Daniel Berkman is a San Francisco based composer, multi-instrumentalist, electronic musician and innovator of the Kora (a 21-stringed harp/lute from West Africa).

Upon finding this ancient jewel in 1996, Daniel wasted no time in unearthing the Kora's compositional and sonic potential by exploring it's rich heritage, traditional playing techniques and repertoire, then tweaking and looping these celestial sonorities through a Whammy Pedal and an Oberheim Echoplex. 

What followed were two recordings, "Heartstrings" (1996) and "Feverdreams" (1998).

"Heartstrings", composed entirely of Kora and electronic devices and produced by Mark Orton, plays like a childhood memory, relived. Daniel's Kora enfolds us with warm bright shards of diatonic bliss with the occasional looming shadows brought on by a wave of "Cocteau"-like chorus and reverse digital reverb.

By the end we are left with a "Lullaby", lulled, as it were, into the land of dreams.

"Feverdreams" is a collection of live improvisations recorded at the Omnicircus in San Francisco between 1997 and 1998, compiled by David G. Earl and produced by Frank Garvey. Inspired by Garvey's robotic art and apocalyptic atmosphere and taking from Berkman's own love of the "dark side" of music, Daniel embarks on a psychedelic journey with the Kora, taking it where no Kora has EVER gone before. An apt metaphor would be Toumani jamming with Fripp and Reich on an acid trip, or where those "looming shadows" take over the soundscape and draw the listener into the hellish yet irresistible realm of nightmares.

While on the road as guitarist and Kora player with Djali Kunda Kouyate (the twins) in December of 2002 through Senegal, Gambia and Mali, Daniel not only studied Kora, Djembe and Ngoni with various masters there but he captured his experiences on minidisc.

The result is his latest work, "Calabashmoon" (2005), a collection of crafty and poignant Kora pieces woven into a tapestry of samples and impressions of West Africa. Whereas there is no looping on "Calabashmoon", Berkman uses the computer as his canvas. Lush, exotic and enchanting are just a few words to describe this Tour de Force of World-fusion 21st Century Kora music.