We spoke to landscape writer Sarah Acton and musicians Emily Burridge & Becki Driscoll ahead of the Seiners premiere. A newly commissioned poetic and musical piece opening each performance on The Fleet tour.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this piece / who you’ve met and spoken to / stories you’ve discovered?

Sarah Acton - Seiners is a spoken word and musical weaving of stories, voices and film about the seine fishing communities and coastal landscape of Dorset's Chesil beach and Fleet lagoon. Some of the memories were originally recorded during research for my book, Seining Along Chesil (Little Toller 2022) and from this starting point and my two years' immersed in these stories, the commission developed in collaboration with Common Ground for the film, and the musicians in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall; Becki Driscoll, Emily Burridge and Julie Macara. We worked at distance and together through a process involving rehearsals and conversations into deepening and reimagining the material in our creative responses. Through introductions I was able to make new fishing connections to expand my research further down the coast into the mysteries of salmon, the seine fishing tradition on the river in Teignmouth and into pilchards in Newlyn. People have been generous with their time and expertise, these heritage traditions are no longer something we can see everyday. I also took some inspiration from the film, Drifters, with its story told above and below the seas.

There are three versions of Seiners as the spoken word collaboration is with three wonderful musicians and reflects their individual approaches, styles, and our co-creative process together. Together with the Common Ground film using field recordings and archive footage, each night will be different, and every live performance has its own particular energy. It is still new material - we are all looking forward to hearing how our words, images and sounds land with audiences and spaces. It is exciting that the tour visits some of the villages where seine fishing was part of coastal life, so the stories, landscapes and characters we evoke may be familiar to the place itself and part of its heritage, while the music, film and ghost story fragments may also carry a gently progressive edge to old stories retold; remembering the environment, elements and resilience of once-marginal coastal communities.

What are you most looking forward to about touring this project to village halls and smaller venues in the South West?

I have lived in a village in Devon for the last ten years, twenty miles+ from larger venues in a town, so I understand how important rural touring can be for cultural life and accessibility. The Fleet Drifters SW tour partners with regional touring organisations and through these we have opportunity to work with venues I have never visited as well as some I have, plus there is a real buzz of bringing new original live performances to audiences and especially local audiences who may not otherwise travel or afford to see the show. Rural touring can offer brilliant and bold programming for audiences to see something different and be part of a live performance experience. As an artist, smaller venues bring different opportunities to meet people, and share work. I am looking forward to visiting some places I know well and discover new places while making new connections, seeing what is revealed in different performance spaces. The fact that this is a new commission with fresh collaborations on tour for the first time is very inspiring and generates possibility and creative energy all around.

We asked local musicians Emily (Dorset) and Becki (Devon) if they have a particular highlight from this piece / collaborative project so far. And what they are most looking forward to about performing it live. 

Emily Burridge - Seiners is a fascinating production which evolves each time Sarah and I meet. I love tuning into the visual imagery conjured up by her words and respond through using my looping pedals to create a cello scape with harmonies and rhythms . These are then notated always with room for improvisation in response to the atmosphere of the day.

It is great to have three consecutive performances as a first run for the production, for in playing to audiences it will become strengthened in its guise.

Becki Driscoll - It has been lovely to work with Sarah's words - she's often describing a coastline that I'm very familiar with having grown up near Bridport and I've really enjoyed finding a creative musical response to the rhythm and flow of her words.

I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together with an audience and creating that magic that you get when everyone in the space is experiencing the same thing but from their own perspective!

TOUR DATES

Image credits: 
Sarah Acton, credit Justin P Brown
Emily Burridge, credit Michi Color
Becki Driscoll

This March, sound artist, nature beatboxer and composer Jason Singh performs his live soundtrack to John Grierson’s monumental silent documentary film Drifters.

What initially drew you to agreeing to soundtrack Drifters (1929)? What do you love about this film? / what is special about this film?

It was actually an out of the blue (no pun intended) request from the BFI. They asked if I would be interested in creating a soundtrack to a silent film. It felt like a challenge and I said yes. The BFI sent me a copy of the film and after watching it through once, I fell in love with it. I loved the pace of the film and the graphic struggles of the fishing communities. There was also so much joy and togetherness. Yep, it felt epic! It’s a film that still speaks today in terms of the movement of people, climate change, technology, economics and the effects of capitalism.

Can you tell us a bit about your creative process and the vocal techniques and effects that you use for this soundtrack?

I wanted to create something which was generated entirely by the human voice. Drifters is a silent film and I wanted to somehow give voices to the people, place, fish, technology. So I sample my voice by recording it into machines and then processing it. I also layer my voice to create rhythms, melodies, textures and sound effects. Everything is created vocally and enhanced using music technology.

What makes you excited about performing this soundtrack live?

That it’s mostly live and improvised. I am not only responding to the images but also the venue and the vibe of the audience. We are all in it together. Pretty much like the film.

How would you sum up the live show experience and the sounds the audience will hear? What’s your kit set up?

It’s subtle and also intense. Audiences can expect to hear the sounds of machines, the sea, birds and whole manner of music genres and vocal sound effects.

My kit set up is pretty simple. It comprises of a reverb unit, loop station and sampler for live processing.

What are you most looking forward to about touring this project to village halls and smaller venues in the South West?

Meeting new people and sharing an important piece of art that documents the life and struggles of communities that moved around the country and the sea.

As part of this project, you’re running beatboxing and electronic workshops for Year 7s and 8s across the South West. What would you like the students to take away from the workshop and live show?

That they don’t need expensive equipment to be creative. They have incredible potential within themselves and they are able to access it when shown a few techniques.

Tour dates

Opening each performance, landscape writer, Sarah Acton presents a newly commissioned piece. Weaving ghostly fragments of the south west seine fishing heritage alongside atmospheric visuals by Common Ground, Sarah and local guest artists Emily Burridge (Dorset), Julie Macara (Cornwall) and Becki Driscoll (Devon) premiere new poetic and musical work Seiners.

Image credits:
Jason Singh, credit Julian Fraser
DRIFTERS (1929) dir John Grierson, film stills - Courtesy BFI
The Fleet project image, IWant Design

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Caitlin LM.

Caitlin LM is an electronic producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Manchester.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

This project is a musical guided mushroom forage/funghi exploration. Recently I’ve become really interested in the world of funghi and how funghi interact with our world, and there is so much to learn, it’s fascinating. So I was really excited to create an immersive music and funghi experience in response to this!

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

It’s been really exciting looking at how it would work practically - I want the project to be partly outdoors, so alongside thinking about how I am responding musically, I have also been looking at how this actually works!

What has this opportunity meant to you?

As an independent artist, there’s often a lot of pressure to have things finished and ready, but there are so many components to creating work, and so much development that people don’t see. It’s such a huge relief to be given the time and space to develop things at a pace that feels right.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

I’ve learnt a lot about field recording, and I’ve started to experiment with lots of ways to incorporate sounds from nature into my music!

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

I’m really inspired by artists who use nature either as inspiration or literally use recordings as part of what they do. Jon Hopkins’ ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’ comes to mind in particular, as his use of nature not just in terms of recordings but also as spaces for sound processing is really exciting.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Redivider by VLMV is on repeat for me at the moment! Incredibly soothing and beautiful, a gorgeous cross over between production and live instrumentation.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

I’m hoping that I can secure funding to develop the whole project and take it on for a run of shows as part of a rural tour, which will also include foraging and talks about funghi.

Photo credits: The pictures are all from the guided forage I went on with David Winnard of Discover the Wild - a local funghi expert who took me round for the day and introduced me to all sorts of weird and wonderful specimens. 

We look forward to sharing more details about Caitlin LM's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Caitlin's Instagram and follow to find out more about her work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of leading figures across contemporary music, chose six early-career artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on social media.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Heledd C Evans.

Heledd C Evans is an artist and facilitator based in Cardiff, working with sound as both medium and subject matter – from site specific installations and performances, to multi-layered soundscapes.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

In Spring 2023 I had been part of a project, Organ@Soar with Ty Cerdd and Theatr Soar in Merthyr Tudfil, where 6 composers/sound artists were commissioned to create a new work for the recently restored mechanical organ in the Theatre, which was then performed by James McVinnie. It was such a wonderful project and gave me a lot of direction in my practice, in that working with acoustic instruments and exploring ways of composing is something I really want to pursue.

I found the organ so fun and accessible to work with, which surprised me as I didn’t think it would be. Organs are essentially the first synthesizer – you can create a whole orchestra of sound with just a few buttons. But not many people have access to them, be it by physical barriers (like not having open access to an organ), or a lack of confidence and know-how from no musical training or experience. I really wanted to share the organ with more people, especially in Merthyr Tudfil where the mechanical organ is at Theatr Soar, so my project stemmed around finding ways of connecting people with any range of musical experience to the organ and what it can do.

My project follows Community Music Wales’ creative model of community music – that creativity is a human right, but not everyone has the support needed to exercise this right. Finding ways to create and facilitate creative outlets that are accessible and engaging for people is vital for wellbeing, and what I wanted to achieve ways of working with through my Sound Generator project.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

Ideas always work very differently in real life to in your head, so having the time to try them out and learn this has been very useful! Creating my own composition tools like key weights (to hold notes down) has been a difficult process, but I now know what sort of shapes work well and how to make them. I’ve also experimented with simple text scores and game-like instructions for how to use these composition tools, and it’s been very valuable testing them out myself and with others to reflect on how they work.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

It’s been wonderful to have extended, unpressured time to work through ideas without the demand to create a final outcome simultaneously. It’s also created the space to equally balance the importance of research and developing with creating, and helped me to understand the role of research in my creative practice as a whole. The mentoring especially has been invaluable to help me achieve this, as well as logistical advice and support from the sound generator team.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

This time has helped me to identify and separate different facets of my practice between making art for ‘arts’ sake’, and my practice in facilitation and engagement and a connector of people and ideas, which has been extremely helpful to my process.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

I really admire my mentors, Claire M Singer and Kathy Hinde for their invaluable advice and ideas, and how they work with communities in their practices. Exploring fluxus scores and games, as well as deep listening practices from Pauline Oliveros as well as been an integral part of the project.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

I’ve been to some great gigs recently - I saw Fiona Monbet perform a new orchestral commission, which was amazing! I’ve been loving her album Maelstrom since, especially her track Cantus Carminis. I heard Brìghde Chaimbeul perform at Hidden Notes festival recently as well, and have been listening to her albums non-stop since!

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

I hope to create more physical composition tools from the natural surroundings in Merthyr and host formalised events to bring different groups to the organ and get people making music! The main aim is to connect people to the organ and sustain relationships with it, from people who currently have no musical outlet, to artists working across different mediums! I would also love to finalise a body of work I have created for this particular organ through a printed score and recording, to mark my time working with this instrument.

We look forward to sharing more details about Heledd C Evans' Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Heledd's Instagram and follow to find out more about her work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of leading figures across contemporary music, chose six early-career artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on social media.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Chizu Anucha.

Chizu Anucha is an audio-visual artist working with music and its relationship to the moving image. Their practice meets at the intersection of music composition, video and site-responsive performance.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

The project – may the townspeople rejoice! huzzah!! – is an audiovisual botanic flower bed of music, ambient sound, video and writing that centres black and indigenous POC perspectives through the lens of spiritual practices, beliefs and rituals.

I’m inviting a group of creative practitioners to explore notions of ancestry, belonging, the collective voice, healing, pleasure and desire in response to a series of prompts.

It was initially inspired by a radio series called Two Way Dreaming. One edition of the series centred a conversation between black practitioners who spoke quite intersectionally and academically about nuanced experiences.

It was soundtracked by a mix of ambient, RnB and experimental music and this format of communicating ideas really resonated with me. Sort of part-podcast, part-music mix. It's so simple and just made a lot of sense.

may the townspeople rejoice! huzzah!!, 2023, collage of video stills.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

I started with a very strong intention to relearn the bass clarinet. It feels good knowing I have access to a woodwind instrument again, because without Sound UK's support I'd never have considered it to be realistic for me.

I've had a bunch of studio visits and mentoring with people I really admire. I've had conversations I never thought I'd have with people and I feel like my eyes have widened so much.

To the sound and music elements of the work, I've introduced video as a natural progression of this language and I'm looking into coding. I'd like to not pigeonhole the project into a film or installation so I'm looking into coding to see how it could maybe exist as a website or experiential archival database.

I'm growing more comfortable in embracing vulnerability in my work. The subject of it is deeply personal and it's sensitive, so there's a lot of trust involved in taking people's responses.

People have been so generous with what they have shared and with their time - so there's a responsibility to honour them with further work that does justice in service to what they have offered to it.

I'm accepting chaos and uncertainty and letting that inform and guide the work as opposed to adhering to rigid milestones I set for myself or for contributors.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

It's meant that I can freely experiment and fail. Normally there's no room for failure and there's a strong expectation to produce a material outcome.

Having this kind of support is huge for me because there's a level of trust that has been granted to just do what I want to do and pursue genuine curiosity. To have that accepted and genuinely valued means a lot.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Just generally in my practice and in my life, I'm much more clear in what I want to do and how I want to go about doing it.

I feel much less uptight and rigid about things, whereas before I felt quite hardened by the art world and the competitive nature of the music industry.

I took it all really seriously and thought of things quite hierarchically. Now I feel warmer and more open to chaos, failure, rejection and these inevitable things I'd try to avoid completely.

It's a feeling I can't unfeel. I feel like I'm seeing something other people saw years ago and I'm quite new to it.

may the townspeople rejoice! huzzah!!, 2023, video still.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

Going back to the feeling of being offered support and time which has given me more headspace and a feeling of trust. I feel softer in the mind and in my body and I hope it's reflected through a way of working which is new for me.

I'm allowing a lot of good habits, routines, departures, stillness and more running and cycling to influence my thinking and energy.

Some video art on Eternal Family TV: a comedy series by Simple Town called Livestock; and part documentary, part experimental fiction, La Roche.

Strong influences are so vast and can't really be pigeonholed. I listen to The Early Bird Show on NTS and the Breakfast Show pretty much everyday.

I'm a massive fan of The Blindboy Podcast, and recently there's been a lot of knowledge sharing surrounding Greek and Irish mythology and how they intersect with simulation theory. Also a lot of Limmy on Twitch too - he helps me do admin.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Some of my favourite music over the last couple of months has been:

- Slauson Malone 1 - Jasper Marsalis is my favourite artist alive today. No question. Multi-disciplinary magic.

- Tara Clerkin Trio - they always soundtrack the nights I'm on tour and I blissfully wander around cities at night.

- KMRU - I saw him at Sonica in Glasgow recently and that was a real highlight of the year.

- Headache - their album with Vegyn is perfect for riding around the city on your bike at night time :) very surreal, dark, funny spoken word over ambient flangey, wobbly beats. Stunning.

- Chanel Beads - they have a song called Ef that I always listen to halfway and restart, then repeat about 2-3 times and then queue again as a treat for later.

- Sessa - they had a really good show with Zakia on NTS which put me onto them and resparked my love of Brazilian guitar music, sort of psychedelic bossa nova. It's really beautiful.

- underscores - simply great for thrashing.

...and then lots of stuff on the radio.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

I'm developing it into a linear video at the moment, just as a way to communicate it in a way that makes the most sense for the elements that make it up.

I'm taking it to a residency in southeast France at the beginning of 2024 for about 8 weeks so I'm interested in how this same methodology will translate in Nice. I'll take a music kit and a couple of miniDVs and just keep making.

I'm interested in archival and anecdotal research of black experiences within the institution I'll work from; social movements documented on video and through sound; and in built environment structures and architectural/landscape design. The way that this work can sit in those contexts is really exciting to me.
___

We look forward to sharing more details about Chizu Anucha's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Chizu's Instagram and follow to find out more about their work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of leading figures across contemporary music, chose six early-career artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on social media.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Marco Woolf.

Malawian-born musician and storyteller Marco Woolf’s work has been described as light, complex, rich and immediate, swarming with micro-details that multiply with each new listen. He creates layered music with a deepened sense of narrative through improvisation and stories.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

Stories play a huge role in the music I make and the way I present it, and I’m always seeking to expand the role that stories play in my work.

Recently, I have been working on a new body of work that explores the theme of how communities heal from collective trauma. For this project I wanted to incorporate dance/movement in my work.

My Sound Generator project is exploring two things; firstly, the different ways that dance can influence my performance and songwriting and secondly, how I can take my music and this new performance out of traditional music venues and into community spaces.

Sara Marques warming up for an exploration session focusing on how movement can influence the texture of the music/sounds we make. Featuring Carmel Smickersgill on acoustic and electronics and Manon McCoy on lever harp.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

Well initially I was hoping to use the time I spent with a dancer to develop new musical ideas but I soon realised that what I wanted to achieve with the live performance needed more attention and after a super inspiring chat with one of my mentors I decided to focus on that.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

This has been so valuable for me, Sound Generator has definitely helped me take my career to the next stage.

Being able to dedicate time to my craft in this focused way alongside the amazing mentorship has done wonders for my confidence moving forward and I’m so excited about the direction this project will take.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

As an independent artist, sometimes it feels like you have to move a million miles per hour to make the most of the opportunities that you get but with Sound Generator I was able to slow down and really think about what I want to achieve with my creative practice and how to best go about that.

Marco, Sara and Tom discuss story shaping.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

Ooh loads, where to start:
- Pina Bausch’s ‘Rites of Spring’ (specifically the Sadler’s Wells and École des Sables performance)
- Francis Bacon’s ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion’
- MF DOOM
- Partita For Eight Voices by Caroline Shaw

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

- The Omnichord Real Book by Meshell Mdegeocello
- We Get What We Get & We Don’t Get Upset by Carmel Smickersgill
- Massive Sunray by Diving Station

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

The next stage is to secure support for an extended tour in 2024. I then hope to use this project to write new music for a new body of work.

Exploration session 1. Finding more ways to inject movement in the music we share.

We look forward to sharing more details about Marco Woolf's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Marco's Instagram and follow to find out more about his work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of leading figures across contemporary music, chose six early-career artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on social media.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Nikki Sheth.

Nikki is an internationally recognised sound artist and composer. Her practice involves field recording, multichannel soundscape composition, multimedia installations, sound mapping and soundwalking. She uses sound as a medium to bring a voice to the environment and encourage a wider awareness of the natural world.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

My project is called 'Immersive Soundscapes for Well-Being' and explores the use of environmental sound as a tool for well-being and fostering a deeper connection between people and the natural world.

I am using 3D sound technology to create an immersive listening experience using field recordings that I have taken on a recent trip to the Azores. I am collaborating with movement artist David Kam, bringing my sounds to his yoga and mindfulness practice in a view to collaborating for public sessions in the future.

I have been commissioned in the past to present binaural listening sessions for well-being by We're All Bats and The Space to Come, so the inspiration came from these sessions where I started to think about how these sounds could work in other well-being contexts.

Nikki Sheth recording underwater sounds in the Azores. Photo by John Lucy.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

My idea has been really well received by everyone I have spoken to about the project. I think it's become a bigger project than I anticipated as I was initially planning to record sounds in the UK but combined this opportunity with a trip to the Azores.

I wanted to explore the way sound could be used in yoga and mindfulness sessions and David Kam has been amazing to talk to about this. We spent a few hours listening to the sounds, discussing ideas about how the sounds could be used in sessions and the types of movements we would imagine with each sound.

We are hoping to turn this into a series of sessions in the future, which would be amazing.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

I have been sitting with this idea for a long time but never had the support to start developing the idea, both financially and in terms of mentoring opportunities, so this means a lot to me.

It's amazing to have the time and space to develop your idea and have Maija (from Sound UK) there to share ideas with, help with any uncertainties and guide me with the project.

I have especially enjoyed the mentoring sessions and getting input, feedback and advice from all of my mentors who helped me to think about the project in new and exciting ways.

Nikki Sheth recording frogs at a pond in the Azores. Photo by Nikki Sheth.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

It's given me the opportunity to try something new, collaborate with other practitioners and forms of well-being practices that I have always thought my work would fit in well with. I'm taking my sounds to new spaces and new audiences which is really exciting. Talking to my mentors has also given me a lot of insight and information on how to move forward with my practice.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

The field recordings I took and my experience in the Azores hugely influenced this project as it is a very natural and wild place with lots of beautiful environmental sounds and landscapes. Also, looking at yoga, meditation, contemporary dance and mindfulness artforms.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

I'd really like to see this turn into a series of sessions that could be presented in many different locations across the year, bringing these wonderful sounds to people who are interested in well-being practices but have never thought of how environmental sound could benefit them.

Nikki Sheth recording in the Azores. Photo by John Lucy.

We look forward to sharing more details about Nikki Sheth's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Nikki's website to find out more about her work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of judges including leading figures across contemporary music, chose six emerging artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on social media.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Gwen Siôn.

Gwen Siôn is an award-winning composer, producer and multidisciplinary artist working with sound, sculpture, video and installation. She creates multi-instrumental, vocal and electronic compositions, and her own hand-built instruments and electronic sound devices by recycling found objects and natural materials. Gwen is interested in the relationship between sound and environment, ecology, mythology, ritual and synaesthetic crossover.

Image: Gwen Sion AKA catHead playing a live electronic music set with her experimental handmade instruments. Photo by Maxine Monaghan.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

My aim is to create an experimental audiovisual project for concert venues that explores connections between music, landscape, tradition and ritual. I want to find ways of combining experimental electronic music, contemporary orchestral composition, choral composition (specifically informed by the North Wales working class tradition of Slate Quarrymen’s choirs) and moving image to create an immersive live performance piece.

The project is called Llwch a Llechi which translates as Dust and Slate. I am researching Celtic folklore motifs, socio-political histories and the important cultural relationship which exists in this area between music (especially quarrymen’s choirs) and landscape, and its deeper roots in Celtic oral tradition but by bringing this into a current space through experimental electronic music and contemporary composition.

I am interested in the juxtaposition of old and new, preserving culture by exploring new ways of expressing it and presenting it to new audiences in spaces where it has not traditionally existed. The quarrymen’s choirs traditionally existed in the workplace, and concert halls of orchestral music have often been spaces harder to access for working class people from rural areas, so I’m interested in connecting these things, especially through experimental electronic music and contemporary composition practices.

The initial inspiration for the project came from my interest in landscape and folklore. My practice is centred around the relationship between sound and environment and finding ways of interpreting landscape in musical terms. I make handmade instruments using found natural materials (including slate) and often use non-traditional composition methods, experimenting with ways of reading the landscape as a score.

Image: One of Gwen's handmade electric slate harps.

I’m really interested in using composition to explore the cultural, ecological and socio-political significance of a particular place. Being a first-language Welsh speaker and having grown up in a post-industrial working class slate quarrying town in North Wales I feel very connected to this landscape of high mountain ranges, rugged coastlines and slate slag heaps and the socio-political and cultural histories which are bound to that environment.

Image: Landscape photograph of North Wales - dry stone wall, mountain.

How has your project developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

My ideas have developed so much since the start of the programme. Having a focussed period of supported Research and Development (R&D) has allowed me to experiment, create and research and as a result I feel like I’ve learnt a huge amount about the choir culture of North Wales quarries and Celtic folk traditions in relation to experimental electronic music.

I’ve been able to explore ways of incorporating orchestral instrumentation into the work and to develop skills in both choral and contemporary orchestral composition and arrangement which are relatively new ways of working for me so it’s been a really enriching time so far and I feel like I’ve learnt a lot.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

This opportunity has meant a great deal to me – it’s given me the time and resources necessary to research and develop my ideas and take tangible steps towards realising my most ambitious project to date, which would simply not be possible without support.

The project involves lots of new ways of working for me, so I really needed an extended period of development time in order to learn new technical skills and extensively research the subject matter.

Having access to Sound UK’s networks and the opportunity to connect with incredible artists who are experts in their fields and to receive targeted mentoring from them to support the project has been both inspiring and transformational for my practice and has meant this project has been able to develop in ways which I couldn’t have imagined initially.

This support has enabled me to develop practical skills in orchestral composition and choral composition which has made realising the project possible. The Sound Generator programme has also given me the opportunity to connect with larger venue partners who will potentially produce the fully realised live project in its final stages, which is really exciting!

Image: Gwen's slate harps.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

This programme has felt like a significant turning point in my career as a composer and has really helped develop both my creative and professional practice. It has enabled me to further develop scoring and notation skills and develop new technical and creative skills in orchestral and choral composition using both software and real players and singers.

I’ve also been able to purchase professional scoring and orchestral software, which I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. Allowing me to explore new ways of working and giving me the opportunity to develop these new skills has opened up a world of creative possibilities.

Sound UK has also given me access to support and resources, which has meant I could think about my work on a much bigger scale. This has been really refreshing as it’s allowed me to be more ambitious with my ideas.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

I haven’t thought about any specific artists as key influences for this project but what I think has really been a huge influence on the project is looking back at the kind of songs these slate quarrying choirs would have been singing when they were first formed and how that connects back to a much older Celtic oral tradition.

I’ve been looking a lot at Welsh folk music and the kind of traditional folk songs these choirs might have sung and also at broader Celtic folk motifs and melodic motifs in Celtic music, which I feel will really inform the project as I’m trying to find ways of exploring ritual and tradition through an experimental contemporary lens.

Image: Quarrymen gather in a 'caban' - a small hut where workers would take their break and gather to sing, recite poetry, make tools, carve designs, debate politics and tell stories, a creative refuge where landscape, craft and music met to provide a moment of sanctuary from the extreme dangers faced as part of daily working life. Photo credit: Meirionnydd Archives, Gwynedd Archives Service 2023.

I want to consider how folk tradition can exist today, how we can celebrate cultural identity and history by bringing it to a contemporary space. How does culture survive and thrive – through modes of translation, by moving with the times, by constantly evolving and through people experimenting with new ways of experiencing it and presenting it to different audiences.

As a composer who works primarily in experimental electronic music, I am really excited about working in a different way for this project, exploring other forms of music and trying to combine elements of traditional Celtic music, choral composition and contemporary orchestral composition with experimental electronic music.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

The new Loraine James album is absolutely amazing, I’ve really been enjoying it so would definitely recommend that.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

The project will premiere at a festival in Cardiff in Autumn 2024. I am so grateful to the festival for their interest in my project idea and faith in me as a composer - having a partner now on board has really helped me see a way of realising the project in its final stages of live performance and has really given me the drive to develop my creative ideas further. My long-term ambition for this project after it premieres next year is for it to hopefully tour concert venues across the UK.

Image: Gwen Sion AKA catHead performing live with her electronic instruments at Ara Deg festival 2023. Photo credit: Beverley Creddock Unit Pictures.

We look forward to sharing more details about Gwen Siôn's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Gwen's website to find out more about her work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of judges including leading figures across contemporary music, chose six emerging artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on social media.

This month we invite audiences to step into the Forest of Dean and explore the inner world of the trees in a new audio-visual experience, The Secret Sounds of Trees.

Last month we caught up with sound artist Jez riley French to learn about his creative process, find out about some of the sounds he has recorded for this installation and how he is working with composer Lau Nau on this soundscape.

This is part 2 of the interview. You can read the first part of the interview here.

How has listening to the forest affected you? Can you describe your experience of listening to the forest?

Listening, if you give it time, can be transformative to ones sense of place, and across the scale; from being immersed in a single sound source, to perceiving more and more of all the sounds around us at any given time, and of course, to aspects that signify less positive change.

At Beechenhurst, and in other forests over the past four or five years, I’ve noticed a quite radical drop in insect activity for example. Of course there is also the now constant sound of flight paths and traffic nearby.

I know such sounds frustrate some listeners, but it is what is there and if, like me, you reject the divide that the word ‘nature’ implies, separating the human species from all others, then those sounds are ‘nature’ sounds also, it’s just that they are made by one species without consideration of any other.

I find thinking about such sounds in that way gives one a sharper sense of our impact. That said, listening to species sounds below the surface, without those human sounds is a remarkable experience, and that is what The Secret Sounds of Trees will allow the audience to do.

How would you like audiences to approach this experience? And what do you hope audiences will take away from this experience?

To get the most from this, or any listening experience, the key really is to give time and space to the listening. That sounds obvious, simple, but as a species we’re generally not that good at listening.

We tend to try to occupy the space we are in, physically and sonically, even if we think we’re being quiet. So find a comfortable position in the area of the forest the event will be taking place in and realise that being there means you are part of the piece also.

The willingness to let all the other sounds have priority for a while will, hopefully, give each person a more meaningful experience, shared with everyone else there and of course, the forest itself. It’s important to remember also that we are encroaching on all the other species, and accepting that can help with the listening, with finding space to listen.

Any tips for audiences on how to listen deeply during the installation?

It does tend to be different for each person, but I think with events such as this, where we’re not on our own, the key is to be aware of your individual role in the collective quietness that will enhance the experience. Allow time for the sounds to take us beyond our usual, short attention spans.

Deep, or active listening, at its core is really about allowing the place or situation to guide the process. You have to give up control in a way. At least give up the idea that you know what a forest sounds like in this instance.

For this specific location we are providing straw bales to help the experience. Not many of use can stay totally still whilst standing for more than a few minutes.

How does being at Beechenhurst make you feel?

I tend to think, as I’ve already alluded to, that how we feel about a specific place takes time, and it should take time. I hadn’t visited this part of the forest before this project so I’m still processing my impressions, but, given that I was there specifically to listen, it did take me a couple of days to find my feet so to speak.

I think that’s one of the positive things about accessible spaces like Beechenhurst; you can go for a few hours or a day, but you can also keep returning and the closer you look, and listen, the more there is. Personally, if I keep returning to a place I have to allow it to influence my reason for doing so. Not to return with expectations, but with an understanding that I, we, have to do something more than use environments for our pleasure.

I spent some time around the borders of Beechenhurt also, thinking about the tension there is for any artist working in such places. We bring ourselves, our equipment and, hopefully, more people to them at times, but with work such as The Secret Sounds of Trees there is an important element of allowing audiences in to the sensory world of other species that isn’t normally accessible, so there is the artistic value but also a wider purpose that links to environmental knowledge and respect.

The Secret Sounds of Trees is a new audio-visual installation taking place at Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean from Friday 22 - Sunday 24 September. To find out more and to book tickets, visit the event page here.

Would you like to get more involved in supporting our event, The Secret Sounds of Trees? We are looking for volunteers to help with stewarding.

Roles will include stewarding the car park, checking tickets, stewarding the installation space and collecting audience surveys.

You will need to be available from 6.30pm-10pm on one or more of the evenings.

A travel allowance will be provided and as part of your stewarding role you will get to experience the installation.

Steward roles are available on a first come, first served basis.

Please complete the form here as soon as possible if you are interested and Chloe will be in touch.

In September 2023 we invite audiences to step into the Forest of Dean and explore the inner world of the trees in a new audio-visual experience, The Secret Sounds of Trees.

This month we caught up with sound artist Jez riley French to learn about his creative process, find out about some of the sounds he has recorded for this installation and how he is working with composer Lau Nau on this soundscape.

Can you tell us about your creative process for this new soundscape and your time capturing sounds at Beechenhurst?

My practice involves working with what I tend to refer to as sound outside of our attention and a key part of this is developing specialist microphones and techniques for listening in different ways, for example to the internal sounds of plants.

My interest is in the listening itself, and how accessing these sounds allows us to re-think the narratives around our perception of place.

When I’m able to spend some time in a specific location, such as at Beechenhurst, I’m not interested in ‘sound collecting’ as a flat, technical process. Instead I spend the time engrossed in the listening itself, including through the microphones I build, and every now and then, if it feels right, I’ll press record.

I think you have to be happy to let sounds go, to not always try to document them as it can, if that is the only motivation, interrupt the listening. It’s perhaps subtle, but for me that is how I keep a creative connection to the act of listening. It’s an intuitive process, guided of course by research and creative impulses, but the personal, moment to moment experience is what has allowed me to question standard ways of both listening and recording, and in so doing, extend the practice.

