James Maguire and Melissa Howlett-Maguire, AKA Laliya, are a musical duo based in Perth Australia, regularly touring Asia, Europe and Canada. Formerly engaged as street musicians world-wide, they now play international festivals and music venues, where they are featured as major artists. Melissa is a percussionist and James plays the digeridoo and other stringed instruments, in addition to the Appalacian dulcimer.

James commissioned his Baby Grand equipped with RMC electronics because he wanted a cutting edge instrument for the recording studio as well as concert venues. He plays his dulcimer, incredible as it may seem, in real-time, with no over-dubbing! Check out the smooth flow of melody, beat and special effects, clearly shown in the Weave video.

James says, "I do not use sythesizers of any kind (I'm not a big fan). The sound is created from some very old analogue ('bucket brigade') guitar effects (very hard to get) and some newer digital guitar effects. I am only interested in the Dulcimer sound. The RMC pickup is used for my Polyoctave pedal, which allows me to allocate a harmonising effect to a select string rather than to all the strings."

Melissa and James have very attractive website and MySpace sites, featuring cuts from their CDs, performance videos, discography, guestbook, etc. See them at:

"Laliya Beach", James' initial composition on his receiving the Baby Grand. A wonderful tour d' force of the dulcimer's potentials with the RMC gear and guitar effects.

"Weave", A masterful study for dulcimer and electronic effects. "Weave" says it all, and best.

"Weave Video", Here's an M4V video of James playing the Baby Grand. Notice his guitar-like use of the teardrop shape. The tuning is DAA. Watch and you will see why he calls the piece "Weave." You can also find it on youtube, and on Laliya's myspace page (click video in the player widget at the left margin of the screen). The myspace player has slightly better response than youtube. If you want to see details, use the direct link to the Weave.M4V on the Bear Meadow website.

"Dragonfly", Joined here by Melissa, James explores further the hypnotic potential of this musical genre.