing music while at University of Western Australia and founded the successful folk group “The West Coast Trio”.  The band reached the finals twice in 1965 and 1966 in Melbourne’s TV  ‘Showcase’, [the equivalent of today’s ‘Australian Idol’ ] and had its own half hour TV show on the ABC called ‘Folk Cellar’.

He later formed the rock group ‘Gemini’ that recorded for the Clarion and Festival labels and had a hit ‘Sunshine River’ that reached number 4 on the charts in 1969. Nick played solo on the cabaret and club circuit and later formed a group called ‘NAK’ with Keith McDonald and Anne Rowe. NAK showed they’ve lost none of their excitement when they came together for the Chords for Angels 2011 concert.

 

 

He still enjoys playing music with friends as a relaxation. He enjoyed a varied career in teaching, management consulting and corporate training (he co-founded the  consulting group ‘Integra’) and became a professional photographer in 1998, leading Nick Melidonis photographic tours to Greece, Africa and Asia.

Photographic awards include: AIPP Australian landscape photographer of the year Australia 2001-2008, 2005 and silver medallist 2011.

Anne Rowe

Anne’s music career began when she was 22 singing in a little bistro in Victoria Park with Keith MacDonald and then joining up with Nick Melidonis .  After some years of singing with Keith and Nick in the group NAK, the group disbanded and for Anne her singing was put to one side.  She started her studies in Ceramics after getting married and when her daughter began school completing the diploma in Ceramics after five years of TAFE.

Over the years,  her work has been represented in Galleries throughout Australia much of which went overseas.  Working in the specialized area of raku, a Japanese form of firing, brought her much acclaim with her peers.

After a break of 30 years, her singing began again with Keith and Nick.  Today Anne enjoys singing with Nick and doing the occasional performances around town.

 

Garry Baverstock

Garry has been playing guitar since architectural student days in the late 1960s. Brought up on rock and folk music, Garry started writing his own melodies and lyrics at that time. Some of these tunes were to resurface and be adapted 40 years later with the band, ‘Anugaia. In the late 1980s Garry was involved in playing spiritual Indian folk music and also play the occasional gig of world music, working with Matthew Fogarty a proficient and trained jazz musician. Garry played with Matthew on a number of recordings during that period. In the mid 1990s Garry joined Nick Melidonis and Ian Da Souza and played around Fremantle as the ‘Old Spice Boys’ and played a number of folk and rock tunes from the 1950s through to the 1980s.

Since 2000, Garry formed the band ‘Anugaia’ to play a mixture of world music, covers and their own originals. In 2005 the first album was produced jointly with Matthew Fogarty called ‘Culture Now’. It was a fusion of folk, rock ad jazz and with the lyrics about aboriginal culture. A number of talented aboriginal people were recruited for parts on the CD to play as session musicians.

Bo Da Costa

Born in Goa a state with a strong Portuguese influence, on the west coast of India.

Learned to play the violin at an early age of 10 years. A Self taught guitar player, Bo played the Bass guitar and vocals in various bands viz The Atomic Explosion , The Ben, The Jinx and The Clique from 1976 to 2002.

Currently playing the Lead guitar, electric Piano and vocals for Anugaia, a band playing fusion music, led by Garry Baverstock.

 

 

Steve Warner Jones

Steve was lucky enough to grow up in London during the musical and social revolution that occurred in the 1960’s. He and three other childhood friends formed Fred Karno’s Army in 1964, and the band played at dances and parties around England until 1971, and even did one gig in France. Steve played rhythm guitar, harmonica, and provided backing vocals. It was a long break between gigs until Fred Karno got together in Los Angeles in 1998 to celebrate all their 50th birthdays and another 10 years before they played again in 2008 in London and Perth for their 60ths! Since then he has played with The Big Tees at Royal Perth Golf Club, and most recently Garry Baverstock’s Anugaia, playing guitar and harmonica. He is enjoying the band’s large range of music styles,  which include Garry’s originals, modern covers, and some of the popular old rockers from his youth!

Majo Merga

Born in Czechoslovakia, studied classical guitar and double bass since age of 10. Since 1993 performed with Slovak traditional orchestra, classical symphonic orchestra, jazz/rock original and cover bands. Played double bass and bass guitar. As a member of these groups I performed in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Holland, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine, USA and currently in Australia.

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Sam Paolino

Five years ago Garry needed a drummer and thought of his old mate Sam who he used to jam with when they both at Uni around 45 years ago. Sam had not touched a drumstick since, but always up for a challenge, brushed up his old skills and got back into it. With Anugaia he has performed live at various fundraisers and multicultural event.

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