For Feathered Pink Botanic, the sound piece that is part of The Secret Sound of Trees, I focused on the internal sounds of trees, moss, ferns and in soil horizons beneath the forest floor.

The material itself then takes time to reflect on, re-listen to and start to gain a sense of how a piece might form from it.

When I do record something it tends to be a durational process, often spending several hours listening to a single sound or a wider location as it evolves. So listening back can also take a long time. It’s a gradual process; some days you have to step back, wait, and come back to a recording with fresh ears, find new ways for it to work in a piece.

As the installation for Beechenhurst is multi-channel, involving spatialisation, it’s only completed when we’re back there, working with speaker placement and the environment itself of course.

How have you collaborated with Lau Nau to create this soundscape?

I’ve known Laura (Lau Nau) for many years now and one thing that I find interesting about her work is that it uses melodic material in ways that pull you in to the music with apparent ease but without compromising its strength.

As with any collaboration there’s an important element of trust involved of course, and I think that’s been there since the first time we worked together. This means we can each connect to the material being shared with more of the ‘space’ that is needed.

Laura is based in Finland so we’ve been sending each other recordings and talking through ways to maintain the central point of the piece, which is to reveal the forest in a way that invites as wide an audience as possible to listen differently, connecting in new ways to the other species around them.

Can you tell us about some of the sounds of nature that we will hear within your new soundscape?

Describing the sounds in the piece is difficult, partly because many of them have not been recorded before.

The wider research is still catching up with these forms of listening and recording, and, to be honest, it’s not always clear what process is making the sounds. The cellular processes as plants draw in nutrients, or the microscopic signals in mycorrhizal / mycelium networks are all part of the work.

I think we’re also at a point now where we need to think carefully about how the language we use when talking about non-human life carries with it a degree of imposition, often unintentional but with some weight. That might seem overly senstive to some, but considering these questions is part of the responsibility we have when, in effect, we are using the sounds of other species as creative material.

What I can say though is that audiences will hear root systems taking in moisture, bark crackling as sap rises, the intricate sound of water storage in the moss blanketing the forest floor, insect activity and other vibrations in soil horizons (different layers of soil).

Is there a sound you captured that has really surprised you?

I’m always surprised, which is why I’m still finding new ways to listen, still fascinated.

Sometimes I might have a basic idea of the possible sounds from specific sources. For example the resonance of a building vibrating in its locale, or the root systems of plants early in the morning, but the point really is that these sounds never repeat and every inch of every environment is different, if you listen at the micro-level, even to vast landscapes.

The myriad combinations of sounds are always new, always evolving, so I’m constantly surprised. Constantly realising how much we can get from listening, and how much we still have to learn about what we hear, and how we translate the experiences.

Part two of our interview with Jez riley French will be published on our website in early September. Sign up to our mailing list here to be the first to know.

The Secret Sounds of Trees is a new audio-visual installation taking place at Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean from Friday 22 - Sunday 24 September. To find out more and to book tickets, visit the event page here.

We are delighted to announce a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support our forthcoming project in the Forest of Dean, The Secret Sounds of Trees.

The Secret Sounds of Trees is a new audio-visual experience that invites audiences into the forest to explore the inner world of the trees at Beechenhurst, Forest of Dean. An atmospheric soundscape, feathered, pink botanic, by acclaimed artists Jez riley French and Lau Nau will immerse audiences in a hidden world, revealing microscopic vibrations and sounds inaudible to the human ear.

Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund will enable us to deliver activities that help a wider range of local people reap the positive benefits of their local national heritage. This includes local young people at risk and with long term health conditions, adults with learning difficulties and those suffering from dementia.

We are working in partnership with local organisations Cinderford Artspace and Wilde Earth Journeys to provide these opportunities to engage with the installation and to connect with nature at Beechenhurst. We look forward to sharing full details in the coming weeks.

Alongside this grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Secret Sounds of Trees is also gratefully funded by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.

The Secret Sounds of Trees is a free, timed entry installation from twilight through the evening.

To find out more about the project, visit www.sounduk.net/trees

We are pleased to announce this year’s artists for Sound Generator, our artist development programme for ambitious new projects.

Following an open call, a panel of leading figures from across contemporary music, chose six early career artists working at the forefront of music and sound.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the next six months, they will each be mentored by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

Their projects range from a site specific sound installation in Merthyr Tydfil to a project using field recording and 3D sound to explore the psychological effects of environmental sound in well-being spaces.

From an audio visual installation that centres black and POC perspectives and experiences in spirituality to an orchestral project fostering connections between Celtic folk motifs, working class culture, experimental electronic music and composition.

The aim? Exciting new work for audiences to discover in the future.

MEET THE SOUND GENERATOR 2023 ARTISTS:

Chizu Anucha
Heledd C Evans
Caitlin LM
Nikki Sheth
Gwen Siôn
Marco Woolf

Head over to our Sound Generator 2023 page to learn more about each artist and find out about their projects.

Sound Generator is funded by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation. Sound UK is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL.

For Issue No.6 of its magazine, The Modern House commissioned Tom Bradbury, a promising young composer, to write a piece of music informed by an important journey of his own.

The resulting composition, ‘Snowdon’, is inspired by a hike up Wales’ tallest mountain, taken by Tom shortly after the first Covid lockdown had lifted, with his father and brother. Wanting to convey the sense of freedom he felt on this journey, unbound from months at home and surrounded by wide open skies and the whirling wind, he has created a piece of ambient music that captures those soaring feelings in strings, synth and recorded sound – and the results are extraordinary.

Listen now

Sonic Journeys is a series of soundtracks to specific journeys conceived and produced by Sound UK. The series has commissioned artists to create new works in response to journeys that inspire them. We also encourage online submissions by members of the public in 'Your Sonic Journeys'. Find out more: https://www.sonicjourneys.co.uk/journeys/#your

Hack-Poets Guild is a new collaboration between three of the UK’s most innovative and prestigious folk artists, Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann.

The artists release their debut album Blackletter Garland on Friday 10 March, followed by a live tour from 17-26 March.

The album is inspired by historic broadsides – daily song sheets sold for pence from the 16th to 20th centuries. The artists spent time at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, delving into the inky archives for inspiration.

The project brings historic broadsides vividly to life and offers a rare insight into Britain’s history.

Here we introduce you to some of the themes from the broadsides, which feature in the tracks on the album and that you’ll hear the artists sing on tour.

We filmed a fascinating discussion between musician Lisa Knapp and historian Steve Roud at the Bodleian Printing Workshop.

Discover more about Broadside Ballads ‘Cruel Mother’, ‘The Troubles of This World’, ‘Birds of Harmony’ and Daring Highwayman’, the songs that Lisa Knapp leads on the album. Click on the link below to watch this film on YouTube:

Watch film

Rare Receipts – led by Nathaniel Mann

Here the word “Receipts” means a recipe - so we have a recipe in the form of a song.

The original ballad lists ingredients which would be impossible to procure; Smoked Phoenix Eyes, Honey Squeezed from an Oak, Amber distilled from the air, which once combined create an elixier which would free the drinker from the gallows, and certain death.

Nathaniel says about his inspiration for this version:

“For Blackletter Garland I’ve re-written it, with a touch of inspirations from Puck’s Mid-Summer Night eyedrops; now we have a recipe for an impossible love potion. Which will cause whoever drinks it to “lay their heart” upon you. I love the idea of recipe songs - songs which would actually serve for caring recipes for baking or cooking…there aren’t many I know of…so this is a step towards that.”

Marry’s choices are a mixture of intriguing, humanist and dark stories. They are all set to tunes that Marry has composed.

Laying the Ghost – Marry Waterson

This song is fashioned from several accounts collected by Percy Manning in Stray Notes on Oxfordshire Folklore. 1913-14.

Marry says of the song:

“I love to know the origin of common phrases, often their meaning is lost throughout the years. These tales tell of people who were wronged in some way and upon dying, they walk again, haunting the community. It was said the spirits could be 'read down' till they were small, put into a box and laid to rest in a body of water, but if the water ever dried up, they would rise again.”

Ten Tongues – led by Marry Waterson

This song is about a man who was tried and hung on a jibbet on 2 March, 1785, for robbing and attempting to murder.

It is said that when the flesh dropped from his bones with constant exposure to the weather, the top of the skull fell in, and some birds built their nests in it and hatched out eight young ones. The following rhyme was made about this: Ten tongues in one head, One went out to seek for bread, To feed the living in the dead.

Marry says about the song:

"I was so fascinated to find this story - it inspired the song 'Ten Tongues'. New life springs from a dark death...I found this story at the Bodleian Libraries in 'Stray Notes on Oxfordshire Folklore'."

Hack-Poets Guild

You can watch the music videos from the forthcoming album on our tour event page and see all the March 2023 live tour dates at the link below.

TOUR DATES

For further reading about Broadsides, visit the Traditional Song Forum website.

Hack-Poets Guild is a new collaboration between three of the UK’s most innovative and prestigious folk artists, Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann, inspired by broadside ballads.

The artists release their debut album Blackletter Garland on Friday 10 March, followed by a live tour from 17-26 March. Here we introduce you to a broadside and explain how they were used from the 16th - 20th centuries.

What is a broadside?

A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations: a cheap format because there is no need for folding, collating, or binding.

When and how were they used?

Arguably the forerunners of our modern news media, from the 16th to 20th centuries the broadside was used for a variety of purposes: news of strange events, the texts of royal proclamations, and notices of auctions or trials and executions, among other things.

The most well-known use of the format, though, was for ballads. A ballad is a song that tells a story, usually in the form of short four-line verses. They were composed on a range of subjects from love affairs to murder and other extraordinary or historical happenings, often accompanied by woodcut illustrations.

Broadside ballads were displayed and sung daily in Britain's streets and inns. Although part of living traditions of folksong, popular art and literature, these illustrated printed sheets are now rare and preserved in only a few libraries.

Broadsides offer a vivid insight into Britain's muscial and political past whilst striking a chord with universal themes still relevant today. Songs about love, loneliness and kindness are interwoven with intriguing, humanist and dark stories.

Digital collections and catalogues have improved access to these fragile survivors of popular culture in print. The Bodleian Libraries holds nearly 30,000 broadside ballads, many of them unique survivals, printed from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

Digital facsimiles and an online database were first made accessible in 1999. In 2013, the Libraries launched Broadside Ballads Online, which is a digital collection of the Bodleian’s broadside ballads together with links to digital collections at other libraries and institutions. You can explore the collection here: ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Hack-Poets Guild

The artists spent time at the Bodleian Libraries, researching, talking with experts, and handling the Broadside Collection.

Inspired by these historic broadsides, Hack-Poets Guild have rejuvenated and reinvented these stories. Delving into the inky archives at the Bodleian Libraries and beyond, Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann lead a five-piece band bringing broadsides vividly to life for a new generation and offering a rare insight into Britain’s history.

Fascinating interpretations and original compositions tell intricate tales of birth, love, conflict and death, with all the imagination of the folklore from which they’re based.

You can watch the first two music videos from the forthcoming album on our tour event page and see all the March 2023 live tour dates at the link below.

Tour dates

For further reading about Broadsides, visit the Traditional Song Forum website.

Thank you to our brilliant audiences, artists, partners & funders, for all your support this year.

In 2022 we produced a wide variety of new projects, bringing together music creators and the public to experience new music. We reached over 31,000 live and digital audiences.

Here we look back at some of our project highlights from 2022.

In February we produced a 6-date tour with singer Keeley Forsyth, marking the release of her second album, Limbs.

Following this tour, we commissioned Bog Body, a new piece by Keeley Forsyth and Ross Downes, which premiered at PRS Foundation and Southbank Centre’s New Music Biennial Festival in April 2022.

Our nationwide project A Song for Us concluded with 3 new county songs performed live and released as films online in March 2022.

These beautiful songs full of love, hope and community feature hundreds of young people performing in amateur choirs and groups.

In total across the project, we worked with 18 partners and produced 14 new county songs, working with 17 composers, 27 youth, school and adult choirs, and 680 performers.

We delivered 61 workshops to 405 participants, helping and inspiring young people to write their own songs.

“The song articulated so much that we experienced during the pandemic - being part of this project has been both cathartic and deeply moving.” - Choir member

Watch Just Breathe, A Song for Wales, which premiered on St David’s Day at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, featuring Only Boys Aloud here.

In June we released two new self-guided audio trails for Reading’s High Street Heritage Action Zone, commissioned by Reading Borough Council and created by local artists Aundre Goddard, Fiona Talkington and Richard Bentley.

The audio trails take listeners on a journey of discovery, celebrating Reading’s heritage and revealing hidden histories. You can find out more about them here.

Between May - October, we produced and toured Arun Ghosh’s The Canticle of the Sun to beautiful church settings around the country.

“I feel reborn after listening to this gorgeous jazz rendition in a 1000 year old venue.” Audience member after Arun Ghosh’s The Canticle of the Sun.

Read more about the tour here and watch a short film about the project here.

In July we produced the debut tour of Sankofa, an immersive sound and visual experience from DJ and Turntablist NikNak.

NikNak was one of our 2021 Sound Generator artists and the Sankofa project developed out of this R&D programme.

You can watch a short video of NikNak discussing Sound Generator and Sankofa here.

Looking forward to more live dates in the New Year at Kings Place (22 Jan), Cambridge Junction (28 Jan) & Beast in Birmingham (4 Feb).

This autumn we toured Arcadia Live with a specially curated 9-piece band, bringing Paul Wright’s captivating film and Adrian Utley and Will Gregory’s critically acclaimed soundtrack to life.

“Certainly one of the greatest and most beautiful live cinematic experiences I've ever seen.” Jason Solomons, Film Critic

More live dates are coming up in March 2023 at Howard Assembly Room Leeds (3 March) and London's Barbican Centre (4 March). You can find out more here.

In year 2 of our artist development programme, Sound Generator, we supported another 6 early-career artists to research and develop bold new ideas with support from industry mentors.

“This opportunity has been so significant in pushing me forward as an artist; to have the funding to allow creative room in realising something so ambitious is a valuable thing.” Piera Onacko, Sound Generator artist 2022

And that's our 2022 highlights in review. To see a full list of projects past and present, including upcoming projects in 2023, visit our events section.

We look forward to sharing more inspiring new music with you in 2023.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2022 programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Piera Onacko.

Piera is a pianist, synth player and composer with deep roots in jazz practices and an interest in improvisation through live electronics. Her newest outfit, un.procedure, release their debut album on 14 October 2022.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

The initial idea took root after I was given hours of footage from my dad of our family in rural Ukraine during the 90s. An important piece of family history, yet not something I had directly experienced myself, it led to conversations about how memory and history can manifest in different ways beyond the objectivity of lived experience.

After integrating this footage into my live set, it became a possibility that this idea could extend to an installation setting, with audience engagement at its heart.

Each iteration of the installation will consist of a callout for home footage, driven by the local community. The footage is then used in a series of aural and visual collages, with music developed by my band un.procedure.

The audio will be catalogued as a kind of library, each strand of music relating to an emotive part of the footage. I’m currently researching how the installation will look from a design perspective, as well as function practically, with a core in-house team.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

The idea has pushed forward significantly over the course of the last few months. Researching spatial audio and receiving mentoring in this has been eye opening in particular!

It has also been useful to have the time and resources to see some other audiovisual installations and gain insight into the practicalities in setting up and running an installation, as well as effective costing.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

This opportunity has been so significant in pushing me forward as an artist; to have the funding to allow creative room in realising something so ambitious is a valuable thing.

The team at Sound UK have facilitated really useful mentoring opportunities and advice sessions for all the artists.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Absolutely. My boundaries were firmly set at ‘musician’ until now. It has been a great experience bringing to life a project not confined by my own set ideas of my practice.

Working with so many talented people across all areas of the arts is also inspiring for setting a new standard for yourself.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

I’m a big fan of early experimental electronic musicians. There’s something really special about the dark, slightly eerie nature of those early recordings.

I love the sounds of the Radiophonic Workshop and krautrock bands of the 70s, especially.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

I just checked out the new Szun Waves album, Earth Patterns. Any music by James Holden is especially beautiful.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

I have also received funding from Jerwood Arts to debut this project in 2023 – so that’s where my sights are set currently! I would really love to think about touring the work once we’ve premiered it.

We look forward to sharing more details about Piera Onacko's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Piera's website to find out more about her work.

You can listen, download and buy un.procedure's new album here: https://unprocedure.bandcamp.com/releases

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist development programme for bold creative ideas. Following an open call, a panel of judges including leading figures across contemporary music, chose six emerging artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We are seeking two new trustees to join our board.

Would you like to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of one of the UK’s most creative new music producers?

It's an exciting time to join Sound UK’s friendly and inspiring board as we enter an ambitious new phase to deliver our vision:

To be the UK’s leading producer of new music, bringing artists and the public together to experience extraordinary musical encounters.

For this recruitment round we are looking for two Trustees who can bring insights from a broad range of experience and backgrounds. Especially if you have knowledge of one of the following:

• Fundraising

• Creative digital projects / technology

• Community or youth work

We want to hear from you whether this would be a first Trustee role, or you already have experience. We value fresh perspectives and new ideas as well as experience.

For more detailed information, download our Trustee Recruitment Pack here.

Sound UK wants to ensure a diverse Board so that our artists and audiences benefit from diversity of knowledge, skills, experience and background. We are particularly looking to recruit people of colour, who are LGBTQIA+, disabled, under 30 and/or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

You don’t have to have been a Trustee before to apply. If you have the skills, knowledge and experience we need, we will support you through training and mentorship if needed. We know it can be daunting joining a board on your own, even a friendly one like ours, so that’s why we’re currently recruiting two new Trustee roles.

If you’d like to have an informal chat, we’d be delighted to talk to you. Email maija@sounduk.net.

How to apply

To apply please submit one of the following formats to maija@sounduk.net putting Trustee Application in the subject line.

A written CV and a short explanation of what you would bring to the Board and how you match the role description.

A video file sent via WeTransfer or YouTube / Vimeo with a short explanation of what you would bring to the Board and how you match the role description.

An audio sound file with a short explanation of what you would bring to the Board and how you match the role description.

If there is anything we can do to make the recruitment process more accessible or inclusive for you, please contact maija@sounduk.net.

Deadline for expressions of interest: 17 November 2022.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2022 programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Loula Yorke.

Loula Yorke is a composer, sound artist and improviser with a specialism in modular synthesis. As a composer, Loula uses electronics and participation to create sonic artworks. Releasing work since 2019 that dances in the spaces where the personal meets the political, she’s been described by Electronic Sound magazine as a ‘DIY noisenik champion’ and recognised with a special commendation by the 2020 Oram Awards.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

My aim is to create a project that engages mothers and daughters in a collaborative sonic activity.

A series of workshops will form the basis of the creation of a new work for spatialised sound and lasers on the theme of mothering and daughtering – about care, separation, projection, love, expectations, and probably a tussle over the narrative!?

My inspiration comes from my own experiences of mothering and daughtering, and builds on my work of 2020 'Atari Punk Girls' where I led a group of teenagers in synth-building and then threw them their first rave!

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

Yes! The project now incorporates lasers, which I'm learning to programme myself.

At first I was more thinking about the sonic aspect and workshop activity ideas, but I've been really encouraged by the project to think bigger and be more ambitious, so now the visual aspect I want to create out of the material has come to the fore.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

It's allowed me to see if I can take it from a thought bubble into something solid, which has meant a lot. I've been thinking about this for years.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Yes! I'd never tried to programme lasers before (I'm only just beginning in that endeavour though to be fair!).

I've used mentoring time to talk to Leon Trimble at Chromatouch about lasers and noise, and as well as thinking through the design of a 'synth ensemble' box with audio electronics specialist Dr Tom Richards (so lots of people can play my noise synths at once in sync).

I also had the incredible opportunity to go into the Dome Room at the music school at the University of Birmingham, and be set up on their 3rd order ambisonic sound system to play live with my modular set-up. I'd only ever heard my stuff in mono or stereo before.

It was so special to have those days in that space, with such a high level of support from Head of Music, Dr Annie Mahtani.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

The chaotic circuits of the late Rob Hordijk, 90s raves, lissajous figures, Teleplasmiste, and as ever the freedom of live art and noise!

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Um I mean I've got a new album out, 'Florescence' that I've been listening to constantly for about 2 months while it's been finalised haha – but also I just came across Tyshawn & King, Tyshawn Storey and King Britt's improv collab that I'm loving, Colleen's The Tunnel and the Clearing, Aura by Hatis Noit - erm I could go on!

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

I'd love to get a residency in a big space that can accommodate my technical requirements so I can develop the audio-visual side properly, and I'd love to get the 'synth ensemble' machine made and useable for workshops.

We look forward to sharing more details about Loula Yorke's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Loula's website to find out more about her work.

You can listen, download and buy Loula's new album, Florescence, here: https://loulayorke.bandcamp.com/

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist development programme for bold creative ideas. Following an open call, a panel of judges including leading figures across contemporary music, chose six emerging artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Photo credits: Jeff Scott, Ross Harrison and Sofi Nowell.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2022 programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Jasmine Kahlia.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

Serenading the Hood came from an idea I got whilst cycling with my bluetooth speaker around London - exploring the connection between space, silence and sound.

I love hearing different genres bounce off of the walls - brickwalls, tunnels, stairwells, squares. I also found a connection with passers by that liked or interacted with the music I played in different ways.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

My idea has become more refined and I've learnt loads about taking the steps to create a larger project, using my networks for mentoring, giving space for inquisitive questions and challenging my artistry.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

It has given me a moment to be more intentional with my work, and also allowed me to take a break from being so prolific, in order to have a more strategic view of where I want my art to go.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

As a multidisciplinary artist, I am often balancing many commitments, and this has given me a new structure for larger and more thoroughly planned work.

I've also taken time to rehearse and explore simple sounds and experiment with both amplified and acoustic sound.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

I take influence from myself mostly, and I am interested in architecture and residential design.

Coming from Tottenham, I take time to people watch and respond to the environment and people's cultures and music tastes.

I also enjoy the elements of street parties and music in public spaces, which you often come across in North London.

Photo credits: Justin Jamgbadi.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

I hope that I can create this installation - this body of work needs to be made.

I want to document the real-time history of Tottenham (what is happening in the last year to 10 years here) and how we connect to each other through music, through silence, through body language, through memories and through what it means to claim or not claim living in the hood.

We look forward to sharing more details about Jasmine's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Jasmine Kahlia's website to find out more about their work.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist development programme for bold creative ideas. Following an open call, a panel of judges including leading figures across contemporary music, chose six emerging artists working at the forefront of sound and music.

Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.

To be the first to hear about our latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2022 programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Daphnellc Lavender and Ambra.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

Exploring Tarot Through Sound transforms the Major Arcana tarot cards into fresh and unique soundtracks that support our collective self-care practices. With this project we want to collaborate with the queer community to offer a new way for folks to interact with tarot. By experiencing it through sound and various interactive mediums, people can deepen and personalise the meaning of each tarot card and create supportive insights for their self-reflection and self-growth.

It’s not solely music that we wish to create, but also to explore frequency, colour, mood, field recordings and loops. It’s similar to writing a soundtrack in a way; exploring the interpretation of the cards, producing sounds that are accessible and meaningful, that can reveal new things through multiple listens and in different environments.

Our inspiration came from our interests and passions; music, art, sound art and tarot. Meeting Ambra through tarot made Daphnellc want to start with the interpretation of tarot into sound, and vice versa.

A photo of The Magician from different tarot decks. From left to right: Smith-Rider Deck; Mystic Mondays deck; The Modern Witch deck; The Cosmic Slumber Deck.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

Sound Generator has really helped us to crystallise and clarify our vision. A mix of exciting creative ideas are now taking specific shapes and forms. It is enabling us to make our project more tangible and something we can present to venues and potential collaborators.

We are also learning new ways of making installations and sound more interactive. We’ve learned to communicate how tarot and sound excite us, and how we wish to explore developing our energies together.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

The opportunity to be part of Sound Generator means a lot to us. It’s an opportunity to further connect and invest time and energy on the project, as well as finding a community of people who are experimenting with music like us.

The support and guidance we receive keeps us motivated and makes us feel that bringing this project to life is not only possible, but even more exciting than we could have imagined.

Photo of the Full Moon July 2022 - I've observed the full moons more this year than ever before, since meeting Ambra. February's and July's held the most power for me.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Definitely. We’ve both learned some technicalities, including field recording, writing music to a guide and we’re in the process of learning how to create DIY sound tools for audience participation.

Daphnellc: As a music producer, I have learnt to work alongside Ambra, creating music and sound with someone who isn’t a musician; this was a main motivator and is key to expansion and diversification, and something I wish to grow.

Thinking about a potentially more diverse audience from typical gig scenarios has developed ways of thinking about sound in different spaces, for different times of day, for example, and that has led to approaching sound creation from a full 360 view, considering other senses, sound sensitivity, and accessibility too. We’ve learned more about sound editing, image and video making as well.

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

Daphnellc: That’s a difficult question to answer succinctly, as I am inspired and influenced by so much. Perhaps wanting to create and explore slower sounds, not necessarily in tempo, but also sound that gives ourselves time to feel, to absorb and to nurture healing. I paint a lot and seek out visual stimulation that is mysterious, ethereal at times, maybe abstract and therefore open to interpretation.

I am also fascinated with sound in films. I particularly love French New Wave films where there is very little music, but rather sounds of real life. Even cars don’t bother me in these recordings but I hate the sound of them around me! I studied a captivating interview with Céline Sciamma about sound design in her films (read it here); she talks of subwoofers ‘aiming at the stomach’ and so on. There’s a parallel in the films of Chantal Akerman: ‘Akerman brings such attention to bear on the soundtrack - carefully selected, choreographed, and precisely mixed sounds modulated to certain ends - that her technique has the effect of lifting the soundtrack away from the images and inserting a space between them’ (Quote from this Film Quarterly article). I want to explore these ideas in my sound creation.

I also listen to a lot of field recordings and have also developed a fascination for birdsong and miniscule sounds lately.

Photo of Refracted Sunlight - Our project explores spaces & sounds between.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Daphnellc: I had a flurry of music creation all summer, so I've been absorbed in that. I returned to old favourite hip hop mixtapes (DJ Anti Crisis on Social Harmony Bandcamp and Rap Shit by L.A. Club Resource) and went to Supernormal Festival where highlights were MC Yallah and all the performers in the Queef Qult area.

I'd recommend exploring experimental / independent / queer music via platforms like Bandcamp where artists are paid for their work.

Ambra: I've been reconnecting with some Italian music (like Giuni Russo), and relaxing to SZA and Kali Uchis.

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

We hope to soon have our first live event as part of an installation in a queer space.

We hope to meet people who are into tarot and to explore it with them through sound and image. We want to continue to support ourselves and others with our creativity.

Temperance - a watercolour painting created to the rhythm of our Temperance soundtrack.

We look forward to sharing more details about Daphnellc and Ambra's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Daphnellc's Bandcamp page to find out more about their work.

To be the first to hear about tour latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2022 programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Andrew Woodhead.

Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?

My project is called I Sing of a Place That is Dear to My Heart - it’s about my roots in South Yorkshire and things that remind me of home, starting with ideas of landscape and zeroing in on dry stone walling in particular as a source of inspiration for creating music.

My goal is to combine this with the a cappella folk singing and pit band traditions of the Pennines as well as my own practice, which blends jazz/free improv, contemporary composition and electronic music techniques.

How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?

It’s definitely evolved from my original vision quite radically - from initial thoughts of creating a speaker installation in a stone structure. I’m now on the road to looking at etching into the stone itself as a way of creating scores and musical instructions which are built into a stone structure that lives permanently on the land.

I’m taking a stone carving course next week and am also enrolled at Birmingham maker space STEAMhouse to test laser cutting and water jet cutting on various samples of gritstone, limestone and slate that I’ve taken from my home town.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

Having the time and space to test ideas, to feel safe enough for things to fail, completely change your mind and go back to the drawing board is something I’ve rarely had the opportunity to do before in my career - it’s incredibly liberating as an artist.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Most definitely, it’s pushed me well outside of my comfort zone and the amazing mentors I’ve spoken to have really prompted me to re-examine how my music can be presented.

It’s definitely a big step forwards for me. Plus, thanks to my DSWA beginners course I can now officially repair a gap in a dry stone wall...!

Who are your key artistic influences for this project?

I would definitely point to the Stanza Stones project by Simon Armitage/Tom Lonsdale/Pip Hall as a reference point, it’s a beautifully executed piece of public art which resonates very strongly with the inspirations behind my own project.

I’ve been diving into ideas of journeys, walking and landscape forming the inspiration for song and music in the folk world, particularly discovering the wonderful Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell and great vocalist/guitarist Bella Hardy via the Folk On Foot podcast has been great.

Marsden Jazz Festival’s Chronotope series recorded over lockdown was another touchstone for this project, particularly Tom Challenger’s pieces for the project and the duo of Matthew Bourne and Keeley Forsyth, all responding to the landscape.

Nate Wooley is also a big influence on me, the laser focus of his compositional practice and his commitment to process are always in my mind somewhere when I’m creating projects of my own.

The distilled elegance of Kathy Hinde’s work has stayed with me since discovering her earlier this year. Amazing stuff.

I’ve been lucky enough to be mentored by some of the artists that inspire me too in the forms of Rie Nakajima, Jim Finer and Matthew Olden, all of whose work resonates in different ways with what I’m trying to do on this project.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Blue Ruth’s tape release Mausoleum from last year is astonishingly good and has been on repeat a few times recently.

Ruth Goller’s Skylla record is also absolutely stunning.

On Anton Hunter’s recommendation I’ve been listening to Mavis Staples’ If All I Was Was Black - a beautiful album.

Fellow Sound Generator artist (and fellow Birmingham resident) Piera Onacko’s new EP with her band Un/Procedure isn’t out yet at the time of writing but I’ve been blown away by both of the live shows I’ve seen them do and I imagine the EP will be no different.

I know it’s not technically music but…Ben Sharrock’s film Limbo which came out last year is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in ages and has been resonating in my head ever since I saw it. It also features amazing improvisers Sue Lynch, Adrian Northover, Hannah Marshall and John Edwards on the soundtrack, which I didn’t realise until the credits rolled!

What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month programme?

I really hope it can become a reality in the not-too-distant future! Working through these ideas has been such an inspiring process, I’d love to find the right partners to take it forward from here.

We look forward to sharing more information on Andrew's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Andrew Woodhead's website to find out more about his work. 

To be the first to hear about tour latest projects, news and read our latest artist interviews, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Here, at Sound UK, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact.

Through our Environmental Action Plan, we are continually monitoring our operations and looking at ways to reduce the environmental impact of our work, including touring projects.

Travel is typically the largest source of emissions from live events.

With each tour, we research and aim to use tour vehicles that are as environmentally friendly as possible.

With our latest project, NikNak’s Sankofa, we achieved a new milestone – through train travel it was our first live tour travelling between tour dates completely via public transport.

Unfortunately, touring by public transport is not always logistically possible.

Where carbon emissions are currently unavoidable (including with public transport), we have signed up to work with the charity ecolibrium to tackle these impacts.

With ecolibrium, we’re recording our travel miles and the associated carbon emissions, reducing these emissions wherever possible, and then donating to balance these emissions through ecolibrium’s climate solutions programme:

Energy Revolution, through which 100% of our carbon-balancing donations are invested into projects that create clean renewable energy.

And Trees+, which offsets carbon emissions through Verified Carbon Standards projects, to protect areas of threatened rainforest from deforestation and to work with communities in parts of the world most at risk from climate change to enable social & environmental regeneration through tree planting, sustainable farming, forestry protection and local governance.

In 2021-22, we recorded all travel miles from staff and our touring projects and we donated £1,299.20 to the Energy Revolution – investing in projects that create clean renewable energy and £389.51 to Trees+.

