beats&scribbles

gig, album & festival reviews | scribbles from Cultural Co-operation's Artist Network & Music Village festival Tweets by @cultural_co !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

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This year, Cultural Co-operation has celebrated London as a world city with primary schools in London. Thanks to Arts Council funding, over 1200 children are working with renowned artists Reem Kelani, Lucky Moyo, Winston Nzinga, Dessislava Stefanova and Anusha Subramanyam in the 2014 #WorldCity Music Village Schools Programme. Together young people and this international group of artists explore song dance and storytelling from the many heritages that make up London's rich cultural tapestry.

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Gum boots from Zimbabwe: Lucky Moyo & #WorldCity Schools Programme

As part of the #WorldCity festival, we've been going in to schools and introducing students to South African a cappella, Palestinian lullabies, Bulgarian folk-singing, and more. Below is an artist's impression of Zimbawean musician, gumboot dancer extraordinaire and activist Lucky Moyo, who had the students of St Paul's Primary school singing, clapping, and composing songs about their school, using traditional melodies and Moyo's infectious drumming. Click here for more info about free live music and storytelling events from Weds 2nd July - Sunday 6th.

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LATE NIGHT: #WORLDCITY

FRIDAY 27th JUNE Rez Kabir + Jyotsna Srikanth (Facebook Event here) Gallery Café, 21 Old Ford Rd E2 9PL (19:00 – 21:00) There’s no better place to shake out that Friday feeling than the Gallery Café. The Gallery Café- a fairy-light bedecked, offbeat jewel in Bethnal Green’s crown- is a social enterprise run by St. Margaret’s House (all profit generated by The Gallery Cafe goes back into the charity). The majority of the Gallery Café’s delicious fare is available vegan; an integral part of a cruelty-free lifestyle. St. Margaret's House Settlement is a unique charity organisation that provides working space, support and opportunities to community organisations and other charities in Tower Hamlets. Join us as Bangladeshi storyteller Rez Kabir enchants with tales of Golden Cities. Kabir summarises that “"Stories are a way to see the world and connect and participate and contribute to creating a better society.” We are proud to also present carnatic violin maestro Jyotsna Srikanth. Srikanth’s music has solid Indian classical roots, which she weaves with Indian modern music and jazzy nuances to create a unique, rich and contemporary sound. This rare balance between tradition and modernity has helped her carve a unique niche, captivating audiences across the globe. WEDNESDAY 2nd JULY A Spell in Time + Paprika (Facebook Event Here) Jamboree, Cable St Studios Courtyards, 566 Cable St E1W 3HB (20:00 – late) Shake a leg down at Jamboree- historic Cable Street’s best kept secret. Long a melting pot of migrant communities; Limehouse is well-documented for upholding revolutionary sensibilities, and the Cable Street Studios which houses Jamboree is now a self-proclaimed bubbling and jiving forward-thinking ‘cauldron of creative living’. Be captivated by Bulgarian folk tales from A Spell in Time. The unique British-Bulgarian storytelling duo that bring the power and passion of Bulgaria’s myths, heroic epics and traditional tales to East London’s doorstep. Archetypal characters, thrilling narratives and exquisite imagery combine to conjure the intense world of dream and a mythic age of long ago when anything was possible. Beautifully atmospheric and profoundly entertaining, they speak to the heart, mind and soul. As the night air wanders in through doorway, throw off your inhibitions and stomp up the dust to fiery melodies from Balkan 5-piece Paprika. "Paprika – hot and fiery lived up to their name, giving us a whirlwind tour of the Balkan countries, each piece becoming a firm favourite before being superseded by the next. Toe-tappingly good, with the audience whooping and cheering from the first note." (Cheltenham Festival, 2013). THURSDAY 3rd JULY Deanna Rodger + Simo Lagnawi/Gnawa London (Facebook Event Here) University of London Union (ULU), Malet Street WC1E 7HY (19:00 – 21:00) A big-hitter amongst Music Village’s festival club venues- CC’s gig at the 93-year old University of London Union (ULU) coincides with its last month of existence in its current form. ULU is the largest students union in Europe, supporting and entertaining over 120,000 students, and its Venue space has an appropriately star-studded history. Prepare to be charmed and disarmed by spoken word from Deanna Rodger, the UK’s youngest Poetry Slam champion. Rodger has been writing poetry since 2007, and is currently a well-established member of the Keat’s House Poetry Forum, and Rubix and Point Blank Poets collectives, and is also a co-curator of Soho Theatre/The Albany’s much loved Chill Pill poetry nights. For someone with such a glittering collection of accolades, Rodger emphasises that she is “just a gang of atoms, floating together out of habit”. Gnawa master Simo Lagnawi will shake the rafters of ULU with the beautiful strains of his Guembri. Bringing tales of ancient Gnawa wisdom from Sub-saharan Africa, which blew across the desert to Morocco hundreds of years ago, Lagnawi weaves traditional music which opens a door to the spiritual world and invokes a trance state in receptive listeners. His stage performance combines a visually exciting show of dance, colour, astounding instrumental technique, unique vocals to create a spiritually uplifting experience. FRIDAY 4th JULY Anthar Kharana (Facebook Event Here) Kobi Nazrul Centre, 30 Hanbury St, E1 6QR (19:00 – 21:00) Join the last Festival Club of our weekday evening programme, back where we started at the Kobi Nazrul Centre. Tower Hamlet’s flagship Bengali arts and cultural centre sits on a shady side-street off Brick Lane; a bustling strip where curry houses, record stores, vintage shops and bagel emporiums nestle side-by-side. Pick up a complimentary cup of green tea, sprawl out on a blanket, and let sound therapy practitioner Anthar Kharana’s healing songs wash away the scourge of the week. Kharana has more than ten years of experience with the sacred and therapeutic use of sound and music as well as shamanic studies leading workshops on singing, traditional drumming, and ceremonies uniting people around the world. His rich knowledge and understanding of different musical currents such as punk, baroque, throat singing and opera have been merged with an intrinsic interest in mysticism, nature and the sounds and memories of an ancestral past. Festival Clubs are all free admission, but space for Anthar Kharana’s Sound Healing is strictly limited. Please email [email protected] to book your space, or click ‘attending’ on the Facebook Event, and we’ll contact you to firm up your reservation.

