Natalia Paruz

Natalia 'Saw Lady' Paruz is a New York City-based musical saw and novelty instruments player and busker. She is the founder and director of the annual Musical Saw Festival in New York City. She also organized the musical saw festival in Israel. She is a columnist of the 'Saw Player News' and a judge at international musical saw competitions.

Natalia Paruz
Natalia Paruz
Background information
Also known asSaw Lady
GenresClassical, Contemporary, Pop
Occupation(s)musical saw player
Busker
Instrumentsmusical saw, handbells, cowbells, theremin
LabelsAtlantic Records, Capitol Records, Universal Records
Associated actsIsrael Philharmonic Orchestra, Musical Saw Festival, Peter Schickele, Music Under New York
Websitesawlady.com

Paruz has played the musical saw on many film soundtracks [1] and can be seen as well as heard in the movie Dummy starring Adrien Brody. She has performed with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Zubin Mehta), the Westchester Philharmonic,[2] the Royal Air Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, the Amor Artis Orchestra, the Riverside Orchestra, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra [3] and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with PDQ Bach composer Peter Schickele and with the Little Orchestra Society. November 2007 marked her Carnegie Hall debut as a musical saw soloist and June 2008 her Madison Square Garden debut. Her musical saw can be heard in many TV commercials. She has also appeared on numerous TV and radio programs around the world. Garrison Keillor of the Prairie Home Companion radio show has dubbed Natalia the show's 'official saw player'. As a studio musician, her musical saw has been recorded by labels such as Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, and Universal Records, for albums of composers such as John Hiatt and Elliot Goldenthal. She has played at festivals, such as the Spoleto Festival USA, the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, Utah Arts Festival, World Trade Center's Buskers Fair and at the Fingerlakes Chamber Music Festival.

Paruz often plays the musical saw in contemporary music, encouraging today's composers to write music for this instrument.

Paruz is considered to be the most knowledgeable about the history of the musical saw, and her own home is a pilgrimage place for saw enthusiasts and students.

The December 3rd, 2011 'Washington Post' crossword puzzle had Paruz as a question: "Down 5 - Instrument played by Natalia Paruz".

Along with her professional career, Paruz makes a point to also perform on the streets and subways as a busker. She has busked in the US,[4] Italy, Israel, Czech Republic, Poland and France. Paruz has also served as a judge at the Music Under New York auditions for subway musicians.

Paruz also plays a set of 65 pitched cowbells, English handbells, 4-in-hand hand bells, theremin and glass harp.

Awards and honors

Paruz is a recipient of many awards, including:

Books mentioning Paruz
  • City Lights: Stories About New York/St. Martin's Press [5]
  • New York Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff/Globe Pequot [6]
  • Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected/Penguin Random House [7]
  • 120 Jobs that Won't Chain You to Your Desk/Random House [8]
  • The Savvy Musician/Helius Press
  • Overlooked New York/CreateSpace, by Zina Saunders
  • Sounds of the Underground/Heidi Younger
  • Teach a Man to Fish and Other Stories/Richard A. Schrader, Sr.
  • Book in Czech - Zápisky osamělého poutníka s autoharfou/Martin Žák
  • The Designs of Carrie Robbins/The United States Institute for Theatre Technology in cooperation with Broadway Press
  • Buskers/Soft Skull Press
  • Tampa Review 42/University of Tampa Press
  • Get Lucky (How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You & Your Business)/Jossey-Bass
  • Book in Spanish - Diario de un Músico Callejero/José Miguel Vilar, Editorial Renacimiento
  • The Noise Beneath the Apple, by Heather Jacks
  • Starting Your Career as a Musician/Skyhorse Publishing, Inc, by Neil Tortorella
  • Music in American Life - An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture/Greenwood
  • Music Business Hacks: The Daily Habits of the Self-Made Musician/PACE Publishing
  • The Sound of Mark/Mark Hastings - Zeloo Media
  • An Immigrant's Guide to Making It In America/Virgilia Kaur Pruthi
  • Book in Polish - Handbook of the Best Practices of 9 American & Canadian Cultural Institutions/Katarzyna Renes, Paderewski Institute, Poland
  • Subway Beats/Kurt Boone, published by Schiffer Publishing
  • Much Ado About Magic/Shanna Swendson, published in 2012 by Nla Digital LLC. The first page of the first chapter mentions a woman playing musical saw at the busking spot Natalia plays at.
  • Outside the Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession into My Dream Gig/Scott Bradlee, Hachette Books
  • Holistic Wealth: 32 Life Lessons to Help You Find Purpose, Prosperity, and Happiness/Keisha Blair, Published by Catalyst Books
  • Flea Circus Time Capsule (Spanish Edition)/Xavi Puk, chapter 10
  • 88 MORE Ways Music Can Change Your Life/Vincent James and Joann Pierdomenico

Movie soundtracks with musical saw by Paruz
Year Title Directed By Notes
2002 Dummy Greg Pritikin
2006 El Carnaval de Sodoma Arturo Ripstein Mexico
2008 I Sell the Dead Glenn McQuaid
2008 American Carny Nick Basile
2008 Bend & Bow Ted Fisher
2009 The Heart Is a Drum Machine Christopher Pomerenke
2009 Lullaby Ben Westbrook
2011 Another Earth Mike Cahill
2012 Strings Tal Arbiv
2014 Time Out of Mind (2014 film) Oren Moverman
2014 Rhythm in Motion Jenny Schweitzer
2015 The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst Andrew Jarecki HBO series
2015 Caihong City Florina Titz
2015 Subway: The Series Veronica Dang
2016 Miss Stevens Julia Hart
2016 Naked-Spurious Glenn English
2017 Amanda and Jack Go Glamping Brandon Dickerson
2019 Scenes from the Underground Eric Swiz Post-production
2020 Lost city Max Cea

Theater soundtracks with musical saw by Paruz
  • Monkey: Journey to the West, music by Damon Albarn (live show 2008)
  • Midsummer Night's Dream, music by Elliot Goldenthal (album recording 2013)
  • SawBones, music by Scott Munson (live show 2014)
  • Clockwork Metaphysics, music by Stefano Bechini (live show 2015)
  • Simon Dawes Becomes a Planet, music by Jared Dembowski (live show 2016)
  • The Dragon Griswynd, music by Scott Munson (live show 2018)
  • A La Memoire Des Enfants Perdus, music by Scott Munson (staged readings 2019)
  • The Mouthtrap, music by Henry Purcell (soundtrack recording 2019)

Discography
  • Singing Sounds of Saw (cassette)
  • Hark! an Angel Sings (2002)[9]
  • I Saw the Future (2011)[10]
  • Playing on the Edge (2020)[11]

References
  1. "list of films with Natalia Paruz on the musical saw"
  2. "New York Times article about Westchester philharmonic concert with Paruz"
  3. "New York Times article about Manhattan Chamber Orchestra concert with Paruz"
  4. "Underground Hits: Music in the Subways"
  5. "City Lights: Stories About New York"
  6. "New York Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff"
  7. "Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected"
  8. "120 Jobs that Won't Chain You to Your Desk"
  9. "album of Natalia Paruz on iTunes"
  10. "album of Natalia Paruz on iTunes"
  11. Playing on the Edge, retrieved 2020-10-05
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