Afrodisiac composer and performers

Charlie Barber
(composer)
Composer and Artistic Director of
Sound
Affairs, Charlie Barber has a
deserved reputation for bringing
innovative
productions to audiences
throughout the world. His prolific
output as a composer, and talent for
combining
disparate
musical
influences and genre, have brought
him
acclaim and recognition outside
his native Wales.
Barber has collaborated on several projects with practitioners from other
media including film and video makers as well as numerous works with
choreographer Andy Howitt. Other dance and theatre work includes music
for Extemporary Dance, Diversions Dance Company, Dawns Tan, Dundee
Dance Company, Moving Being, TAG Theatre, Sherman Theatre Company
and Clwyd Dance.
His concert works have been performed at Settembre Musica (Turin),
Festival Internacional de Musica (Portugal), Brno International Music
Festival (Czech Republic), Marató de l'Espactacle (Barcelona), Hong Kong
Arts Festival, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival,
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Cardiff Music Festival,
Bournemouth International Festival. Previous commissions include works
for the Piano Circus, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bingham String
Quartet and Apollo Saxophone Quartet.
His recent performance and touring programmes include Ludwig (2007) a
tribute to Beethoven in music and film; Bali to New York (February 2008)
a musical journey and exploration of Indonesian gamelan to downtown
Manhattan, Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2009) a contemporary dance
and new music collaboration and Salomé (2009) a tour of the 1923 silent
film starring Nazimova with live percussion quartet.
“The punchy and quizzical music of Charlie Barber has enlivened the scene
in south Wales for some while. Listeners around the rest of Britain could
hear it at full strength in Radio 3's recent relay of his orchestral piece Shut
Up and Dance.” The Independent
Seckou Keita (kora)
“Seckou Keita is a brilliant live
performer with stacks of charisma,
and one of the few champions of
the less-known and rhythmically
rocking kora repertoire from
Casamance in southern Senegal
where he is from.”
Lucy Duran – Radio BBC3
“Seckou Keita, an inspired
exponent of the Kora that can
makes the West African harp-lute
sound like a small band”
Robin Denselow - Guardian
Seckou Keita was born in Ziguinchor, Senegal on 14 February 1978 in a
griot family (hereditary musicians). It was under the guidance of his
uncle Solo Cissokho that Keita launched his international career in 1996,
with appearances at Norway’s Forde Festival
in a successful collaboration
with Cuban, Indian and Scandinavian musicians.
In the years that followed, Keita relocated to the UK, while touring
regularly in Spain, France, Portugal, Greece and Czech Republic as well as
playing at such prestigious festivals as Womad and Glastonbury, both as
a solo musician, and in collaboration with acclaimed figures like Indian
violinist Dr L Subrimaniam.
He became a member of the popular world music group Baka Beyond in
1998, contributing to their well-received East To West album, and in 2000
began to record his own solo debut “Baiyo” (retitled “Mali” for a later
release through Arc Music), which encompassed his musical journey to
that date, from Africa to Europe, via India.
With support slots to luminaries like Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour, solo
slots at London’s Jazz Café and at Ireland’s Sacred Music Festival, and a
nomination in 2001 for BBC Radio 3’s prestigious World Music Award, it’s
clear that Keita’s many collaborations have fed and extended rather than
diluted the African mainspring of his music.
Keita’s current project, the Seckou Keita Quintet (SKQ) draws together a
group of musicians from disparate origins, who nonetheless superbly
complement one another.
www.seckoukeita.com
Chartwell Dutiro (mbira)
In African music,
the mbira (also known
as thumb piano,
karimba or kalimba)
is a musical instrument
consisting of a wooden
board to which staggered
metal keys have been
attached. It is often fitted
into a resonator.
The instrument is unique to
Africa and is found
throughout the continent.
t
Chartwell Shorayi Dutiro started playing mbira when he was four at the
protected village, Kagande, about two hours drive from Harare,
Zimbabwe, where his family was moved by the Salvation Army
missionaries during the Chumurenga - the 'revolutionary struggle' of 1996
– 1980. Even though the missionaries had banned traditional music, he
learned to play from his brother and other village elders. His mother also
encouraged him through her singing of traditional songs.
As a teenager Chartwell moved to the capital, Harare, and became
saxophonist with the Salvation Army band. A little later, in 1986, he
joined the world-famous band Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited.
Touring the world for eight years with that band, he was their arranger,
mbira player and saxophonist. Since 1994, Chartwell has based himself in
Britain where he continues to teach and play mbira.
Chartwell has a degree in Ethnomusicology from SOAS in London where
he also taught for many years. His solo album, released in 2000, is
entitled Voices of Ancestors. He also has several recordings on CD in
which he plays with the band Spirit Talk Mbira.
In many ways, he has become a Zimbabwean missionary, playing mbira
in schools and community halls, creating a space where people can
explore cultural differences through the Shona tradition.
www.africanmusiciansprofiles.com/chartwell
Other musicians:
Semra Kurutaç (piano)
Semra Kurutaç studied piano with
Russell Brandon at the University
of Wales, Cardiff and in July 2002
graduated with a Masters in
Performance Studies. In the same
year
she
joined pianocircus.
Semra is also one half (alongside
pianist Kate Halsall) of duoDort, a
piano duo who specialize in
contemporary music programmes
combining piano, keyboard and
electronics.. Sacha Johnson (percussion)
Sacha studied at the Birmingham
Conservatoire and at the Guildhall
Hall School of Music and Drama. He
has played with the BBC Symphony
Orchestra,
Royal
Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham
Contemporary Music Group and has
been guest principal with the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales. David Jean-Baptiste (bass
clarinet)
David Jean-Baptiste is principally a
bass clarinettist and a composer
and is a North Londoner of
Caribbean parentage. He studied at
the Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and has a Masters in
Composing for Film and TV from
Kingston
University.
He
has
performed with Abdullah Ibrahim,
Eric Murphy and numerous other
projects.