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Last night we were graced by the delectable spoken word of Yrsa Daley-Ward (thiswillnotlast.tumblr.com), and afro-hop singer-songwriter Aar Maanta. Fuelled with Cotton's fried plantain (a raucous Rhum Jungle situated at 70 Exmouth Market, Islington), and Daley-Ward's silver-tongued rhyme, the audience burst into a joyous clapping frenzy of dance to Aar Maanta's beguiling music; calling for encores until DJ Jamie Renton wrapped up. Festival Club: Yrsa Daley-Ward + Aar Maanta is part of Cultural Co-operation's World City Music Village festival: 12 days of free events celebrating cosmopolitan London at its creative best. No booking required.

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Last Friday the CC Team tripped down to The Albany (www.thealbany.org.uk), to catch Jo N'Gala and his Bantu Blues band. "Jo N'Gala calls his music Bantu Blues and the message expressed therein, the Light of the Blue. He believes that as man travelled to the far corners of the earth from the ancient world, he took with him the spirit of Bantu and it can be heard in many forms of indigenous music, particularly in rhythm and beat. Jo's grandfather taught him how to extract a rhythm from a hollow tree to send messages to nearby villages in the Cameroonian forest. Much of Jo's spirituality has been gained through discussions of ancient customs and their origins with elders when he was young. In 2010 Jo returned to Cameroon to design and make a new African drum and become the patent owner of the Idio-drum and the Idio-com." Jo also performed at CC's Artist Network Showcase in May 2013. You can hear part of Jo's set on the World City Live showcase round-up on Resonance 104.4fm here: http://www.culturalco-operation.org/artist_network/resonance_fm/92

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“What Are You….? Gypsy?”

Despite the instinct to resist Time Out’s propaganda that London is de facto ‘The Best City In The World’, I can’t help returning to this mantra with almost daily frequency. And that is pretty much for one sole reason: London’s delightfully in-your-face cosmopolitanism. Halal carcasses are unpacked outside bass-thumping reggae dives; noodles rolled to the snipped riffs of Congolese guitars, Babel reigns on the Tube. And more and more, London’s citizens are beginning to embody that.

People of mixed white and black Caribbean or African heritage have long been a part of the urban landscape, with white and Asian mixes becoming almost as frequent. Cultural Co-operation’s busy office hub attracts a fairly cosmopolitan staff, with a healthy concoction of Italian, Jamaican, Indian, Chinese, Irish, French, Chilean and English genes simmering away within the small team. Yet, bizarrely, even in the culture and heritage sector, people still shy away from enquiring directly about each other’s ethnicities. It is as if we have a fear of racism and an obligation to be ‘PC’ so deeply ingrained in us, that we don’t feel able to explore the facets of that person which make them most interesting.

