Daniel Berkman is a San Francisco-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, accompanist, singer-songwriter, electronic musician, looper, producer, film and dance score composer and innovator of electro-acoustic music, specializing in the Kora (a 21-stringed West African harp),on which he has produced four acclaimed musical releases; 'Heartstrings’(1996), ‘Feverdreams’(1998), ‘Calabashmoon’(2005) and 'Headlands' (2015).
Daniel also plays the Gravikord (an electric stainless steel version of the kora) which is featured in much of his discography, including “EArth Portal”, “Headlands” and “miliue”.
In 2020 Daniel released his “Garden Variety” series, 5 albums featuring the E-Kora (electric kora), a collection of ambient improvisations recorded live on Facebook in a garden in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill district.
In 2010 Daniel released his acclaimed electronic music debut 'Tape' on under the pseudonym Colfax. In 2020 he released his follow up release 'The Jupiter Expeditions’ and it’s counterpart ‘Space Junk’, a 20 year project composed entirely on the classic Roland Jupiter 8 Synthesizer.
in 2013 he released 'Earth Portal', a soundtrack to the Planetarium Show of the same name, in collaboration with The Whidbey Geodome Project for the Next Fifty at Seattle Center, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. He also released Unspoken’ (2016), A dance film soundtrack composed for dexandro Montalvo of Dance Theatre of San Francisco and renowned visual artist RJ Muna which was premiered at the historic Vogue Theatre in San Francisco, October 7, 2016. It’s an electronic score featuring the Viola da Gamba.
Daniel has composed many scores for dance since 1998 and has worked with Bay Area companies and choreographers such as Sara Shelton Mann, Lizz Roman, Cheryl Chaddick, Kunst-Stoff, Dandelion Dance Company, Heidi Schweiker, Dexandro Montalvo, Janice Garrett and Dancers, ODC/Dance, Robin Dekkers and Post:Ballet, RAWdance, Contra Costa Ballet, Diablo Ballet, Dance Theatre San Francisco and many others.
In 2017, Daniel released his evening length ballet soundtrack "Alice In Wonderland" composed for Robin Dekkers of Post:Ballet in collaboration with Contra Costa Ballet. It was premiered at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California in 2012.
Daniel's array of musical instruments includes kora, Gravikord (a stainless steel electric kora), e-kora, guitar, keyboards and synthesizers, Ondomo, Ondéa (ondes martenot), cello, viola da gamba, roland Handsonic, esraj, tabla, marxophone, ukelin, tremoloa, ukulele, guitarlele, Jambe, virtual instruments and the uncharted immersive musical world of lyraVR.
