Paula Darwish & the Country and Eastern Band are at the forefront of new attitudes to world music and part of a move to bring its sounds to wider audiences. The unique Country and Eastern sound with its diverse eastern and western influences, relies on a careful balance of the familiar with the unknown. Following in the footsteps of British Bands Asian Dub Foundation and Transglobal Underground, their music layers the more unusual sounds of eastern instruments and words over the unmistakeable beat of rock. They successfully fuse modern rearrangements of traditional Turkish and Kurdish pieces with original songs and poignant English lyrics.

Born in Yorkshire UK to an English mother and Jordanian father, Paula grew up listening to “country” and “eastern” music. The stereo at home regularly jostled between The Rolling Stones, American country diva Dolly Parton and Lebanese superstar Fairuz. Starting her rock career as a keyboard player in indie band TV Babies, Paula began to learn guitar so she could play solo and get gigs out on the folk scene.

After a few years of late night gigs and early mornings working as a postwoman, Paula decided it was time for a change. She travelled around the Mediterranean, living for a short time in Crete and Turkey and fell in love with the music of both countries. On returning to England she went back to her previous job as a postwoman but couldn’t quite shake off the bug of Mediterranean & Middle Eastern music. After a few more years at the Post Office, she was accepted to study Turkish and Middle Eastern History at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Living in London provided the opportunity to hang out in the Turkish music cafés of Hackney and once again be immersed in the music she loved. Her biggest passion was for a type of music known in Turkey as halk müziği  and Dalston in North East London was full of bars and community centres playing just this kind of music. Still playing as a solo performer in the acoustic cafes of London, Paula began to add a few Turkish songs to the repertoire and found British audiences receptive to the catchy melodies of Turkish folk..

During her third college year, Paula studied at the Bosphorous University in Istanbul, and played several gigs in Istanbul and Izmir. On her return to London, she became a well known figure playing around the Turkish cafés and community centres of North London. After gaining a first class degree in Turkish, Paula returned to Istanbul with the intention of getting a job and starting a new band. Whilst musical opportunities were many, unable to earn enough money to stay afloat, Paula was forced to return to England and start again.

By the time she had left London, Paula was almost exclusively playing in Turkish venues as she had become completely disillusioned with the standard London live music circuit. So when an opportunity to stay in Manchester came up Paula was more than ready for another change. She rapidly discovered the live music scene was much more vibrant and offered many  more opportunities for new artists.

With a completely new non-Turkish audience to work on, Paula came up with the idea of "country and eastern" a fusion of Turkish folk music mixed with her own country influenced songs in English. Convinced that audiences would respond to the emotional and melodic draw of both types of music she approached a couple of venues with the idea of putting on "country and eastern" night, offering to perform for the whole evening with a group of musicians she still had to find. Excited about the challenge of finding a completely new type of audience for her music she began to search for musicians.

The Country and Eastern Band was founded by Paula Darwish in Manchester in 2002. The band developed around 2 monthly residencies in central Manchester, one at Centro Bar in the Northern Quarter and one at the Iguana Bar in Cholrton. Finding herself in Manchester with gigs and no band Paula quickly pulled together a loose knit group of mostly session musicians interested in eastern music.

Usually working off a rough live CD and one pre-gig rehearsal many talented musicians played their part in keeping the country and eastern nights going (see later for full list). The band eventually settled into a more regular line-up which nevertheless took a few years to transform into it’s present day shape. The Centro Bar residency ran for 2 years and the Iguana Bar gigs continued every month until Summer 2007.

Paula’s first regular musicians were violinist Ed Wolstenholme, darbuka player Kevin Bates and bouzouki player Pascal Pascalis. Ed Cross was the first regular player on bass, joined shortly afterwards by Ric Gibbs on drums. Already a big fan of North African and Egyptian music, Ric was perfect for the job and began to exert a new influence on the band’s sound. Not long after, Ian Jackson began to play with the band adding an extra percussive edge.

Serpil Kiliç, a Kurdish student from Turkey came along in 2004. Having seen the band a few times she decided it was time to take the plunge and ask if they needed a saz player. After a short meeting in Café Rouge in Didsbury, Paula couldn’t believe her luck that she had finally found a good saz player in Manchester that was into texactly the same kind of music.

Ed Cross unfortunately had to leave the band when he moved down to Devon and the band struggled to find the right replacement. Having too many commitments to stop playing while they found a suitable replacement, a succession of bass players came and went until 2006 when friend of the band Colin Pender, who hadn’t played bass for a long time decided to dust off his guitar again. With the advantage of already knowing a lot of the band’s songs and being a regular listener of Egyptian music, Colin quickly fitted in.

Shortly afterwards, wanting to concentrate on the core sound of the band, Paula shed a few musicians to bring the line-up down to a 4 piece of her, Ric, Colin and Serpil. A year later, feeling the overall band sound was much more established, Paula invited guitarist Carlos Ballester to join the band in 2007 and shortly afterwards, Iraqi darbuka player Nasser Althefferi. Nasser was later replaced by the versatile Leed's percussionist Adam Warne. The latest musician to join the band is the talented vocalist and ukelele player Lou Armer from Manchester. Lou's unique and soaring harmonies have added a new dimension to the bands sound.The band's main live focus is now touring and Club Couscous. See Discography for music from all phases of the band's life.

The Country and Eastern Band Roll Call
On violin:
Ed Wolstenholme
On bouzouki:
Pascal Pascalis
On flute:
Kevin Bates
On kemençe, mandola & guitar:
Chris Williams
On drums:
Sophie Hunter, Guy Schalom, Greg Morgan, Mark O'Donaghue
On bass:
Heather Greenbank, Chris Layhe, Ed Cross, Steve Winstanley, Mike Garnett, Michael Cretu,
On percussion:
Ian Jackson, Kevin Bates