Performance poet Deanna Rodger explores the theme most eloquently in her poem ‘Being British’, stressing the strongest part of her identity to be that of ‘a Londoner’, not a pie-chart diagram of perfectly mapped out, distinct ethnicities.

“Where are you from?”

“London”

“But what country?”

“England.”

“But Where are your parents from?”

“I’m a product of miscegenation.

So while I’m an addict for hard food, I fiend for the smell of eggs and bacon in the mornin’.”

She teases the ‘polite’ questioner, forcing them to be more clear. It’s the timid ‘Where are you from?’ which is the real culprit here. On the face of it, it could mean all manner of things - Where were you born? Where did you grow up? What’s your nationality?’ But really, in the majority of cases, people detect perhaps an unusual combination of genes and really want to say, ‘What’s your ethnicity?’. ‘Polite’ social etiquette; a reluctance to appear ‘nosy’ holds them back.

Luckily there is some respite to be found among the older generations. Not having such a stultified notion of the ‘politically correct’, they come out with some delightfully refreshing comments. ‘What are you? ...Gypsy?’ or  “Where’s the brown in you from?” rank among my faves. 

Music born in London, of course, experiences much the same fate. In the multicultural landscape of London, each member of a band often comes from a different corner of the world, each bringing their own wealth of musical baggage to the table. Yet due to the commercial nature of the music industry, there is an even greater need to categorise; to simplify and taxonomise; to pigeon-hole. People can’t be content with half-Jamaican, half-Russian, they want anti-jazz, they want nu-jazz, they want post-jazz.

Miscegenated London bands however, having long been subject to the anti-identity marker of ‘world music’, have begun to show remarkable resistance to categorisation. Alejandro and the Magic Tombolinos play a raucous blend of self-styled “Nu-Power Ethno Music”, which typically comprises Klezmer, Balkan music, French chanson, and Afro-Cuban percussion. Needless to say, the most defining element of their identity is humour, testified to in their impossibly energetic and passionate performances.

Family Atlantica is another band which also blissfully resists being cooped up with the pigeons. The brainchild of an Anglo-Venezuelan couple, this lively concoction of complex rhythms is fuelled entirely on the musical evolution of the slave trade. Ships shuttled back and forth from Africa to South America to Europe, smuggling the effusive rhythms of tribes and troubadours in their holds. “This is my identity,” states singer Luzmira Zerpa proudly. “Atlantic. And we do honour our past, present and future in the present tense.” Nothing has changed, she maintains. We are still continuing this story, travelling back and forth, learning, playing, jamming. The result is an impossibly detailed eponymous family album of stories, incantations and sheer exhilaration.

Yet the strangest and most captivating music I have encountered hit me square between the eyes at a grubby basement gig in Oxford, when I came face to face with the truely awesome Bangladeshi singer of Lokkhi Terra. Sohini Alam poured her soul into a full repertoire of Bengali folk songs over groove-soaked Cuban brass to astonishing effect. So surreally perfect. So perfectly surreal. "A seamless collage of some of the best noises this planet's ever made." According to Womad (@WomadCharltonPk).

As the biggest world music festival would testify, this isn’t just novelty music; a mish-mashing of unlikely bedfellows for one-hit impact. Not only are these musicians absorbing the kaleidoscopic melodic tapestry of the metropolis, they are drawing powerful musical links between seemingly diametrically opposed cultures. Kishon Khan, Bengali pianist of Lokkhi Terra, while studying in Cuba, noticed a synergy between the rumba on the streets of Havana and the baul music of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, The Magic Tombolinos weave together gypsy threads from the Balkans, the Parisian banlieue, and the dry Spanish plains. Nowadays, with a helping hand from the Internet, such bands could theoretically evolve anywhere, but nowhere else do they occur more naturally than in London. Musicians from these far-reaching communities are treading the same streets, hearing the same tunes, jamming the same bars. And they have Gumtree!

I feel honoured to have such a wealth of high-calibre, multi-layered music on my doorstep, and proud to know that it is part of my story and identity too, as a citizen of London. I do remain wary, however, of this constant threading and weaving. I can only hope that some elements and traditions keep the power of their unique and time-honoured stories and heritage intact. Perhaps that is futile, just as it is becoming increasingly difficult to map out ethnicity, and to pin a person to a certain place, space, or census tick-box. Maybe some decades down the line, I will only be able to listen in wonder, and think, ‘My, how on earth did your noise get so damn beautiful?’

