Tenzin Chopak is a singer songwriter and photographer based out of Ithaca, NY. Chopak most often performs backed by his friend Emmett Scott on piano, analog synth, and backing vocals. He also regularly performs on vocals and MPC samples/effects with improvisational ensemble Galactic Wednesday.
News! March 20th 2023
Hey Friends,
My friend Emmett Scott and I are so happy to announce the release of the 6 song ep version of this live concert recording at Red Newt in Hectory, NY, that we performed in November of 2022. Please give it a listen and share if you like to help us spread the word. I play guitar, foot percussion, and vocals, and Emmett Scott plays piano, Moog Voyager and Sub Phatty, and sings backing vocals on this album.
This ep version is free to stream, you can find it here on Spotify or on Youtube, Apple Music, and other such fountains of content. Please stay tuned for upcoming announcements regarding the full length album version for purchase which we will use to raise funds for recording our next studio album down in TN.
This recording was engineered, mixed, and mastered by our dear friend Brian Dozoretz.
Very special thanks to David Whiting, Susan Waterbury, and Heather O’Grady-Evans of Red Newt
Next performances:
Friday March 24th 6-8 pm Stonebend in Newfield, NY, Tenzin Chopak w/Emmett Scott
Thursday March 30th 7-9 pm Downstairs in Ithaca, NY, Tenzin Chopak w/Emmett Scott
Saturday April 1st 6-8 pm Two Goats in Hector, NY, Tenzin Chopak w/Emmett Scott
Saturday April 8th Kava Bar in Ithaca, NY, Tenzin Chopak w/Emmett Scott, Bess Greenberg
Wednesday April 12th Deep Dive in Ithaca, NY, Galactic Wednesday Improvisational, Tenzin on vocals and MPC samples/effects
Sunday April 16th Deep Dive in Ithaca, NY, Snarky Puppy After Party (with Galactic Wed. and members of Snarky Puppy), Tenzin on vocals and MPC samples/effects
Thurs-Sun May 4th and 5th Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Pittsboro, NC, Tenzin Chopak with Emmett Scott
Tuesday May 30th Downstairs in Ithaca, NY, Tenzin Chopak, Muhammad Seven, Austin MaCrae songwriter circle 7 pm
Thursday July 6th South Hill Cider in Ithaca, NY Tenzin Chopak with Emmett Scott
Thursday-Sunday July 20-23rd FingerLakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, Tenzin Chopak with Emmett Scott
Friday July 28th Marti's on Mainstreet Gallery in Albion, NY, Tenzin Chopak with Emmett Scott, 7 pm
Saturday July 29th Lovin' Cup in Rochester, NY, Tenzin Chopak with Emmett Scott and guests, 8 pm
Check out this nice recent interview with Tenzin from Christopher Hislop of the Edge in Portsmouth, NH!
https://www.fosters.com/news/20190425/tenzin-chopak-to-play-button-factory-stage-april-27
In February of 2017, Tenzin Chopak recorded a one microphone, one day, guitar and voice album titled "Alone in the House", produced by Grammy winning Brian Dozoretz and filmed by Jay Rogan at Tenzin's house. This is Tenzin Chopak's fifth album, and was released March 16th, 2017. This particular album can only be obtained from Tenzin at live performances.
Here is the recording of the title track in one take.
"Just Don't Go", filmed by Jay Rogan.
Tenzin Chopak
FOURTH ALBUM "AWFUL GOOD" RELEASED NOVEMBER 17th 2016
and
FIFTH ALBUM "ALONE IN THE HOUSE" RELEASED MARCH 16th 2017
Reviewers have referred to his work as "progressive chamber folk", while audiences and critics have praised performances as "incandescent", "mesmerizing", and
"stunningly beautiful".
Tenzin Chopak has released six albums of original music. Three albums under the name Rockwood Ferry, and his fourth album "Awful Good" under his name accompanied by Nicholas Walker (double bass), Rosie Newton (violin and vocals), and Greg Evans (drums) in November, 2016.
His fifth album "Alone In The House" is a one microphone, one day, acoustic solo project and was released in March of 2017.
Tenzin is known for preforming his music in a variety of forms: with the Rockwood Ferry ensemble, with double bassist Nicholas Walker, violinist Rosie Newton, and drummer Greg Evans, and as a solo singer songwriter. He has also been involved in improvisational and experimental music ensembles such as the Ithaca based Galactic Escort Service where he performs as a producer on MPC One or Ableton Push 2.
In addition to this, Tenzin composes original music for film and has provided soundtracks for numerous environmental conservation documentary shorts through the National Park Service and other organizations. He composed the score for the award winning 30 minute ocean conservation documentary "Fragile Legacy". Tenzin is also a visual artist with a particular emphasis on wildlife photography.
Review of Tenzin Chopak's fourth album "Awful Good", November, 2016:
Review in NO DEPRESSION!
