The award-winning music of Ange Takats
Originally from Australia, Ange Takats has lived a life less ordinary. She moved to Bangkok in her early 20s to work as a foreign correspondent for Reuters where she found a second job as a singer. Spending her days on the road with a TV news crew, and her nights singing Joni Mitchell songs in a folk music bar…Ange was able to mix her two greatest passions.
Her talents soon caught the attention of some of the country's top musicians who invited her to join their band, performing weekly at Bangkok's premier acoustic music venue. Singing American and British folk songs from the early 70s, drinking sweet Thai whiskey and learning from Buddhist musicians with big hearts, Ange's songwriting has been greatly influenced by her time overseas.
It was in Thailand that Ange began writing The Buffalo Funeral - a travel memoir she later published which documents her adventures in Southeast Asia - from being chased by a tiger in a monastery, to interviewing Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma.
Ange returned to Australia and released two studio albums, which she toured extensively - performing at concert halls and music festivals in Germany, Spain, Canada, Laos, Thailand and Nepal. She has won numerous awards including Folk Singer of the Year and Festival Singer of Vocal Excellence. She has supported international artists such as Tete (France), Rocket Men (Germany), Lyrics Born (USA), Kristina Olsen (USA), Beth Nielson Chapman (USA) and Paul Kelly (Australia).
Ange sings during Soundwave Gongs sessions - but is also available to perform intimate evening music concerts of original and cover songs. Her worldly adventures and gift for storytelling have allowed her to develop a captivating performance style – weaving light-hearted tales between heart-warming songs that will linger in the memories of your guests long after she has sung her last note.
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“One of the most beautiful things I’ve heard in a long time” – UBN Radio, Los Angeles
“Fans of Norah Jones and Eva Cassidy take note, Ange Takats has returned with her sophomore album Arva … light 30′s vocal jazz and Americana folk are blended with melt away breezy success. Incredibly beautiful!” – Eastside Radio, Sydney
"Ange Takats has a bell-peal voice that has the DNA of Judy Collins's tonal purity and Joni Mitchell's emotionality." - The Australian, Sydney
“Her syrupy voice, poignant lyrics, tinges of humour and nostalgia, great string arrangements and nicely layered vocal harmonies combine to make the 11-track Arva a musical journey worth travelling” – The Road Ahead Magazine, Melbourne
"Ange's soulful voice evokes the joy of the Andrew's Sisters one minute and the melancholy of Billie Holiday the next" – Music Without Borders, San Diego
"Ange has a flair for storytelling, as befits a former foreign correspondent, which - allied to her impeccable enunciation, pure vocal tone and harmony singing...makes her new songs sweet listening" - Rhythms Magazine