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The Bite of the Tarantula

 “If you want to get married in a good family, you don’t mess with pizzica.” warns Alfredo in his rich, Southern Italian accent. But it’s a windy Friday night, the moon is out, and we’re in the wilderness of the East London docklands. Behind a red velvet curtain, the rich mahogany interior of Jamboree beckons, tall candles flickering seductively over the low-slung stage. Flames send ripples of light dancing over bagpipes and tamburellos- large tambourines- before plunging them back into the darkness. Furthermore, Amaraterra is the only pizzica band in London, assembled via Gumtree ads written exclusively in the Puglian dialect. My good marriage can wait.

As soon as I enter the threshold of Jamboree, I feel I have stepped into a den of contraband; of antique pianos and home-brewed beer, the club’s dark floorboards exuding the promise of quality musical tradition. Federico suddenly digs his spurs into his tamburello and starts to beat a vibrant, galloping rhythm. Carla, lead singer and commander of the whole affair, comes down off the stage and starts two-stepping in a circle in the middle of the room. She looks wonderfully alluring in a long black dress, and a short red cardigan pulled close over her shoulders. Soon Alfredo, the mandola player, has come down off the stage too, following in her wake, two-step, run, two-step, run. Cassandre breathes fire down the bagpipes and the tamburello ramps up its boot-shaking vigour. Soon members of the crowd have joined in, Italians and Brits alike, and are two-stepping, running, two-step in a large circle in the middle of the room.

This dance, Carla later tells me, is called pizzica pizzica and is traditionally a courtship dance. “It was danced at family celebrations and was an occasion for ladies to get out the house and be noticed by boys. The women would lead the dance, making circles, and the man would go around her, courting her.” The air is pulsing, the rattlesnake tamburello addictive, and Carla has singlehandedly managed to get almost the entire room dancing. But it’s not exactly something my mother wouldn't want to hear about.

“Ah…,” Alfredo smiles, “But pizzica actually means bite, referring to the bite of the tarantula… If only you understood the Puglian…” He calls over  Federico, who starts to sing in the thick dialect of the South, which few Italians themselves can actually understand. “The songs are about work, love… Mostly love, but sometimes they are bit more pornographic…” He pauses considerately before kindly translating for me.

  Where did the spider bite you?

Between your breasts?

Or further down, between your legs?

  Now this is a bit more like it. “Thousands of years ago people used to believe that there was this tarantula that would bite girls, women and sometimes boys, causing them to dance until they fell on the floor in convulsions. They needed to do this to sweat out the poison the tarantula gave them. Pizzica pizzica is just the dance to cure to the bite; people stamp their feet on the floor to the rhythm of the tambourine to cure the ladies that got bitten by the spider.” Alfredo leans in conspiratorially. “But the first dance, the pizzica tarantata, is much more secret..." Even in London, it seems, the pagan origins of this dance remain steeped in mystery and intrigue.

The pizzica taranta was first described in the 11th century and was originally spread all throughout the Mediterranean and Anatolia. It has  survived only in Puglia largely due to isolation and syncretism. I am reminded of the trance genres of Moroccan gnawa and Tunisian stambali, which are still used to exorcise demons and illnesses. They originated with the African slaves employed by the Arabs, and to a large extent, have been Islamised, but the demons still bear a strong resemblance to their African counterparts. Similarly, tarantata seems to have stemmed from pagan practices. “Nowadays we have Santo Paolo, the protector of the girls who get bitten, but probably originally it was some sort of god, like Dionysus or someone.” says Alfredo.

Pizzica’s pagan origins and risqué lyrics, in spite of all Berlusconi’s antics, make it a rather unlikely fit in arguably the world’s most Catholic country. According to Carla, it has survived in the Southern countryside under this Catholic facade for a long time, perhaps due to it being sung in the Puglian dialect and therefore outside the Italian mainstream. Fifty or so years ago, however, it began to experience something of a comeback. “People started to play and sing these songs more publicly, even if they didn’t agree with the morals. Some wouldn't. My mother would never have mixed with these people!” Though safely married to a Brit, I wonder what Carla’s mother now thinks of her being the lead singer of the only pizzica band in London…

“But these daya Puglia pizzica is a fashion!” exclaims Carla. “It has come back detached from all negative stigma. This new generation has revalued pizzica and we appreciate the values which transfer to our society.” I look at her inquisitively, picturing some Bacchanalian trance rave amidst the sun-soaked vineyards. She laughs. “Not values! But the joy of dancing, the joy of taking part in a song which belongs to our tradition but at the same time is so modern. Now the new generations play, sing and dance all the time - at all events, all parties.” It certainly seems that Amaraterra have injected that sense of irreverent joy into the room this evening, as couples continue to dance in their range of polished and goofy styles.