About ecolibrium

ecolibrium is a live events industry response to the climate crisis – a community of events, festivals, suppliers, artists and music companies taking action to reduce travel impacts and invest in climate solutions. Since 2015, ecolibrium has worked with over 100 festivals, events, artists and music companies to balance the carbon emissions from over 19 million travel miles.

They provide resources, tools, advice and inspiration to reduce travel emissions and invest in climate solutions – supporting ecosystem protection, regeneration and clean energy generation.

Visit ecolibrium’s website to find out more: www.ecolibrium.earth

One of DJ Mag’s ‘Ones to Watch 2022’, award-winning DJ and Turntablist NikNak presents Sankofa live on tour from 12-18 July 2022, an immersive sound and visual experience exploring the narrative of a young Black woman, Afrofuturism and her comic book heroes.

NikNak is devoted to developing her practice as a DJ and Turntablist, sound artist/composer, producer, tutor, sound engineer and radio presenter. She was the first black Turntablist to win the Oram Awards in 2020.

We caught up with NikNak for a short interview ahead of the tour to find out more about Sankofa and what audiences can expect to hear and see in the show.

We are excited to be producing your first solo tour. How are you feeling about it all?

Very excited! This is a new aspect of my career I never expected, let alone something so ambitious. Thank you so much for supporting me as well, I wholeheartedly appreciate it!

Tell us more about the inspiration for Sankofa?

I’m a big nerd and so Sankofa is very much an exploration of that, what I’ve learnt so far researching afrofuturism and black spirituality. Storm and my own love for comic-books definitely inspired Sankofa.

How did you get into turntablism?

An inspirational lecture from Sophy Smith back in 2010 really sparked my interest, as well as wanting to be more expressive with DJ-ing.

Can you tell us a bit more about your research into surround-sound and turntablism?

It’s been both enriching and ongoing. I’ve looked at specific books, audiobooks etc on ambisonics and afrofuturism, as well as looking at my own nerd.

What can audiences expect to hear and see in the show?

It’ll be a multisensory experience from the black perspective, a celebration of black-self love, comic books, a version of black femininity - I guess what mine feels, looks and sounds like. Beautiful visuals from Loëpa and music that will take everyone on a journey.

Can you tell us more about your collaborator for this project - Loëpa?

She is a good friend and someone who is very open to continually build upon ideas. We’ve been having a great conversation from the start of the Sound Generator programme (Sound UK's artist development programme) about ways in which we can develop the visual language for Sankofa, and it’s been really inspiring.

You’re also touring with live loop musician XANA – tell us about their set?

Xana kindly supported me at a performance at Cafe Oto last year and the set then featured a lot of bass and audience interaction, including wearing a specifically-designed vest that makes the performance more multisensory. I think for the tour, Xana’s set will be a further evolved version of this and I can’t wait to experience it!

Lastly, who are some of your favorite artists that you listen to again and again?

In no particular order, Loraine James, Shiva Feshareki, Burial, J-Dilla…. There’s loads more but they’re off the top of my head!

NikNak's Sankofa is touring from 12-18 July 2022, with support from XANA. Find tour dates, venues and ticket links on our NikNak Sankofa event page.

We are working with Reading Borough Council to launch two new self-guided audio trails celebrating Reading’s heritage.

We caught up with local artist Aundre Goddard to find out more about his audio trail. Aundre worked with Richard Bentley to bring to life the sounds and story of Huntley & Palmers, one of Britain’s most famous biscuit companies, whose first shop opened on London Street in 1822.

Can you tell us more about the Audio Trail? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

The audio trail highlights what Huntley & Palmers meant to those who worked there. It feels right to focus on their memories. It was a delight interviewing ex-employees too . . . Peggy and Shirley had me in stitches; I couldn’t stop laughing.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Audio Trail?

I hope audiences feel a deeper connection with Huntley & Palmers workers. They contributed a great deal to the people of Reading.

What is your relationship to Reading and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

The only time I have spent away from Reading was when I went off to university. I love this town and the people in it. My granma was the inspiration for this artwork. She worked at Huntley & Palmers and passed away before I started creating this audio trail, so I was influenced by her and women workers.

What’s your favourite thing that you’ve discovered about Reading & this area during the creation of this audio trail?

Oh, that has to be the women protesters who threw machinery into the River Kennet. I think they are amazing role models.

And what is the most unusual or interesting sound that audiences can expect to hear during the walk?

Oh my, I quite like the sound of the biscuit tin being opened. It reminds me of Christmas time where mum goes the extra mile with a tin of fancy biscuits.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

I would describe it as a theatre experience. The trail is an entertaining way for young people to learn about Reading’s rich history. It has a little something for everybody.

Reading Audio Trails are available to listen to on the Reading Borough Council website and members of the public are able to walk the trails using their smartphone.

LISTEN HERE

The audio trails are commissioned by Reading Borough Council. Produced by Sound UK in association with Readipop and Berserk Productions.

The commission is part of the Reading High Streets Heritage Action Zones Programme, led by Historic England and Reading Borough Council.

Photo credit: James John

We are working with Reading Borough Council to launch two new self-guided audio trails celebrating Reading’s heritage.

We caught up with local artist and BBC Radio 3 presenter Fiona Talkington to find out more about her audio trail.

Can you tell us more about the Audio Trail? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

It’s a real journey of discovery. We’ve called it Pints, Pies and Protest because breweries were a key feature, there’s a famous pie shop there, and we meet am important Reading woman of the past who stood up for what she believed in and the legacy of her work is still here in Reading today. It’s a real bringing to life of Reading as an ever-evolving town.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Audio Trail?

I hope they’ll be surprised and delighted at the range of things we find in the trail. It’s a nice walk close to the town centre, so I hope they will enjoy the reminder that Reading is a truly historical town.

What is your relationship to Reading and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

I was born in Reading, grew up here and still live here, and although my work has taken me to so many places Reading is my home and the opportunity to discover and learn more about an area I had just taken for granted has been wonderful.

What’s the favourite thing that you’ve discovered about Reading & this area during the creation of this audio trail?

In one sense, talking to other people who know so much about the history, about how things fit together and who really opened my eyes.

But I’ve also loved thinking about the sounds of Castle Street when there were carts and wagons instead of cars and buses.

And the Allied Arms!

And what is the most unusual or interesting sound that audiences can expect to hear during the walk?

Elephants!!

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Audio Trails?

It’s probably my background in radio (I’m a presenter on Radio 3) but I love the way voices can transport you to another place. And I love learning new things in anything I’m researching, then I become so desperate to share it all.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

It’s magical! Like being taken by the hand by a friend and being shown around, things to discover, something to smile at. And it’s something you can do over and over again, in different weathers, at different times of day.

From 21 June Reading Audio Trails will be available to listen to on the Reading Borough Council website and members of the public will be able to walk the trails using their smartphone.

The audio trails are commissioned by Reading Borough Council. Produced by Sound UK in association with Readipop and Berserk Productions.

The commission is part of the Reading High Streets Heritage Action Zones Programme, led by Historic England and Reading Borough Council.

Photo credit: James John

Continuing our interview series, celebrating 20 artists for Sound UK's first 20 years, we recently caught up with the wonderful folk singer and musician, Lisa Knapp.

South London based folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lisa Knapp has been much in demand touring the length and breadth of the UK and across Radio and TV since her remarkable debut, Wild & Undaunted (2007), marked her out as one of the brightest and most innovative players in a newly invigorated British folk movement.

What do you remember about the projects we did together? And what was your most memorable experience?

I have great memories of researching and playing on a barge with electronics artist, Leafcutter John, as we sailed up the Grand Union Canal. Such an unique opportunity and brilliant to work with an artist so completely out of my own sphere.

We created an entire set from scratch using research, field recordings, writing songs, using recordings, live sampling under water - all sorts of really inventive things.

I am also really enjoying our current project (more to be revealed soon), again working with different artists always makes one learn so much.

It’s been a long journey this one for obvious (Covid) reasons but I’m really looking forward to where it will lead when we are, eventually, out of this pandemic.

Did these projects help to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Absolutely yes. These projects gave me different perspectives both in artistic thought and practical approaches.

Working in different environments and with new collaborators has given me confidence to think differently.

I’ve also found these projects to be incredibly supportive environments in which to stretch myself and try new things.

What have you been up to recently?

Things have been very disruptive but I feel they are, kind of, getting back to some sense of normal, at least for periods of time.

I recently recorded and released an apocryphal Christmas carol and I am looking into new songs. I’ve been doing a little bit of songwriting too.

I launched a Patreon which has and continues to keep me on my toes. I’ve also been teaching singing online so, yeah, things are ticking along.

In 2021 Sound UK launched a new artist development programme to help develop and test ambitious creative ideas. How important do you think initiatives like this are and the work Sound UK does commissioning artists?

As an artist I cannot stress enough how valuable having the opportunity to take time out to play and experiment is - and how vital it is in the development of new work.

Being able to research and develop unhindered leads to key new ideas being born. This in turn brings new perspectives and valuable insights into the artistic sphere.

What role can a producer like Sound UK play in helping artists to realise their potential?

I think the creativity with which Sound UK birth new ideas for collaborative ventures gives artists an opportunity to flex and extend beyond comfort zones.

Collaborative ventures always broaden horizons, enabling exploration from new perspectives, which often reflect back artistic thoughts and perhaps even talents one may previously have not been aware of.

What does the coming year have in store for you? What are your future plans?

I’m hoping for a solo release this year and there may be some other collaborative work in the pipeline too!

What are your hopes for music and its audiences in a post pandemic world?

I think if there’s anything positive to come out of the pandemic (which may be stretching it!) I think it's the value of community one gets in being a performer or an audience member and participating in real live events.

It’s one of the many ‘normal’ things in everyday life that we took for granted so I hope that when we do get to perform or attend an event that we all remember how fragile, special and important these experiences are.

Visit Lisa Knapp's website to find out more about her work.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We are delighted to announce that Keeley Forsyth has been selected to write a new piece commissioned by Sound UK - one of ten brand new works selected from an open call for New Music Biennial 2022.

PRS Foundation and the Southbank Centre have announced the pieces of new music to be performed at their critically acclaimed free festival in London and in Coventry in various venues as part of the UK City of Culture celebrations.

New Music Biennial 2022 will comprise 20 new pieces of music: ten brand new works selected from an open call and ten pre-existing New Music Biennial works from across the last 10 years to mark its launch back in 2012.

Keeley Forsyth's new piece Bog Body (working title) explores our relationship with the ancient ritualistic role, and environmental importance, of peat bogs. A powerful, innovative, audio-visual performance piece crafted around the drama of Forsyth’s voice in collaboration with composer Ross Downes.

Keeley Forsyth is a composer, singer and actor from Oldham in the north-west of England. Built upon sparse arrangements, Forsyth’s music is centred around a singular, emotionally raw and magnetic vocal delivery, by turns devastating and uplifting.

With pieces from across all genres: from classical and chamber opera to jazz, folk and electronic, each work is no longer than 15 minutes in duration to create a pop-up, interactive way for audiences to discover new music by some of the most exciting composers and music creators in the UK today, including:

Yazz Ahmed, Paul Purgas, AFRODEUTSCHE, Martin Green, Rakhi Singh / Vessel, Keeley Forsyth, Coby Sey, Roopa Panesar, Dr Toby Young, Philip Herbert, Anna Meredith, Brian Irvine and Jennifer Walshe, Daniel Elms, Errollyn Wallen, Philip Venables and David Hoyle Aidan O'Rourke and Kit Downes, Jason Yarde, Jessica Curry, Arlene Sierra and Gazelle Twin.

The festival weekends will take place both in Coventry in various venues as part of the UK City of Culture celebrations and London’s Southbank Centre on:

Friday 22 – Sunday 24 April, Coventry (Free tickets released on 25 January 2022)
Friday 1 – Sunday 3 July, Southbank Centre (Free tickets released on 23 April 2022)

To find out more visit the New Music Biennial webite.

Sound Generator is Sound UK's research and development (R&D) programme to develop artists and the work they present.

Now in it's second year, Sound Generator creates a space for six early-career music artists to develop and test ambitious project ideas.

We are delighted to announce the judging panel for this year's programme:

Kevin Le Gendre, journalist/writer
Lucy Wood, Head of Music, Roundhouse
Jenny Harris, Independent producer and programmer
Natalie Sharp, Artist (Sound Generator 2021 co-hort)
Elizabeth Sills, PRS Foundation

To find out more about our artist development programme, visit our Sound Generator page.

Deadline for applications to this year's programme is 7 February 2022.

Continuing our interview series, celebrating 20 artists for Sound UK's first 20 years, we recently caught up with Finnish accordian player, Kimmo Pohjonen.

Kimmo is internationally renowned for his ground-breaking avant-garde and experimental work, revolutionising accordian music with his custom-made electrified instrument that includes effects, MIDI and other electronics.

What do you remember about the projects we did together? And what was your most memorable experience?

Both projects, Earth Machine Music and Accordion Wrestling were quite special ones.

The technical set up for Accordion Wrestling was a challenge as we had the amplified wrestling mat and complicated visual design. It was great to see the audience faces during the show as the action on the wrestling mat started to go crazy. The performance itself was physically so hard that I was very often close to vomiting at the end of the performance where I had to play, spin around and wrestle simultaneously.

For Earth Machine Music, we created a unique concert with the farmers. It was always a big surprise to find so many different sounds from each farm from the local machines and animals. I felt it very touching how the farmers wanted to present their neighbourhood and how proud they were about it. The highlight was always the last bow together as we felt the energy we got back from the audience.

The beer label which was made for the tour, “Earth Machine Music beer” with all the tour dates on the bottle is quite memorable too.

Did these projects help to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Every project I do develops my creative practice as I have the chance to perform them many times in different places. It is very interesting to see how a project concept starts to develop as it communicates with the audience. In the end I think that that communication between the performer and audience is the most important thing. It is one of the biggest reasons to do this work.

What have you been up to recently?

I have been developing a new technique of playing my instrument. My accordion has had many changes in this process. The instrument is now an “electro-acoustic machine” that allows me to create several textures simultaneously. With this new technique I also control visual elements and lights while playing. It has been a very creative process to find again something unexpected and new from my instrument. The project is called UZone.

Another interesting work was the UNIKO arrangement for Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. Originally a Kronos Quartet commission, this piece revealed marvellous new textures recently when I performed it with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra conducted by Tonu Kaljuste.

In 2021 Sound UK launched a new artist development programme to help develop and test ambitious creative ideas. How important do you think initiatives like this are and the work Sound UK does commissioning artists?

To develop and test ambitious creative ideas is the essence of the art, at least for me. These kinds of commissions are extremely important for the artists. I am sure that the chosen artists will get huge support for their work from Sound UK by this kind of programme.

What role can a producer like Sound UK play in helping artists to realise their potential?

I think the previous programme is a good example, which helps artists find their potential. Sound UK encourages artists with whom they work to find their own unique voices.

What does the coming year have in store for you? What are your future plans?

I will continue with the project Uzone to develop it further. I will do more performances as the process goes on and some day it will be ready. When that point is reached, I will expand UZone for a bigger orchestra. I am very excited about this and feel I'm at the turning point of something totally new and I am eager to show the different faces of the accordion to audiences again.

I will also compose more UNIKO music to include Tallinn Chamber Choir together with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. The idea is to take UNIKO to a totally new and different level as it now seems to have a new life after a few years break.

What are your hopes for music and its audiences in a post pandemic world?

We should have more respect towards nature. We need to learn to live responsibly with this current unfortunate situation. Life needs to go on, hopefully better than how we have done so far on this planet.

Visit Kimmo Pohjonen's website to find out more about his work.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Continuing our interview series, celebrating 20 artists for Sound UK's first 20 years, we recently caught up with internationally acclaimed artist, Ulf Pedersen.

Architectural in scale, Pedersen’s work transforms the act of looking into a physical experience. Through a kind of light-based alchemy, outdoor spaces metamorphose into something unique and magical.

What do you remember about the projects we’ve done together? And what was your most memorable experience?

Well both had their hilarious moments - but in Bude for Reflect, watching the fierce swell of the Atlantic Ocean come crashing towards the sea walls as we hastily retreated with our equipment to the safety of higher ground. And squashing into a beach hut along with 10 other volunteers to sing a sea shanty rhyme - haven’t laughed so much in ages!

Did these projects help to develop your creative practice at all? If so, how?

I guess my experience with direct public engagement, working with selected candidates with mental health issues, to learn of their terrific positivity, which informed the final piece, was a great lesson for me.

What have you been up to recently?

Well after a 2 year (Covid) hiatus, I am delighted to be back in 'the field’ doing what I enjoy most.

I’ve recently returned from Paisley, in Scotland, where I worked on a new light festival there. And more recently I had a solo show at a medieval site in Gloucester, which was well received. Having worked on the planning for 2 years and had 3 postponed attempts at staging this - it was a welcome relief to finally do the installation.

In 2021 Sound UK launched a new artist development programme to help develop and test ambitious creative ideas. How important do you think initiatives like this are and the work Sound UK does commissioning artists?

These types of commissions are essential for young, up & coming artists to realise their projects. Often with us creatives, the whole funding element can create a huge barrier in progressing our ideas, which is where Sound UK fill that role perfectly.

What role can a producer like Sound UK play in helping artists to realise their potential?

I found working with Sound UK to be more than simply a commissioner; they are involved ‘hands-on’ from start to finish, offering mentoring along the way.

What does the coming year have in store for you? What are your future plans?

Well the unexpected 'time-out' has given me a great deal of time to look at a number of new ideas for projects. There’s a few smaller, local projects I’m planning for the early part of 2022, with a view to producing more solo shows in gardens throughout the UK.

Visit Ulf Pederson's website to find out more about his work.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Continuing our interview series, celebrating 20 Artists for 20 Years, we recently caught up with Terje Isungset for a chat about his recent UK tour, produced by Sound UK, what inspires him, his ice instruments and his upcoming plans.

What do you remember about the first project you did with Sound UK? And what was your most memorable experience?

We had a fantastic project in unusual venues with ice music some years ago. That was amazing. And the Arctic Ice Music tour we have just done is a highlight of my career.

Did these projects help to develop your creative practice at all? If so, how?

Working with Sound UK means I can focus on my art and music. They give me the option to be more creative and are always open to new ideas.

In 2021 Sound UK launched a new artist development programme to help develop and test ambitious creative ideas. How important do you think initiatives like this are and the work Sound UK does commissioning artists?

It means artists can develop new ideas and create new work. That is very important for all artists and the art itself.

What role can a producer like Sound UK play in helping artists to realise their potential?

Through looking after all the organising and fundraising, Sound UK enables artists to focus on their creative potential.

Can you tell us more about the ice instruments you were playing on your recent tour? Where and how were they created? And what do you love about performing on ice instruments?

I was playing on ice instruments made at the Ice Music Festival Norway in 2021. They were created by me and a carver.
The ice has a much deeper dimension than “only” being an instrument.

Can you tell us more about this unique international ensemble? How did it come about? And why have you brought together this diverse range of musical voices?

The idea came up when I was doing a concert in Iqaluit in the north of Canada. I had 300 Inuits in the audience – and they know everything about ice and winter: RESPECT!

Then I thought maybe we could do something like this. Bringing artists from those cultures connected with cold climates and ice.

The sound of the voices together is totally unique! I don’t think anyone has ever heard that before.

Musically, where do you take your inspirations from?

Nature & life in general.

After this tour, what does the coming year have in store for you? What are your future plans in 2022 and beyond?

The Ice Music Festival Norway is coming up. A lot of exciting concerts will be held there!

I will be releasing a new ice music album: ice only (solo – me inside an igloo).

Plus concerts and commissioned work. I will compose for The National Theatre in Norway and for a new contemporary dance ensemble for touring.

What are your hopes for music and its audiences in a post pandemic world?

I do hope and think that people do feel that live music is SOOOO important for our lives. We cannot stay on a computer for doing everything you know.

I think people can feel the spirit and the mission by staying together in the same room to see an event.

It is life – simply!

Visit Terje Isungset's website to find out more about his work.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Continuing our interview series, celebrating 20 Artists for 20 Years, Polly recently caught up with Joanna MacGregor for a chat over the new café table that is Zoom.

Sound UK worked with Joanna MacGregor on a fascinating tour of Graphic Scores in 2013, a tour which also featured Elaine Mitchener, Oliver Coates, and Tom Arthurs. Previously, Polly was the press officer for Sound Circus (Joanna’s label) from 2001, and Producer of the Bath International Music Festival from 2006 - 2010, with Joanna as Artistic Director.

This summer, Joanna chaired the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists, which Polly was on the panel for.

Polly: I first met you when you released the Mercury nominated Play on your own label SoundCircus. For me this was so exhilarating, the idea that someone could inhabit the classical world, but simultaneously bring in jazz, blues, world music, all sorts.

What was the impetus behind Sound Circus, what is your perspective today with regard to recordings? What advice would you give to artists releasing their first album?

Joanna: I saw the writing on the wall in the recording industry! I’d been a very young artist and had a record contract with Collins Classics, which was an enormous label at one point. There was an absolute boom in recording in the 90s, everybody was putting something out - I was part of that as a very young artist. I made something like fifteen albums for Collins Classics, but I quickly saw when things started to go wrong. You could see how the industry wasn't working.

At that time, I was working with a lot of people like Andy Shepard and Moses Molelekwa, Django Bates, Human Chain and Iain Ballamy. I picked up that in the jazz world you often made your own recording, then leased it to an existing label. I was full of admiration for people who did this; it seemed to be the best way of being a musician. So it was just a step on from that to say: not only will I record it, but I’ll have my own record label.

With SoundCircus, we happened to hit the era of everything going online. That was all quite new - that idea that things would be sold, or you’d have a website and you could sell things off that. I know it's a bit laughable now, but it was a new thing back then. Before, you were reliant on distributors and shops; you’ll remember how rigid they were, still putting things in their special areas. None of the artists I worked with, or combinations I wanted to do, fitted neatly.

I made fifteen recordings for Collins Classics, including a big double album of Bach’s Art of Fugue and Nancarrow’s Player Piano Studies, and they quite literally said to me “well, we don't know where to put this. I mean, should it be under B, should it be under N, should it be under jazz, should it be under classical?”

That conversation really stayed with me. Part of my ethos as a live musician was putting jazz next to Bach, and I was doing this when I was very young; in terms of recordings it just seemed like a good step, and Play’s juxtapositions were iconic in that regard.

Polly: Having gone through many years of running the label as well as being a performer and a programmer and everything, do you have any advice for younger artists who are doing that now?

I would encourage all musicians to be as independent as possible; the industry around them is quite vulnerable. Shops close, distribution companies fold. And the deals aren’t that good. It's not a very generous world for an artist, so if you can be independent - and if you can find the money to pay for your recordings - that gives you so much freedom. I would play a lot of concerts, then just sink it into this label.

Things always move on, but one of the things I’ve learned is that once you've started something you have to keep on feeding it - it's like a monster! I've realised that you have to keep thinking about what the next project might be. In terms of my label I had great good fortune: I discovered Collins Classics were trying to sell off all their recordings, including the old recordings I’d made for them. They had gone bankrupt, and were parcelling up artists’ catalogues to sell off. So I pitched for my own recordings; I pitched lower than they wanted, but I got them. I now legally owned them, so I knew I’d be able to put them out. I would say to younger artists: try and own everything - it's easier said than done, I know, but it makes life a lot easier if you actually own everything you've recorded.

Polly: So we reconnected again to work together on Bath Festival, for several wonderful years. It was so inspiring and exciting creating that programme with you. You changed Bath Festival so much.

Joanna: Well, it was a real pleasure to work with you! What a great team we made, and how satisfying it was. I remember when we booked Ralph Stanley and he absolutely filled the Pavilion. One of the really good things we did was that scene of Americana – it was getting really big just then - and bringing that strand to Bath. We did some audacious things like Handel opera in the Roman Baths, newly discovered Angela Carter poems with Bishi and Marina Warner - all that kind of thing.

Polly: It's that generosity of spirit you have, of wanting to enable all sorts of artists to come together and give them a platform. It obviously makes you excited - that aspect of collaboration and bringing different people together - and I think that's something you've probably done all your life?

Joanna: It seems to be the way my brain works: thinking about how people can meet one another in a musical arena, and create something meaningful. Create something that might last, or might go on to the next stage. It's very gratifying if it does happen. I always feel that musicians - from whatever genre - have got parts of them that are underused in some ways, or overlooked.

I think of musicians as composers or creators - I'll be there as a sort of midwife, and just check everybody's happy, and growing. It's very exciting – I don't think it's easy at all, but it's an enthralling thing to do.

Being the director of the festival is one of the most fun ways of doing that, because you have venues and creative spaces to offer to musicians. At Bath Festival and Dartington Summer School I feel I've been able to create new friendships.

Polly: Of course just a couple of months before our chat, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Artist Awards were announced. And you've been the Chair of the Artist Awards for many years.

Joanna: I think I’ve done seven or eight years, I’ve lost count! I was a judge one year, many years ago when Jonathan Reekie was Chair. Back in those days it was only three awards and the definition of what a composer was felt narrower than it is now. With Paul Hamlyn's huge support, I was pleased to be able to widen that definition, to meet this variety of work. There was a glorious moment when we went up to five prizes (like the Paul Hamlyn Visual Art awards), and this year we've made twenty awards, which is amazing. I think the sheer scale of the music - the breadth of what people are doing - is brilliantly represented.

Polly: It's a really exciting snapshot of the British scene; really exciting people and such an array of ages and styles.

Joanna: It’s such a joy to give out these Awards; it’s obviously tough times for the arts, and for musicians. These kinds of things are absolute beacons of light: look at all the fantastic people out there, doing what creative people always do.

I love the age range of the Paul Hamlyn Awards. So many prizes are targeted towards the up-and-coming, or people who are already well-known. The Awards give a sense of the long arc in an artists’ life and career. You could be in your 60s, 70s or even 80s, and you're still producing great work - and you may still need support. That is what's so great.

Polly: Is there something that you feel we should think about as a producer? What is our role, what can we do to help artists and people on the Paul Hamlyn list or artists across their career range? What can producers do to really support artists?

Joanna: That's a really interesting question: you've got such a range of work that you do already. What I love about Sound UK is all the different venues you've used. You don't necessarily go for the most obvious concert venues, which I think is something that's going to become more and more important now. We're all going to feel a bit more regional for a little while, which I see as quite exciting.

I think you're really marvellous at picking tremendous collaborators to work with; it’s similar to what I do, which is to try to look at the seeds of something. Very often people give you little clues about where they want to go next: a little clue that they really want to work with an orchestra, a visual artist or a dancer - that kind of thing.

And the multiple performances and touring aspect of your work is really important. I’m really aware throughout my career I’ve premiered pieces, but then what happens next is a bit of an issue. A really obvious example is Hugh Wood’s piano concerto, which he wrote for me. He wrote a marvellous, absolute smash hit of a piano concerto, which I premiered at the Proms. Then I recorded it with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. But the next time I played it was something like twenty years later at the Albert Hall, to celebrate Hugh's 80th birthday! That's a really shocking example of how somebody has the wonderful idea to commission something, it's a huge success, and yet what happens next? (Hugh Wood sadly died soon after this conversation, at 89; Joanna is playing in a memorial concert for him in December.)

I’m wondering if as producers, record label managers and festival directors we’re able to think about the afterlife of the work we're creating.

Archiving and making work available so it can be performed again is so important. I’ve realised I really need to properly write down all the transcriptions I’ve done over the years. I’ve written things very quickly for orchestras, created arrangements for all kinds of people, transcribed music, including these famous Piazzolla tangos - you know part Piazzolla, and part me. I’m trying to make a concerted effort to get all this onto Sibelius, because I’m wondering about the afterlife of these things that we do.

Polly: The pandemic has also made us think a lot about how people can access the arts, and about equality in general. How we make sure we give a platform to all talent.

Joanna: I’ve become more sensitive about how many women composers I’m working with. I was always aware of it - commissioning female artists, writing music myself - but I’ve found myself more urgently checking in on myself to see whether I’m overlooking female composers, and what can I do about that. I’m. also encouraging all my students to include plenty of music by women, as well as compositions out of their classical field.

Polly: It did make me check in on what I thought and the projects we put together. In discussions with artists, just prompting us all to make an effort to look wider, to look beyond people you know, to play with a musician that isn't from your background, genre, or history and is a new collaborator. Actually that's just going to make things much more creative and exciting. That bit of effort to broaden your knowledge and experience and who you might work with I think is going to be really worth that slightly uncomfortable feeling some people think they're going to have.

Joanna: It's interesting - I’m very familiar with that feeling of being uncomfortable! Since my early 20s I’ve been constantly in an uncomfortable situation. Feeling way out of my depth and trying to improvise alongside people who were fantastic improvisers: often feeling quite foolish, and then finding ways to be able to do something that worked.

I found teaching myself how to play John Cage and George Crumb - prepared piano, playing inside the piano - is fabulous if you find yourself on stage with a tabla player, for example! Like the track I recorded with Talvin Singh. Fantastic tools to fall back on. I felt I had something to bring to the table when I was working with musicians from totally different backgrounds or genres.

Polly: So what have you got coming up now?

Joanna: I have this wonderful job as Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, looking after about eighty young pianists from all backgrounds. That's a wonderful thing to do, to watch them grow and flourish; to encourage them to become indomitable buccaneers, who want to do all kinds of exciting and amazing things.

I’ve just taken over as Music Director and Principal Conductor at Brighton Philharmonic, a well-established, professional symphony orchestra, which will be celebrating its centenary in 2025. One of the things I’m going to be doing with them (at the end of 2021) is a collaboration between Kathryn Tickell and the orchestra.

I hope to be doing a lot more composing and writing; I’m still doing a lot of performing. I’ve moved to a wonderful place in the country, somewhere I can be creative. I’ve spent a lifetime being busy and very active: making things happen, working with a lot of musicians, and creating concerts and festival series. I quite fancy just writing music and reading!

I’ve also been commissioned to write a book that I’ve wanted to write for a very long time, on the subject of practicing. I’m very interested in the psychology of being alone with your instrument. That's my favourite part of playing the piano – practicing. It’s such an important subject. When we walk on stage, we’re bringing ourselves as we are: the thoughts, emotions, history, backgrounds and psychological struggles we all have. I think to be alone and to practice is a very profound thing.

Visit Joanna MacGregor's website to find out more about her work.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Sound UK’s new artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we will find out more about the artists on this year’s programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Chisara Agor.

Can you tell us about your Sound Generator project? Where did the initial inspiration come from?

My project is called The Air We Live In. It's a project based about air pollution and climate justice and shining a light on the relationship between social justice and climate change. The initial inspiration came from tragedy, hearing about the death of 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah.

How has your idea developed during this project so far? And what have you learnt?

My initial sketches of ideas and the initial pitch for sound generator has grown and materialised into what I believe to be clear, strong ideas and themes. I have learnt a lot about storytelling, creating a cohesive project and communicating my ideas about somewhat complex themes using visual art and sound.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

This opportunity has meant being able to dream big while having support and without feeling like the project cannot take on a life of it's own.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

My filmmaking skills as a director and editor have developed immensely. Also the way in which I pitch and make work for the future has changed as I feel more confident in imagining and creating work that is larger and cross disciplinary.

Who are your key musical influences?

I can't really choose any key influences; different music creators lend themselves to me for different projects.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Recently I have been listening to the Promises album by Floating Points, Pharoh Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra, very meditative stuff.

What are your hopes for the project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

I hope to have it fully realised one day and if not work on developing each part of the project. I hope to expand into further artistic provocations, works and discussions about air pollution and create a series linking to this project and beyond.

To find out more about Chisara Agor's work, visit her website. We look forward to sharing more information on Chisara's Sound Generator project as it develops.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Sound UK’s new artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we will find out more about the artists on this year’s programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Alex Ho.

Can you tell us about your Sound Generator project? Where did the initial inspiration come from?

