"Gee" Rabe is available to work with anyone who needs an accordionist or steel drum player but is currently working with the following bands and projects:
Texacali Drifters (COUNTRY - WESTERN SWING/BAKERSFIELD SOUND)
Humble Hooligans (IRISH)
To hear samples and for more info about the Humble Hooligans, please visit our MySpace page or website.
Polka Haunt Us (POLKA INFUSED WORLDBEAT/COMEDY)
Vaud and the Villains (FOLK/BLUES/ZYDECO BIG BAND)
Accordion: Myron Floren, Art Van Damme, Frank Marocco, Petar Ralchev, Ivan Milev, Sunny Sauceda :)
Steel Drums: Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Robert Greenidge
I like trend setters and hope that I will get to work with as many different artists as possible. Everytime I work with someone, they influence my playing in some way. The more creative the project, the more inspired I am to create....
Hello Everyone! Welcome to "Gee's" official MySpace page. Aside from my "professional" bio, I will try to add more personal biographical information when I have time. My main instruments are the accordion and steel drums, although I think my real passion lies in the instrument that many make fun of - the accordion. My other interests include fitness and animals.
I am presently dealing with the loss of my Dallape accordion, which was stolen on 12/9/07. (Please see my blog for details.) Despite this sad turn of events in my musical career, the show WILL go on and I am determined to not let pathetic people like the thief or thieves who stole my accordion from behind my back get me down. There is too much to do and so little time and you know the saying - "Life's too short!"
I look forward to gaining new friends from all over the world! I wish everyone good health and happiness....
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Please help recover stolen musical instruments!
6/1/08: For those of you who like western swing, Tex-Mex, and the Bakersfield sound, here are a few tracks from the new Texacali Drifters demo! "Shot of Freedom" was written by our hot lead singer Art Parga.
4/19/08: Bassist and USC graduate Brandon Turner wraps up recording his new group, the Haberdashery Quartet. The Haberdashery Quartet is led by Brandon and also includes Chris Luther on violin and Dr. Dan Cole on guitar. I play the accordion of course. You can hear more clips at our website or here on MySpace.
3/31/08: Improv Polka 1 - Just playing around with my new recorder and decided to record a polka. So I made up one in 5 minutes and it took me 3 hours to figure out how to record it. I'd rather play than deal with the technical stuff but it was "cardley" fun. I guess I'll be putting up more little ditties like this in the future.
The steel drum example is from David Arnay's CD, "Pangea," that we recorded a few years ago. You can purchase the CD from David's website.
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Ms. Gigi "Gee" Rabe has completed Ph.D. coursework in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and holds an M.A. degree in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and a B.M. degree in Performance with an emphasis in Commercial Music from California State University (CSU) Long Beach. Her main research interests include music and religion, subcultural music, popular music and culture, youth and music, smooth jazz, worldbeat, tango, the international music industry, Balkan music, and Caribbean music, especially ska and steel band music. She has given papers at conferences, including the Society for Ethnomusicology and the British Forum for Ethnomusicology. Academic awards she has received include a UCLA University stipend; UCLA’s Thayer Special Collections Fellowship, and the UCLA Fine Arts Trust Award. She was also the recipient of a grant from UCLA’s Institute of American Cultures and the Center for African American Studies.
An accordionist since 1975, Ms. Rabe has won major awards for her performance, including the Accordion Federation of North America's virtuoso (Western classical) and virtuoso jazz competitions in 1984 and 1985 respectively. Her teachers have included Glenn Stead and LaVoy Halle (Western classical); Frank Marocco (jazz); Pepe Motta (Argentinean tango); Milen Slavov, Petar Ralchev, and Ivan Milev (Bulgarian accordion); and Sunny Sauceda (Tex-Mex). In 2002, her article "Aspects of Regional Difference and Performance Technique in Bulgarian Accordion Music" was published in the journal Musical Performance and she is presently working on a musical analysis of Balkan accordion performance. Ms. Rabe is diverse in her performance styles, from strolling and playing Italian and French popular songs to work in Oktoberfest and Irish bands. In the fall of 2007 she was the accordionist in the Getty Villa production “Tug of War,” which received outstanding national reviews, was featured on a segment of the CBS News Sunday Morning, and was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the top ten productions in Los Angeles in 2007.
As a steel pannist, Ms. Rabe has performed professionally since 1986 and has worked and studied with Trinidad’s famous Len "Boogsie" Sharpe and Robert Greenidge. She has also recorded for television, radio, and film. She appeared on the last season of the television sitcom “Friends,” where she was cast in the role of “Marjorie,” Phoebe’s eccentric friend who plays the steel drum for her wedding. In addition to playing steel drums, Ms. Rabe has studied Latin percussion with master percussionist Francisco Aguabella.
As a teaching associate in the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology, Ms. Rabe has taught discussion classes on the subjects of music of Mexico and the Caribbean, music of Europe and the Americas, the Cultural History of Rap, and South American music. She has been a lecturer at CSU Northridge since 1995, starting their steel band program, which is one of the largest steel band programs on the west coast. In addition, she has taught the first online music course at CSUN. She is also a faculty member at Santa Monica College.
Aside from music, Ms. Rabe is a certified personal trainer with a long term goal to compete in Masters Figure competitions with the goal of earning a pro card. She also enjoys hiking, swimming, and animals.