The fabulous opera singer Mark Glanville takes to the stage to perform ‘Klama’, a woman’s and child’s lament for their husband and father, who has left the family to find work.

'Why are you leaving, daddy?' 'To live,' the father replies.

'The poor man sweats to make the rich man fatter with his labour.'

Sung in the Greek dialect of Griko, I don’t understand the lyrics but I am deeply moved by the performance, and the rich baritone which silences the room.

As I leave, I am already mapping out a pizzica route to Puglia in my mind, and I briefly tell Alfredo of my plans. He looks up at me in surprise. “Alright Eloise… But remember, it’s a very rude music. It’s not for good girls, or good boys perhaps….”.  Visions of convulsing women and galloping tamburello cartwheel through my mind. Oh yes Alfredo, my good marriage can most certainly wait.

 By Eloise Stevens

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Tales of Persia

On Wednesday 11th April, after World City Live on Resonance 104.4 FM, Iranian percussionist Fariborz Kiani and I cruise down Borough High Street, in search of a pint.

Fariborz Kiani

“Let me tell you something - this woman would put current Womens’ Rights Movements to shame!” Fariborz’s eyes widen and I see his pupils glaze over, betraying the fact that he is already lost to the tale, sucked into the colourful vortex now spiralling through his mind. Settled into the warmth of a Borough pub, warming a pint of Guinness between my hands, I urge him to continue.

“Fifteen hundred years ago in Persia, there was a very picky prince, Khosrow, who could never find a woman good enough for him. One day, his close friend and a highly respected painter, Shapur, tells him of the beauty of the Armenian princess, Shirin, who is as fussy as Khosrow, and has never been able to find a suitor good enough for her. Shapur paints a series of astonishing portraits of Shirin and Khosrow is bewitched by her beauty. He thus immediately orders Shapur to travel to Armenia, where he locates Shirin out on a long hunting trip with all her maidens.

“Shapur follows the troupe and as they are taking their siesta, he paints a wonderful portrait of Khosrow and hangs it up on a tree near to the sleeping women. As soon as she awakes, Shirin falls in love with this man, but the maidens refuse to let her succumb to her emotions. The following day the same thing happens, but Shapur paints an even more astounding portrait of Khosrow. Shirin falls even deeper in love. Day after day this goes on until Shapur paints the masterpiece of his lifetime and Shirin falls so ill with love that she has to abandon her hunting trip and return to her palace...”

Antique Azerbaijani carpet depicting Khosrow and Shirin on a hunt.

And this is just the springboard for Nizami Ganjavi’s epic, written in the 12th century. “This is where it just smashes Romeo and Juliet to smithereens!” Smiles Fariborz, mischief flickering across his face.

“Khosrow turns out to be a bit of a boozing philanderer but Shirin agrees to marry him... on the condition that he reclaim his country from the army commander Bahram Chobin.” With her future assets pretty much secured, I worry briefly for her post-marital happiness...

But not to fear. “The ever loyal stone-carver Farhad appears on the scene, falling madly in love with Shirin and becoming Khosrow’s arch rival in the process. To prove his love Farhad builds a channel under the desert to Shirin’s palace and fills it with milk so that she can have fresh milk every morning. (What did you do for your beloved this Valentine’s Day?) To stifle Farhad’s advances Khosrow says he can marry Shirin on the condition that he carves through Behistun mountain, in Western Iran, believing it will take him his entire lifetime…”

Even in my retelling of this story I fear I have streamlined it too much, given it a direction and a purpose previously heavily veiled behind Fariborz’s wonderfully somersaulting narrative. He spills out on tangents, briefly regresses to the main plot before sprinting off to the far corner of another philosophy, never letting on if he will actually return to the two central characters. It goes against everything I have ever learnt about Western storytelling. Aristotle laid down the classical unities in c. 335 BC , demanding that all action be of utmost necessity to the final denouement. Not much, it seems, has changed.

I ask Fariborz how he came to be so good at telling stories. My Guinness, still full, is hot in my hand. “I’m not really a storyteller, you know.” He replies with characteristic modesty. “But I did use to go to a teahouse every Friday with my grandfather in Tehran. There would be a storyteller who’d recount these reeling epics, which would always end on a cliffhanger. You couldn’t think for the entire week, desperate to go back to the teahouse and find out what happened!”