Racism towards Chinese communities in the UK is nothing new. In 2017, research by the University of Essex showed that Chinese people faced the highest levels of racial harassment in the UK. This figure has only increased in the last eighteen months as communities across the globe have seen a drastic rise in anti-Asian hate.

Against this backdrop of violence, pain, and shattered connections, my Sound Generator project seeks to go a small way into rebuilding trust between peoples and communities. It centres on rebuilding trust with Chinatown, perhaps the most iconic site of transnational Chinese communities and brings together two key elements of my cultural identity: music and gorgeous, gorgeous food.

My project involves bringing audiences together to create (and eat!) Chinese dishes whilst experiencing contemporary music written in response to the richness of Chinatown: its foods, its smells, its histories, and its people.

How has your idea developed during this project so far? And what have you learnt?

I knew from the start that I wanted this project to respond to the racism Chinese communities have experienced over the last eighteen months, but I was not sure how I wanted to do this. What would the message be? What final form would the project take?

Collaboration was key to answering these questions and I have loved working once more with my fabulous colleagues at Tangram, the first and only UK-based collective made up of composers, researchers, and performers of Chinese and western instruments. Sharing Chinese food has become a bit of ritual in Tangram projects and so the idea to combine food and music for this production feels like a natural fit.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

Participating on the Sound Generator opportunity has given me time and space to think deeply about the relationship between my music and my identity. It has also encouraged me to consider the ways that my perception of Chinese identity intersects with others and explore the richness in both the alignments and misalignments.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Collaboration has been key to my creative practice over the last few years and it has been wonderful to continue exploring not only how I work with people but also work with forms beyond music in creative and sensitive ways. Growing up in London with parents from Hong Kong meant that food (especially dim sum) was the main way that I engaged with Chinese culture so it feels so exciting (and daunting!) to finally match up the dots between food and music.

Who are your key musical influences?

I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for composers Du Yun and Huang Ruo. They inspire me through their music, how they speak about music, how they curate it, and how they make clear its social roles.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

I'd love to share some Chinese food recommendations instead...! In Chinatown, my favourites are definitely Baozi Inn, Wan Chai Corner, and Four Seasons. Outside Chinatown, the branches of Royal China (Bayswater and Canary Wharf) are very nice if slightly more pricey. My favourite dishes are Cheung Fun (basically noodles often filled with meat or vegetables), a particular prawn dumpling that can be Anglocised as Ha Kau, and Beef Ho Fun.

What are your hopes for the project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

My hope for this project is to show the richness and plurality of Chinese identity. I'd also want every audience member to learn something new through this performance art piece: a new recipe, a new taste, a new smell, a new sound, and/or the results of how these can be combined. More tangibly, my dream for this project is that it takes place simultaneously across different Chinatowns across the world so as to create a sense of community between the disparate transnational Chinese communities.

To find out more about Alex Ho's work, visit his website. We look forward to sharing more information on Alex's Sound Generator project as it develops.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Sound UK’s new artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we will find out more about the artists on this year’s programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to NikNak.

Can you tell us about your Sound Generator project? Where did the initial inspiration come from?

I’ve always had a love of comic books, especially as a means of storytelling. I also have keen interest in surround sound music and performances, so I’ve wanted to combine things outside of university.

Read more about NikNak's Sound Generator project here.

How has your idea developed during this project so far? And what have you learnt?

Getting to grips with Ableton the way that I want to has been really beneficial and crucial to this. I know there’s more to learn and I’ve barely scratched the surface with it, so developing there has been really fun so far.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

A great deal! Being able to make things work and have connections with venues and other creatives outside of an academic setting is helping me realise this project and overcome new challenges.

Who are your key musical influences?

Burial, Shiva Feshareki, Cut Chemist, J-Dilla.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

LORAINE JAMES - Reflection!

What are your hopes for the project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

Progressing into more realised versions with different speaker arrays, 3D Visuals, learning more bespoke Ableton techniques for this work…Just building on this already strong foundation!

To find out more about NikNak's work, visit her website. We look forward to sharing more information on NikNak's Sound Generator project as it develops.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

We caught up with Annamaria Murphy, Sue Hill and Ciaran Clarke, the artists creating the sound walk for Redruth, to find out more about the sound walk, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, their relationship to the area, what they hope audiences will experience from doing the sound walk, and much more.

Can you tell us more about your Sound Walk? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

Sue: We were very inspired by the Charles Parker Radio Ballads, the layers of collected sound, specially written song and real voices. We liked the idea that all time is present at all times and that you might be able to make these layers of time legible in some way using sound and voices. I think narrative became more prominent in the mix than we had originally thought. But that was because the stories we were told were so delicious and irresistible!

Anna: All that Sue has said! I, as I think the others did too, found women’s stories tantalising, as their histories are harder to find, as of course, history was rarely written by women.

Ciaran: Real places, and real voices, and capturing the sounds of both in a dynamic and exciting way.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Sound Walk?

Sue: I hope that people will slow down and look up. Redruth has the most peculiar and brilliant architecture, the product of its extravagant tin and copper boom times. But mostly I hope that people will enjoy the very human stories – love, escape, triumph over catastrophe, everyday heroism.

Ciaran: We’re hoping that people allow themselves to be immersed in the voices and stories, press play, and let the tracks run.

How long have you been working as a sound artist? How did you begin your career as a sound artist?

Ciaran: I got to working with sound by accident really, initially making sound for theatre productions, but I love that it is a medium that is completed by the imagination.

Sue: I’m not a sound artist, but I’ve been telling stories all my life, sometimes with sound.

Anna: Similar to Sue, but I have worked with a group of musicians over the last six years, using sound-scape and song to tell stories.

What is your relationship to Redruth and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

Sue: I grew up here and remember the Redruth of my childhood. There was still a blacksmith shoeing horses in the middle of town, three big department stores, a weekly livestock market, a big brewery with its distinctive malty smell, a saddler…it sounds quaint doesn’t it? But it was confident, proud, a town that liked itself. I left, like most Cornish kids, to explore the world, live in a city. The town went through some really hard times, each time I came home I experienced an almost physical shock at the changes. And now (whisper it) there is a new sense of possibility and hope here. I think that’s what has informed us most of all; a desire to be part of this resurgence, to feel the town looking at itself again and liking what it sees.

Anna: I’m went to college in Pool, near Redruth, and growing up Redruth was not somewhere I would visit. I grew to love it when doing a Rambles walking and writing project years ago, and having done this project, and seen the strength of the community, wouldn’t mind moving to Redruth.

Ciaran: I worked out of Krowji (Cornwall's largest creative hub) for many years, but only ever really passed through. This project has been wonderful for getting immersed in the place and its stories. There is such love for this Magic Town.

What is the most unusual sound or interesting discovery that audiences can expect to hear during the Sound Walk?

Sue: We’ll all have our favourites, but I think mine is the list of extraordinary entertainments that took place in the Druid’s Hall – everything from demonstrations of galvanism to the immersive scrolling panorama that took you from New York to San Francisco by steam train. I’d love to have seen that.

Anna: Mine are finding out fragments of the stories of Emily Knuckey, Gracie Briney and the left behind women, stories of survival and resilience. It’s also been great seeing the town through Sue’s eyes and her connection to it.

Ciaran: Re-enlivening the Redruth market with The Ballad of Gracie Briney is the most exciting one for me: I get chills every time I listen to Claire singing Anna’s words.

What is the most unusual sound you have recorded in your career?

Ciaran: This is tough, but probably my friend Jordan screaming, “I’m the riskiest comique in the biz” underwater into a pair of hydrophones in a swimming pool in Camden. We got some looks.

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Sound Walks?

Sue: They can create at best, a whole other way of experiencing a place.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

Ciaran: Put your headphones on, press play, and lose yourself in the audio for forty minutes.

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

The High Street Sound Walk for Redruth is produced in association with Carn to Cove.

Sound UK’s new artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we will find out more about the artists on this year’s programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Natalie Sharp, aka the Lone Taxidermist.

Can you tell us about your Sound Generator project? Where did the initial inspiration come from?

The initial inspiration was a mix of three things: 1. My fascination in fungi and mycelium networks, 2. migrational systems within ecology, humans specifically and my mothers journey to the UK, and 3. Spume, which my friend kept sending me photos of that happened to be along the coast line of cumbria. I got to thinking about these three systems combining and what might happen in the liminal space of a coastline.

How has your idea developed during this project so far? And what have you learnt?

I have had what feels like a very self indulgent time, as I wouldn’t usually be afforded so much time into research on a project.

I've been making a massive infinity scroll with a whole series of images relating to the coast line and the ecologies found therein. The development has been through discussing it with my mentors, which has made me think about not only how to present the idea in 2d and 3d form, but also about creating a new listening device.

I've been learning how micro controllers work and understanding eco-systems.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

It's a bit like going back into further education, but more within the parameters of anti-university where you get to choose your teachers and spend nice and long periods of time figuring things out with the support of Sound UK and my mentors.

So it's meant that I’ve felt visible within a unique set of creative minds. It's meant that I feel like I’m part of something.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

It certainly has. I've been able to shift away from creating performative live music to doing something more sustainable and less ephemeral.

Who are your key musical influences?

Cosey Fanni Tutti, Laurie Anderson, Eartha Kitt, Bjork, Freddie Mercury, Grace Jones, Leigh Bowery, Suzanne Ciani, Delia Derbyshire.

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

Lots and lots of 90s R&B, lots and lots of filthy Drum & Bass. The most recent thing to blow me away was Clipping - Vsions of Bodies Being Burned. It's fierce and it makes me feel both scared and hardcore as I'm cycling along the towpath canal. Like I'm in the apocalypse!

What are your hopes for the project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

Wouldn't it be great to make a massive sea conch shell? Like a listening post the size of a lighhouse and position it on any coastline. My heroines always say dream big so that’s what I'll do!

To find out more about her work, visit Natalie Sharp's Instagram page. We look forward to sharing more information on her Sound Generator project as it develops.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

Ahead of launching the Sound Walks on 10 September 2021, we have been catching up with the sound artists to find out more about the sound walks, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, their relationship to the areas, what they hope audiences will experience from doing the sound walks, and much more.

Great Yarmouth Sound Walk: Read the interview with Oliver Payne here.

Hull Sound Walk: Read the interview with Jez riley French here.

Grantham Sound Walk: Read the interview with Sandra Kazlauskaite here.

Barrow-in-Furness Sound Walk: Read the interview with Dan Fox here.

Reading Sound Walk: Read the interview with Aundre Goodard and Richard Bentley here.

Redruth Sound Walk: Read the interview with the Redruth artists here.

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

We caught up with Richard Bentley and Aundre Goddard, the artists creating the sound walk for Reading, to find out more about the sound walk, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, their relationship to the area, what they hope audiences will experience from doing the sound walk, and much more.

Can you tell us more about your Sound Walk? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

Aundre: This sound walk explores the rich history of London Street in Reading. To local residents, this area is filled with fond memories of music, dancing and food. One person described it as “life with a road going through it” and capturing that celebration of life is at the heart of this sound walk. I am not a sound artist so I cannot comment on the sound elements in depth but incorporating the voices of residents is integral to this work. Their stories are what makes London Street’s history meaningful.

Richard: I’ve enjoyed supporting Aundre’s vision for the piece, as he weaves storytelling, interviews with local people and his own personal narrative through London Street’s rich history. It’s been refreshing to hear such a diverse collection of voices brought together to celebrate local historic buildings that have had the sounds of music, poetry and artisans bursting out of them over the centuries. I have been particularly interested in the way that these sounds have been sculpted by the size, materials and contents of a space, just as switching on a light illuminates the contours and furnishings of a room.

It is easy to overlook just how much of our experience of historic spaces is influenced, not only by the sounds and music found there, but the acoustics of the buildings themselves. This could be the long and lively reverberation of a dance hall, the deadened acoustic of a small, softly furnished living room or the bright, ‘pingy’ reflections from a narrow stone walkway. These acoustic properties anchor us in the specifics of a place, often without us even realising. So, for this sound walk, I wanted to support Aundre’s story-telling by bringing acoustics to the fore, literally switching between spaces and times whilst connecting with sonic memories, both imagined and real.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Sound Walk?

Aundre: I hope audiences feel a deeper connection to Reading and its people. Often, we travel through roads without thinking about the stories behind buildings or the people that have spent time here.

Richard: I hope they can make a connection to this street either through memory or the people and activities it has hosted. In particular, I hope people enjoy experiencing the street through the buildings and materials present there. I have had the opportunity to hear the street through different ears and I hope the voices, music, field recordings and sound design deepens and re-enlivens this connection.

How long have you been working as a sound artist? How did you begin your career as a sound artist?

Aundre: This is my first gig as a sound artist so my journey starts here. I have learned a great deal from Richard Bentley during the creative process.

Richard: I’ve been a freelance sound artist now for just under ten years and before that I was a full-time music technology lecturer. I grew up playing the organ, but have always been captivated by the vast sonic possibilities of electronic music.

My earliest compositions employed synthesizers and sampling and, inspired by bands like the Future Sound of London, I recorded found sounds to tape and minidisc, sampling and layering them in my music. Then, in my teens, I would earn money by recording church wedding ceremonies. I’ve always loved the way that sound is smudged and blended in these large, reflective spaces and I’d place some of the surplus radio mics in vases, down air vents, in neighbouring rooms and all sorts of unconventional spaces, just to see how it would sound.

Later, at Bangor University in North Wales, I was exposed to the fascinating sub-culture of field recording and soundscape composition, which has formed the backbone of my sound art practice ever since.

What is your relationship to Reading and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

Aundre: My relationship to Reading is deep. My parents moved here from Barbados and I was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital so I have lived here all my life. Growing up, I spent much time around London Street. I remember this little bookshop my mum would stop at on our way home. My uncle would take me to Central Club for food and my dad used to be a bouncer at the Afterdark Club. As an adult I would go to the Great Expectations pub and attend various nights at Global Café. There is a real sense of nostalgia when I think of London Street’s mixture of cultures and that has influenced the work.

Richard: I was born and raised in Reading and have lived in and around the town all my life. I have spent many evenings at the Great Expectations pub, the Global Café, RISC, the Matrix and After Dark Clubs and vividly remember the sound of music bursting out of the buildings as you walked up the street. However, in this piece, I’ve tried to explore local places as if I’ve never heard them before. Aundre’s scripts and interviews with local people allowed me to imagine others’ listening and encouraged me to go beyond my own experiences and preconceptions.

What is the most unusual sound or interesting discovery that audiences can expect to hear during the Sound Walk?

Aundre: This sound walk is an intersection between an audio play and guided tour with interviews at its heart. I think the most interesting discovery younger audiences will encounter is how vibrant the area was. People from all over the country would travel down to London Street to attend nights at several different venues. Queues of people and cars parked in the middle of the road from top to bottom, Fatboy Slim, Supergrass, Trevor Nelson and Radiohead have all played on London Street. Looking at it now, you would never have thought it – I was shocked.

Richard: How London Street sounded in Victorian Britain, with the twist that you hear it from a drain under the street - a period enhancement!

What is the most unusual sound you have recorded in your career?

Aundre: Once, I was searching for a stimulus during my devising process for a theatre piece and I placed a phone microphone in my pocket whilst I went about my day.

Richard: My practice and research largely revolves around listening more carefully to the everyday, easily forgettable sounds that surround us. In field recording, the temptation is to look for the exotic and novel, but I have been more interested in the way we listen to the mundane, rather than chasing sonic originality. Saying that, a few years ago, during an installation at the Jackson’s department store in Reading, I recorded a wonderfully exotic sound by sticking contact microphones to the back of an old fridge. You would think you were listening to a Common Frog through a vocoder (voice synthesiser)!

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Sound Walks?

Aundre: Typically, I’ve used sound in performances as a way of immersing my audience. There is an intimacy you get with sound walks, they really change my internal tempo and rhythm, which allows me to truly reflect. This past year, I have done a lot of walking for obvious reasons.

Richard: Sound walks give you the opportunity to be present to the soundscape and to appreciate the small sonic wonders peppering our lives. In this ‘audio-tour-style-sound-walk’ the listener also has an opportunity to borrow someone else’s ears for a while, as you listen to and with Aundre and myself, the actors and interviewees.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

Aundre: You know those moments in movies when the whole family would gather on the sofa to watch home-made videos? They would laugh, cry and bond about the time they time spent together all those years ago. Well, it’s a bit like that but with sound. I want the listener to feel like they were there and connect with Reading’s history and its people on a personal level. I would describe it as a comforting experience to be enjoyed.

Richard: This London Street sound walk is like opening a series of doors behind which you hear the buildings reminisce about their private lives, and the occupants relive cherished memories. It’s celebratory, so I hope it brings a smile to your lips and makes you want to dance as you walk.

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

The High Street Sound Walk for Reading is produced in association with CultureMix, Readipop and Reading Borough Council.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

We caught up with Dan Fox, the sound artist creating the sound walk for Barrow-in-Furness, to find out more about the sound walk, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, his relationship to the area, what he hopes audiences will experience from doing the sound walk, and much more.

Can you tell us more about your Sound Walk? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

Barrovia tells the history of Barrow and the High Street Action Zones through the voices of life-long Barrow residents. It is a mixture of factual history, comments on architecture, recollections and stories from living memory. There are also some archive sound recordings mixed in of music and events that happened within the High Street Action Zones.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Sound Walk?

I hope audiences will learn about the history and present day experience of the town through short personal stories that give a uniquely Barrovian perspective.

How long have you been working as a sound artist? How did you begin your career as a sound artist?

I have worked with sound since I bought a cassette 4-track when I was 14, so almost 40 years! I grew up surrounded by artists and musicians in my parents theatre company Welfare State International and I was fortunate to be involved in shows as a musician, maker and sound artist from an early age.

Being a musician has always been a big part of my practice but since I started my company Sound Intervention in 2008, sound art has become more of a focus. I often work outdoors, increasingly off-grid and often with other media such as light, photography and projections.

What is your relationship to Barrow and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

My family moved to Ulverston, just down the road from Barrow when I was 10. After I left schooI, I worked and studied in many parts of England and Europe for several years before returning to make a base in Ulverston. I now work all over the UK but enjoy being based in south Cumbria.

As I was growing up Welfare State International pioneered many local community arts projects and through those projects I developed networks with musicians, artists and residents of Barrow and the Furness peninsula.

What is the most unusual sound or interesting discovery that audiences can expect to hear during the Sound Walk?

I really like the quiet humour and respect for the history of the town that is embodied in the voices of the people I interviewed. There is an image of Barrow as an isolated location “at the end of a 40 mile cul-de-sac” but this isn’t the story I have heard from the people I recorded.

What is the most unusual sound you have recorded in your career?

There are many unusual sounds I’ve recorded…inside a beehive, inside an ants nest, underwater creatures, the heartbeat of my unborn daughter, the quiet of the first lockdown...but probably the ones I most enjoy are the enchanting cadences of a large scale aeolian sculpture I created called Howling Wire.

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Sound Walks?

There are many forms a sound walk can take but I enjoy the intimacy of wearing headphones and listening to a recording whilst walking through the landscape. There are so many different ways to transport the listener and create a layered sensory experience.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

Our brain chooses what our eyes look at but our ears are always open. A sound walk directs our listening in a way chosen by the artist whilst we walk through landscape. It can help us experience a place in a new way with layers of sound, music, poetry, interviews, history, fantasy, facts, anecdotes, sound effects. Together these heighten our experience and hopefully create a lasting memory.

Barrovia is rooted in the voices of Barrovians. It is designed to be listened to walking slowly along a specific route, taking time to pause and focus on the place.

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

The High Street Sound Walk for Barrow-in-Furness is produced in association with Full of Noises.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

We caught up with Sandra Kazlauskaite, the sound artist creating the sound walk for Grantham, to find out more about the sound walk, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, Sandra's relationship to the area, what she hopes audiences will experience from doing the sound walk, and much more.

Can you tell us more about your Sound Walk? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

This sound walk is an auditory exploration of Grantham’s High Street narrated through the voices of the local residents and the field recordings collected within the town. Overall, it is a rather abstract, almost cinematic, sonic journey that tells the story of the first female police officer who worked in Grantham, as well as the local people’s memories of first cinemas, Portuguese cafes, the local shopping centre/hotel from the 18th century and the historically famous market.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Sound Walk?

My hope is that the listeners of the sound walk will immerse themselves in the auditory journey and familiarise themselves with the sonic landscape of Grantham High Street - a collection of memories told and retold by different generations.

How long have you been working as a sound artist? How did you begin your career as a sound artist?

I have been working as a sound artist since 2006-2007, producing sound installations and sound performances for galleries and experimental music venues.

Since graduating with a degree in sound and media, I began to develop an interest in field recording practice and the archive, using them both as instruments, and have been producing works that explore political histories and changing landscapes through soundscape composition and audiovisual gallery-based pieces. Memory and collective reflection has always been an important part of my conceptual interrogation.

What is your relationship to Grantham and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

Grantham was a new place for me. I was aware that Grantham was Margaret Thatcher’s birthplace. I anticipated that the piece would revolve primarily around her legacy and stories. Simultaneously, however, it was important for me to ensure that the content of the sound walk would emerge from the local residents. As someone who entered Grantham as an observer, I did not want to steer or shape the people’s stories.

I met with different groups - Grantham Civic Society, Grantham’s Blind Society, Grantham’s Daybreak Centre and Youth Club groups. The conversations and reflections they generously shared became the core sonic material that shaped the project, which was crucial to the process.

What is the most unusual sound or interesting discovery that audiences can expect to hear during the Sound Walk?

I believe the story of PC Edith Smith - the first female police officer to have ever served is a very interesting one.

The local residents’ accounts of the market place, as told by younger and older voices, are fascinating, as they demonstrate some intergenerational links and differences, and their connection to the place.

What is the most unusual sound you have recorded in your career?

The sound of melting glacier in Iceland. It is actually a very powerful, yet devastating sound.

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Sound Walks?

What I enjoy most about sound walks is their ability to transport us to a different place and time. The immersion that sound walks offer is, indeed, special.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

Prepare yourself to be transported and immersed, but be mindful of the road crossings!

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

The High Street Sound Walk for Grantham is produced in association with Emilie Nunn and South Kesteven District Council.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

We caught up with Jez riley French, the sound artist creating the sound walk for Hull, to find out more about the sound walk, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, his relationship to the area, what he hopes audiences will experience from doing the sound walk, and much more.

Can you tell us more about your Sound Walk? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

Breet Velvit Ake is a piece in the tradition of soundwalking as an art form, so it draws on the interplay between narrative and the poetics of place; situated listening, imagination and perception. In terms of the narrative I’ve drawn on elements of the streets history in terms of it’s architecture, including the minerals used from various parts of the world, connections to radical social progress and cultural histories. For example the musical subcultures of the late 70’s, 80’s & 90’s and how the street, and its locale, felt like an edge in the city that we could call ours.

Also the history of a sense of community amongst those asking other questions; around identity, gender and mainstream conventions. 

I’ve used self designed microphones to reveal sounds such as plants drawing moisture through their roots growing from a drainpipe, the sound of the world turning below the street, mineral used in various buildings dissolving, the web of frequencies from store displays and communication systems, and the resonance of civic architectural structures on the street.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Sound Walk?

I hope it will allow the audience to experience the street in a new way, and spend a bit more time there listening, looking up beyond the store fronts and considering how such streets belong to us all & we need to take ownership of them in a wider sense than seeing them as merely commercial sites.

Whitefriargate is short, so the pace of the piece encourages the audience to slow down, to use the street in a different way.

How long have you been working as a sound artist? How did you begin your career as a sound artist?

I’ve been involved in music, mostly experimental music and sound since my early teens, but I also worked in the music industry, in various contexts, up until the late 90’s. I would say that it’s really in the last two decades or so that I have become widely known as a sound artist globally, working extensively with located sound, and especially in terms of expanding the use of extended techniques to reveal sounds normally outside of our range of hearing or attention.

I've had a personal interest in and connection to listening, as an active act, since childhood and this is where my creative drive to work with it also stems from. I can say that it all began with the home my mum created, where she ensured there was quietude when possible, and a celebration of the everyday, the details and things that are sometimes overlooked. From that starting point I went on to explore music and sound in different ways, always with the listening as an important creative process in and of itself; listening is different from hearing. Hearing is a passive sense whereas listening is what happens to what we hear, or sense physically from sound vibrations, as it interacts with us in different ways.

I also lead workshops, lecture and run several projects to explore the subject and part of that is an interest in how cultural histories are shaped and distorted by biases. In that sense being a sound artist also means listening to systems that form around the act and the cultures. It isn't enough to simply work with sound. You have to keep asking questions.

What is your relationship to Hull and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

I was born in Hull and have lived close to it for most of my life so far. The piece is obviously informed by a specific area of the city but in terms of the creative approach more generally I haven’t adapted the approach for ‘Hull’. My approach has been based on an intuitive, creative response to the brief, but with a determination to not assume accessibility means that the local audience needs talking down to or to be presented with a work that makes assumptions about their willingness to listen.

Audiences in the city have proved they are up for whatever the arts has to offer. I ran an experimental music series in the city for several years (seeds & bridges), attracting large audiences even for the most radical artists, and one thing I would hear from audiences then, as I did all the time during 2017 year of culture, was that folks were hungry for things they’d not had the chance to experience before or that challenged them.

So, I hope this walk, whilst being accessible, doesn’t compromise on the creative impulse and gives audiences something sincere and connected to the possibilities of place and of listening in different ways.

What is the most unusual sound or interesting discovery that audiences can expect to hear during the Sound Walk?

I think lots of the sounds I'm drawing from the street that we can’t normally hear will be of interest; the radio fall-out of events in the ionosphere above the street, having one's ears placed inside the roots of yorkshire fog (a species of common grass) or spending some time listening at roofline level to the mews (gulls in dialect).

In terms of the history, personally I think the streets connection to Mary Wollstonecraft is fascinating & needs more research.

What is the most unusual sound you have recorded in your career?

That’s a tricky question as I’m not really a sound collector in that sense. My work is about the intuitive connection to place and durational listening as an experience. I guess others might point to my work exploring the real sounds of plants or the resonance of architectural structures.

I also build microphones that are widely used in film, tv, games & theatre, so some of the sounds in, for example, the Attenborough TV series’ or the sound design in films and games might be regarded as unusual by some - though that’s one of the aspects of my work really, that I’ve been part of a change in how certain approaches have been used and brought from the realm of the experimental into wider areas of sound culture.

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Sound Walks?

Is it ok to say that I refer to soundwalking, in terms of its long history. For me I spend a lot of time actively listening and this means I do so also when walking of course, but as an art form Soundwalking can re-imagine place and play with how we perceive elements. It is a form of art, as much as any other approach and has the potential to spark something in anyone who experiences one.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

I’ll give two answers if that’s ok.

1) just try it. You, the audience, has a role in defining what it is.

2) In terms of this specific soundwalk, basically you can stream the walk on your phone, listening via headphones and the piece will invite you into sounds you won’t have heard before, glimpses of the cultural histories of the street and thoughts on where the street is now and can be going forward. It’s a meander rather than a guided walk and the intention is that folks will spend time walking along the street and nearby but also stopping to pay attention to wherever they want every now and then.

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

The High Street Sound Walk for Hull is produced in association with Absolutely Cultured.

We are working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets in September 2021.

We caught up with Oliver Payne, the sound artist creating the sound walk for Great Yarmouth, to find out more about the sound walk, the key themes, stories and sounds that are being explored, his relationship to the area, what he hopes audiences will experience from doing the sound walk, and much more.

Can you tell us more about your Sound Walk? What are the key themes, stories and sounds that you are exploring?

The walk will take you from the site of the former General Hospital, through the bustling market place to pause briefly in front of Great Yarmouth Minster, before returning back through the market place through the historic Rows. I've spoken to an amazing group of people of all ages and backgrounds. The overwhelming feeling from talking to everyone is that Yarmouth is special to them in some way, whether it's through the sense of community, through its significance as a medieval town or becuase of the growing use of empty retail space for creative - and often radical - community activity.

There is a sense of anxiety about the future of the town, specifically as the market place gets redeveloped at a point in time where retail seems to be steadily declining. Yarmouth is full of surprises and full of stories, within this relatively short project I genuinely feel like I've met such a diverse group of people and know they would all get along if they were in the same room at the same time. I also wanted to give voice to the high street itself, through droning air conditioning units and shop entrance bells, that reflect the changes in the high street in the past half century.

What do you hope audiences will experience from doing the Sound Walk?

I hope that people living in Great Yarmouth might learn something new about their town, perhaps something about its rich built history or about some of the people committed to building a thriving community. I hope that visitors to Yarmouth or those listening from afar will have a better understanding of the place. A broader outcome I would like to achieve is for people to take time to listen, to their environement and to the places they live, and make time to listen as an active process.

How long have you been working as a sound artist?

I've been making experimental music since I was a teenager and was in bands. When I was fairly young I spent a few years making music for Canadian and US television and film. Through experimenting with recording techniques and instrument building I became more interested in sound. I've always been interested in unearthing hidden sounds and using sound as a source to explore other practices such as mark-making, drawing and listening. I have worked for years using digital music production, which still plays a big part in what I do, but I prefer working in the world of mechanical and physical sound making.

What is your relationship to Great Yarmouth and how has this influenced your approach to this project?

As a child we would visit Great Yarmouth in summer, mostly to visit the arcades, Pleasure Beach and Joyland. It felt really exotic and exciting, always so bustling and noisy. Since moving back to Norfolk and having children of my own we spend a lot of time doing the same thing. We like the winter months too, where the town feels almost deserted at points, the beach is cold and still and the lights along the seafront are dimmed. It's a place that always seems to have a hard time - moslty from people that have never visited - but there's something so alluring about the place, it's easier to experience than to put into words.

I'm also a Director of the Yarmouth based festival of sound and new music, YARMONICS which we've been running for four years now. Through the festival I've really been able to get to know the geography of the place, and to explore parts of the town that are rarely frequented. I'm always bowled over when a member of public stumbles across a free improviser performing in the market place for example, and treats it like it's nothing out of the ordinary. People there are very accepting, and perhaps becuase of the towns rich history of circus and outdoor arts, they're not shocked by the unusual.

What is the most unusual sound or interesting discovery that audiences can expect to hear during the Sound Walk?

When visiting some of the many shops on King Street I noticed that many had entrance bells, or the electronic equivalent. I became really interested in the sounds these things were making, and how they reflected the changing nature of the high street, from a tiny brass bell in a sweet shop to the far less tuneful alarm-like tone of the entrance bell in a convenience shop. I've used these sounds as the source for some sound design, which I hope will add texture and melody to the soundwalk.

What is the most unusual sound you have recorded in your career?

Perhaps not the most unusual but something I've recorded recently that I really love, is the sound of my three year old son harmonising with various household appliances. I noticed one day he was chanting in harmony with the vacuum cleaner, and didn't stop for the whole time, so I got out my handheld recorder and recorded it. I then tried it out with an electric whisk and the same thing happened, it's as if he has an urge to accompany any loud droning sound, and is able to really move around the harmonics. I have this urge too, and perhaps we all do, but it was just really wonderful to witness and to record. I don't think I have any need to share the recordings but I'm glad I have them in case he loses interest.

Personally, what do you enjoy most about Sound Walks?

I think any sort of activity that invites you to slow down and to focus on something that you might otherwise overlook is really valuable. I'm part of an organisation that runs a project called Homesounds, which is all about using listening practice as a basis for education and wellbeing. It is really remarkable what can happen if you make more time to listen. Even as someone who practices this I sometimes need to force myself to find a bit of space and open my ears. I love the way that soundwalks can help you learn new and surprising things about places you thought you knew really well.

How would you describe the experience to someone who has never done something like this before?

The word immersive is quite overused in art, especially when it is sound, but a soundwalk is just that; it's surrounding yourself with sound and giving most of your attention to a single sense. To explore a place through listening to it, to the people that live there and to the sounds of the place itself.

