Coming Up
Travellers' Tales
Travellers, Outsiders, refugees
14th January 2018
6pm
This month's event focuses on travellers, outsiders and refugees.
Outsiders have always been agents of change, the bringers of new and different ideas. Do we offer them hospitality and shelter? Or do we treat them as a threat?
Hosted by author, playwright, poet and songwriter John Farndon, this free-wheeling event will feature live streams from the Octagon poets in Strasbourg, Margo Perin and her young poets from California, piano virtuoso and activist Warren Wills from Australia, and many varied and talented individuals including:
Muhlis Gedik with Serkan Çakmak
Multi-talented musician, composer and producer Muhlis Gedik hails from Koln in Germany where he has just created the Sound Shaper Record label. His music is steeped in the traditions of his Turkish and Kurdish background, with his mastery of the darbuka and the baÄŸlama. But he blends it with contemporary sounds to create a unique and dynamic sound. He has worked with Turkish stars such OÄŸuz Aksaç and Hasan Özdemir. He has also workshopped with Michael Jackson’s legendary sound engineer Bruce Swedien works for WDR – one of the biggest TV stations in Europe, lectures at the SAE (School of Audio Engineering) Institute and was instrumental in the development of the music industry standard software ProTools.
Flora Curzon
Flora Curzon is a core member of string group Project Instrumental and regularly works with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ex Catheadra, English String Orchestra, Music For Awhile, Armonico Consort and The Twisted Twenty. Whilst her background is in classical music, she is well versed in many styles of folk music and has a keen interest in working with musicians from other cultures inspiring collaborations with folk singer Sam Lee, tabla playerTalvin Singh, composer Jocelyn Pook, virtuoso musician Tcha Limberger, ecclectic Eastern European band She'koyekh, Bengali/London fusion band Khiyo, stunning pop band Hejira, artist Meilyr Jones, actor/musician/researcher Vivi Lachs, storyteller Chris Salisbury, London Chamber Collective, Phaedra Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, the Brodsky Quartet, Deafinitely Theatre, Chai for All, MishMash, Bricolage and the Ceilidh Liberation Front. Current bands and projects include Fran and Flora, Gaia Duo, Tinkers Bubble Ceilidh Band (website coming soon), Sam Lee and Friends, MishMash's children's production 'Smile', Katsha'nes, Khiyo and Chai For All.
Warren Wills
Australian Warren Wills is a highly gifted composer, musical director, and a virtuoso pianist who has worked with many of the world’s best cabaret, opera, jazz and classical artists, authored 8 operas, 23 musicals, 8 albums, 5 major orchestral works and music direction credits on more than 50 productions. Warren has composed for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), and was awarded the prestigious Best Musical, Carling London Award, and nominated for Critics Circle Award, Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, finalist for the Vivian Ellis Awards, Evening Standard and Theatre Management Association (TMA) Award for Best Composer, best musical. His solo piano performances are described as “dazzling and electrifying” by The Guardian and with “haunting power” by the Financial Times. Warren is convinced that music education is a fantastic catalyst for touching hearts and breaking down barriers and dedicates much of his time to working with troubled teenagers, as well as those physically, intellectually and socially disadvantaged.
Daria Kulesh
Daria Kulesh is one of the up and coming stars of the folk scene, playing with such bands as Kara and Company of Players,. She comes from Russia, but her roots are in Ingusheta, and the tragedy of that country and its people are the theme of her recent award winning album ‘Long Lost Home’, described by the Times as ‘haunting and enigmatic’ while one of the songs tracks The Moon and the Pilot, about her grandparents, was praised by Mike Harding as ‘one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in years.’
Tom McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy grew up on the Travellers' site under the elevated A40 – the Westway – in west London, but comes from Birr in County Offaly in Ireland where his family settled generations ago. He is an Irish Traveller, and carries the flame of a long line of old traditional singers and musicians who kept the tradition of singing strong. He is one of the last authentic Irish storytellers, and has been widely acclaimed for his masterful singing technique and his wonderful way of spinning a story. “Thomas is quite simply a national treasure, a last bastion of the oral tradition and keeper of some of the finest songs.” Sam Lee, the Nest Collective. He works extensively in schools, teaching the art of storytelling.
http://www.thomasmccarthyfolk.com/
Lola Perrin
Lola Perrin is an internationally renowned composer for piano for jazz and minimalist music and composer in residence at Markson Pianos. She has performed at major venues aroundt he world, and collaborates with writers, scientists, composers and artists such as Hanif Kureishi and Adam Maloof. Two major current works – Climate Keys and Significantus – focus on raising awareness of the dangers of climate change
Margo Perrin
Celebrated California poet Margo Perin is a nominee for the Pushcart Prize, she has been featured in national and international media, including Heyday/PEN’s Fightin’ Words, The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, Mexico’s El Petit Journal, Holland’s Psycologie, and on TV and radio. The co-founder of Whoa Nelly Press (www.whoanellypress.com) whose mission is to publish unheard, marginalized voices, Margo is also an editor and writing coach in California and Mexico
Michelle Ibarra
Michelle Ibarra is an arts high school student in San Francisco. She was the 2017 guest spoken word artist at the Alliance for Girls Women's Conference, a 2017 semifinalist in the Youth Speaks Poetry Slam Competition and the 2017 runner up in the SF Poetry Out Loud Competition.
L'Octogone des poètes
Recently established in Strasbourg, France, L’Octogone des Poètes holds weekly get-togethers to share music, poetry, ideas and encouragements – to experiment with different ways of presenting texts, individually and as a group, and of combining musical interpretation with the spoken word. In the Summer, we meet in the beautiful old bandstand in the Parc des Contades, and in Winter months, we transfer to the cosy Divanoo café. Experienced performers share the microphone with those reading their text for the first time. Curious passers-by call in to listen… and then come back…New passions for writing and music are kindled alongside enduring passions which burn bright, fueled by exchange, companionship, shared experience and shared discoveries.
Igor Outkine
Russian accordionist and singer Igor Outkine toured with top folk groups in Russia before joining in London with violinist Sarah Harrison to perform gypsy and Russian songs as Mazaika. Igor sings ‘Dark Eyes’ in the film ‘Eastern Promises’ and appeared with Marc Almond (Shepherd’s Bush Empire) and Antonio Forcione (Edinburgh festival).
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Anthony Cable
Singer Anthony Cable has performed both in major opera houses in France with Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras and others, and in the West End in everything from ‘Phantom’ to ‘The Sound of Music‘. His one man show about Jacques Brel received great acclaim. He is a prize winning story writer and poet.
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Hidè Takemoto started playing the electric guitar at 15.
He switched to the classical guitar when he was 19 and was taught by Keigo Fujii, one of the greatest guitarists in Japan. At this time he also began studying composition at Osaka College of Music.
In 1999, Hidè took up a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, under Robert Brightmore, where he studied composition (with Daniel Schroyens and Judith Bingham), counterpoint and orchestration.
After he graduated from the Guildhall School as a Bachelor of Music, with Postgraduate Diplomas in Music Performance and Composition, Hidè’s debut concert was at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, where he premiered his composition “Forest Gates” for solo guitar, and his guitar concerto “Gion”, one of the highlights of his repertoire.
Inspired by his guru, the great virtuoso and composer Keigo Fujii, Hide’s guitar technique can be traced back via José Luis Gonzaléz, Andrés Segovia, Miguel Llobet to the great Francisco Tárrega. Hidè’s wide influences come from classical, rock, Indian and Japanese music, giving him a unique and original style of performance and composition.
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Doors 6 pm. Subscription £5
email: info@mapmusic.net
Or call for tickets– 0207 916 0545
