Bethany Yarrow and Rufus Cappadocia were a cello & voice duo from Brooklyn, New York who played together for 20 years. Deeply influenced by ceremonial music, their performances were like watching two spirits weave a timeless river of song, prayer, and dance.
Bethany Yarrow (vocals) sings music of power and praise. She is a song keeper, earth activist, and student of the spiritual traditions of the Americas. Onstage she is a mesmerizing, dancing spirit with a powerful voice and a living prayer for unity at the heart of her music.
Rufus Cappadocia (strings) is a a multi-lingual musician, composer and recording artist. He is a virtuoso cellist known for his transcendent improvisation and ground breaking percussive style. Spanning the modalities of Middle Eastern, West African, pan-European, and American folk forms, Rufus' effortless and natural embrace of music is awe-inspiring.
Bethany and Rufus met in 1999 at a gig at the legendary Knitting Factory in downtown Manhattan and they quickly formed a deep musical partnership. As the daughter of folk legend Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary) Bethany absorbed a huge amount of traditional folk music, blues and spirituals in her early childhood which permanently rooted her in the ancestral voices of the Americas.
Rufus Cappadocia is renowned for his cross cultural collaborations, taking the cello into previously unexplored realms. Through his work with blues, West African, Caribbean and Eastern modal music traditions his unique musical voice traces the lineage of American music back to its root sources. Cappadocia is also known for his solo cello repertoire and critically acclaimed CD Songs for Cello (Daqui Records).
BETHANY & RUFUS
PRESS
“Stunning.” (Goldmine Magazine) “Remarkable.” (Jazz Times) “The real deal.” (allmusic.com). “Extraordinary… Brilliant” (ALL ABOUT JAZZ) .....
"I've been in the music business for 37 years now and I've had my artists perform at amazing shows including Live Aid and Carnegie Hall. I have to rank Bethany & Rufus show for us in my "Top 20" of all time. Mezmerising and inventive...our audience was slack-jawed." -- MINDY GILES, SWELL PRODUCTIONS
"The duo sees themselves as roots...but the musical results are really beyond category, with touches of jazz, gospel and something contemporary. Their unique sound starts with Bethany's phrasing, which can be quite loose, even ethereal. Then there's Rufus' five-string cello - played pizzicato, jazz style and bowed, incorporating the bass range and world music rhythms... It's an often bewitching chemistry." -- Roger Levesque, EDMONTON JOURNAL
"This is American music that reaches out to invite and include so much more. Most of the songs have a sad undercurrent and yet at the hands of these two artists they emerge as shining songs for a new time." - ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"There's no denying that in a world where a lot of fluffy pop passes as folk, Bethany and Rufus - in taking a more original road - have come up with the real deal." - ALLMUSIC.COM
"Bethany & Rufus' simple blues changes, couples with the primordial funkiness of Cappadocia's cello, evoke the ancient world that serves as a backdrop for 900 Miles - all ragged tombstones and railroad unspooling forever in one direction. Still, they're trying to make that world seem less parochial. - Rachel Swan, East Bay Express
"Bethany & Rufus' simple blues changes, couples with the primordial funkiness of Cappadocia's cello, evoke the ancient world that serves as a backdrop for 900 Miles." - Rachel Swan, EAST BAY EXPRESS
"Yarrow has a keen, dusky-voiced musicianship that blurs folk, rock and pop... it is, though, Cappadocia's brilliance that gives this [music] its remarkable sheen. His palette...is incredibly rich and amazingly clever." - JAZZ TIMES
"This is American music that reaches out to invite and include so much more. Most of the songs have a sad undercurrent and yet at the hands of these two artists they emerge as shining songs for a new time." - ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"Bethany delivers low, smoky tones that call to mind Nina Simone or Cassandra Wilson delving into field recordings... Cappadocia bows and plucks [his] cello with dramatic tension and stately grace. With stunning imagination, Bethany & Rufus move music linked with her father's era in arresting new directions. Bravo!" - GOLDMINE MAGAZINE
"Nearly all the songs are traditional, but every one is reinterpreted in a way that takes them to a place youíve never dreamed of, no matter how many times youíve heard them before... leaving you utterly transfixed... where the cumulative effect and intensity are simply astonishing." - AMERICANA UK
VIDEOS
LIFT US UP – #NoDAPL #StopSPECTRA
#FrontlineToFrontline #AllNationsRise #LetLovePrevail
900 MILES
I AM THE MAN THOMAS
LININ’ TRACK LIVE
INDIVIDUAL BIOS
BETHANY YARROW
RUFUS CAPPADOCIA
