Tuned In London Music Programme January – May 2020
The new collection of rhythms and sounds of the Tuned In London programme brings fantastic artists to Rotherhithe and Bermondsey for another season of intimate music gigs. The venues offers a unique experience to experience music like no other place can do. It is also worth mentioning how affordable Tuned In London tickets are and what good value for money in a London where everything is just “London prices”
Mayflower 2020
Tuned In London presents a year of concerts that invite audiences to reflect on the movement of people around the world, people who up sticks for a multitude of reasons, and head to lands unknown, marking the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Ship leaving Rotherhithe’s shore, captained and crewed by Rotherhithe residents.
Venues
The music programme for this season is hosted across different iconic venues in Rotherhithe and Bermondsey: Sands Films Studios, The Finnish Church and City Hope Church
[spacer color=”010103″ icon=”fa-calendar”]
Flamenco Fusion – La Leo Power, Pablo Dominguez and Alejandro Benitez
Thursday 30th Jan, 7.45pm (doors 7pm), City Hope Church, 121 Drummond Road, Bermondsey, SE16 2JY
A fabulous evening of the sounds of Southern Spain: the roots of flamenco are thought to have emerged in the Punjab from where in 800-900 AD a large exodus of people, many of them dancers and musicians. dispersed to other lands. Andalusia, centuries later, is where this gypsy art has evolved to become what it is today,with its strong Moorish, Castilian and Sephardic Jewish influences. Cadiz, home to this trio, is a port town that has seen people leaving to go to the Americas, and sometimes returning, bringing new rhythms and instruments. “Gaditana del año”, Cadiz Citizen of the Year 2017, for her contribution to the art, La Leo Power sings with Pablo Domínguez (guitar) and Alejandro Benítez (bass) to reveal a mesmerising mêlée of rhythms that connect with other World Music genres.
[spacer color=”010103″ icon=”fa-calendar”]
Olcay Bayir
Wednesday 12th February, 7pm (doors 6.30pm), Finnish Church, Albion St, Rotherhithe
Of Kurdish origin, Olcay Bayir’s music crosses boundaries in evocative and heart-stoppingly beautiful ways. Opera-trained, she was born on the Turkish side of the Syrian border, and her soul is rooted in the deeply-emotional music of Anatolia, home to many peoples: Turks, Kurds, Armenians and Arabs, many of whom have been displaced from the lands of their forefathers. Olcay, “one of the finest, most intriguing singers on the British world music scene” The Guardian, with now two acclaimed albums to her name, returns bringing her exquisitely clear voice that defines her original repertoire, combining jazz, folk and neo-classical with Mesopotamian and Anatolian tradition.
[spacer color=”010103″ icon=”fa-calendar”]
Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno
Thursday 5th March, 7pm (doors 6.30pm), Finnish Church, Albion St, Rotherhithe
Rapasa is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and great
advocate of traditional music. He plays several of the indigenous
instruments of East Africa, his principal one being the Nyatiti, a
beautiful eight-string lyre belonging to the Lüo community, whose people
have now settled along the Kenyan shores of Nam Lolwe (Lake Victoria),
where he is from. His music gives an insight into our ancestors’ wisdom
and is steeped in heritage. Rapasa will take us on a journey, following
the music of the Nyatiti as his ancestors migrated with it along the
great waterway that is the Nile, drawing a likeness to those who set
sail aboard the Mayflower and headed seaward from our own riverside
community. Currently based in Newcastle, Rapasa has taken part in the
prestigious One Beat (Oregon), Nile Project and recent Making Tracks
programmes and toured internationally.
Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno’s website
[spacer color=”010103″ icon=”fa-calendar”]
Touki: Amadou Diagne and Cory Seznec
Thursday 26th March, 7.45pm (doors 7.15pm), St Mary’s Church, St Marychurch St, Rotherhithe
Who would have thought that a chance encounter busking in the streets
of Bath in 2007 would lead to a major new musical adventure more than a
decade later? Amadou Diagne from Senegal and French-American Cory
Seznec planted on that Spring day the seeds of a future collaboration
with musical inspirations drawing on West African, American and
Ethiopian traditions. Life took them on different touki (journeys
in Wolof), but an Arts Council grant has allowed Amadou and Cory to
record a brand new album, Right of Passage, at Peter Gabriel’s Real
World Studios. The kora dances playfully with and around banjo and
guitar whilst the calabash and other percussion add powerful, driving
beats and their silky, soulful voices entrancingly envelop the music.
They come to Rotherhithe, from where so many have journeyed across the
seas, for the last night of their UK tour.
Masters of Syria
Wednesday 22nd April, 7.45pm (doors 7.15pm), Sands Films, St Marychurch St, Rotherhithe
wo Syrian brothers whose stellar music accreditations and
accomplishments seem to know no bounds: conducting, composing, singing,
choir-leading, oud and qanun playing… Basel and Taim Saleh’s
orchestral collaborations and performances have collectively resonated
far beyond their native Homs. Along with Damascus-born James Zedo on
percussion, they present old Syrian folk songs and give us their own
take on Andalusian Muwashshah, inviting us to savour the culture and
music of the country they have left behind since they came to be a part
of Damon Albarn’s Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, that featured actual
and former members of the Syrian National Orchestra, playing in
Amsterdam, opening at Glastonbury and ending with a concert at the Royal
Festival Hall in 2016.
The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians on Youtube (featuring the Saleh Brothers on oud and qanun)
The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians on Youtube (featuring the Saleh Brothers on vocals at the Royal Festival Hall)
The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians on Youtube (featuring Basel Saleh conducting with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra)
Iyatraquarter
Wednesday 6th May, 7.45pm (doors 7pm), City Hope Church, 121 Drummond Road, Bermondsey, SE16 2JY
Described as “one of the most exciting new music groups around”, iyatraQuartet have captivated audiences at WOMAD, Songlines Encounters and beyond with their original, boundary-bending music for violin, cello, bass clarinet and percussion, flavoured with “dizzy Balkan revelry” The Telegraph and hints of Indian raga. Through a process of close collaboration, these four talented multi-instrumentalists dream up pieces of acoustic music and songs each as unclassifiable and varied as the last. In this Mayflower anniversary year, their name is apt, ‘iyatra’ being ‘travel’ or ‘pilgrimage’ in Hindi. Every performance is a journey. Here we are invited to the debut of their second album “Break the Dawn”. Theirs is “exquisite polyphony… a journey worth joining” **** 4 stars Songlines.
Disclaimer: WISE16 publish public notices from London Borough of Southwark with the aim to encourage participation. Please visit Southwark Council’s website for further in
You must be logged in to post a comment.