Not only is the art of storytelling deeply ingrained in the fabric of Persian culture, it is the celebration of art in all its manifestations and the gifted individuals who enrich our lives. Traditional manuscripts of the epic poem include intricate miniature paintings, which celebrate not only the extraordinary talent of Shapur but also the tradition of Persian miniatures. Most fascinatingly, the tale of Farhad carving through the mountain explains the anonymous wonderfully detailed engravings of the life of the Persian King Darius the Great who lived in the 5th century BC. The Behistun Inscription is an astonishing 25 metres wide and 15 metres high, engraved 100 metres up Mount Behistun in Western Iran, and is now a World Heritage Site.

Behistun Inscription, Kermansah Province, Iran

Fariborz comes to the tragic end of the tale, and takes the first gulp of his pint, elated. I feel overwhelmed by the sheer vivacity and scale of the tale, its oral immortality and tangible heritage in ancient monuments. The incongruous privilege of hearing this tale 1500 years later and halfway around the world in a fusty London pub descends on me. Later, I find out that three years ago, the Iranian government's censors refused a publishing house permission to reprint the centuries-old classic most famously committed to paper by the Persian poet Nizami in 1180. No official explanation was offered but it is thought that the government were concerned about the ‘indecent’ act of Shirin embracing her husband. I quickly call up Fariborz and ask if he would like to record the story. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly do it now, I would need to practise first!” He protests. This gift, it seems, goes unheralded.

To find out more about Fariborz Kiani and Iranian music in London, please go to Nava Arts. By Eloise Stevens

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Cultural Co-operation is pleased to spotlight the Bishopsgate Institute, a long-running and valued partner with CC since 2002. Bishopsgate Institute has been "dedicated to opening minds, challenging perceptions and enriching lives" since 1895. Occupying a unique position at the crossroads of the City and East End of London, it has been a centre for learning and culture for nearly 120 years. It is a home for ideas and debate, learning and enquiry; a place where culture, heritage and learning meet and where independent thought is cherished. Bishopsgate Insitute’s world-renowned archive collections are open to all through the public library and a programme of cultural events and learning. These include courses for adults, talks and discussions, social dances, free lunchtime recitals and walking tours. Bishopsgate Institute has contributed to the success of a number of CC’s free public programmes since 2002. These events have included 'Soundbites' (2002 Diaspora Music Village), a major public day of food and musical performances celebrating the presence of diaspora cultures in London. Attendees were invited to come and discover different cuisines and cultures in London’s East End; a major historic gateway to the capital's global diasporas. CC also held the Artist Network 'World City' Showcase Event at BI in 2010, attracting over 100 people including cultural industry powerbrokers, artists, CC subscribers and guests. As a Partner in CC's HLF-supported heritage skills training programme “Strengthening Our Common Life”/(SOCL), the Bishopsgate Institute hosted and supervised a traineeship for a young person – Siobhan Brown – from 2011-2012 to complete a year of workplace training. Siobhan simultaneously worked towards - and successfully achieved - a QCF Level 3 Diploma in Cultural Heritage. Click here to explore Bishopsgate Institute's exciting 2014 programme.

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At the end of last year, Cultural Co-operation’s Volunteer Team celebrated another busy and successful year with a Festive get-together at the Southbank Centre.

We were beguiled by the haunting chimes of the Southbank Gamelan Players, Ensemble in Residence at Southbank Centre (above). Click here for more info about the Ensemble.

We are currently seeking volunteers to support on Administration, Social Media and Event Stewarding. If you are interested in joining our volunteer team, please send your CV and a short covering letter detailing relevant experience to [email protected].

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Mosi Conde singing and playing the Kora to a Live-Tweeting audience at Bishopsgate Institute Last Friday, members of the Artist Network joined Cultural Co-operation (CC) at Bishopsgate Institute for a Digital Training Seminar: "Reach Out & Connect". Reach Out & Connect was designed to support and guide artists to engage with online audiences. The seminar was developed by CC and Dr Andy Williamson, an internationally-renowned digital expert who has worked extensively, and globally, in the field of digital democracy and citizen engagement. The second half of the evening comprised a practical session: intimate, acoustic performances from two members of the Artist Network, accompanied by a flurry of Live-Tweeting and Facebook-ing. CC gave attendees an opportunity to post content to their social media platforms, with members of CC's Communications Team on hand for advice and technical support. Watch this space for video and podcasts from Reach Out & Connect.

