MUSIC
“Music for me is a window onto another realm.
It gives me legitimacy to be who I really am. When you are there, you feel at home, but at home not in a sense of a place or a place in time, in a sense of something much more familiar than that even...”
LETTERS
Letters is Asaf Sirkis’ first solo piano album, bringing together 24 short, through-composed pieces written between 2020 and 2024.
Although best known as a drummer and composer, Asaf has played piano since childhood, and these pieces grew out of a more private side of his musical life. The album was recorded in February 2026 at Ursa Major Recording Studio in Italy, on a restored 1915 Steinway.
The album is accompanied by a series of studio videos, with one piece presented each week.
TIME FOR SPACE
The ‘Time For Space music diary’ is an ongoing YouTube video series featuring Asaf’s many unreleased, new and old songs. Watch it for free (and also ad free) on this link. All music in this series is written, played, recorded and filmed by Asaf.
This series is also available as play along albums for drummers (volume 1 to 9) on Asaf’s Bandcamp page
Image by Garry Corbett
SIRKIS/BIALAS IQ
featuring:
ASAF SIRKIS (ISR/UK) - DRUMS, COMPOSITIONS
SYLWIA BIALAS (POL/UK) - VOICE, COMPOSITIONS
FRANK HARRISON - PIANO,KEYBOARDS
Sirkis/Bialas IQ is a collaboration between drummer and composer Asaf Sirkis and vocalist and composer Sylwia Bialas. Both contribute music and arrangements, with the compositions developing through their work together as a quartet.
The music draws on contemporary jazz, contemporary classical music, Polish folk, South Indian and Middle Eastern traditions, moving between delicate, atmospheric passages and more energetic, rhythmically complex sections. Sylwia’s voice is often used as an instrumental colour within the ensemble, rather than simply as a lead vocal.
The first album, Come To Me, was recorded in 2014 and released under the name The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet. The second album, Our New Earth, followed in 2019 under the shorter name Sirkis/Bialas IQ.
“„Come To Me, is a true tour-de-force of musicianship and innovation.“
„...this is what music is all about: colorful, infinitely creative, and full of heartfelt, emotional intensity. Each musician is such a talent unto themselves that when playing together you cannot help but feel completely transported to a better place while you listen.“
„This album is truly magnificent! …a musical experience without peer!“
„COME TO ME” IS A MASTERPIECE!”
“The album consists of ten journeys, they are much more than tracks, which contain many moments of intense yearning, sorrow, happiness and love.“
„The music is highly emotional, with long-limbed melodies that unfold slowly, encircling the sound stage. Time stops for the duration as the music uncovers multiple layers of meaning“
”The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet has a sound all its own, despite having influences from all over the world. This sound is one of beauty, love and hope...”
ASAF SIRKIS TRIO
ASAF SIRKIS TRIO (2007-2014)
Featuring:
TASSOS SPILIOTOPOULOS (GR/SWE) - ELECTRIC GUITAR
KEVIN GLASGOW (SCO) - ELECTRIC BASS
The Asaf Sirkis Trio was formed in 2007 with guitarist Tassos Spiliotopoulos and bassist Yaron Stavi. The idea was to bring electric guitar and bass together as a single sound, while leaving plenty of space for interaction and improvisation. The sound was also influenced by Asaf’s work with American guitarist Larry Coryell and his electric guitar, electric bass and drums trio format.
The music combines jazz, rock and fusion with Asaf’s interest in South Indian and Middle Eastern rhythms. Melodic themes, atmospheric textures and rhythmic ideas provide a framework for the three musicians to develop the music together.
The trio released three albums: The Monk (2008), Letting Go (2010) and Shepherd’s Stories (2013).
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
“Since arriving in London from Israel at the end of
the end of the ‘90s, Asaf Sirkis has earned a reputation
as one of the world’s premier drummers”
“Israeli-born drummer and London resident Asaf
Sirkis unleashes with thunderous abandon on this
hard-hitting fusion offering that harkens back to a
time before the genre became codified, diluted
and reduced to a critical joke.”