High Street Sound Walks are being launched as part of Heritage Open days and will be available from 10 September 2021. For more details on each of the Sound Walks, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

The High Street Sound Walk for Great Yarmouth is produced in association with originalprojects and Norfolk & Norwich Festival.

Sound UK’s new artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we will find out more about the artists on this year’s programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Lori E Allen and Deborah Wale.

Can you tell us about your Sound Generator project? Where did the initial inspiration come from?

Whilst working on our last release for Bloxham Tapes during the onset of the pandemic, like many artists we were exploring the impact that Covid 19 was having on our livelihood.

Though not a new area of reflection for us given Deborah’s work as an addictions’ therapist at HMP Brixton, we were struck by the experience of confinement on both a personal and mass level.

As the media began to vaguely explore the developing mental health crisis set to erupt from the fallout of en masse gen pop lockdown, our thoughts began to focus on the philosophical and socio-political deficit of the penal system as a whole.

We wondered why it is permissive on a societal level to lock people up for extended lengths of time, under a guise of rehabilitation and or payment for breach of social contracts when it is clear that such loss of liberty exacerbates the sense of personal isolation, complex mental health concerns, and addiction struggles experienced in free society.

How has your idea developed during this project so far? And what have you learnt?

Moving forward from our original proposal to examine the practice of locking-down individuals as part and parcel of civil society, our attention began to focus more specifically on the role addiction plays in notions of crime and punishment, social code of conduct, and care of duty in social systems.

Drawing from the work of Anne Wilson Schaefe, we began to explore the link between addiction and society itself in order to begin to understand how the general concept of certain addictions are criminalised while others are not. With an eye toward piercing the societal denial contributing to both addiction and criminality, we naturally turned to Disney.

So we began looking closely at Fantasia, particularly, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice to see what Lucian’s ancient fable The Lover of Lies – adapted by Goethe, referenced by Marx and Engels, and re-told by Hitchcock and Disney (among others) - might conjure up when viewed through the lens of addiction, and more specifically, an addictive system.

Who are the actors? What is the spell? Where is the magic? Who builds and where are the prisons of our daily lives? What is the relationship between fantasy and labour? We began to see that the story of addiction is the story of emotional containment and labour, and emotional containment of labour is the story of an addicted society.

The idea has had to be simplified at this moment. We always knew that the most challenging part of the project was going to be keeping it simple and working to tight deadlines, especially as we are so used to working in a way that is impulsive and meandering.

Given that so much of the foundation in recovery from addiction is keeping it simple, this has in turn provided an additional opportunity to reflect upon the struggle of simply keeping it simple. We are now finalising our storyboard, puppet animating our character and building the background for the setting. Once these elements are in place we will combine with the soundtrack to create a 3 minute trailer to convey the main points.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

I think mostly the opportunity has meant that we needed to focus and be more accountable and organised.

For many of our publications, we have often worked with labels that give us quite open briefs and a lot of control over the work and deadlines, which is wonderful, but not challenging in the way the opportunity to work with Sound UK has been. This programme is teaching us pace.

Who are your key musical influences?

This question is impossible to answer because it really depends on time, place, mood and what is the influence in that moment. There are too many options. For this project we will re-score Paul Dukas’ original piece (the Sorcerer’s Apprentice) with new instrumentation, field recordings, and personal interview.

What are your hopes for the project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

We are most interested in securing funding and support in order for the project to grow. With the current time constraint, we will only be able to make a trailer that should portray the main idea as a taster. However, gaining an opportunity to fully realise the project feels crucial. Right now it really just kind of feels like a toddler.

To find out more about their work, visit their website. We look forward to sharing more information on their Sound Generator project as it develops.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Sound UK’s new artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.

In this series of Spotlight interviews, we will find out more about the artists on this year’s programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.

This week, we talk to Jordan Edge.

Can you tell us about your Sound Generator project? Where did the initial inspiration come from?

My project ‘Non Human Sonic Entities’ for Sound Generator stemmed from me studying sound on a fundamental level, as a material to think with and build upon. This gives it new essence to recreate new sonic philosophies to be experienced in real time.

This comes from the idea of stripping our sonic materialist reality and offering up new sonic possible worlds to be inhabited by us and our multi species hybrid ecosystem, for a progressive aural future.

I want to provide a contemporary perspective into how we can move through and think with sound in our everyday lives to make changes to our hearing perspectives. I want to open up our ears and minds to new worlds and possibilities through sound.

This means creating worlding systems that we might not naturally think with. So I started thinking about how I can make this into an experience that everyone can have and understand on a fundamental level, without having to know about sound.

I'm planning to create an interspecies language and voices within a living sound environment using Artificial Intelligence and language models.

I also plan to recreate large scale versions of insect body parts combined with vocal tracts that make abstract communicative sound. The aim being that we can experience the idea of interspecies kinship, expanding the way we hear and think about sound.

To move towards a more progressive sonic future, we can think similarly to other species when using sound and language to communicate.

This project presents alternative progressive multi-disciplinary futures, genderless worlds, interspecies communication and the architectures of possibility within non-human listening. It is materialised through sonic narrative, sculpture, and CGI.

"Imagined soft sculptures based on human / non-human vocal tracts and the resonant body parts of insects will communicate with you through synthetic, acoustic and digital deconstructions of language giving a voice to the more than human world."

Aural evolutions of communication, aspects of language from the animalistic, synthetically modelled screams, expanded calls and roaring soft materials speak out into space.

The digital environment containing entities will act as generative forms of vocalisation and imagined plant hosts. Visually and sonically based around the abstraction of speaking systems and communication through metaphysical matter.

Non-human listening expands perceptions of interspecies life, and our capacity to travel through fictional realities to create new experiential worlds. It can also expand our understanding of the deep connectivity to the environment and our entangled ecosystem.

How has your idea developed during this project so far? And what have you learnt?

My idea has developed a lot during my time spent on this residency. Speaking to mentors and artists about my plans has generated a broader mindset for myself.

I’m from an artistic background, so having the opportunity to reach out to specialists and people working in science has really progressed my ideas and given me a realistic approach to how other species experience and use sound.

At first I was going to make these sculptures and worlds from research and imagination, but now I'm really understanding how insects use sound to communicate, through their environment and through their bodies and plant hosts. They are very social creatures. This has made me look at the project from a new angle.

"I would like people to experience something close to what an insect or non-human species experiences through sound, in order to create a completely altered reality in which we can inhabit."

Part of my research is to become somewhat non-human and blend the boundaries between species. I sometimes experience moments of complete sonic abstraction, where sound is not tied to anything particularly human, sound as itself, and this makes me think we can build anything upon sound conceptually.

I want to inhabit and create sonic worlds for the ‘more than human’ world. Having this open space to grow and discuss my ideas with artists doing a similar practice gives me an open-mindedness to what is in front of me, everything is mouldable and organically unfolding as the process continues.

What has this opportunity meant to you?

This opportunity has meant a whole lot to me. Realising one of my most ambitious projects would be an incredible achievement for me. The possibility that it could transform, retrain or inspire the perception of listening for a wider public audience is magnificent.

Sound Generator can provide me with a fully functional project that I could show in professional spaces, innovative sound festivals and apply to opportunities with. It can ground me with a conceptual underpinning and new peer relationships to develop throughout my artistic career.

It has created connections between me and many inspirational artists that I wouldn't have had contact with otherwise. I feel like this is a crucial opportunity that is really propelling me forwards with my research and art work.

It has given me a platform to relate to that I can use in the face of other opportunities, and push my practice towards sustainability as a full-time artist.

Learning from my mentors will be important for me to continue to make work, these skills and conversations will be used throughout my creative practice and contribute to the way I experience the world.

Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?

Sound Generator has given me the time, funding and drive to focus on one project. Without this I would still slowly be working towards this, but given the opportunity I can now spend more time and funds on making this a reality.

The main thing I will gain from this experience is the programme's amazing offer to fund mentorship for the project and for myself. Picking the people I speak to is very specific, and contributes in so many different ways to a project.

Having the freedom to contact artists with a well-known organisation in the sound arts community is amazing and opens up so many doors to new and interesting people.

My creative practice has developed from speaking to these mentors, and will go on to shape my mind and project as I move through this research and development phase that Sound UK has kindly gifted me.

"Its specificity within the sound arts is great for me, as it seems this opportunity is one of the few for sound artists working in the UK."

What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?

I always keep my ears open to a broad range of sounds and genres, anything from insect environments to experimental jazz, choral music, black metal, anything that crosses boundaries, emotions, intensities or scientific research. 

Recently I've been listening to some of PAN’s new releases such as Pan Daijings LET and Aaron Cupples ghost.

One of my favorite labels is Subtext, they always provide an interesting listen at such high quality and sonic detail. James Ginzberg's new album is beautiful.

I really like sounds that lift me into another universe, traversing the body, providing other sonic worlds to enter and gain a new perspective from. Opal Tapes, which I have released with, are always pushing out incredible experimental music, by great artists that I haven't ever been introduced to before. Stephen Bishop is ruthless and puts out what he wants, for the music, for the ears only, and I respect this a lot.

What are your hopes for the project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?

I would like the project to be at the stage where I can approach gallery spaces and site specific festival spaces working in sound arts.

My initial thoughts were to house this project in a physical gallery space like Chisenhale Gallery or somewhere smaller (Gossamer Fog) with a similar type of curatorial catalogue.

I really think this work would be viewed and shaped well by a gallery like Chisenhale, as they have a research and process based approach to their curation, like Ghislaine Leung’s Partners.

I would also make a digital version, based on a web platform for open source, free access, hosted between a variety of social media platforms to make it accessible to all individuals as a game environment / virtual show and a physical one when it arises.

After this 6 month residency I should have the bones of a multidisciplinary art installation to present in spaces. Or near enough, so it will be a matter of getting it out into the world with more funding to realise a full space accompanying the sculptures, sound environments and VR game.

I would like to completely transform a space to become a tailored environment that this work sits in.

Visit Jordan Edge's website to find out more about their work. We look forward to sharing more information on their Sound Generator project as it develops.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We worked with acclaimed pianist and composer Sarah Nicolls’ in 2020 on 12 Years, her new Inside-Out Piano project, inspired by the 2018 IPCC Special report that said we had just 12 years to radically change our behaviour to save the planet.

Continuing our interview series, celebrating 20 Artists for 20 Years, Polly recently caught up with Sarah for a chat over the new café table that is Zoom.

Polly: Tell us about your experience of delivering ‘12 Years’ during the pandemic?

Sarah: So it was quite an unusual year last year, wasn't it? We were about to embark on our 12 Years 2020 tour and suddenly we’re dealing with the pandemic.

I think the tour was originally going to happen around the 18th March and it was around the 16th March that things started collapsing. And I remember we were having conversations like, will the gig happen tomorrow? Will the gig happen on Saturday? I think we basically jumped straight into it. And I made a film of the show and we got it out there. And you were great. You just went with me. We just sort of thought, right. The show must go on. We’ll do it.

And then I think in around May, we felt that it was just getting too hard for venues. Staff were going on furlough. It was really becoming very difficult for venues, as it still is. And we collectively had the courage to say, yeah, let's do a digital tour. Let's pull that together in a completely different form. And in the October, it was great. We had 12 dates coinciding with the second anniversary of the IPCC report.

The title of 12 Years comes from the IPCC report, which actually came out in 2018 telling us we had 12 years to halve emissions. I'd actually already revised the piece for 2020. So now it was not 12 years, but 10 years. But the interesting thing about having to revise it for the tour was, of course, once the tour dissolved into the pandemic, we then had to revise it again. But this time all the characters had to mention lockdown and COVID. And so there was actually three revisions that went on with the piece.

But the piece, I feel stood up to those. And what was brilliant was that Sound UK was able to go with me on the journey of quick - how do you make a digital tour?

Polly: How did you manage to feel a connection with your audience while delivering online?

Sarah: We had all the climate scientists on the Q&A's. And I feel like we kept hold of a sense of place so that even though the gigs were digital, what we were able to do was connect people. For example, with the Exeter audiences, we were talking about Exeter and how it is there, what are the local issues and the same in Bristol and all the different places that we were hosting talks in.

It was amazing. Watching Richard Betts, who's the Head of Climate Impact at the Met office, talking with an Extinction Rebellion protester from Exeter, an older lady who had actually gone out and sat on the road and been arrested. He’d been called as an expert witness in a similar court case, to comment on whether these protests were saving lives. And Richard Betts had to concur that actually she was saving lives because the situation is so serious. That was kind of extraordinary, just watching those people meet and talk from really different ends of the spectrum.

For a lot of protesters, there's a kind of intuitive response to the science, I mean, for me, 12 Years was a kind of personal emergency response. It’s like wow, we’ve really got to do something. And then somebody like Richard, who's been researching his whole life and has dedicated his entire work to learning more about it. It's fascinating to see those two things coming together in a Q&A after a show.

I think what the show did was to open up that space and to open up the kind of emotional journey for people to feel like they could be honest and ask questions. I mean, I felt in a lot of the Q&As, the audience were able to use those expert climate scientists to ask, what should we do? What's happening? And they became almost quite therapeutic spaces.

Certainly for me, I think what's important about doing digital work is to create that sense of connection live in the moment. So that after the show - and we did go for a film show, because I think we felt that sound and film wise, you could create something better than attempting a live stream - but that afterwards we come together with the Q&A and talk to each other in the moment and exist there together at that moment. So I think we did a good job and thank you very much for supporting me through that.
We had so many conversations, didn't we, about what to do. And I feel like by committing to our decision, we did the right thing.

Polly: Yes definitely. I think it was interesting, we were going out into a no man's land, how are we going to do this? But actually, by lots of discussion and shared ideas and thinking and then more discussions, I think we got to the very best possible point. And actually, a lot of really interesting things have happened that may not have happened. And people that may not have managed to get to gigs could attend. So that was another thing. The audience reach became far wider.

How did you feel about working with Sound UK for the first time?

Sarah: In terms of what sound UK was able to do, obviously, all of the production, but also the press, was outstanding. Maija got some astonishing press. I was really humbled and quite proud as well, if you can be those at the same time! To be one of the Guardian’s top pic selections. It was London Jazz Festival, the Royal Ballet Season, something else and Sarah Nicolls, 12 Years – for me, alongside all these enormous institutions. That was brilliant to feel that recognition for a piece that is challenging. I am positing a challenge to the audience with the piece.

Polly: In a way that works as a piece of art. It’s that wonderful thing that it’s fantastic music, it’s beautiful, it’s poignant and it’s a whole gamut of human emotion, which is what all artists are striving towards.

Sarah: And certainly what music can afford an issue like that where you can actually take an audience by the hand and go through those different emotional states. That’s what feels really powerful to me about making music shows about climate change and about the biodiversity loss and so on. That actually you can journey together through that. Rather than having to create a picture that says it all.

Polly: Did delivering the project during the extreme circumstances have any impact on your artistic practice? If so what / how? What might you take forward for the future?

Sarah: I think what has been amazing as well is how I’ve taken the learning from ’12 Years’ and straight away applied it instantly to the next show. ‘Ballad of a Changing World’ is my show with cellist Maja Bugge and we’re talking with two scientists, 1 in Newcastle (where I’m from) and 1 in the very north of Norway (where Maja’s from) and it’s about Kittiwakes (a seabird species) moving into cities.

Kittiwakes are an indicator of ocean warming and increased summer storms. They are moving into the cities because they can’t survive out at sea anymore. There is this very interesting problem where people think that there must be too many Kittiwakes because they’re in their city but actually it’s just because the species are moving in land from their natural habitats.

Through this story we managed to make a show while I stayed in Stroud and Maja stayed in Lancaster. We worked out how to do remote duo improvising, which was quite a feat in itself – through various different methods, recording and using live improv software. And then we’ve actually taken the things that I learnt from the Q&A of 12 Years, and we’ve brought that into the show.

So the scientists are in the show now and they’re talking with us. Hopefully we’ve done the same sort of weaving through a story and it’s a digital show – it’s a film. I edited it so that was a pretty massive learning curve – and now we have a beautiful film that has been played in Norway and was at Cheltenham Festival on 7th July. Again we were able to create a high quality film followed by a live Q&A.

Polly: And what else have you got coming up later on this year?

Sarah: Well I’ve also been creating an opera. I’m on stage with the singer. It’s small scale, but the inside out piano is the set, which will be quite fun. It’s about a lady in an asylum, who left her life story stitched into samplers that still exist today. The show is asking ‘why did this woman get locked up? Was she fairly treated?’ That is going to be at Tête à Tête in August to a tiny audience. You can find more details here.

And I’m going to be doing 12 Years at Dartington, so that will now be 9 years at Dartington and then hopefully a rerun of ‘Belonging Here’ – which is a big piece that I did while I was on the Oxford Contemporary Music scheme at the Ashmolean Museum. It’s a big interactive work – up to 3,000 people can answer questions while we play music and project their answers.

Gigs are coming back – it’s an interesting time – but I think we should hold on to what we’ve learnt really strongly and also think about people who can’t get to gigs and how do we support both. As creative people we can totally run with this and there’s many benefits – environmental benefits, changes to ways of touring. Somebody said recently to me that we’ve completely disrupted the model and it’s up to us to put it back together how we feel it should be put back together.

I feel like it’s a huge opportunity for us to think about all of the crises facing the world and to find solutions that cover everything. It’s exciting to me that we can do that. We’re in a place of privilege I suppose that in our creative jobs we can find new ways of doing stuff. I’m sure that in the next 20 years Sound UK will continue innovating in the same way it has been.

Polly: Well you’ll certainly be part of our story in rechanging our model.

Sarah: We were together during the trauma year of COVID-19! I felt very supported, so thank you! And it was great that we were able to change our course, as Sound UK were agile enough to say, let’s do this. Creative, agile and willing to take risks.

COVID and climate change - they’re both universal problems – and in a way it’s time for us as a society to grow up and to say, yes, we are one world, find the solutions, and say this is what we need to do. Hopefully there’s been a maturing in our basic approach to solving problems together.

I would encourage people to listen to my podcast with Richard Betts – it’s only about half an hour. At the end I ask him what he would do with a 1-minute prime time TV advert and I really like what he says. People can listen if they are interested here. And 12 Years is actually online now – if you’d like to watch it you can do so here.

Visit Sarah Nicolls' website to find out more about her work.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We worked with leading sound artist Martyn Ware (Heaven 17 / Illustrious / original Human League) in 2015 on our project ‘What Does the Sea Say?’.

As part of our 20th birthday year, celebrating 20 Artists for 20 Years, Majia recently caught up with Martyn for an interview over the new café table that is Zoom.

What’s been keeping you busy lately?

So many things. We’ve just submitted an application to do a huge soundscape at the Tower of London in 2022 – a celebration of the Queen’s 70th anniversary of succession to the throne. I won’t find out if I’ve got that for a couple of weeks yet, but I’m very excited about that.

I’m doing other soundscape work and I’m teaching in commercial music production, working with my students who are developing their careers and producing some of their stuff. I’ve sold my family home that I’ve been in for 30 years and I’m going to be buying a place in Venice. Everything’s changing which is good – I like change.

Hopefully we’ll be able to start performing live with Heaven 17 soon – that’s all coming up in the second half of this year, and the first half of next year. We’ve got loads of gigs lined up!

You’ve created some incredible projects with sound, from the Venice Biennale to the project we produced with you touring a beach hut around the UK. What do you think is so special about sound as an art form and its ability to engage people?

Sound appeals to a less mediated appreciation of art – it’s experiential. You don’t need any prior knowledge to respond to a piece of sound or music. And we’re doing it all the time. Whether we record it or not, our brain works at a very deep level to analyse the sound world around us.

We can beautify the world around us, particularly using immersive sound technologies, which trigger a sense of reality in people. We can create magic. I’ve now realised, my entire 40-year career in the music industry, in essence, boils down to creating magic. The less you know about the techniques involved, the more magical it appears.

You’ve been at the vanguard of pop music and sound art, what do you think they can learn from each other?

If you had asked me this question before I started Illustrious I would have said the two worlds are quite separate. But when I started taking stock of my career around 2000 when I formed Illustrious, I realised I was always interested in sound art but I’d just positioned it in a pop music framework. For example, when we started the Human League it was a mixture of esoteric and commercial influences, and that is what interests me. That space that appeals to people on a very popular level and how you can subvert that by doing things that are really imaginative and daring within that framework. Likewise, if you’re doing something that’s quite esoteric at its core, you can leverage the popular appreciation of music within that framework as well. That has guided my career to a large extent. Say for instance, I am producing a very popular artist like Tina Turner, there’s a limit to how much avantgarde you can get into that, but it can be used as a seasoning.

I work in that spectrum – between completely bonkers and really straightforward pop music. Although, saying that, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that’s completely straight forward. I don’t see the sound art world being separate – if you see it as a couple of Venn diagrams I think they overlap by about 80% for me.

Do you have any special memories of ‘the beach hut’ project you did with Sound UK, What does the Sea Say?

Firstly, it was a really special project as a creator. I think it was special because it was aimed at everyone. It is to do with passers-by, dogs, kids, old people. I’m very much into sonic muralism. Muralism I’ve always loved because it’s art for the people, not art for galleries. And I’ve always felt that is where sound art works best – in the public realm.

Originally I was going to go around and record people but the fact that you’re thrusting a microphone into people’s faces changes the responses, so I thought why not take the artist out of it. Just leave it completely unmediated. Hence we had the automatic recording and no invigilation.

Honestly I think it’s one of the most interesting ideas I’ve worked on, whether or not it’s a beach hut, it could have been any form, but there’s something very magical about the beach hut.

As an iconic artist across sound and music and principal of Tileyard education, what advice would you give to sound artists starting out today?

Believe in yourself, believe in your art, be an artist. Think like an artist. Don’t think you’re failing all the time. Everybody fails, I fail on a weekly basis on various things and you have to ride disappointments.

I often say to students, the important thing is to have an interesting idea, and then you’re pretty likely to be able to find a methodology of making it real nowadays. We are in a phase where the means of production is in the hand of the artist. Most people have laptops and you can create amazing sound art works on a laptop.

Do you think the pandemic has changed our relationship with sound and music?

I think people probably appreciate it more because they’ve had more time to spend with their passions – anything that is delivered online - going down rabbit holes on YouTube or Spotify. A lot of people have got into audio books and podcasts. I think people are more willing to listen to a variety of different things. I think people have become even more eclectic in their tastes.

As part of our response to the pandemic we are creating a music map of the UK, commissioning artists to celebrate communities and asking the public to share tracks that have special meaning for this time. What track would you share on the music map and why?

I have always loved the idea of creating a soundtrack to your life as you walk around, so I wouldn’t link it necessarily to one location but what has accompanied me a lot during my lockdown walks – strangely enough - is Renaissance and Baroque music. Things like Thomas Tallis and John Dowland – I’ve been digging deeper into the DNA of why I like certain types of music and I’ve found I really like Baroque music so it must be somewhere down there in my ancestral memory somewhere.

If I had to choose one, I would say Henry Purcell When I am Laid in Earth. I defy anybody who has a soul not to have a tear in their eye by the end of that song. It is the most beautiful lyric and music – and I would attach that to my walks in Regents Park.

What are your hopes for music and its audiences in a post pandemic world?

That people take their large scale consumption of music during lockdown and go and see performances live. I’d also urge people who aren’t really familiar with classical music or chamber music to try that out because it personally gives me a huge amount of pleasure. Not to regard it as a class orientated thing and just go and appreciate the music. In terms of new music, I’d like to hope that new forms will emerge from the greater consumption of different types of music – more hybrids. I also urge people to support artists as they are really struggling at the moment.

To find out more about Martyn’s work, visit his Illustrious Company website and follow him on Twitter. And do check out Martyn's fantastic podcast series, Electronically Yours.

To be the first to read our latest artist interviews, news and projects, join Sound UK's mailing list and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We are delighted to be working with Historic England and the National Trust to launch a series of self-guided, immersive sound walks to help people discover the magic of their local high streets.

We are producing new Sound Walks for six High Street Heritage Action Zones across England during Heritage Open Days, from 10-19 September 2021.

Each sound walk will be a distinctive, immersive soundscape to take listeners on a journey of discovery. They will bring hidden histories and stories to life, helping people to see their high street in a new light. Listeners will take a self-guided route, supported by an illustrated map. The walks will encourage people to slow down, pause and reflect, and to experience their environment in a new way.

Sound artists will work with communities to collect stories so that each sound walk is informed by and represents authentic local voices and experiences. These works will connect listeners with the people, past and present, that have made their high street what it is today, transforming the everyday into something magical.

The six sound walks will be launched as part of Heritage Open Days and will be available online and in accessible formats.

Locations and Artists

Redruth
Annamaria Murphy, Sue Hill and Ciaran Clarke will explore layers of time to unlock the fascinating strata of sound, voice and story within the high street. Produced in association with Carn to Cove.

Reading
Aundre Goddard and Richard Bentley’s engaging sound walk combines music, audio drama and outdoor museum spaces. Produced in association with CultureMix, Readipop and Reading Borough Council.

Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth is a place of contrast and diversity, and nowhere is this more apparent than on its high street. Oliver Payne’s sound walk aims to capture the charm of this enigmatic place. Produced in association with originalprojects and Norfolk & Norwich Festival.

Grantham
Sandra Kazlauskaite will incorporate a collage of aural histories, archives and local residents’ memories to tell a story about the histories of the high street. Produced in association with Emilie Nunn and South Kesteven District Council.

Barrow
Dan Fox will embrace the diversity of people in Barrow. Listeners will explore the landmarks of work and play on the high street including iconic shops, businesses and the clubs of Cornwallis Street, alongside civic events like cycle races, and the centenary of the town hall. Produced in association with Full of Noises.

Hull
Jez riley French’s sound walk explores the complex social, caultural and physical history of the street, combined with it's fascinating but often hidden, overlooked or usually inaudible sounds. Produced in association with Absolutely Cultured.

We will share more details on each Sound Walk, the composers and the partners involved over the coming months.

For more details, visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/SoundWalks

High Street Sound Walks is a commission by Historic England, National Trust and Heritage Open Days with support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and produced by Sound UK. It is part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme, led by Historic England.

Working with Gavin Bryars is something of a dream come true. His recording of The Sinking of The Titanic in a French water tower came out around the time I had my first job after Uni. It’s got to be one of my all-time favourite recordings and left a lasting impression on me about how music and its context can transport the listener. I spoke to Gavin recently about his work including his new Sound UK and Junction, Goole commission Above Water. - Maija

Where do the two Sound UK commissions The Stopping Train and Above Water sit amongst your incredible breadth of artistic work?

I think they’re quite special. It brought me back to my hometown. Working on The Stopping Train was a project that brought me back to a place that I love. I had been back occasionally to visit family and for the football, but not very much. That project gave me a reason to go back there and think about the place a little bit and what it means. I have very fond memories of my life in Goole. I lived there uninterrupted until I went to University in Sheffield aged 18.

There’s a strangeness to the place, it’s completely flat, but there’s a very powerful central image of the river which really everything in Goole relates to. It has this powerful physical location which I am very fond of. Working on The Stopping Train and Above Water were very important pieces for me. Two of the most personal. They have a very special place in my output.

You’ve talked about your inspiration behind Above Water being your home town Goole and the late Eric Lawton, is there anything else that inspired the piece?

Oh lots. There’s lots of things about Goole that inspired it. Eric died a year ago, so I wanted to remember him as he epitomises the goodness of the people of Goole. There are the places I knew as a child. We lived next to the river and my dad kept goats. It was very homely. The docks where we used to play. All those spaces are very evocative to me. In a way I always feel that when I come back to visit Goole Town everything comes together there because Goole Town just hasn’t changed at all. It has a wonderful name for the football ground. It’s called the Victoria Pleasure Ground. That has the real feeling of Goole. Just the whole feeling of the place. For me Goole is special as it has a deep personal history.

You’ve written the song for local groups, Reads Warblers and Armthorpe Elmfield Brass Band. How did that inform the song?

I was aware that they were amateur musicians. In fact, brass band players from South Yorkshire and East Yorkshire are as good as professional players. They are fantastic players. The brass band world has its social context in the mining communities. The mines are only about 10 miles from Goole. One of my first jobs was in a working men’s club which was run by miners. That culture is very strong.

I knew that the singers were amateurs and most don’t read music. The way in which they perform, and their background and the kind of music that they know and would be able to sing helped to informed me. It’s a communal thing where everyone is helping each other. Everything was done in in discussion with Reads Warblers and Armthorpe Elmfield Brass Band.

Any lasting memories or impact on your practice?

There were things I learnt about the kind of ways in which you work together with people, the collaborations and the network of people involved. There were a lot of special connections such as meeting Terrence Smith for the first time – the youngest mayor in the country - 19 years old. He’s someone who personifies the character of Goole. A positive wholehearted person devoted to working for people there.

We’ve just launched an artist R&D programme, how important is it to support artists through R&D and commissioning?

I think it’s vital. I came through the hard way where I didn’t have that. I developed music by being a player. I studied music by writing it, so I learned on the job. In those days, we had no support of any kind. I think my development would have been a lot faster if I’d had support earlier on. But if you keep your feet on the ground, an open mind and a warm spirit you’ll go a long way.

You have the most amazing career. Is there anything that stands out for you that you are particularly proud of?

I don’t really take a lot of pride in any of it really. I would never push myself forward and say this is great. In fact, I remember working with my ensemble and after a new piece I’d say ‘Ahh I don’t want to do this one again’ and they would encourage and say ‘no, we like it we want to do it again’ but I had to be persuaded.

There are some pieces like Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet which is a very early piece. I’ve grown to respect this piece more and more. To do it in different contexts and realise what it can mean to many people. I’ve done it hundreds of times, and every time I start playing it and that voice starts unaccompanied I’m still touched by it. It’s 50 years since I first heard that voice and it still touches me.

I think a recent piece Native Hill ultimately meant a lot more to me than any others. It was a very big piece, about an hour long, 24 voices, very complicated. And it the middle of writing the whole thing my daughter’s partner died suddenly in the middle of the night while my daughter was 5 months pregnant. The day I finished this piece was the day the baby was born. The recording came out April 9th 2021. It has a lot of resonance.

I see them all as pretty much equal though. Some are larger scale, some involve more work, more research sometimes. Some take me to areas where I’m unfamiliar like Above Water and The Stopping Train.

Apart from this new recording, what are your other plans for 2021?

I do have a concert in Cambridge in July and some things later in the autumn. I have projects and commissions to write and will have some more ballets next year. Things will go on. Oddly enough after more than a year at home I have two concerts in June on the other side of the world - when I conduct in Tasmania!!!

What are your hopes for music and its audiences in a post pandemic world?

I don’t think anything will be the same again. I think there’s a greater respect for human fragility and greater discretion and care in the things you do. I think travelling less will become more of the norm. I think I would feel slightly uncomfortable travelling too much, I think I would cut that down like a lot of other people will do.

A Song for East Riding, Above Water by Gavin Bryars is now live. Listen here

Sound UK's new artist development programme, Sound Generator, reveals its first artists.

Following an open call, a panel of judges, including leading figures across music, chose six artists at the forefront of sound and music.

Each artist is in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the next six months, they will be supported by a range of professionals to develop an innovative idea ready for showcasing to the industry. These range from sonic sculptures to opera exploring racism against Chinese communities. DJ/turntablism to a multi-sensory installation inspired by our environment.

The aim? Exciting new work for you to discover in the future.

MEET THE SOUND GENERATOR 2021 ARTISTS:

Natalie Sharp is at the forefront of what The Quietus described as ’New Weird Britain’: “a new wave of underground musicians, creating immersive worlds for their audiences to participate in.”

Jordan Edge works at the intersection of experience design, sound art and fictional worlds.

Alex Ho is an award-winning British-Chinese composer and co-director of Tangram, an artist collective celebrating the vitality of Chinese cultures.

