24th September 2011 at Barbican, London EC2.
Part of Transcender Festival.
Country: Bulgaria. Style: Bulgarian Choral Music.
Lineup: 23 female singers and conductor. Joined on some songs by 1 or 2 male singers.
The name comes from the title of an album released on a Swiss label in 1975 containing earlier recordings of Bulgarian choirs. After a legal dispute, the label was awarded ownership of the name nd allocated it to the Wome’s Choir of Bulgarian Radio-Television. This choir, which is led by Musical Director/Conductor Dora Hristova, records and tours under the name - Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares. The group’s music is based on a reworking of trasditional Bulgarian folk musdic by Filip Kutev (Philip Koutev) in the 1950s. A choir bearing his name also tours (I saw them at the Barbican in 2003) as does one I’ve seen called Angelite, which previously contended for the Bulgarian Voices name.
In this photo: Musical Director/Conductor Dora Hristova.
More information: themysteryofthebulgarianvoices.com/.
Tags: World Music Bulgaria Traditional Bulgarian Music Choir Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares Transcender Festival Barbican
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19th August 2012 at Gunnersbury Park, London W3.
London Mela (free event), www.londonmela.org/.
An important feature of the Mela is the Carnival Parade around the Festival area. It aims to incorporate Carnival elements from copuntries like Trinidad and Nepal as well as South Asia.
Scattered through the parade were Emergency Exit Arts Mechanical Menagerie: a garuda bird, steel elephant and turtle.
Tags: World Music Carnival Parade London Mela Mechanical Animal Gunnersbury Park
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18th December 2016 at the Royal Festival Hall (Clore Ballroom), London SE1.
Part of Winter Festival / Tomorrow’s Warriors Extraordinary Showcase (free event).
Country: Britain. Style: Jazz - Modern.
Lineup: Rhiannon Dimond (violin), Jules Vaughan (violin), Miranda Lewis (cello), and (for the last part of the set) Valeria Pozzo (violin).
Tomorrow's Warriors is an education project for 11-25 year olds run by Gary Crosby and Janine Irons. Since 2006 I have attended some of the performances by their different bands at the Southbank Centre and this was the fifth time I have taken photos. For the others see: www.flickr.com/photos/kmlivemusic/tags/tomorrow%E2%80%99s....
This is a recent addition to the array of Tomorrow's Warriors bands, for string players interested in Jazz. The three core members also perform together as the Avante String Trio.
More information: www.tomorrowswarriors.org/, www.facebook.com/tomorrowswarriorsmusic/.
Tags: Jazz Great Britain Tomorrow’s Warriors String Ting Violin Extraordinary Showcase Winter Festival Southbank Centre
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31st May 2019 at Royal Festival Hall (Bar level 2), London SE1.
Friday Lunch (free event).
Country: Britain. Style: Jazz - Modern.
Lineup: Fergus Ireland (b), Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), James Maddren (d).
Since gaining degrees from TrinityLaban Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music, Fergus Ireland.is best known as part of of Kansas Smitty’s House Band. This trio with Nathaniel Facey and James Maddren first played together in 2013, but this was their first gig together for two years (when they recorded an album released in 2018). All the tunes they played were Ireland's compositions, apart from by Nat King Cole and Oscar Moore's "Beautiful Moons Ago". I have taken photos of Ireland with Smitty's Big Four and a Nathaniel Facey Quintet (www.flickr.com/photos/kmlivemusic/tags/fergusireland,-fri...); Facey with his own groups, Empirical and other collaborations (www.flickr.com/photos/kmlivemusic/tags/nathanielfacey,-fr...); and Madddren with Kit Downes, Martin Speake and Tish Clowes (www.flickr.com/photos/kmlivemusic/tags/jamesmaddren,-frid...).
More information: www.fergusireland.co.uk/, www.facebook.com/fergirelandtrio.
Tags: Jazz Great Britain Nathaniel Facey Fergus Ireland Alto Sax Saxophone Friday Lunch Southbank Centre
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1st February 2012 at the Birkbeck Tavern, London E11.
What’s Cookin’… (free with collection), www.whatscookin.co.uk/wchome.html.
Country: United States. Style: Country Music - Honky Tonk & Western Swing
Lineup: Zara Bode (v/g), Emily Miller (v/fiddle/g), Jesse Milns (fiddle/g/v), Ross Bellenoit (g), Peter Bitenc (b), Stefan Amidon (d/v).
The Sweetback sisters were on their first UK tour. I saw them do a short set at the Celtic Connections Festival Club in Glasgow, and then a fuller performance at What’s Cookin’ in East London. The origins of this band go back to 2005 when Zara Bode and Emily Miller touring Europe with a World Music Choir Northern Harmony (Amidon has also been a member) discovered a mutual interest in Country Music. Soon after they put together a band in Brooklyn, where they both lived. None of the band are originally from New York (Bode grew up in San Francisco and Massachusetts, Miller in various places including Hong Kong and Kansas, Milns is from West Virginia, Bellenoit Massachusetts, Bitenc Wisconsin and Amidon Vermont) and only about half the band still live there.
More information: www.thesweetbacksisters.com/.
Tags: Country Music Western Swing United States Sweetback Sisters Jesse Milns Fiddle Violin What’s Cookin’ Birkbeck Tavern
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