ASAF SIRKIS & THE INNER NOISE (2000-2007)
Featuring:
ASAF SIRKIS - DRUMS, COMPOSITIONS
STEVE LODDER - CHURCH ORGAN, KEYBOARDS
The Inner Noise was one of Asaf Sirkis’ earliest major projects as a composer and bandleader, and one of the places where he began to develop a very personal approach to combining composition, rhythm and unusual instrumental colours.
The project began in Israel in 1996, inspired partly by the music of French church-organ composers including Olivier Messiaen and Maurice Duruflé. The original trio brought together church organ, electric guitar and drums, an unusual combination that was commissioned by the Tel-Aviv City Council and performed around Israel in 1997–98.
After moving to London in 1999, Asaf re-formed the band with organist Steve Lodder and guitarist Mike Outram. Together they developed the distinctive sound of The Inner Noise, combining the huge harmonic and textural possibilities of the church organ with electric guitar, complex rhythmic writing and the freedom of a small improvising group.
The first album, Inner Noise, was recorded at St. Michael’s Church in Highgate in 2002 and released in 2003. It was followed by We Are Falling in 2005 and The Song Within in 2007. Across the three albums, the music moved between contemporary classical influences, jazz, progressive rock and atmospheric improvisation, while becoming increasingly focused on melody, structure and the individual voices of the three musicians.
The project was difficult to place within a single genre. Critics have described the music as distinctive, unconventional and innovative, particularly for the way it integrated church organ into a contemporary jazz setting. By The Song Within, reviewers were describing the trio as having developed a sound of its own, with Sirkis’ writing and the interaction between organ, guitar and drums at the centre of the music. (All About Jazz)
Inner Noise remains one of the projects that best represents Asaf’s interest in taking familiar instruments and placing them in unfamiliar musical contexts.
“‘’Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise boldly go where fusion only hesitantly put out the odd foot before, and where prog rock could at best dream of going had it dared to. The music is vibrant, vital, exciting and fresh and even manages to surprise. One of these surprises is its wonderful accessibility and immediacy. “Inner Noise” has to be essential in any modern jazz and modern classical collection at the very least. Grab the original issue while you can as it’s almost guaranteed to become a prized collectible’’. 2004 Renaissance Man/Rainlore, February 2004, UK
’’It’s a challenge to distinguish oneself these days, but Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise is creating its own niche; an organ-guitar-drums trio like no other. The Song Within continues the precedent set on Inner Noise (Konnex, 2002) with Sirkis’ best writing yet for a trio that has its own voice and continues to grow with each successive release’’. ”
“... ‘’an attractive luxuriousness of texture, some sensational drumming and inventive soloing... Great playing from three contemporary performers at the upper-edge of the game’’... ”
VIDEO
ASAF SIRKIS TRIO (ISRAEL, 1995-1997)
ASAF SIRKIS TRIO (ISRAEL, 1995-1997)
featuring:
ASAF SIRKIS - DRUMS/COMPOSITIONS
KOBI ARAD - KEYBOARDS/PIANO
GABRIEL MAYER - ELECTRIC BASS
The first Asaf Sirkis Trio was formed in Tel Aviv in 1995, and was Asaf’s first major project as a composer and bandleader. The trio featured Kobi Arad on keyboards and piano and Gabriel Mayer on electric bass.
At the time, Asaf was already working as a professional drummer in Israel, playing with musicians from the country’s jazz, rock, world music and free jazz scenes. Forming his own trio gave him a place to develop and perform his own compositions, rather than working mainly as a sideman. The group played extensively around Israel during 1995–97, taking whatever opportunities were available on the local scene and developing the music through live performance.
The trio recorded Asaf’s first album as a leader, One Step Closer, at Levitan Studios in Tel Aviv in January 1996. The recording features eight original compositions, with the music already showing Asaf’s interest in combining jazz with rock, fusion and more unusual rhythmic and melodic ideas.
One Step Closer was an important starting point for Asaf’s development as a composer. Almost immediately after making the recording, he began writing music in a very different direction, leading to the formation of The Inner Noise and its unusual combination of church organ, electric guitar and drums. In that sense, the trio marks both the beginning of his work as a bandleader and the starting point for a continuing interest in creating distinctive instrumental combinations.