NikNak is devoted to developing her distinctive practice as a DJ & Turntablist, sound artist/composer.

Lori E Allen and Deborah Wale are inter-disciplinary artists working in soundscape, performance, spoken word, experimental composition, illustration and printing.

Chisara Agor is an inter-disciplinary artist whose work spans music, theatre, film and art.

Find out more

Sound Generator is funded by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation. Sound UK is delighted to announce it is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL.

A nationwide project marking this historic time, A Song for Us celebrates our communities and the power of music to bring us together. This Is The Kit & Bucky (Bristol), Seth Lakeman (Devon), Skinny Pelembe (South Yorkshire) and Gwenno (Cornwall) have written new songs inspired by the people of their county.

Performed by local choirs and musicians, the first four new songs are live now to watch at asongforus.org, marking the first anniversary of lockdown 1. Gavin Bryars’ song for East Riding will premiere in April, and thanks to funding from Arts Council England, a further ten new songs will premiere throughout the year until March 2022.

FIRST FOUR COUNTY SONGS

WATCH HERE

A Song for Cornwall - Meur ras dhia Gernow (Thank you from Kernow) by Gwenno. Performed by Kernow Bedroom Choir and singers from across Cornwall.

A Song for Devon - How We Remember by Seth Lakeman.
Performed by Seth and singers from across Devon, including Wren Music’s choirs and Barnstaple Community Choir

A Song for Bristol - Trousers Optional by This is The Kit & Bucky
Performed by This is The Kit, Bucky and The Fantasy Orchestra

A Song for South Yorkshire – Field Notes #2 by Skinny Pelembe
Performed by Rainbow Connection and The Doncaster Youth Swing Orchestra

THANK YOU! We have had over 200 original songs and tracks added to the music map. It's really wonderful listening to your choices and discovering what these songs mean to you. Take some time out and listen to the uplifting and moving musical time capsule here.

#ASongForUs #LetsCreate

Image credit: A Song for South Yorkshire, Rainbow Connection and Doncaster Youth Swing Orchestra

Arve Henriksen, was one of the first artists Sound UK worked with and I think we’ve done at least 11 projects with him. We caught up over the new café table that is Zoom…

Polly: I can remember my first encounter with the Norwegian scene, you were the first Norwegian artist I encountered, well you and Thomas Stronen, Mats Eilertsen in Iain Ballamy’s Food. Your sound completely blew me away, and the way you, Thomas and Mats interacted was just so different to any of the jazz I’d heard. I know so many of your peers came out of Trondheim.

Arve: I was in Trondheim for four years. I’d trained to be a teacher and I was teaching, leading projects. But in Trondheim I found all these band projects which I could slot into. Collaborations with Ståle Storløkken, Jarle Vespestad, Trygve Seim etc, but also meeting people from outside the conservatory like Iain Ballamy who wrote these amazing compositions which I could come in, we’d improvise, then a tune would come in. A fantastic collaboration between composition and improvisation skills.

Polly: The tour with Food and Farmers Market was a massive jumping off point for me. After that tour, the Norwegian Embassy sent me to Molde Jazz Festival where you were playing with Supersilent. I couldn’t believe what I heard there. It was so exciting I remember hardly sleeping I was buzzing so much. You were an artist I really wanted to work with. And not only you, but there were so many exciting artists and bands, I realised we’d have to put on several tours, and even a festival to do any kind of justice to the scene.

Arve: I really remember that «Midnight Sun» tour with Supersilent in 2003 on a triple bill with singer Sidsel Endresen and electronics / DJ Strangefruit. It was such an intense tour. I remember playing in Belfast where the audience were pretty raucous. We were playing really loudly, trying to play over them. Then I just thought ok, I can’t handle this, I have to take a risk here. So I got up on a bar stool, and incredibly quietly, started to sing acoustically. Slowly but surely, the crowd were settled down.

Then there was the Supersilent gig at 93 Feet East, as part of Fertilizer (Good Sh*t from Norway). We were really going for it, coming to the end. We’re really building up, Jarle Vespestad’s double kick drum powering us, and it’s incredibly intense and as we hit the first beat of a bar, the security guard has decided we’ve hit curfew and pulled the mains from the whole PA! At least he had good timing...

Anyway, a very inspiring tour and fantastic to be able to perform together with creative searching artists meeting an audience hungry for this type of music. 

What has it meant to have Sound UK’s support?

Arve: I didn’t know much about the British scene when I first came over. Loved the album Django Bates and Sidsel Endresen ‘So I write’, and I knew Bill Bruford’s ‘Earth Works’. Looking back on it now, every time I came over - organised by you – we just had such a fantastic response. If you google my name, the reviews that come up, so many are from the UK. I have never achieved such a response as I got in the UK. It has to be the number one country. And that has to do with the music and the scene, but because of Sound UK, for the tours and festivals you organised.

How important do you think supporting artists, commissioning is etc?

It’s so important, now, it’s the only way for me to make new projects happen. The movement over to streaming has decimated artists’ income. I have 100’s of thousands of listeners on Spotify. But my income compared to royalties from CDs, is about 10% of what it was before streaming. If each of my listeners just paid 1 NOK to me, I could just work on so many projects. Instead, I have to now spend the time applying for funding to try and make these projects happen.

What have you been up to these last few years?

Well actually something not music based...I’m working with a writer on a book project, about a painter Rolv Muri who was born 100 years ago this year, in my home village Stryn. Even some of the locals don’t know about him. I remember seeing him cycling around the village, a little worse for wear on the beer. He was just known as this weird character. I think this is part of the danger of staying in a small-town environment and at the same time be an artist working with some kind of abstract art. I really like working on something local, whilst still connecting internationally.

But musically, as you know, I’ve worked a lot with Trio Mediaeval for several years, still playing with Supersilent, collaborations with Jan Bang, Eivind Aarset and Erik Honoré in the Punkt concept, being a member of Sinikka Langeland ́s Star Flowers, collaborations with different artists such as Fennesz, David Kollar, Harmen Fraanje, Peter Schwalm, Jakob Bro, Janne Mark, Jan Heinke and Demian Kappenstein among others. And this last year in lockdown I’ve been really busy with loads of recording projects on, about 7 or 8 different albums for other people.

At the moment I’m working now and then at the Music Academy in Gothenburg, tutoring trumpet players and others with focus on improvisation.

What are your plans for 2021 and beyond?

I have a few albums due out in 2021. The latest album «Walhalla Hotel» was released on my own label Arve Music and is now available on the Bandcamp platform. Concerts with Tord Gustavsen, festival collaborations coming up with Karin Nakagawa, Eirik Raude, some concerts with Jakob Bro and Jorge Rossy commission music together with Sigurd Hole and The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Pekka Kuusisto, concerts and releases with Supersilent and more. I definitely hope to be back in the UK before too long.

arvemusic.com

Image credit: Places of Worship, Arve Henriksen

Help create a music map of the country

A Song for Us is a national music project that celebrates our communities during the pandemic. Can you help create a music map of the country to mark this time?

Share a track that has special meaning and add it to the music map online at asongforus.org.

Everyone can be creative. Budding songwriters, this is an opportunity to share your creativity by making your own song about this period. Add it to the music map online at asongforus.org.

From 23 March, new songs celebrating our communities by leading songwriters and composers will also premiere online at asongforus.org. These include Gavin Bryars, Skinny Pelembe, Seth Lakeman, This Is The Kit & Bucky and Gwenno.

A Song for Us was picked as one of Daily Telegraph’s Hot 100 to look forward to in 2021.

#ASongForUs #LetsCreate

Submit your track or song

Elaine Mitchener is an experimental vocalist, movement artist and composer. Her work encompasses improvisation, contemporary music theatre and performance art. She has worked and performed with a truly mind-blowing range of leading musicians, composers, directors and visual artists. From Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa), Mark Padmore, Tansy Davies, to Christian Marclay and Apartment House.

We were privileged to work with Elaine on two projects that explored the fascinating world of music as art. Graphic Scores toured in 2013 and Tom Phillips RA’s sell-out Irma at South London Gallery, 2017.

Maija and Elaine caught up over zoom just before the end of 2020 to both look back and forward…

MH – lets start by looking back at Graphic Scores and Irma.

EM – Graphic Scores was a really wonderful project for me to be involved in. To work with people who I hadn’t worked with before but whose work I knew and respected.

The Graphic Scores tour presented me in front of different audiences as I’d been known primarily on the free-improv circuit (an excellent training ground for me). This project, along with performing Christian Marclay’s Manga Scroll and David Toop’s Star-Shaped Biscuit for Aldeburgh Festival, provided a platform into UK contemporary new music.

Irma was an incredibly quick turnaround and a roller-coaster ride (thanks Anton / Netia!!) with an incredible creative team and ensemble. Somehow we pulled it off (because we’re Pros!) and it was a really lovely project to participate in. I enjoyed working with the vocal quartet from EXAUDI also Josephine Stephenson who was great. We were all challenged in a good way.

I can’t quite believe it happened with three sold out performances and a waiting list for returns. Incredible!

MH – have either of these projects had any impact on your artistic practice?

EM - Being a team player. I love that. They also steered me to further develop my interests as a vocalist. For example, the experience of Graphic Scores helped with my interpretation of the score for Irma. I like to view performance experiences as building blocks.

The Graphic Scores tour, was very important in terms of physically managing on the road with a bunch of guys (who were delightful).

Because of my experience of promoting artists I do appreciate what you and Polly do in order to make things happen. You do it with such good humour and professionalism. I also appreciate a good tour manager – shout out to Tim Hand!

I want to say that Sound UK sounds bigger than it is. What I mean is I know that you don’t have a huge work force. So for your output, which is considerable and always of such a high standard, it’s fantastic what you’ve achieved and the opportunities you’ve provided for artists over the last 20 years.

MH - In between Irma and Graphic Scores, you’ve achieved amazing things, your own projects and others like Tansy Davies’ London Sinfonietta commission Cave which was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

EM - Thank you. Tansy was really interested in my work as an improvisor. She wanted to explore that as a composer and Mark Padmore wanted to do something contemporary. Cave was such fun to do and I loved working with Mark, Lucy Bailey, Nick Drake (librettist) and the London Sinfonietta conducted by Geoffrey Patterson.

Tansy’s music is complex and absorbing and inhabits a strange wonderful harmonic palette that’s familiar/unfamiliar coupkedd with tricky rhythms. She makes you work hard but luckily she understands my voice and writes beautifully for it. It was great to work with her again as one of the composer’s I commissioned for the Donaueschinger Musiktage project, On Being Human as Praxis, premiered in Oct 2020.

This was a project I conceived that commissioned five composers (Afro-diasporic and European) to write a piece for me, ensemble and two dancers. It was choreographed by Vietnamese-American choreographer Dam Van Huynh who I’ve worked with for 15 years. Due to corona they cancelled the project on the first day of rehearsals which was really tough. Not having been able to meet much before this, and for that to happen, summed up the experience of the pandemic for me. That said, we performed in camera and the work was broadcast on SWR and filmed.

My project Sweet Tooth (2017) is an important break out piece for me. It premiered in Liverpool (with a Radio 3 broadcast), with performances in London, Southampton, SPILL Festival Ipswich, and Museum of London Docklands, (where the statue was finally removed), it has gone to Borealis Festival, Bergen (March 2020) and hopefully in 2021 to Copenhagen. The video of the London premiere has been viewed quite a lot so the investment and support from visual arts commissioners has really paid off.
I’ve recently presented work for Marina Abramovic’s SkyArts takeover and it was bit surreal having a ‘normal’ conversation with her following an intense performance. I also compiled two programmes for BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show pre-and post Xmas specials (though the music’s not seasonal at all!) and created a short film for LCMF x Whitechapel Gallery’s online festival. It meant Oct-Dec was more active than I expected it to be given the situation for artists right now. I am thankful for the opportunities afforded me.

MH - You’re one of the judges on Sound UK’s new R&D programme Sound Generator, how important is it for artists to be able to test and try out new creative ideas?

EM - I think it’s vital. That’s the thing that’s been cut back even more. It was a pivotal part of realising Sweet Tooth. I think for any artist they need R&D time so you know what to sift, gives you breathing space and a time to think. Sharings are also really important. Without the pressure. You may only have 5 – 10 minutes of work to show but Q&A’s and conversations can be useful for processing. Just make GOOD and HONEST work!

MH - Finally, what does 2021 have in store for you?

EM - A lot will depend on Covid-19 and travel restrictions so I’m reluctant to say too much right now. If all goes well I should have a creative and productive 2021. I can mention that I’m showing work as part of British Art Show 9 and as a musician the idea of presenting work within this visual arts context is very exciting!

www.elainemitchener.com

Photo credit Dimitri Djuric

We hope the New Year finds you and your family well.

2021 is special for Sound UK as we celebrate 20 years of bringing you extraordinary music. We’re marking this milestone throughout the year. This includes 20 Artists for 20 Years, which shines a spotlight on key artists in Sound UK’s life. First up is the incredible Elaine Mitchener later this month…

To kick off our 20th birthday celebrations, we hope you enjoy this 60 second film about our work. 

Keep well,
Polly, Maija and Chloe

Sound UK launch new programme to support artists

Sound Generator is a new R&D programme that develops UK artists and the work they present.

Each year, it will enable 6 early-career artists to test and develop bold new ideas, supported by a national network of industry experts.

The programme is aimed at artists pushing the boundaries of contemporary music. Those working within, but not exclusively, jazz, sound, folk, classical, and electronic music, plus all points in between.

Sound Generator offers a space for artists to develop and test ambitious ideas for you to enjoy in the future.

Guidelines, information and how to apply here. Deadline for applications 5th Feb 2021.

Sound Generator is supported by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund.

Find out more about the ideas and thoughts behind A Song For Us from producer, Polly Eldridge. 

During the first lockdown, and news of so many people being affected by the pandemic, I started to imagine their favourite music. How if a track represented them, it would create this incredible collage of songs capturing the different ages, cultures, tastes.

It also struck me how we associate certain music with certain events. Songs that brought people together during world wars, movements or just at special times of the year like Christmas. Music can encompass complicated feelings of sorrow, joy, hope, solidarity.

We wanted to help keep artists working. To continue showing them that they were valued and needed, despite not being able to perform. We hope A Song for Us does all these things. That artists reconnect with people through creating a new work for them. That people come together to share in performing, writing, and hearing their community’s favourite music.

We've added a few new tracks to our home working playlist for you listen to. Ft. This Is The Kit, Donald Byrd, Duval Timothy + more.

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What are Sonic Journeys?
Sonic Journeys are soundtracks created for a specific journey. If there's a journey you love this autumn, why not create a piece of music inspired by it? All you need is your phone and access to GarageBand or voice recording apps. Once recorded you can then upload it to our Sonic Journeys website for others to experience. www.sonicjourneys.co.uk

Check out workshop leader and artist Tania Holland Williams’ Sonic Journey creating tips below.

1. Release yourself from worrying about how far along the line you are as a sound artist or composer. There is no right or wrong version of the journey you want to capture. The only thing you really need is a desire to communicate your journey through sound and technology that is found on most phones.

2. Consider a journey that you do everyday…
There is something about the accumulative weight of repeating the same journey that might be worth exploring in sound.

3. Some people start a creative sound piece with words, others with sound capture, some with a graphic design, others with a concept for what they are trying to build. It’s worth knowing your preference and trying out a number of different starting points - so that if you do get stuck in the creative process, you will have some other skills to draw on.

4. If you tend to create in a certain style - for example slow moving, calm pieces - set yourself a challenge of going on a journey that is more edgy and trying to capture that discomfort. The more you know about your preferred writing style the more challenges you can give yourself and the more you will grow as a creative.

5. Identify a journey where you have time to listen rather than one where you are with people you like to chat to or where you generally listen to music. We very rarely take time to listen to our world.

6. Listen in different directions - our ears help us by giving us a sense of the perspective and landscape of the world. See how much distance, depth you can hear when you listen up/down; left/right; in front/behind.

7. Set yourself the challenge of using a sound you’ve never used before when you are creating. Even if it ultimately is not the right sound for your piece - you will have added another sound colour to your palette.

YOUR SONIC JOURNEY
For those that would like to create and share their own Sonic Journey, we are inviting online submissions of music, or music and video, to local journeys that you find personally inspiring. www.sonicjourneys.co.uk

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Powerful new musical story 12 Years, named after climate warnings from the IPCC, tours online with 12 streams from 8 – 25 October 2020.The innovative composition is inspired by activist Greta Thunberg, wild fires, melting ice and how differently people are responding to the increasingly regular news. Sarah Nicolls combines music played on her vertical Inside-Out piano with recorded speech, tracing the emotional journey of two sisters, exploring their perceptions of global warming through fact and fiction.

Tell us about the inspiration behind 12 Years.

12 Years was written in 2018 following the IPCC special report about the impact of 1.5°c global warming on the planet. Climate scientists projected that annual emissions needed to be halved by 2030 stay within this level. In the same year Greta Thunberg initiated her school strike in Sweden and subsequently publicised her call to action as a TED talk.

What effect did scientific warnings about global warming have on you?

Giving the human race 12 years to halve emissions seemed like a pretty stark deadline to me, especially as my son would turn 18 in 2030, and I felt compelled to bring this information into my work. I felt an urgent response to the IPCC report and as a pianist this resulted in writing a new recital. I wanted to put the piano and the environment together to see what would happen.

Can you explain the narrative of 12 Years?

This show is a journey for both the audience and my fictional characters. It begins with the deadline – what does 12 (now 10) years feel like? I weave news headlines and interviews about environmental changes into a story about Lara, an Extinction Rebellion activist and her much less political sister Fran. We listen into their phone conversations and their different responses to climate change. As the story unfolds, we go on the journey with Fran as her perceptions towards global warming begin to alter. I wanted to discuss environmental themes (both climate-related and ecological) in a recital without being preachy.

How is 12 Years structured?

There are 12 tracks in the piece, which reflect the idea of a countdown to 2030. Each track has a different theme, and these include the Camp Fire, which blazed across California in 2018, destroying the town of Paradise. We hear the voices of survivors from this fire as they escape, which killed 85 people. One track focuses on the sound of a melting glacier and the penultimate track features Greta Thunberg. I was interested in how her voice and the urgency of her speech has changed since her first TED talk, with speeches at the DAVOS World Economic Forum and the UN. Finally, we’re urged to consider how we feel, striving for hope and action. My intention is to bring the climate and ecological emergency into an emotional space.

Describe your Inside-Out piano.

It is like a grand piano tipped up, so the strings are vertical. I play the strings, strum and pluck them like a guitar or harp. I also hit the strings percussively, using a glass ball to make amazing sliding sounds or a rubber ball to get the sound of a whale underwater. I’m always thinking in pictures and 12 Years is a multi-sensory experience: I considered how to make sounds so that you would feel like you’re near a wildfire or a glacier. Fortunately, the piano is so expressive and resonant that it can do all of these things!

There are some amazing people joining you for post-show Zoom chats. Tell us more about them.

I am so thrilled with the guest speakers and their input is extremely valuable. Following an hour of listening and thinking, my audiences will be able to have an open conversation with the experts. Speakers include Prof. Richard Betts MBE, leader of Climate Impacts at the MET Office, Prof Richard Pancost, Director of the Cabot Institute, Craig Hutton, Professor of Sustainability Science, University of Southampton, Dr Liz Bagshaw, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University and Dr Sarah Mander from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

‘Sounds of hope’ emerge towards the end of the performance. How hopeful are you that the global climate crisis can be averted?

I feel that it is my job as a parent of two children to be hopeful and I believe in our capacity to be empathetic and caring. If people understand what scientists are telling us, and what our options are, along with what trajectories look like, then we can change our impact on the earth. I believe that what is good for the planet is good for us: walking or cycling more, sharing more, being community-minded, thinking local in terms of food production. I do think a fairer society is possible and necessary.

Tell us about your Future Piano.

This is an amazing lightweight piano that will be built this year. It will be the same shape as the ‘Inside-Out Piano’ but an entirely new piano constructed from lightweight composite materials with the help of extraordinary engineering. It will still be able to be played as a normal piano and give the sound of a grand piano, but in the space of an upright piano. What is revolutionary about Future Piano is that it will weigh less than 100kg and it will be possible to split it in half and easily reassemble it. I will be able to carry it upstairs with a friend!

What affect will Future Piano have for you personally?

It will make touring so much easier but also means the amount of venues where live piano can be played suddenly opens up. It also means people can choose to move a piano to different rooms in their home. My fantasy is that I will be able to put it in the guard’s van of a train someday: so touring has a much lower carbon footprint. I see my role as trying to make the piano less cumbersome and less historic. To keep this amazing instrument alive and acoustic – with strings – is my dream

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Artwork: Kate Dressekie

Whilst we’ve been quiet over the past few months, we’ve been busy working out how best to bring extraordinary musical encounters to you and others across the country. Like many, the majority of our 2020 programme has had to be postponed - with exciting plans now afoot for 2021. However, this October we are delighted to bring Inside-Out pianist and composer Sarah Nicolls’ original 12 Years to you via a digital ‘tour’ announced last week. 

As a direct response to the world we now inhabit, we will soon be launching a new project that celebrates our communities through music. A Song for Us aims to capture the solidarity that emerged during the clap for carers, the extraordinary response to the NHS volunteer army and the small acts of kindness between neighbours. It will recognise the nationwide losses we have experienced, whether at a distance or personally. Above all it celebrates the power of music to bring us all together.

You can sign up to our mailing list for updates. Sign up on our homepage. 

More soon,
Polly, Maija, Chloe

Photo credit: Paul@framedog, A Change is Gonna Come 2019 - Carleen Anderson, Nikki Yeoh, Lady Sanity, Camilla George, Renell Shaw, Rod Youngs

Words by Sarah Nicolls 

What a lively time to be re-launching the tour of my #12yearspiano piece about the climate and ecological emergency! As XR fill the streets with protests on so many different issues relating to global heating, pollution and corruption, people are again talking about the planet in a way which for months we haven’t – hiding in lockdown bubbles or simply trying to survive the months of pandemic paralysis and personal traumas.

We are deliberately doing the rest of this tour online because none of us know how the next weeks will go. A doubling of Covid-19 cases in the last 2 days only highlights this but it is so important that we do get back to talking about the climate crisis and the ecological breakdown that’s happening.

I’ve seen over this summer many eminent scientists and activists arguing over just how severe the situation is. Will we reach 3 degrees or 5 by the end of the century? Will our children face food shortages, or will we? Are people already dying from human-caused climate change or not? The fact is, surely whoever is most accurate, these are troubling things to have to even discuss. We should surely want to stop any temperature rise for our entire planet, as it creates conditions which have never been seen in the times inhabited by humans. Isn’t that reason enough to cry for change? Shouldn’t we get on with doing everything we can to cut emissions? Just in case?

I have aimed in my piece to raise these kinds of questions. It is a piece which aims to involve you emotionally. It’s a piece of music and text which aims to get you actively thinking about where you stand, which asks you to consider the facts and what we should be doing about it. It’s a piece which listens in on different opinions and which seeks both to alert you but also to fill you with hopeful energy.

I would be honoured if you would listen in, watch online – see my incredible #insideoutpiano and hear the amazing sounds it makes. Listen to the words of experts and of two sisters talking on the phone. Audiences so far have found the piece challenging and provoking but also inspiring and uplifting. Book now to stream in October and thank you for the support – we are all facing massive uncertainty right now in terms of future careers, so your commitment to being an audience member is hugely valued!

Share with your friends and also come along to one of the discussion nights. I am thrilled to have expert scientists to help us unravel the truth and what to do about it. You can listen to Richard Betts on my podcast here to get started.

Thanks to SOUND UK, my producers and to all the venues for keeping the faith and supporting the tour.

sarahnicolls.com

DATES AND BOOKING INFO HERE.

A new 'Home Working' playlist from us bringing together some of our favourite artists to help us through these times. Ft. Arve Henriksen, KOKOROKO, Dorothy Ashby and much more... 

Listen here

In response to the current evolving COVID-19 situation, we are working with Sarah Nicolls and venues and hope to offer a digital alternative to 12 Years ticket bookers in Gateshead and London. Unfortunately, Spiro & Synergy Vocals tour dates in London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Oxford are postponed. For any of our events affected by COVID-19, ticket bookers will be contacted by the venue box office.

We look forward to updating you on rescheduled dates and future projects when we can. For now, keep an eye on our social channels and sounduk.net where we hope to inspire, educate and entertain by sharing content from artists, labels, DJs we love and offer moments to escape in these uncertain times.

Keep well and take care,
Polly, Maija and Chloe

Renowned saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis tells us more about Funk: A Music Revolution and working with James Brown...

Can you tell us a bit more about the project Funk: A Music Revolution who’s involved and the inspiration behind it?

Well the project is curated by myself and China Moses, and I am leading a fantastic band and guests, Omar, China of course, Daru Jones on drums, Dan Moore on keys, the ubiquitous Tony Remy on guitar, MBE Dennis Rollins playing trombone and bright young star of the London jazz scene Camilla George on alto sax, plus dancers and all kinds of funky stuff.

We feel it’s really important that a wider audience understands the fundamental influence of funk music in the history and development of popular music - and what more fun way to show that than with a show chronicling the great music that tells its own story.

Tell us about your time working with James Brown and co-writing Say it loud! I'm black and I'm proud

It was a very exciting time, a real pleasure and watching Mr. Brown work every night was a constant lesson in the art of live entertainment. It was hard work and a gruelling schedule, criss crossing the USA on a tour bus, recording, rehearsing every day, playing constantly, even travelling overseas. I had my own seat at the back of the bus where I wrote a lot of music and arrangements. I would rehearse the band on the way to the next gig so they had the next tune ready for Mr Brown when we got to the venue. A lot of iconic songs came out of those times, notably Say It Loud ......

In your opinion in what way has funk influenced popular music over the past 60 years?

From a technical perspective, you can follow it through the use of rhythmic horn lines, repetitive phrases and bass led focal points. For most listeners, it’s a feel, an energy, the way the that bass bounce makes you feel like moving. There are the obvious heirs - George Clinton and Parliament, Average White Band, The Ohio Players, Fred Wesley and the New JB’s to name a few – but then its influence has permeated way beyond that. We hear it in Prince, Kool and the Gang, Salt n Pepa, Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, Digable Planets along with so many other hip hop artists of the 80s and 90s. Sampling of funk riffs became such an intrinsic part of the sound of early hip hop and even pop, and we still hear and feel its presence now with songs like Uptown Funk. But alongside those musical structures that create an identifiable funky feel, it was a music that heralded a new attitude; a new and distinctive black culture, of street culture finding confidence and popularity outside and alongside the establishment. Sweeping into mainstream consciousness during the Civil Rights movement was unlike anything people had heard and its positive energy united a new generation making them proud of their musical, fashion and political tastes

At the shows the audience should expect to be reminded of some of their favourite music and will be surprised how present it still is in the music they love today.

Funk: A Music Revolution toured 29 Feb - 4 March 2020.  

A re-post from Sarah Nicolls website sarahnicolls.com/blog

Sun 5th January: When I wrote this work, climate news was not part of our daily language or narrative. Currently, Australia is experiencing its worst ever bushfire season – most hectares burnt – and it is only the beginning of that season. It is thought 500 million animals may already have died. Massive floods have killed tens and displaced thousands in Indonesia. Flash floods in Israel have killed people. Fishlake in the UK experienced traumatic flooding before Christmas. The Amazon has seen a catastrophic increase in fires. The Thwaites glacier is retreating much faster than predicted. The planetary situation has already changed beyond recognition since we were first alarmed at the IPCC report, the one where they said we only had 12 years left to halve emissions, to stay within the possibility of 1.5 degrees of warming. 1.5 would now be a good news story. The climate scientists seem now to be saying 3-4 degrees is likely by the end of the century if we carry on as normal. And are our leaders doing anything about it? Trump is doing his own political assassinations. Boris Johnson is on holiday in the Caribbean. #scottyfrommarketing really seems to be doing almost everything he can to look the opposite to an empathetic human being, let alone leader.

So, what of my characters? What of my story? Last year, I was experiencing shock and discovery. I was going through utter surprise, disbelief and then, quite quickly, grief. Now I don’t feel surprised at all but I do still feel anxious as the numbers seem to rise against us. 4 degrees by the end of this century would seem to confirm my personal darkest fears that our kids shouldn’t have her own children. The world would just not be safe enough. So, no time to give up, then!

If the aim of my show is to move people along a notch, help them think, give them time, educate a little but also inspire, then how best to do that? In the first rendition, Fran goes on her own journey. She is quirky, funny, a bit ridiculous but ultimately just a normal woman, living as best she can and enjoying the current luxuries which seemed, until about 18 months ago, fair enough (if you could afford them) and spoken about without concern: flying to exotic locations, eating meat, buying luxury without questioning the provenance of it. Some of this almost seems old hat – but is that only to me? I read an unusual amount of environmental news. What is a ‘normal’ level of perception? Most people have surely now heard of Greta (apart from the actress who answered “Sharon” in the BBC quiz show!): when I first began writing her track, she was not the icon she is now, with her little book at every Waterstones’ Christmas till. Many in the UK probably saw David Attenborough’s Climate Change: The Facts and most will also have seen the Extinction Rebellion protestor being pulled from the roof of the tube train (how one man wrecks a movement.. but that’s another story).

So, don’t my characters need also to have moved on, then? Can Fran still exclaim that Extinction Rebellion sounds like a heavy metal band if even my mum has heard of them? And in a horrible parallel, even the Camp Fire in Paradise has found a new update as the Australian fires approach Eden.

So, how will I update the phone calls between Fran and Lara? How will their different levels of involvement in the climate crisis still ring true but in the newer context of 2020, not 2018? And will the new headlines that I insert sound even worse than the last ones, or more of the same slide into apocalypse?

One thing is sure. I now have a lot more experience of what happens after people decide to engage. Although many will have only seen the disastrous XR tube protest, I took days out to witness a lot of very thoughtful and passionately delivered protests in London, where people not only put their bodies on the line but also collected in groups meaningful to them: professionals for XR, scientists for XR, even nursing mothers for XR who blocked the Google offices. I’ve also experienced first-hand the very direct and personal connections which are springing from a new shared purpose. Like a crowd appearing from nowhere, the amount of people globally who are calling out the climate crisis and their demand that we face up to it and do radical things right now are all seeing and finding each other and this is creating an incredible connectedness. I have a lot of new friends, despite actually being a very reticent protestor myself (I prefer to interview people, make music and attempt to talk to strangers about it all, rather than directly face off to the police).

I hope I’ll do Fran, Lara and Aidan justice, then. But part of me just really isn’t ready to change Aidan yet. I don’t think he’s actually ready yet, either.

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Listen to Pee Wee's and China's Funk Foundations playlist ft. James Brown, Parliament, Teena Marie...

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Find out more about Funk: A Music Revolution here. 

Curated by James Brown’s MD, renowned saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and singer China Moses, FUNK: A Music Revolution celebrates funk’s influence from its early days to latest sounds.

“From 1967 when Mr. Brown and I wrote "Cold Sweat" until today, Funk has been woven into the DNA of popular music. We want to tell that story.” - Pee Wee Ellis

Originating in the mid ‘60s, funk was a natural permutation of the exhilarating jazz and soul scenes that had flourished over the previous decades. It drew on soul, jazz and R & B, but added bold syncopations and prominent bass lines that were to send the dance floors wild. In James Brown these tantalising musical developments found their perfect manifestation, and with his unique voice, charisma and unapologetic racial pride Brown signified a pivotal point in music. The mantel was taken up by the inimitable George Clinton whose doo wop band the Parliaments morphed into Parliament, adding gospel, rock n roll to the intoxicating mix and solidifying funk as a genre in itself. Through the ‘70s the movement continued via Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Le Chic, and many others, a soundtrack to the social evolution of black civil rights and a bridge between music and society. Whilst some – Prince amongst others – continued to progress the music, the earworms of the 70s also became the samples of the late 80s and 90s hip hop artists – think Eminem’s sample of Labi Siffre’s I Got The...