Tenzin Chopak's "Awful Good" Lives Up To Its Title
Tenzin Chopak has assumed many guises throughout his career, regularly veering into the realms of prog, chamber folk, world beat, trance, electronica and improvisational music while enthusiastically collaborating with whatever musicians are eager to embrace his vision. Chopak’s versatility on a variety of instruments (guitar, piano, bass, cello and voice) and his deeply rooted spiritual beliefs (a devotee of Tibetan culture and religion, he was given his present name during an eight month sabbatical in northern India), imbue his music with both a rustic and religious regimen, providing his work with a mystic sheen in the process. Awful Good is the fourth album under his own aegis, and with songs that veer from mournful to mirthful, it’s an unmistakably singular sound that’s grounded in rootsy reflection and timeless trappings, yet as earnest and assertive as any heartland homily. Many of the entries convey a certain solace -- the fiddle-strewn title track, the hushed "Wild Boys," the reflective “Tell Queeny,” and the mellow “Let Yourself Fall” in particular -- the soothing sentiments are consistently affecting, allowing most of these tracks to offer an immediate if somewhat eerie impression. Being the son of a minister who was reared in the rural environs of East Tennessee could account for Chopak’s grounded delivery, but it likely also has to do with his thoughtful mindset as well. While Awful Good certainly lives up to its name, it also harbors a deep sense of thoughtful propriety, which makes these songs all the more auspicious, and lovely as well. ND
Review by Finger Lakes Music Press:
Once again Tenzin Chopak has gathered an ensemble of extremely talented musicians for his fourth album "Awful Good" and created music that stands alone as a consummate work of art. This marks his first recording collaboration with Nicholas Walker on double bass and Greg Evans on drums. Rosie Newton returns on fiddle and backing vocals.
“Awful Good” was recorded in three sessions at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca under the masterful engineering of Brian Dozoretz, through analog equipment to 2-inch tape - some of the songs, in a single take. The result provides a sound as close to live performance as possible, framing Chopak's visceral, immediate, and deeply personal compositions.
From the start, with the title song introducing an old dog who provides a connecting thread several times later in the album, the common themes are love, death, and the human interactions that inextricably revolve around those experiences. From the achingly beautiful love in "Let Yourself Fall", to the passing from existence, and the introspection, reflection, and support of those left behind that manifests in songs such as "Empty River" and "Tell Queeny".
Throughout, the talent of this quartet to weave their instruments in intricate melodic tapestries that draw in the listener is transcendent. With violin and voice, Rosie Newton dances with Chopak’s vocals, sometimes darkly intense, sometimes softly delicate. Nicholas Walker’s bowed and plucked double bass alternatively singing along under the fiddle or providing counterpoint to the masterful beats laid down by Greg Evans. Of course, always, there is Chopak’s guitar, on which he consistently performs tricks of intricacy that sometimes defy analysis and leaving one only to wonder at the sound.
But although a collaboration of excellent artists, new with Walker and Evans, it is the clearly recognizable ease born of long familiarity between Newton and Chopak’s harmonies that lyrically lock songs like “No Heart, No Pain”, and the unabashed lullaby “Wild Boys”, in the mind's ear.
That deeply familiar feel - and the sense of acknowledgement and even tribute to the comfort and pain of it - the awful goodness of life - is the true overall beauty and staying power of “Awful Good”. It is the latest in a run that now stands unbroken across four albums, each a distinct gem eminently worth listening to again and again, but together representing a body of work that reflects the growth and fruition of a master singer/songwriter - a storyteller and musician of world class.
At risk of stating the obvious, “Awful Good” is very, very good indeed.
Jonathan Hochberg - Finger Lakes Music Press
Review of Tenzin Chopak & Rockwood Ferry's third album "Mask Maker" 2015:
"In the most ambitious album from Rockwood Ferry to date, Tenzin Chopak’s Mask Maker is a mature, complex, dynamic and completely engaging demonstration of musical evolution at its finest. Chopak returns as an impeccable story-teller, and shows he has no intention of relaxing his pursuit of excellence.
The prior recordings were undeniably beautiful in their artistry, but Mask Maker exhibits a sophistication of both music and production revealing them as stepping stones. While some musicians are content to repeatedly churn out the same style and presentation that might have garnered them creative and critical success, it takes someone comfortable with stretching the limits - with pushing their personal boundaries - to move beyond and reach new ground. Chopak has proven with this album that he has no qualms about exercising new artistic muscle, and the result is at once satisfying to this long-time listener and at times breathtaking in its freshness, while remaining extremely accessible as a stand-alone work.
From the haunting melody weaving in and out of syncopation with the beat in “Spider”, to the soaring lyrical arrangement of “Coyote”; the signature self-introspection of “How To Swim” and the title track; and the three-part “Aurora” reflecting a clear appreciation of an ongoing tradition of “suites” in modern progressive music; Mask Maker has a wealth of variety that holds the attention. Each song is a gem, but they also hang together as a group in ways that harken back to the 1970s, when albums were made to be listened to in their entirety rather than chopped up and distributed as individual digital nuggets. It is in fact one of the most “repeat playable” albums I have heard in a while, continuing Chopak’s streak of creating collections of songs for the long haul.
The overall production of the album is just about perfect, which is really not surprising given the talent involved. Regulars Eric Aceto on violin, Rich DePaolo on bass guitar, and Bill King on drums, joined by Peter Dodge on flugelhorn, complement Chopak’s multi-instrumental performance (guitar, piano, cello, double-bass, banjo, accordion, and organ – accompanying, of course, his stunningly beautiful vocals) to give Mask Maker a full, intricate sound, further complementing the album’s long-term listenability.
All told, this is a masterful work, both in terms of words and music. With Mask Maker, Tenzin Chopak and Rockwood Ferry have set a high bar, and cleared it with consummate ease."
- Jonathan Hochberg, Finger Lakes Music Press
Reviews of the self-titled second album "Rockwood Ferry" 2013:
"Tenzin Chopak and company come up with another chamber-folk masterpiece... weaving an almost mystical spell for Chopak's compelling vocals."
Jim Catalano - Ithaca Journal
"Rockwood Ferry creates a work of strong and potent natural beauty. Fluid grace, swelling waves of sound, gentle harmonies and thoughtful words... something to be truly appreciated and enjoyed."
Tracey Craig - Rootabaga Boogie