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We were pleased to see Perunika Trio and Eugenia Georgieva interviewed in the Sunday Times last week, for an article about Eastern European music. London-based Perunika Trio, founded by artistic director Eugenia Georgieva, follows the most archetypal format for Bulgarian harmony singing – the female trio. Incorporating Bulgarian, Macedonian and Russian traditional music and Orthodox chants into a broader Slavic repertoire, their acappella performances include poetry and storytelling. The three singers of Perunika share a love of the dramatic beauty of Bulgarian folk music, where pagan past, Church Slavonic tradition and five centuries of Ottoman rule fuse, leading you to an exciting journey into Slavic spirituality... Click here to listen to Perunika being interviewed on Cultural Co-operation's weekly World City: Live radio show on Resonance 104.4fm. Click here for more info about the Trio.

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Kiscsipas & Kalotaszegi Band

One windswept November evening, we headed down to Gem restaurant, Islington, to check out Kiscsipas & Kalotaszegi Band.

After a deliciously rib-sticking meal of Biber Dolma (stuffed peppers) and complimentary Qatme (Kurdish specialty bread filled with cheese, onion, potato and spinach), rounded off with sweet squidgy Şekerpare, we snuck down to the basement room, and were hit with a wall of resounding, waltzy Gypsy strings, and the reverberations of stomping feet.

Kiscsipas, a Transylvania fiddler, plays with other musicians from Kalotaszegi- a region of Western Romania with a significant Hungarian population; a stronghold of Hungarian folk tradition. When the 19th Century writer Gyarmathy Zsigane revived the Varrottasok embroidery craft in the 1880s, she inspired a Kalotaszegi folk art revival which continues into the present day.

The trio comprise a violin, double bass, and a three-stringed brácsa; and play a range of lively Hungarian and Transylvanian trad. tunes. I'm told to listen out for the nuanced characteristics of the more lilting, ornamental Hungarian pieces. After a couple of rousing songs, a few men get up to dance a legényes- a rhythmic solo dance for men involving energetic jumping, kicking and flipping of the legs with accompanying slaps to the feet.

Many hours later, we burst out into the icy darkness of Upper Street; Gem's innocuous front windows showcasing Islington residents quietly eating, seemingly oblivious to the multitude of mesmeric sound and dance underneath the floorboards. Watch This Space for future Underground Sounds from CC's Artist Network, and roving team of gig-reviewers.

Click here for Simon Broughton's Evening Standard review of Kiscsipas & Kalotaszegi Band's 2011 performance at Gem, and here for a video clip of the evening. Click here for updates from Csergo Promotions about similar gigs in London.  

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Historical photo of two great pioneers of Moroccan Andalusian music Abdelkrim Rais (oud) and Moulay Ahmed Loukili (rebab)

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We love this old photo of Rebab and Oud virtuosos Moulay Ahmed and Abdelkrim Rais! Islamic Golden Age philosopher Al-Farabi weaves a story that the oud was invented by Lamech, the sixth grandson of Adam (as in, the first human). The legend tells that the grieving Lamech hung the body of his dead son from a tree. The first oud was inspired by the shape of his son's bleached skeleton.

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"Chineseness": Discussing Music and Culture on Air with Cheng Yu

  As a young woman raised in colonial Hong Kong, I have a complicated relationship with my Chinese identity – educated in an English-speaking school that followed the British National Curriculum, my history classes consisted of Henry VIII and Tudors but nothing of Chinese history.

So, it was with great interest that I prepared and co-presented World City Live, Cultural Co-operation’s weekly radio show on Resonance 104.4FM, featuring an hour of conversation and Chinese music with Cheng Yu, an internationally-renowned pipa luteand guqin soloist.

Leanne, my colleague and co-presenter and I meet with the guests before the show so we can talk them through what to expect. After telephone and email communication, this can sometimes be the first time we meet the artists face to face (especially if you’re new to Cultural Co-operation like I am!).

Because of my accent, Cheng Yu didn’t anticipate my ethnicity, and when we met, she asked quietly – without within to be rude - “Are you Chinese?”. She seemed pleasantly surprised to learn I was, and this seemed to reassure her nerves too.Cheng Yu is a warm and open woman, and the way in which she approached the topic of our shared ‘Chineseness’ – and the fact that it put her at ease despite the difference in our backgrounds - brought home to me the complexity of ethnic and cultural identity.

During the radio show, Cheng Yuspoke eloquently about her upbringing, Chinese culture and music. For me, the most touching part of the interview was Cheng Yu’s discussion of exile from Beijing during the Cultural Revolution:

“It is a complex issue. It came from Mao Zedong’s idea to rebalance the poorer classes and the bourgeoisie. They sent educated people to the countryside to receive ‘re-education’ and the proletariat class could go to university …  On a deeper level, it was a power struggle. Now I understand more. When I was young, I couldn’t understand why this happened to us.”

