Doors 7:30 | music 8pm | entry £5
Olivia Moore
Olivia Moore works across a broad spectrum of genres, dedicating herself primarily to jazz and classical Indian music and also the art of improvisation. She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 1999. At 21, inspired by a jazz summer school at the Guildhall School of music, she discovered the art of improvisation. This propelled her into a postgraduate diploma at Leeds College of Music (Distinction in 2002). In 2005, she decided to follow her dream by going to India to study with violin maestro Kala Ramnath, which became the first of many visits to that country. Olivia has played with flamenco guitarist Nick Wilkinson as well as collaborating with Graham Clark, Seaming To, Kirsty Almeida, Stuart McCallum, OdBod Collective, Matthew Bourne, Giuliano Modarelli, Glenn Sharp, Suns of Arqa. She has been the instigator and leader of a handful of groups over the years. Firstly Strung Out with Lamb’s bass player Jon Thorne. She also successfully played with ‘The Owl Ensemble’, featuring Simply Red’s bass player Sylvan Richardson, and John Ellis (keys) and Myke Wilson (Drums). The Owl Ensemble String Quartet appeared with Beautiful South’s Paul Heaton for his show “The 8th” at the Barbican centre (London) and Lowry (Manchester). Her ongoing band Unfurl is an innovative quintet who collaborate, drawing from their diverse influences of Jazz, Indian and Arabic rhythms. Olivia collaborated with Jason Singh, Sharma Rahman and Shirley Smart at Manchester Jazz Festival in 2016.
In 2009 Olivia was one of eight musicians in the country to be selected to be a participant of the Serious Take Five artist development scheme. She has performed with Kousic Sen, Lisa Mallet, Jonathan Meyer, Jasdeep Singh and has given solo recitals in the UK. She has also collaborated with Chitravina Maestro N. Ravikiran and Mukesh Jhadav. Olivia has recorded with producer Tony Remy for saxophonist Jean Toussaint’s album ‘Nazaire’ (Alltone 2000). She features on Kirsty Almeida’s ‘Pure Blue Green’ (Decca 2010), Zoe Kyoti’s “Wishing Bone”, Jadid Ensemble’s “Sigh of the Moor”, Kefaya’s “Radio International”, “Seaming” by Seaming To and Fiona Nehama Abrahami’s ‘Random Excess’ (MusicWomb 2009). Olivia released her own album ‘Amoghasiddhi’ in 2008. Owl by the Owl Ensemble in 2011 and Arcadia by Unfurl in 2012.
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Poulomi Desai
Poulomi Desai is a self-taught, outsider, multi-media artist since 1980, when she set up Hounslow Arts Co-op at the age of 14. Desai was born in Hackney, London, England. Originally inspired by a street theatre background, her works are performative, textual, image based, and acoustic. She works with collaborative working processes which evolve through research, learning and action to examine the elusive, creating large scale photographs, performances and outdoor sound installations. Commissions and Exhibitions include The Serpentine Gallery, London, The Science Museum, London, The Queens Museum, New York, The Oxford Gallery, Kolkatta, and The Photographers Gallery, London. In 2010, she set up the Usurp Art Gallery and Studios.
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Douglas Benford
Douglas Benford, composer and sound artist, has been involved in various audio genres since the late 1980s, performing at institutions in the UK (Bristol’s Arnolfini, London’s Science Museum, Tate Modern, The Roundhouse, ICA and Glasgow’s CCA), festivals worldwide (Mutek, Synch, Transmediale) and has had installation work in numerous UK galleries (London, Swansea, Stroud and Essex). After numerous electronica releases in his ‘si-cut.db’ guise, in the past few years he has focused on acoustic improvisation and installations, using field recordings, classical instruments, vocals and children’s toys. His collaborators include Blanca Regina, poet Tamar Yoseloff, Angharad Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Clive Bell, Steve Beresford, sculptor Rob Olins, as well as – in the past – pop group Saint Etienne, Jem Finer (The Pogues), Momus, Rod Thomas (Bright Light Bright Light), Scanner, Stephan Mathieu and DJ Andrew Weatherall. He is also co-curator with Iris Garrelfs since 1996, of Sprawl audio events in London.
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John Edwards
After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton. Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc. Since 1995 John Edwards has become a “mainstay” of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances.
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