I have just started working with a group of artists from Brazil, India, Uganda and Nepal as part of a project set up by Un-Convention and In Place Of War, to be performed at UK festivals this Summer.
We’ve been rearranging a bunch of my songs for a performance at Shambala this Sunday. My fellow collaborators include members of OS Nelsons, Joel Sebrunko, Kiran Nepali and Vivek Rajagopalan. They’re all incredible musicians, easily outplaying me at every step! It’s been a fun process, though all too brief.
We only met for the first time this week and were afforded a mere four hours to come up with a set in time for the weekend. Next time I see them all will be on stage. Still, sometimes the best thing for creativity is a hefty deadline (limitations can often become strengths). It’s all a bit rough around the edges for sure, but there’s a lot of energy and enjoyment that muscles its way to the surface.
I hope that after we get this initial performance out of the way we can all get together and do some proper recording. It all depends on everyone’s schedule of course (would be a shame not to though, it’s not every day you get a group like this together in one room!).
Here’s a rough recording (just through my phone’s inbuilt microphone) of us tackling the infamous Tell-Tale Hound…
***
In Place of War (IPOW) is a project based within the University of Manchester that researches creativity in sites of armed conflict and has, over the past 7 years developed extensive international networks of artists and creatives making theatre, street art, music, spoken word and more in response to war.