It was during this time of exile that Cheng Yu first learned to the play the pipa in secret.

On an artistic level, I was interested to hear about Cheng Yu’s academic work, which for her is closely related to her artistic practice. She spoke about her 5-stringed lute project, where she researched, recreated and performed on the instrument, which, for unknown reasons, ceased to exist around the 8th century.

“I always thought the 5-stringed pipa, with one more sting than the [conventional] pipa, could add more sound and give different aspects. I wanted to recreate one based on the Tang [Dynasty] model … [but] I didn’t want to do one which would copy the exact model. My purpose was to create one for contemporary use.”

Cultural Co-operation is a cultural heritage organisation whose work is vital in the preservation and promotion of traditional music from around the world, as well as recording and sharing personal stories.

You can listen to the full episode here and delve into the archive of World City Live shows here.

World City Live broadcasts live on Resonance 104.4FM on Wednesdays at 6.30pm. You can listen live here.

Sarah Fok is a trainee on the Strengthening Our Common Life (SOCL) programme based at Cultural Co-operation.  SOCL is funded through the nationwide Skills for the Future initiative launched by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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October Newsletter: Artist Network Showcase Event

October 2013

This November, Cultural Co-operation (CC) continues its partnership with English Folk Dance and Song Society for World City: Artist Network Showcase, bringing together the cream of London's diaspora and folk artists with industry professionals. The evening at Cecil Sharp House in Camden promises performances from artists both from the UK and around the world, as well as networking opportunities to enable artists to develop relationships with media professionals, venues, and agents.

Artist Network Showcase Performers

Deanna Rodger The youngest UK Poetry Slam Champion, Deanna is a British spoken word poet from southwest London. Click here to watch Deanna perform an anti-BNP statement piece 'Being British' at Come Rhyme With Me.

Dear Winesburg This six-piece band brings you "a fine interpretation of traditional-sounding folk". Watch Dear Winesburg perform 'Wherewithall' live by clicking here.

Diego Laverde Rojas Columbian virtuouso Diego plays the arpa llanera, or lowland harp, from an area between Columbia and Venezuela. Click here to watch Diego's fingers fly!

Family Atlantica Duo Ambassadors of the Family Atlantica full band will be performing Venezuelan songs and rhythms. Why not check out Family Atlantica performing at Passing Clouds by clicking here?

Gavin Davenport Talented young Gavin Davenport is a singer of ballads and other songs from the English folk tradition. Click here to enjoy Gavin and his band bid 'Farewell to Yorkshire' at the Cheltenham Folk Festival.  

Jose Navarro Peruvian puppeteer Jose Navarro never fails to captivate audiences with his inventive creations! Watch a short newsclip featuring Jose and his puppets performing at last year's Golden Magnolia Interntional Puppet Festival in Shanghai, China by clicking here.

Kasai Masai Kasai Masai is a Congolese band, bringing you the traditional sounds of the most remote equatorial villages with a London twist. Click here to see Kasai Masai play 'Yambonde' as part of the Hand Crafted sessions.

Merit Ariane Stephanos A singer and composer specialising in Arab and Middle Eastern vocal music, Merit is inspired by her German/Egyptian heritage and her initial training as a Western classical singer. Watch excerpts of Merit's Orient/Occident concert performance at the Stadthaus in Ulm here.

Silk String Quartet Four of the best classically trained Chinese  musicians come together to play both new and traditonal Chinese music. Click here to watch the Silk String Quartet perform 'Waterscape Silhouette'.

Simo Lagnawi / Gnawa UK Hailing from Morocco, Simo is a maâlem, a master of the sacred spiritual trance music of Gnawa. Watch Simo playing live at the V&A Museum earlier this year by clicking here.

Please note the performer line-up is correct at the time of going to press.

Keep up-to-date with artist gigs and all developments by visiting our website, liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter.

Best wishes from all at Cultural Co-operation. For further information,

Email: [email protected]  Tel: [phone]

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Registered office: Cultural Co-operation, 1st Floor, 4 Pinchin Street, London, E1 1SA

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© Copyright 2012 Cultural Co-operation

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Delving into the archive for our second #MemoryLaneMonday: three decades of Cultural Co-operation’s Music Village Festivals.

Music Village 1989 was themed around West Africa, and played out on the lawns of Kew Gardens.

Highlights from the festival included a performance on Friday 16th June 1989 by Francis Bebey- an incredible experimental Cameroonian musician who melded African acoustic instruments with psychedelic, synth pop sensibilities. 

Explore the Cultural Co-operation website and join us on Twitter (@cultural_co) to find out more!