Asza

ASZA is an acoustic ensemble steeped in traditional world music that formed in the 1990s. The band incorporates and combines different world instruments and styles into original compositions as well as existing traditional songs. The group consists of newest member, bassist Laurence Mollerup, Chinese pipa virtuoso Qiu Xia He, Urugayian percussionist Joseph "Pepe" Danza, oud and percussion specialist from Quebec, Andre Thibault, and composer and multi-instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch. All four members of ASZA, in fact, are multi-instrumentalists -- the group uses over 60 instruments, on average, during each performance. ASZA's self-titled debut recording was released in 1995 and subsequently nominated for Juno and Pacific Music Industry Awards. The Canadian group has performed with a wide range of groups from Cirque du Soleil to Aerosmith, symphony orchestras to Strunz and Farah, and toured North America and Asia. After one of their enthusiastically received performances in Southeast Asia, ASZA became the subject of a prime-time TV special in Vietnam.