TOUR DATES 2020
29 Feb BRIGHTON
01 Mar LONDON
02 Mar COVENTRY
03 Mar NOTTINGHAM
04 Mar NEWCASTLE

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Image credit: China Moses

In October 2019, two specially curated weekends of sound, light, music and art brought local communities, regional and international artists together to explore the connection between coastal living and wellbeing.

Through a series of briefings, talks and workshops running since early spring, REFLECT brought people together to discuss their own lived experiences and connections to the coast. These experiences informed an outdoor sound and light event, featuring new commissions and works by international and local sound and visual artists, plus community groups. REFLECT aimed to compare the impact of coastal living on resident’s mental health in two vastly contrasting coastal communities; Bude, North Cornwall and Gravesham, Kent.

This video was filmed at Reflect Bude. This event featured the following artists:
Sea Pool projection - Karma Seas by Ulf Pedersen
What Does the Sea Say? by Martyn Ware
Swirl by Timothy Crowley and Kate Ogley
Sonic Journeys by Bude Beats and James Dixon
Beach Hut singers - Bencoolen Wreckers
Bench - Neo by Granite & Glitter
Bench - Esedha by Ruth Purdy
Bench - Intertidal Blue by Josie Purcell
Bench - Worry Bench by Blend Community Group
Sea Song Walks with Seamas Carey
Flag artworks by Budehaven School Art Students

REFLECT is produced by Sound UK in association with the University of Exeter and LV21.
Funded by the University of Exeter, Arts Council England and Wellcome Trust.

Film credit: Steve Haywood, filmed at REFLECT Bude, Bude Sea Pool 2019. Music - Bencoolen Wreckers - Cornwall My Home

Find out more: www.reflectaamp.org

Credits: 1- 3, 5 - 8 Steve Haywood, 4 Ruth Purdy
1) Neo by Granite & Glitter
2) Worry Bench by Blend 
3) What Does The Sea Say? By Martyn Ware
4) Esedha by Ruth Purdy
5, 6) Karma Seas by Ulf Pedersen
7) Timothy Crowley and Kate Ogley, Swirl artists
8) Karma Seas by Ulf Pedersen
9) Bencoolen Wreckers

Artist Billie Penfold tells you a little more about her artist walk and bench artwork for Reflect Gravesham. 

Those of you who have visited my studio looking out at the sea over Tankerton slopes near Whitstable know that there are many benches along the slopes above the beach huts looking out to the sea. These give people the opportunity to create memorials for loved ones and also a place to take time to sit and stare at the sea. I have always been fascinated by these benches placed at regular intervals along the slope. So, when the call out came to take part in Reflect:Arts and Minds in Gravesend I jumped at the chance to be able to create a temporary installation on a bench as a shrine or memorial in response to this event. 

We invite you to walk with us on Saturday October 12th and Sunday October 13th at 3 pm. to celebrate coastal living and what the sea means to you through Reflect: arts and minds in Gravesham.

I will be delivering this walk through the arts group Thread and Word which I set up in 2014 . This group invites artists to collaborate in walking performative events. These walks also give participants the opportunity to record their feelings as they walk through a meditative knotting of ropes which are attached to a pole called a Vara at the end of the walk, to record the event.

We will be walking, with Thread and Word to celebrate all thing coastal in Gravesend, reflecting on what the sea means to us.

The artists joining this walk and offering poetry, performance and their own response to Let's Take a Moment are:

A. Bowman, L. Claire, V. Fitch J. Mckay, S. McClymont, C. Lovey, O. Lowery, S. Overall, E. Penfold, J. Riddiough, L. Shawyer.

Anna Bowman is sharing a personal anecdote of trips to the seaside as a child. She is also a talented film maker and photographer and will be photographing the event.

Lucy Claire is a composer and musician who works with soundscapes and will be collaborating with the group to create a soundscape of the walk. This will be available to download . The piece will commemorate our walk through a plaque on the bench in Promenade Gardenswith a qr code linking it to the soundscape.

"Soundscapes can transport the listener from one environment to another. Listening to a soundscape can calm the mind and encourage time for reflection. Let’s Take A Moment is a sound world reflection of a collection of poetry by Owen Lowery that focuses specifically on the coast and shoreline from With the fisherwomen of Nairn to the Mediterranean horizon of Pathos Sunset. I worked with sounds from the shore, the harbour, the hissing and sucking of the shore, the heady buzz of insects and the rhythmical sploshes of oars moving in and out of the water to bring another dimension to Owen’s words and help transport the listener from one place to another. "

Virginia Fitch will be reading a well know poem by Shelley to help us on our way.

Julia Riddiough is sharing two pieces, 'Windmills of my Mind' connecting with the story of the area with links to Don Quixote and his own inner daemons . Laura Shawyer will be enacting her second piece 'A Gesture of Harmony' a ritual devised by Julia using Palo Santo oil connected with well being, meditation and enacted through the holding of the knotted ropes as we end our walk.

James McKay has created three interventions using poetry, place and string. It might even involve some costume changes. Looking forward to a few surprises.

Susan McClymont will share her poem "Pocahontas and me" She has also created a fab mosaic for our bench. The design of the mosaic that accompanies the poem, is of an oak leaf overlaid by fern koru floating on the river. (Reflecting the oak trees of Pocahontas's Jamestown in America and the fern that emblematic of her native New Zealand).

Christina Lovey is offering a personal reading of the knots in the ropes through tap dancing. Looking forward to some Flamenco rhythms .

Owen Lowery has shared several of his poems read in his own voice for the soundscape. He has also helped with selecting the sounds he associates with the poems and the coast. We are delighted to take Owen's voice on this walk with us.

You can be transported to Owen's reading with a soundscape by Lucy Claire Listen here

Sonia Overall is joining us with pause/play
What is the quality of a moment? What do different pauses feel like? We will carry a bag of pauses with us as we walk, select one at random and enact it. Pause, play, repeat.

Elspeth (Billie) Penfold is inviting you to knot ropes to record the experience as we walk. These ropes have been made by hand by Elspeth for this event in her studio.The ropes will be attached to a Vara or pole at the end of the walk to create a document of the walk.

I am always amazed by the creativity and generosity of all artists who collaborate with me in these walks with Thread and Word. I hope you are able to join us on the day and do feel free to share any readings/ memories or rituals with us as we walk.

www.elspeth-billie-penfold.com/

At REFLECT BUDE, step inside the Swirl beach hut to hear new interactive and generative sound installation by Cornish artists Timothy Crowley and Kate Ogley, created in response to the location and recorded experiences of those living in Bude and North Cornwall. Here Kate tells us about their experience interviewing and recording people for the project.

It has been a privilege for us to meet everyone and discover what it means for each person to live close to the sea and the coastline. We have interviewed people from many walks of life. The relationship with the sea for some participants spans an entire lifetime, for others it is one they returned to later in life or in some cases it’s a relationship that has been formed for the first time more recently.

Beautiful and powerful images of the sea have emerged from the interviews. For one interviewee the sea was likened to an ‘open door’; an invitation or perhaps a portal to another place or dimension. For another participant the sea was felt as an unbroken link between far away places bringing consolation and a feeling of connection with loved ones when overseas.

The sea was also experienced as a darker place of potential danger; large waves that might snatch young children away without warning, and a place where one might simply vanish and not come back. And yet for several people the sea’s uncaring and impervious nature offers them a great sense of freedom; the sea being an entity with no expectations or judgement. Reflecting on the interviews it became apparent that for many the sea embodied great contradictions.

For several participants the sounds of the surf heard at night, had almost imperceptively infiltrated into their consciousness over the years; becoming part of who they are. Some spoke of the comfort and reassurance this gave them. A sound that in some cases was ‘felt’ most keenly in its absence when they moved away from the sea.

Several people spoke of the sound of the chaffing pebbles in the undertow when walking on the beach as one that they associated most strongly with the sea. One participant used alot of ’s’ sounding words , swimming, sloshing, surfing……. sounding a little like the sea itself.

Encounters with the sea are woven into the participants daily lives and in all cases these encounters give them something vital. The sea and coastline was revealed as a place that inspires inner reflection, as well as offering individuals solace, sanctuary or respite from other aspects of life.

Perhaps more surprisingly we discovered that the sea also provides some of the same inteviewees with a strong sense of community, and the chance to be involved with a variety of clubs and groups often offering immersive and exhilarating encounters with the ocean. Or a place to simply gather and have fun with family or friends. We were very struck by the powerful sense of belonging that many of the interviewees felt towards the sea as well as a sense of great pride in their surroundings.

Find out more and BOOK TICKETS

http://timothycrowley.org/swirl.html
http://www.kateogley.com/swirl.htm

Reflect artist Ulf Pedersen took a trip to Bude in the summer in preparation for his new artwork Karma Seas at Bude Sea Pool.  Through a series of briefings, talks and workshops running since early spring, REFLECT has brought people together to discuss their experiences of living near the coast and their connections to their environment. These experiences will all feed into an exciting outdoor sound and light event, featuring Ulf Pedersen’s new work, as well as intimate pop up folk gigs, plus new artworks from local sound artists and community groups.

NOTES FROM AN ARTIST: ULF PEDERSEN, SUMMER 2019 

Arrived on site to the issue of getting near the site to offload the kit. Council not picking up phones. 

A short drive across the Downs felt like a funfair ride. All went well in the dry weather - could be a different story in Autumn!

Offload. Met Emily on the cliff top trying hard to compose a shot against a very unpicturesque chain link fence! Quick manoeuvre down to sea level - the cliffs and beach huts offering a far better backdrop.

Bring on the school group - plenty of commotion as we compose ourselves into an orderly group. Ahem. Students artwork in hand - so far so good.

Into the hub to meet Ethan & Issie - 2 fabulous collaborators assisting me with content for the project having been through many issues themselves.

A very inspiring, revealing meeting. Thank you both for your participation in this very exciting project.

REFLECT is happening in Bude and Gravesham this October.
Find out more: REFLECT BUDE REFLECT GRAVESHAM 

Photographs by Emily Whitfield-Wicks REFLECT BUDE. International artist Ulf Pedersen (who's work will be projected onto the cliff by Bude Sea Pool).

Photograph by Emily Whitfield-Wicks REFLECT BUDE. International artist Ulf Pedersen (who's work will be projected onto the cliff by Bude Sea Pool). L-R Isabella Morgan (one of the collaborators for the Reflect Project), Ulf Pedersen, Lucy Storry and Fern Paton from Budehaven School.

With help from the REFLECT team and artists we've put together a playlist. How Does the sea make you feel? playlist now live! Listen here

Some of the REFLECT artists tell us about their favourite songs about the sea below.

What’s your favourite song about the sea and why?
Ruth (REFLECT BUDE) - Lonely Drfiter by the O'jays came to mind straight away, love a bit of drama

Kate (REFLECT BUDE) - Blue by Joni Mitchell. I like this song because it expresses the elemental nature of love.

Tim (REFLECT BUDE) Don’t know the title of this folk song but it starts “Old Man Adams built a mansion where the ocean rose and fell, he said he’d spend his days there, and be buried there as well”. I like the words and melody, and that it is sung in a deep voice.

Billie (REFLECT GRAVESHAM) Surfin' USA - The Beach Boys one is a blast from the past, from the 60’s when I lived in Peru ( a lot of surfing there ) and I was 18 years old. I love the sea and spend as much time as I can by the sea walking and love swimming.

What are Sonic Journeys?
Sonic Journeys are soundtracks created for a specific journey. If there's a journey you love this summer, why not create a piece of music inspired by it? All you need is your phone and access to GarageBand or voice recording apps. Once recorded you can then upload it to our Sonic Journeys website for others to experience. www.sonicjourneys.co.uk

As part of REFLECT project we’ve been running Sonic Journey workshops in Bude and Gravesend this summer. Check out workshop leader and artist Tania Holland Williams’ Sonic Journey creating tips below.

1. Release yourself from worrying about how far along the line you are as a sound artist or composer. There is no right or wrong version of the journey you want to capture. The only thing you really need is a desire to communicate your journey through sound and technology that is found on most phones.

2. Consider a journey that you do everyday…
There is something about the accumulative weight of repeating the same journey that might be worth exploring in sound.

3. Some people start a creative sound piece with words, others with sound capture, some with a graphic design, others with a concept for what they are trying to build. It’s worth knowing your preference and trying out a number of different starting points - so that if you do get stuck in the creative process, you will have some other skills to draw on.

4. If you tend to create in a certain style - for example slow moving, calm pieces - set yourself a challenge of going on a journey that is more edgy and trying to capture that discomfort. The more you know about your preferred writing style the more challenges you can give yourself and the more you will grow as a creative.

5. Identify a journey where you have time to listen rather than one where you are with people you like to chat to or where you generally listen to music. We very rarely take time to listen to our world.

6. Listen in different directions - our ears help us by giving us a sense of the perspective and landscape of the world. See how much distance, depth you can hear when you listen up/down; left/right; in front/behind.

7. Set yourself the challenge of using a sound you’ve never used before when you are creating. Even if it ultimately is not the right sound for your piece - you will have added another sound colour to your palette.

YOUR SONIC JOURNEY
For those that would like to create and share their own Sonic Journey, we are inviting online submissions of music, or music and video, to journeys that you find personally inspiring here. Previous Your Sonic Journeys have included music to journeys in Kew Gardens in London, Bregenz in Austria, South Western Transylvania and more. www.sonicjourneys.co.uk

CREATE NOW

A Change is Gonna Come is part of FROM THE SOURCE festival produced by Serious at Warwick Arts Centre in November. We enjoyed touring this project in July to Walthamstow Garden Party, Bristol Old Vic, Reading Fringe Festival and WOMAD - check out our Instagram for the pics https://www.instagram.com/soundukarts. Can't wait to hear Carleen Anderson, Nikki Yeoh, Camilla George, Lady Sanity, Renell Shaw and Rod Youngs play live again!

Find out more about FROM THE SOURCE here. 

From antidepressant effects of outdoor swimming, to the capacity of virtual sea-walks to reduce pain felt from dental surgery; the evidence is growing of the curative power of the sea. Valuing the ocean and the coast is also important for the future of humanity, and protecting it will benefit all of us.

But there are also downsides of living by the sea, that are less widely reported. Many people living in coastal communities report feeling forgotten and cut off next to their urban counterparts. Mental health services are hard to access and isolation and deprivation are rife. Cornwall has the third highest suicide rate in the UK and yet the longest coastline.

We urgently need to understand both the challenges and the benefits that living by the sea has in order to come up with solutions to build healthier communities by the sea. The REFLECT project aims to gather people’s experiences of living by the sea and its impact on their mental well-being in a variety of ways.

The REFLECT project team want to interview people, have people submit stories, art, film, poetry. They will look at these sources of evidence and explore themes – contact: reflect@exeter.ac.uk if you are interested in being a contributor.

They would like people to use the Urban Mind app (download from App Store or Google Play) Click HERE for further info. This is an anonymous record of the impact of nature, environment and social interaction and on your mental wellbeing. Find out more here: https://www.reflectaamp.org/research

OCTOBER EVENTS
Art and science unite to explore how Cornwall's and Kent's coastlines impact our mental health

REFLECT BUDE
4 - 6 October 2019
Find out more

REFLECT GRAVESHAM
11 - 13 October 2019
Find out more

Blog first posted by the REFLECT team at https://www.reflectaamp.org/research

Just announced! REFLECT Bude and REFLECT GRAVESHAM.

The project launch on 13 May, during the national Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, kick-starts the build-up to REFLECT, a two-location project in October featuring international and local artists adorning the coast around Bude and Gravesend with art installations and innovative soundscapes, working alongside local communities. Interactive experiences, artworks plus walking and singing activities open to all accompany the event.

Running in Bude in Cornwall, and Gravesend, Kent, REFLECT is produced by Sound UK in association with the University of Exeter and LV21, a former service vessel in Kent that is now a performance arts venue. The project is funded by the University of Exeter, Arts Council England and Wellcome Trust.

www.reflectaamp.org

REFLECT BUDE
4 - 6 October 2019
Find out more

REFLECT GRAVESHAM
11 - 13 October 2019
Find out more

Image credit:
Top image - Lee Robertson
Bottom image - view from LV21

"Dark, mesmeric, uplifting and danceable; you won’t hear anything else like it." ★★★★ Evening Standard

We're excited to announce Ariwo's UK tour. Their sets are arresting affairs, holding audience’s hostage to their hypnotic grooves as they invite them into a new sound world.

In Yoruba the word Ariwo means “noise”, which captures the band’s desire to combine traditional rhythms into a live electronic performance, challenging perceptions of ancestral music, and connecting diverse cultures from around the world.

Ariwo bring together Iranian electronic composer Pouya Ehsaei; 'percussion virtuoso' (Time Out) Hammadi Valdes; figurehead of London's Cuban music scene, Oreste Noda; award-winning Jazz trumpeter Jay Phelps and special guest saxophonist Camilla George.

New album Quasi out 15 April 2019 on MANANA Records

TOUR DATES 2019

22 May BRIGHTON, Brighton Festival
24 May NORWICH, Norwich & Norfolk Festival
25 May LONDON, Giant Steps
30 May, COVENTRY, The Tin
31 May, NEWCASTLE, Cobalt Studios
2 June, BRISTOL, Fleece, co-promoted with Worm Disco Club

BOOK NOW

In a change to the advertised line up, Keith Tippett will no longer be performing in Leeds and Bristol due to injury.

Matthew and Keith are delighted that Laura Cole will instead perform alongside Matthew Bourne at Sounds Like This Festival in Leeds (12 March) and Kit Downes at Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival (23 March).

Leeds-based pianist, composer Laura Cole joins Matthew fresh from her acclaimed solo double album 'Enough' (Discus) last year. “Cole succeeds in exploring divergent avenues of expression... revealing a quietly emphatic sense of space” – The Wire.

Kit Downes is critically regarded as one of the UK’s outstanding jazz talents and his ECM album Obsidian could have only been made by an improviser of subtle sensibilities. “A lightning musical intelligence” –The Daily Telegraph

If you have any questions regarding your ticket booking please contact:
Sounds Like This festival - Leeds 
Bristol Jazz Fest contact

As part of a major public event in Bude and Gravesend this October, we are offering no less than 10 new commissions to local Cornish and Kent artists to include:

• A new sound commission by a Cornish artist for a beach hut at Bude Sea Pool
• A new sound commission by a Kent artist for LV21, a unique ship arts venue in Gravesend
• 4 local Cornish artists to decorate benches in Bude
• 4 local Kent artists to decorate benches in Gravesend

The project will be announced as part of Mental Health Awareness Week w/c 13 May. WIth the commissions being presented in October 2019.

For artist briefs and full details please contact maija@sounduk.net

Commissions are offered on a paid, freelance basis.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: 3 April 2019

Timeline summary:
3 April 2019 - Proposal deadline
13 May 2019 - REFLECT project announcement 
October 2019 - REFLECT commissions go live

REFLECT is produced by Sound UK in association with Exeter University and LV21. Funded by Exeter University, Arts Council England and Wellcome Trust.

A Change is Gonna Come is heading to WOMAD Festival this July. We're thrilled to introduce Camilla George on saxophone and Birmingham based rapper Lady Sanity to the line up along side Carleen Anderson, Nikki Yeoh, Renell Shaw and Rod Youngs. 

On stage together for the first time, they will perform unique interpretations of iconic songs from the time of the civil rights through to today. This special set also features powerful new compositions by Anderson and Yeoh highlighting the ongoing fight for equal human rights.

Read More

Inspired by Keith Tippett’s suggestion to ‘do some playing together’ in late 2016, this new and exciting musical partnership between Tippett and Matthew Bourne, two maverick pianists, a generation apart, is a meeting of like-minded but distinct individuals: both are mesmerising live performers, famous for their idiosyncrasy, virtuosity, and non-conformity.

TOURING SPRING 2019 

Tue 12 Mar LEEDS
Sat 23 Mar BRISTOL
Sun 28 Apr LONDON
Thu 23 May MANCHESTER

BOOK NOW

GHOST STORIES: TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL
By The Paper Cinema

A wintry show for long, dark nights of ghostly tales brought to life through hand-drawn illustrations, masterful puppetry, cinematic projection and live music.

On tour 25 Jan - 2 Feb.
BOOK NOW

In the autumn we had the privilege of producing Gwyneth Herbert's life affirming Letters I Haven’t Written delivered by an exceptional creative team working across music, theatre and design. Watch the short film to find out more about this special project exploring how we communicate and connect.

Line-up:
Gwyneth Herbert – voice, french horn, ukulele
Tom Gibbs – piano, voice
Sam Burgess – bass, voice
Rob Luft – guitar, voice
Corrie Dick – drums, voice

Will Duke - Video Artist
Susannah Tresilian – Director
Tom Rogers - Designer

Co-commissioned by Snape Maltings and OCM

Produced by Sound UK

Funded by Arts Council England National Lottery, Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex Arts Partnership. Gwyneth Herbert is supported by PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music.

In May we had the privilege of commissioning A Change Is Gonna Come  – check out the project film to get a taste of this incredible line up. On stage together for the first time, Carleen Anderson, Nikki Yeoh, Nubya Garcia, Speech Debelle, Renell Shaw and Rod Youngs performed unique interpretations of iconic songs from the time of the civil rights through to today. 

Wow, what a truly wonderful, powerful and moving project by Gwyneth Herbert. A big THANK YOU to all who joined us on the Letters I Haven't Written tour. Gwyneth and her band were incredible! This was an ambitious new music theatre project with songs from her acclaimed new album at its heart. THANK YOU to the extraordinary creative team, video designer Will Duke, director Susannah Tresilian and designer Tom Rogers. And THANK YOU to all the community groups who took part in Gwyn's songwriting workshops and the performance. 

Gwyneth Herbert's new album Letters I Haven't Written is OUT NOW
https://open.spotify.com/album/4SiVcOmo4xccZJqJS6QkGv

WHAT’S TWITTER SAYING?
We’ve loved reading your Twitter comments. Here are a few we’ve picked out:

@AyannaWJ
The most extraordinarily moving show I’ve seen in years! @gwynethherbert is masterful songweaver and the duet with @KrystleWarren was beyond words. Thank you

@TitaniaKrimpas
Huge thanks to @gwynethherbert for massively cathartic, moving, big-hearted, content rich experience watching and singing along to Letters I Haven't Written #inspiring Go and see it!

@YWMPoxford
#lettersnotwritten what an experience! thanks to every young woman who was involved in thIs project and those who made it last night to share the stage with @gwynethherbert this has been a beautiful journey for all over the past 5 weeks!

@nicolsonbrooks
The splendid Gwyneth Herbert and her show 'Letters I haven't written'. Backdrop of screens with constantly changing stills and moving images reinforcing songs about suicide, Windrush, addiction and domestic abuse which ultimately cheered you up. So much going on. A real feast.

@piersford
Back with @Scandiandy from the launch of @gwynethherbert 's "Letters I Haven't Written" @snapemaltings - her best work yet: a concept album that resonates absolutely with our times. The performance ended in a collaboration with women from the Hope Centre - moving beyond words

“Holst orbits into the modern age… each piece fizzes with textural detail, the musical analogue of the sulphuric swamps, ice storms and metallic hydrogen clouds that characterise our solar system”
**** John Lewis, The Guardian

Following the sell out and critically acclaimed success of its recent live tour of planetariums, The Planets 2018 is now available to enjoy as an audio stream for one year.

LISTEN HERE

100 years ago, Holst’s The Planets was premiered. Shaped by an astrological understanding of the planets, this ground-breaking piece became a mainstream classic. Live Music Sculpture and Sound UK mark its centenary by asking: what would music inspired by current planetary science sound like in the hands of today’s composers?

Reflecting developments in astronomy and music, The Planets 2018 commissioned 8 leading composers, spanning contemporary classical, electronica and jazz, to create new works inspired by our solar system, performed in planetariums and available online. 

Composers Ayanna Witter-Johnson (Earth), Deborah Pritchard (Mars), Laurence Crane (Neptune), Mira Calix (Mercury), Richard Bullen (Jupiter), Shiva Feshareki (Venus), Samuel Bordoli (Uranus) and Yazz Ahmed (Saturn) each created a new 5 minute piece for string quartet that responds to both their chosen planet and the unique design of the live venues.

To inform and inspire them, each composer was mentored by one of the UK’s leading scientists, working at the forefront of astronomy and passionate about widening its audience. These included experts from Imperial College, Queen Mary College, Royal Astronomical Society and Open University who gave composers deeper insights into their planets and opportunities to visit their labs, handle artefacts and experience NASA’s Curiosity Rover’s adventures in Gale Crater on Mars.

The result is 8 distinct sound worlds with each new piece of music introduced by the recorded voice of comedian Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers, Newzoids and Spitting Image), a lifelong astronomy enthusiast and part of The Sky at Night team.

Internationally renowned for pushing the possibilities of the string quartet, the Ligeti Quartet premiered The Planets 2018 in quadraphonic sound, alongside live visuals, in full dome planetariums including sell out shows at Royal Observatory Greenwich, Thinktank Birmingham, Winchester Science Centre and We The Curious in Bristol. The Planets 2018 audio is now available to experience online streamed from Sound UK and partner websites for a year.

The Planets 2018 is the latest in the Live Music Sculpture series, founded by Samuel Bordoli in 2011 with the intention of producing site-specific work for live musicians in unusual spaces. Since then, Live Music Sculptures have been produced in some of the UK’s most iconic buildings, including The Monument, St Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge, which have been nominated for awards and admired by audiences and critics. The Planets 2018 expands the concept bringing in a range of other composers and working in collaboration with new music producer Sound UK. Once created the legacy for the commission is hugely exciting with potential to be presented in other UK and international planetariums, in mobile domes in schools and more.

Everyone has a letter they wish they’d written, says Gwyneth Herbert, who found that in the simple act of putting pen to paper she re-learnt how to communicate and connect

Read the full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/10/gwyneth-herbert-singer-letters-i-havent-written

We're back from flying around the solar system with Samuel Bordoli / Live Music Sculpture and the Ligeti Quartet and want to say a big THANK YOU to all who joined us on this planetary journey.

Cosmic Composers:
Richard Bullen - Jupiter
Deborah Pritchard - Mars
Mira Calix - Mercury
Ayanna Witter-Johnson - Earth
Samuel Bordoli - Uranus
Laurence Crane – Neptune
Yazz Ahmed – Saturn
Shiva Feshareki – Venus

With thanks to: Prof Sanjeev Gupta, Prof David Rothery, Dr Phillipa Mason, Dr Leigh Fletcher, Prof Carl Murray, Dr Sheila Kanani, Catherine McEvoy, Brendan Owens & Dr Greg Brown at Greenwich Royal Observatory, Mark Watson at Winchester Science Centre, Colin Hutcheson at Thinktank, Lee Pullen and Anna Henley at We The Curious. Zee Dinally at Immersive Experiences. Arts Council England and RVW Trust

BIG THANKS ALSO TO the amazing Ligeti Quartet, Samuel Bordoli and Tim Hand.

LISTEN ONLINE:
The Planets 2018 will be available to listen to online at sounduk.net soon.

ON THE RADIO:
Listen again to The Planets 2018 on BBC Radio 3 Music Matters and BBC Radio 4 Front Row

Composers - What planet are they on?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/m0000kfl

Samuel Bordoli on BBC Radio 4 Front Row
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bkpjl9

READ THE PAPERS:
Read The Guardian feature and four-star review

Cosmic composers: how scientists helped reinvent Holst's Planets suite
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/26/cosmic-composers-how-scientists-helped-reinvent-holsts-planet-suite

The Planets 2018/Ligeti Quartet review – Holst orbits into the modern age
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/01/the-planets-2018-ligeti-quartet-review?CMP=twt_a-music_b-gdnmusic

WHAT’S TWITTER SAYING?
We’ve loved reading your Twitter comments. Here are a few we’ve picked out:

@SueTurnerQCF
#imaginative #stimulating #thoughtprovoking musical evening thanks to @wethecurious_ and @LigetiQuartet #planets2018

@LeahZakss
Swept away by #Planets2018 new music at @WinSciCentre planetarium (new favourite place). Loved hearing from Prof Carl Murray @QMUL on composer mentoring and the extraordinary qualities of Saturn. Congrats @soundukarts & all involved. A treat for the ears. Mind truly boggled.

‏@ITAMRocks
Mindblown - just back from #Planets2018 at @WinSciCentre. Sitting in the middle of a string quartet whilst whizzing around the Solar System. And being a total fanboi hearing from a Cassini imaging scientist about that amazing mission

#planets2018

Image credit: Lee Pullen, We The Curious

This is Gwyneth Herbert's manifesto for connection.

At a time when we seem to be communicating constantly, we seem to somehow be connecting less.

Gwyn invites you to her ambitious new project Letters I Haven’t Written. With songs from her acclaimed new album at its heart, Gwyn and her band collaborate with an extraordinary creative team, video designer Will Duke, director Susannah Tresilian and designer Tom Rogers, to explore how we communicate, and find more meaningful connections with ourselves and the world.

UK TOUR 12 - 18 October 
Letters I Haven't Written 

Fri 12 Oct SNAPE MALTINGS
Sat 13 Oct OXFORD North Wall Arts Centre, promoted by OCM
Sun 14 Oct LONDON The Albany
Tues 16 Oct, MILTON KEYNES The Stables
Weds 17 Oct, CARDIFF Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Thurs 18 Oct, HASTINGS Opus Theatre

BOOK NOW

UK TOUR
Fri 12 Oct SNAPE MALTINGS
Sat 13 Oct OXFORD North Wall Arts Centre, promoted by OCM
Sun 14 Oct LONDON The Albany
Tues 16 Oct, MILTON KEYNES The Stables
Weds 17 Oct, CARDIFF Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Thurs 18 Oct, HASTINGS Opus Theatre

BOOK NOW

Composer // Samuel Bordoli
Scientist // Professor David Rothery
Planet // Uranus

It turns out Uranus is a fascinating planet because its rotation around the axis is tilted on its side creating an extraordinary effect on sunrise and sunset – essentially 42 earth years of a pale sun slowly revolving in the sky, the circle getting wider until it disappeared under the horizon leading to another 42 years of twilight then darkness. This is the journey Sam has tried to communicate in his new piece. Converting 84 years into 5 minutes is quite a challenge.

Samuel Bordoli is establishing a reputation as one of the foremost composers of his generation. His varied output continues to explore relationships between music, architecture, literature and theatre. He was appointed Composer-in-Residence at Scottish Opera in 2017. He has written chamber operas, instrumental and choral music as well as site-specific works for some the UK's most iconic landmarks including Tower Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral and City Hall, where he collaborated with Foster + Partners. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music, where he held the Mendelssohn Scholarship, and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. www.bordoli.co.uk

Professor David Rothery is mentoring Sam on Uranus. Professor of Planetary Geosciences, Open University. Author of: Planets: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Univ Press 2010), Teach Yourself Planets (Hodder, now out of print), Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot of Dynamic World (Springer, 2015). On the science team for the European Space Agency orbiter probe to Mercury (BepiColombo, launching Oct 2018,arrival Dec 2026).http://www.open.ac.uk/people/dar4

Uranus Facts

1. Uranus is about 4 times as wide as the Earth. It has 27 moons all named after the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

2. Uranus has its own set of rings! It has 13 in total that are narrow and dark close to the planet and brightly coloured further out

3. Uranus is a bit like Venus, in that it also rotates East to West, but it is unique as it rotates lying on its side.

4. One Uranian day is about 17 hours and one Uranian year is about 84 Earth years!

5. Uranus is an Ice giant made up of water, methane and ammonia. Its atmosphere is mostly hydrogen, helium and a small amount of methane. Hydrogen sulphide has also been detected high in the clouds of Uranus which would make it smell a lot like rotten eggs.

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/uranus/overview/

Composer // Deborah Pritchard
Scientist // Professor Sanjeev Gupta
Planet // Mars

Having experienced the landscape of Mars through NASA’s Curiosity Rover, Deborah aims to capture our sense of the magnificence of Mars, our closeness to it, as well as the barren and cold reality at its surface.

Deborah Pritchard received a British Composer Award in 2017. Her work has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, commercially released by NMC, Signum and Nimbus and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Sinfonietta and Philharmonia Orchestra. She is a synaesthetic composer and her violin concerto Wall of Water, after the paintings by Maggi Hambling, was held to critical acclaim by Gramophone as a 'work that will take ones breath away'. She studied composition with Simon Bainbridge for her MMus Degree at the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded her DPhil from Worcester College, Oxford where she studied with Robert Saxton. www.nmcrec.co.uk/composer/pritchard-deborah

Professor Sanjeev Gupta mentored Deborah on Mars. He is a geologist at Imperial College in London. He is interested in the processes that shape landscapes and how we can reconstruct these from Deep Time records preserved in sedimentary rocks. Since 2012 he has been exploring the evolution of Mars' landscapes. Currently he works with NASA's Curiosity rover to discover if the Red Planet could ever have been habitable for life, and is excited about future explorations with the European ExoMars rover due for launch in 2020. www.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.gupta

Mars Facts 

1. Mars days are only a little longer than a day on Earth but a year on Mars in almost twice as long as a year on Earth – 687 Earth days!

2. Mars has 2 moons called Phobos and Deimos.

3. Mars is known as the Red Planet because there are iron minerals in the Martian soil that have oxidized, or become rusty, and caused the soil and atmosphere to look red.

4. Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth, but its surfaces has been changed by volcanoes, and impacts, rushing winds and chemical reactions

5. Mars is much smaller than the Earth, about half the radius, but only a tenth of the mass.

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/

Image credit: Mars Curiosity Rover

Composer // Laurence Crane
Scientist // Dr Sheila Kanani
Planet // Neptune

Fascinated - and also quite overwhelmed - by the facts and statistics illustrating the immense distance of Neptune in the solar system. Neptune is 4 billion kilometres from Earth. Laurence continued to think about the mystery…the enigma, of Neptune to create an overall idea about the sounds, structure and sonic character of his new composition.

Laurence Crane studied composition with Peter Nelson and Nigel Osborne at Nottingham University. His music is mainly written for the concert hall, although his output includes pieces initially composed for film, radio, theatre, dance and installation. His list of works predominantly consists of instrumental chamber and ensemble music. He has worked with many ensembles in the UK and abroad, including Apartment House (UK), Plus-Minus Ensemble (UK/Belgium), Ixion (UK), London Sinfonietta (UK), Ives Ensemble (Netherlands), Orkest de Volharding (Netherlands), Cikada Ensemble (Norway), asamisimasa (Norway), Ensemble Kore (Canada) and 175 East (New Zealand).

Dr Sheila Kanani mentored Laurence on Neptune. She is a planetary physicist, science presenter, secondary school physics teacher and space comedian, with a background in astrophysics and astronomy research from UK universities. Her experience includes acting as an ambassador of science, public speaking, events organisation, science journalism and school visits. Sheila is currently the Education, Outreach and Diversity officer for the Royal Astronomical Society in London. www.destinationspace.uk/meet-space-crew/sheila-kanani/

Neptune Facts

1. Neptune is about 4 times the diameter of Earth, but is the only planet in the solar system not visible with the naked eye.

2. In 2011 Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit of the sun (1 Neptunian year) since its discovery in 1846. However, a Neptunian day only takes about 16 hours.

3. Neptune has 13 confirmed moons and one awaiting confirmation. They are all named after sea gods and nymphs in Greek mythology.

4. Neptune has a dark vortex in its atmosphere, that causes some gases to freeze into methane ice crystals.

5. Neptune has 6 rings of its own

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/neptune/overview/

Composer // Yazz Ahmed
Scientist // Professor Carl Murray
Planet // Saturn

Yazz has been inspired by sound recordings and images from the Cassini spacecraft mission, from lightening storms to plasma waves. Yazz wrote the piece in 6/4 time signature to represent the hexagon at the top of Saturn. 

Yazz Ahmed is a British Bahraini trumpet and flugelhorn player. Her music, through which she seeks to blur the lines between jazz, electronic sound design and the music of her mixed heritage, has been described as ‘psychedelic Arabic jazz, intoxicating and compelling’. In recent years she has led her ensembles in concerts in the UK and internationally. Yazz has also recorded and performed with Radiohead, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, amongst others. Her 2017 critically acclaimed album, La Saboteuse (Naim), has brought her to the attention of a global audience. Yazz is supported by PRS For Music Foundation. https://www.yazzahmed.com/

Professor Carl Murray is a Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary University of London. He is a planetary scientist interested in the motion of all objects in the solar system, from dust to planets, and has co-authored the standard textbook on the subject, “Solar System Dynamics”. In 1990 he was selected as a member of the camera team for the NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and worked on the project until the demise of the spacecraft in September 2017. Carl is particularly interested in the dynamics of Saturn’s rings and their gravitational interaction with small moons.

Saturn facts:

1. Saturn is not the only planet with rings, but has the most spectacular ring system in the solar system. It has 7 rings and several gaps and divisions between them.

2. Without including Saturn’s rings, it would take 9 Earths to span its diameter.

3. Saturn’s days are about 10.7 hrs long, similar in length to Jupiter’s, however it has much longer years, taking 29 Earth years to orbit the Sun.

4. Saturn has 53 confirmed moon and 9 provisional moons that are awaiting confirmation

5. About two tons of Saturn’s mass has come from Earth. The Cassini spacecraft was intentionally vaporized in Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017.

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/overview/

Since award-winning singer, composer, lyricist, record producer and multi-instrumentalist Gwyneth Herbert’s last project The Sea Cabinet in 2013, she's been on all sorts of creative adventures in all sorts of places, collaborating with artists, orchestras, brass bands, amazing young people and… puppets. After all that, when she finally sat down to create her new project she didn’t know where to start. "The world was full of so many stories”, she says, “and my voice suddenly felt so small on its own.” Then a close friend said: “if you were to sit down at your piano right now and write a song that no one else would hear, what would it be?” Terrified by the idea, she thought she should probably do it.

“My beautiful friend Sophie had just taken her life,” Gwyn continues, “so I decided I would write to her. And this was my first letter song.”

After that the songs came thick and fast: a thank you to her inspirational 6th form music teacher, Martin Read; a duet of friendship with her best pal Krystle Warren; a letter of love and separation inspired by time in the refugee camp in Calais; one to our government campaigning for a revolution in education and more.

Gwyn brought together her fantastic band and special guests to record the Letters I Haven’t Written album (her 7th) at Rockfield studio, Monmouth this summer, with engineer Sean Genockey.

Alongside the album Gwyn has also developed an ambitious new live show with her letter songs at its heart, collaborating with an extraordinary creative team including her band, video designer Will Duke, director Susannah Tresilian and designer Tom Rogers, “exploring how we communicate, and trying to find a more meaningful way of connecting with ourselves and the world.”

As part of the UK tour in October Gwyn is running Letters workshops with different groups from each community – in schools, vulnerable women and BAME elders – listening, learning and making together. The workshops will enable them to devise their own letter songs and Gwyn will compose a new song in response to her time with each group, to be performed with participants as an encore at some of the tour dates.

The single You’re Welcome will be available to download and stream on 28th September

The album Letters I Haven't Written will be available to download and stream on 12th October

UK TOUR
Fri 12 Oct SNAPE MALTINGS
Sat 13 Oct OXFORD North Wall Arts Centre, promoted by OCM
Sun 14 Oct LONDON The Albany
Tues 16 Oct, MILTON KEYNES The Stables
Weds 17 Oct, CARDIFF Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Thurs 18 Oct, HASTINGS Opus Theatre

BOOK NOW

Composer // Richard Bullen 
Scientist // Dr. Leigh Fletcher
Planet // Jupiter

Richard creates a sound world inspired by time-lapse videos of the auroras in Jupiter’s atmosphere, as well as images of the swirling clouds and rushing winds. He also makes a feature of the 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter, assigning one to each of the string quartet instruments.

British composer Richard Bullen studied at the Royal Academy of Music with David Sawer, graduating with a PhD in 2015. His works, which have been described as 'audacious' and 'astounding', often make creative use of the performance space to heighten perception of sound and thrill the senses. He has worked with several leading new music ensembles and orchestras including LSO, London Sinfonietta, BCMG, Orkest de Ereprijs and Psappha. His music has been performed across three continents from New York to Tokyo, and broadcast on BBC radio. He is a visiting lecturer in composition at the junior departments of Trinity Laban and the Royal College of Music. His awards include a 2011 BASCA British Composer Award. www.composersedition.com

Dr. Leigh Fletcher. Royal Society University Research Fellow (URF) and Associate Professor in Planetary Sciences at the University of Leicester specialising in the exploration of planetary weather and climate using Earth-based observatories and visiting spacecraft. He earned a Natural Science degree from Cambridge, a PhD in Planetary Physics from Oxford, and has since worked as a NASA fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and as a Research Fellow at Oxford. He was the recipient of the 2016 Harold C. Urey prize for outstanding achievements in planetary science by an early-career scientist, awarded by the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society. He is a co-investigator on the Cassini mission to Saturn, the JUICE mission to Jupiter, and a passionate advocate for future exploration of the distance Ice Giants. He currently leads a planetary atmospheres team at the University of Leicester, funded by the Royal Society, STFC, and the European Research Council. planetaryweather.blogspot.co.uk

Jupiter Facts

1. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our Solar System – 11 Earths could fit across Jupiters equator

2. Jupiter has short days and very long years. 1 Jovian day is about 10 Earth hours. It takes around 12 Earth years to complete one obit of the Sun (a Jovian year)

3. Jupiter has 79 known moons. The four best known moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They were discovered by Galileo (and are known as the Galilean moons) and are among the largest satellites in the Solar System. Some of these moons may be the mostly likely places to support life (other than Earth) in the Solar System.

4. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm that has raged for over 100 years and is about twice the size of Earth.

5. Unlike the 4 inner-most planets in the Solar system, Jupiter is a Gas Giant, so has no rocky surface. Its atmosphere is mostly Hydrogen and Helium.

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/

Image credit: Dr. Leigh Fletcher

Composer // Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Scientist // Professor Sanjeev Gupta
Planet // Earth

Ayanna Witter-Johnson's new composition explores and wonders about the creation of Earth and how it has developed over time. The melody appears and re-appears in different ways to reflect a myriad of perspectives/thoughts that she had during her research and creative process.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson - Singer, songwriter, cellist and rare exception to the rule that classical and alternative r&b music cannot successfully coexist. Graduated with a first from both Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Manhattan School of Music, Ayanna participated in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and became an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre. She was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors and became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC. Since releasing her EP’s Ayanna has toured extensively in the UK and in Europe, gained a MOBO award nomination, and has been played on BBC Radio 1 & BBC 1Xtra. http://www.ayannamusic.com/

Professor Sanjeev Gupta is a geologist at Imperial College in London. He is interested in the processes that shape landscapes and how we can reconstruct these from Deep Time records preserved in sedimentary rocks. Since 2012 he has been exploring the evolution of Mars' landscapes. Currently he works with NASA's Curiosity rover to discover if the Red Planet could ever have been habitable for life, and is excited about future explorations with the European ExoMars rover due for launch in 2020. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.gupta

Top 5 Earth Facts

1. Earth is in the habitable zone around our Sun, where it’s not too cold and not too hot, so liquid water can exist. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘Goldilocks Zone’

2. The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from meteorites, which burn/break up before they can strike the Earth’s surface. Earth’s atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other gases. This is the perfect cocktail to allow us to breathe and to promote life. 

3. The Earth has one natural satellite, the Moon.

4. Earth is a rocky planet with beautiful features such as mountains, valleys and canyons, but most of the surface is covered in water.

5. It takes the Earth 24hrs to rotate on its own axis and 365.25 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. That’s why every 4 years we add an extra day to February – to make up for the extra quarter day every year. 

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/

****WARNING! This article contains very strong language****

Gwyneth Herbert's Letter Of Note

“JUST DO” - Sol LeWitt’s electrifying letter of advice on self-doubt, overcoming creative block, and being an artist

Artist Sol LeWitt: A spectacular 1965 letter to the trailblazing sculptor Eva Hesse, whom he had befriended five years earlier. Hesse, a disciple of Josef Albers and a pioneer of the postminimalist art movement of the 1960s, began suffering from creative block and self-doubt shortly after moving from New York to Germany with her husband. She reached out to her friend for counsel and consolation.

The masterpiece of a response LeWitt wrote on April 14, 1965 was later included in Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience (public library) — the magnificent anthology edited by Shaun Usher.

In his impassioned five-page missive, which remains the closest thing to a personal creative credo LeWitt ever committed to words, the 41-year-old artist writes to Hesse:

"Dear Eva,

It will be almost a month since you wrote to me and you have possibly forgotten your state of mind (I doubt it though). You seem the same as always, and being you, hate every minute of it. Don’t! Learn to say “F*** You” to the world once in a while. You have every right to. Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, numbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-s*******, hair-splitting, nit-picking, piss-trickling, nose sticking, ass-gouging, eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting, small stepping, evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding, grinding, grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just

DO

From your description, and from what I know of your previous work and your ability; the work you are doing sounds very good “Drawing — clean — clear but crazy like machines, larger and bolder… real nonsense.” That sounds fine, wonderful — real nonsense. Do more. More nonsensical, more crazy, more machines, more breasts, penises, c****, whatever — make them abound with nonsense. Try and tickle something inside you, your “weird humor.” You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you — draw & paint your fear & anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things such as “to decide on a purpose and way of life, a consistant [sic] approach to even some impossible end or even an imagined end.” You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to

DO

I have much confidence in you and even though you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. Try to do some BAD work — the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell — you are not responsible for the world — you are only responsible for your work — so DO IT. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any preconceived form, idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be. But if life would be easier for you if you stopped working — then stop. Don’t punish yourself. However, I think that it is so deeply engrained in you that it would be easier to

DO

It seems I do understand your attitude somewhat, anyway, because I go through a similar process every so often. I have an “Agonizing Reappraisal” of my work and change everything as much as possible — and hate everything I’ve done, and try to do something entirely different and better. Maybe that kind of process is necessary to me, pushing me on and on. The feeling that I can do better than that s*** I just did. Maybe you need your agony to accomplish what you do. And maybe it goads you on to do better. But it is very painful I know. It would be better if you had the confidence just to do the stuff and not even think about it. Can’t you leave the “world” and “ART” alone and also quit fondling your ego. I know that you (or anyone) can only work so much and the rest of the time you are left with your thoughts. But when you work or before your work you have to empty your mind and concentrate on what you are doing. After you do something it is done and that’s that. After a while you can see some are better than others but also you can see what direction you are going. I’m sure you know all that. You also must know that you don’t have to justify your work — not even to yourself. Well, you know I admire your work greatly and can’t understand why you are so bothered by it. But you can see the next ones & I can’t. You also must believe in your ability. I think you do. So try the most outrageous things you can — shock yourself. You have at your power the ability to do anything.

[…]

Much love to you both.

Sol"

The following year, Hesse created “Hang-Up” — one of her most acclaimed and admired sculptures, of which she reflected: "It was the first time my idea of absurdity or extreme feeling came through… It is the most ridiculous structure that I ever made and that is why it is really good." This was LeWitt’s advice, made tangible and given form.

The two artists remained close friends and creative kindred spirits, exchanging ideas and influencing each other’s work, for the remainder of Hesse’s short life. She was slain by a brain tumor in 1970, at only thirty-four. Two days after her death, LeWitt created “Wall Drawing 46,” which he dedicated to his friend. With its minimalist multitude of textured non-straight lines — a graphic element he had never used before — the piece was a significant aesthetic shift for LeWitt, who would go on to incorporate non-straight lines in his subsequent work, crediting Hesse’s influence.

Link to full article here. Warning this article contains strong language: 
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/09/do-sol-lewitt-eva-hesse-letter/

Image credit: Ian Wallman

Composer // Shiva Feshareki
Scientist // Dr. Philippa Mason
Planet // Venus

Exploring science/maths, spirituality, poetry and art, Shiva Feshareki's new composition is now called: Venus/Zohreh. Zohreh is her mother's name, which translates to Venus. Shiva takes scientific inspiration from EnVision, an international UK-led mission heading to Venus in 2029. 

Shiva Feshareki is an internationally acclaimed experimental composer, NTS radio DJ and turntablist. Her diverse output explores acoustics, perspective and the sound of electricity through wide ranging practises that incorporate classical methodology. In 2017, she was honoured with the British Composer Award for Innovation from BASCA. Upcoming major works include a commission from the BBC Concert Orchestra: a brand new composition for solo turntables and orchestra to be premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall during The EFG London Jazz Festival (late 2018). She will also be the Featured Composer at London’s Spitalfields Festival in December 2018, where she will be showcasing another new score, revisions of ‘GABA-analogue’ and ‘O’ and a new interdisciplinary collaboration with artist Haroon Mirza. 2018 will also see the exciting release of her debut album on ‘RESIST’ as well as a special release on Ash Koosha’s new record label ‘Realms’. https://www.shivafeshareki.co.uk/

Dr. Philippa Mason is a field geologist who specialises in using satellite imagery to study rocks, minerals, geological structures and tectonics, on Earth and other planets. Her teaching and research at Imperial College London takes her all over the world and involves the translation of terrestrial techniques in Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and multi-spectral imaging to assist in the understanding of geological features and processes on other Earth-like planets, such as Venus and Mars. She is currently on the Science Team of EnVision, an international UK-led mission, which will be heading to Venus in 2029, aimed at understanding why it is so different to Earth, establishing whether it is tectonically active, and if it was ever hospitable to life. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/p.j.mason

Top 5 Venus facts:

1. Venus is about the same size as Earth (95% the radius and 82% the mass of Earth)

2. Although not the closest planet to the Sun, it is the hottest in the Solar System due to its thick atmosphere. It has a surface temperature of 465'C!!

3. A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days while a year is only 225 Earth days. Venus spins backways so on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the East

4. Venus has been visited and explored by more than 40 space crafts! Many scientists believe that there was once water on the surface and future explorers will search for evidence of this.

5. Although the surface of Venus rotates slowly, clouds are blown completely around the planet every 5 days, by hurricane force winds!

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/

Image credit: Ben Ealovega

We asked Gwyn to put together a playlist of tracks that have inspired her Letters I Haven't Written project. Listen to her eclectic playlist of love letters, political letters, letters to a younger self from Al Green, David Bowie, Sarah Vaughan, plus many more.

Listen here

Image credit: Ian Wallman

Composer // Mira Calix
Scientist // Professor David Rothery
Planet // Mercury

Check out a sneak preview of Mira Calix's new piece from our recent workshop session with the Ligeti Quartet here. Mira Calix has taken raw data from satellite missions to Mercury and turned it into music. The piece is simultaneously in 6/8 and 3/4 time signatures, representing its 3:2 orbit:spin ratio.

Mira Calix – is an award-winning artist, composer and performer. Music and sound have always been at the centre of her practice, which she continues to integrate with visual media and technological innovation to create multi-disciplinary installations and performance works. Mira has been commissioned by many leading international cultural institutions, festivals and ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Performa, Institute of Contemporary Art, Garage MCA, National Portrait Gallery, the Manchester International Festival and The Mayor Of London among others. Mira Calix is signed to Warp Records and published by Mute Song/ Music Sales. http://www.miracalix.com/

Professor David Rothery is mentoring Mira Calix on Mercury. Professor of Planetary Geosciences, Open University. Runs planetary science course. Author of: Planets: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Univ Press 2010), Teach Yourself Planets (Hodder, now out of print), Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot of Dynamic World (Springer, 2015). On the science team for the European Space Agency orbiter probe to Mercury (BepiColombo, launching Oct 2018,arrival Dec 2026). http://www.open.ac.uk/people/dar4

Top 5 Mercury facts:

1. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, about 36 million miles from it.

2. Mercury is the smallest planet on the Solar system, only a little larger than our Moon.

3. At Mercury’s closest approach, the sun would look 3 times larger from Mercury as it does from Earth!

4. Mercury has very long days and very short years – one day on Mercury takes 59 Earth days. One day-night cycle on Mercury takes about 176 Earth days. Mercury’s year (a full orbit around the Sun) is just 88 Earth days.

5. Mercury has an elliptical orbit and because of its long days and short years, the morning Sun appears to rise briefly, set, and rise again from parts of the planet’s surface. The same things happen in reverse at sunset, causing double sunsets.

Ref: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
Image credit: David Rothery

Composer and Live Music Sculpture founder Samuel Bordoli, tells us about his inspiration for The Planets 2018

The idea for The Planets 2018 grew out of my Live Music Sculpture series – four site-specific creations for live musicians placed spatially around unusual architectural landmarks, including Tower Bridge, GLA City Hall and The Monument.

I have always loved visiting planetariums and wanted to combine the thrill of exploring our solar system with site-specific music in these unique spaces. The opportunity of surrounding an audience with sound on all sides while visuals filled their peripheral vision was particularly tantalising.

A string quartet seemed like the most natural ensemble for this project. It would be capable of working within the intimate space and lend itself well to quadraphonic placement. Its ability to achieve unity as well as diversity in tone and texture would also be important in a dry acoustic. I approached the Ligeti Quartet, who are renowned for their pioneering approach to new music. They loved the idea and came on board.

I realised that we were approaching the centenary of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The threads seemed to come together – this would be a 21st Century Planets Suite, this time shared by eight composers each taking on a different planet. The composers would team up with a scientist to learn about the latest planetary research and incorporate this into their music.

I wanted The Planets 2018 to not only reveal the scientific developments of the last one hundred years, but also the musical changes. Holst was inspired by astrology – the contemporary composers would be influenced by astronomy. In the years that science has progressed, composers have been influenced by changing tastes, technologies and techniques. The project would tour around the UK to different planetariums accompanied by live visuals, taking audiences on a unique tour of the solar system, illuminated by music and science.

The scale of the idea needed an experienced and passionate producer to bring it to life. I was delighted when Sound UK came on board and brought their knowledge and creativity to the project. Together we commissioned Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Deborah Pritchard, Laurence Crane, Mira Calix, Richard Bullen, Shiva Feshareki and Yazz Ahmed to take on a planet – all renowned for pushing boundaries and being as varied in musical voice as the planets are in geological form.

I was inspired to take on the planet Uranus after visiting the Herschel Museum in Bath where it was discovered in 1781. I enjoyed being in the garden where it was first glimpsed through a telescope and standing on the damaged stones of Herschel’s workshop floor where molten metal had been spilled as he manufactured the lenses with his sister and fellow astronomer Caroline. It was fun to note that William Herschel was also a composer!

Guiding me during the process was David A. Rothery, professor of planetary geosciences, whose encyclopaedic knowledge has been invaluable. It turns out Uranus is a fascinating planet because its rotation around the axis is tilted on its side. David described the extraordinary effect this would have on sunrise and sunset – essentially 42 earth years of a pale sun slowly revolving in the sky, the circle getting wider until it disappeared under the horizon leading to another 42 years of twilight then darkness. This is the journey I have tried to communicate in the piece. It was quite a challenge converting 84 years into 5 minutes.

I hope audiences attending The Planets 2018 will be inspired when they experience the diversity of our solar system in the context of a wide range of music here on Earth. The questions raised by music and science remain bigger than all of us. This project is a humble glimpse of eight, highly personal responses to broader scientific discoveries about planets that undoubtedly influence us all. This is in no way the final say on the matter. We hope that another group of composers will do this again in 2118.

SB

29 Sept - 2 Oct
The Planets 2018
London, Winchester, Bristol, (Birmingham SOLD OUT)
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Image credit: Bill Bankes-Jones

We are very excited to hear A Change is Gonna Come on BBC Radio 3, Jazz Now. Soweto Kinch presents the show recorded earlier this year in Birmingham Town Hall. Leading an incredible sextet, are supremely talented queens of their trade: the soulful Carleen Anderson, jazz virtuosos Nikki Yeoh and Nubya Garcia and Mercury Prize-Winning rapper Speech Debelle. The band also features the awesome talents of bassist Renell Shaw, plus drummer Rod Youngs.

On stage together for the first time, they performed unique interpretations of iconic songs from the time of the civil rights through to today. This special concert also features powerful new compositions by Anderson and Yeoh highlighting the ongoing fight for equal human rights.

Listen again here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bf1wx5

Find out more about the project here: http://www.sounduk.net/events/change-gonna-come/

Internationally renowned for pushing the possibilities of the string quartet, the Ligeti Quartet will premiere The Planets 2018 in quadraphonic sound, alongside live visuals, in full dome planetariums.

At the forefront of modern and contemporary music since their formation in 2010, the Ligeti Quartet have established a reputation as one of the UK’s leading ensembles, breaking new ground through innovative programming and championing of today’s most exciting composers and artists. They have commissioned many new works and have collaborated with artists such as Anna Meredith, Kerry Andrew, Seb Rochford and Shabaka Hutchings. They have played at landmark venues around the world and also regularly escape the stage to play museums, pubs, galleries, and on iceberg sculptures as part of a Greenpeace campaign. The Quartet are Ensemble in Residence at the Universities of both Sheffield and Cambridge and regularly take part in education and community outreach work. https://ligetiquartet.com/

Mandhira de Saram (violin 1), Patrick Dawkins (violin 2), Richard Jones (viola), Val Welbanks (cello)

The Planets 2018 is touring 29 Sept - 02 October 
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The Ligeti Quartet choose some of their favourite planetary tracks ahead of The Planets 2018 UK tour this autumn. Listen here: https://spoti.fi/2Plergg 

Screen printed posters of A Change Is Gonna Come illustration by the amazing Annette Becker Design are now available to buy here: https://www.etsy.com/…/6…/a-change-is-gonna-come-hand-screen

Gwyneth Herbert
Letters I Haven’t Written

We're delighted to be working with award-winning composer/performer Gwyneth Herbert and leading video artist Will Duke (Complicite The Encounter) on this exciting new project that takes audiences on a voyage into the lost art of letter-writing through music and film.

Over the coming months we hope you'll join us on this creative journey that uses the personal act of letter writing to ask: How, in an age of so much noisy communication, can we be more connected?

Read More

We are overwhelmed by the audience reaction to A Change is Gonna Come. Thank you for all your amazing comments. We are completely in awe, proud and inspired by this incredible line-up of talented artists. THANK YOU to Carleen Anderson, Nikki Yeoh, Speech Debelle, Nubya Garcia, Renell Shaw and Rod Youngs. THANK YOU to our production team and to the venues we’ve toured to so far in London, Brighton and Birmingham. We know this won’t be the end.

ON THE RADIO:
Keep an ear out for A Change is Gonna Come on BBC Radio 3 Jazz Now soon.

READ THE PAPERS:
Read the four-star reviews! 

The Guardian - A Change Is Gonna Come: Music for Human Rights review – musical depths in cliche-free protest songs 

Evening Standard - A Change Is Gonna Come: Music For Human Rights review - a powerful evening of protest songs

Brighton Source - Brighton Festival Review: A Change Is Gonna Come

The Arts Desk - A Change is Gonna Come, Brighton Festival review - lively, winning jazz adventure

WHAT’S TWITTER SAYING?
We’ve loved reading your Twitter comments. Here are a few we’ve picked out:

@JimbleJay
Phenomenal. @speechdebelle reciting Hughes’ ‘Harlem’, then in to Gil-Scott Heron. @nubya_garcia & co. opening with Coltrane’s ‘Alabama’... Then came Dead Prez... #AChangeIsGonnaCome

@1953eagle4ever
A great evening of protest songs last night. Thank you @CarleenAnderson @speechdebelle @NikkiPianoYeoh and @nubya_garcia for giving them new life. Some of the songs may be old but are are still relevant today. A Change Must Come.

@jeanmcameron
When you see artists at the top of their game perform from the depth of their souls it truly is an extraordinary blessing. Tonight @southbankcentre @CarleenAnderson, Nikki Yeoh, Speech Debelle, Nubya Garcia, Renell Shaw and Rod Young reminded me of that. #AChangeIsGonnaCome

@jojcast
What a night! Jazz, folk, afrobeat, hip hop, soul & more... @speechdebelle
@CarleenAnderson @NikkiPianoYeoh & @nubya_garcia at @BtnDome absolutely killed it - fantastic musicians & people

Image credit: Dan Shelley 

Carleen Anderson has put together a playlist representing her inspiration for A Change is Gonna Come project. Some of these tracks will feature in the live shows 21 - 29 May. The playlist features John Coltrane, Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughan and more. Listen here 

Bass player Renell Shaw has put together a playlist representing his inspiration for A Change is Gonna Come project. The playlist features Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill, Femi Kuti, Mos Def, Erykah Badu and more. 

Listen here: A Change is Gonna Come (No Change without Disturbance)

Carleen Anderson - The Importance of Artists Expressing Activism in their Work

A tremendous spark ignited within me when the Sound UK Arts curators, Polly Eldridge and Maija Handover, inquired of my interest in participating in a music project addressing social and political inequalities.

Although the torch of artists expressing activism has stayed lit throughout the generations, the superficial economic shift in society’s landscape has dimmed its light.

The shouts of ‘No Justice, No Peace’ are countered these days with ‘But there was a Black U.S. American President’, and, ‘What about all the Women that are now included on various platforms’, and, ‘Homosexuals can even get legally married now’. As remarkable as these community progressions are, worldwide disenfranchisement remains in abundance.

The acquisition of material gains that even the poor can obtain, such as smartphones, Wi-Fi and the like, distracts the focus in the mainstream of how much levelling of the playing fields is still needed globally. And this is where artists vigorously campaigning to bring about change to a system that feeds off the disadvantaged proves its worth.

Old and new protest songs/poetry to be performed in this program are but a commentary and taste of what is still happening in even the supposedly more enlightened countries on earth. Sanctioned murders of certain types of people, politicians advocating hate in their speeches, organised chaos to benefit only the few whilst the majority, mislabelled as the minority, are unjustly assigned lives of despair.

Modern civil rights campaigns carry an ongoing disparity between the anxiousness in the young and left-out that’s imbalanced against the measured strategy of the older and privileged ones which continues the rope pull amongst even those championing the same cause. Add to that, in our futuristic environment, the element of anger that can escalate into pandemonium much quicker than ever before.

False rumours routinely spread faster than the reality that has time to take hold. Art, especially music, can be a band-aid, that plaster to keep things from erupting into immediate bedlam. What might have taken hours or days to develop into mayhem in times of yore, is now only a finger-tap away from causing cataclysm within a heartbeat.

Artists, even at the risk of commercial career damage, are paramount in every culture to organise themselves to draw attention to widespread injustices. In doing so, this can galvanize people to change our outdated and unfair pandemic practices. Music, as ever, can be, and is, a mighty tool to show how we are far more the same, than we are different.

Drummer Rod Youngs who has played with Gil Scott Heron, Hugh Masekela, Courtney Pine and Jocelyn Brown, amongst others has put together a playlist representing his inspiration for A Change is Gonna Come project. The playlist features James Brown, Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy, Billie Holiday and more. Listen here

Oh, yes it will.

A Change Is Gonna Come is a timeless melody with one of the great opening lines in pop. It evokes the river, symbol of Mother Earth’s riches, that does not stop running, just like the disenfranchised, those born ‘in a little tent’ on its banks, who look forward to the dawning of a new day, or, more specifically, a brighter tomorrow.

When Sam Cooke wrote the song in 1964 the right to vote for people of colour in America, still commonly referred to as Negroes, was yet to be granted. Dr. Martin Luther King jnr, had delivered his landmark I Have A Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, the previous year. Both men were slain at a young age, at crucial junctures in the Civil Rights movement, but their bold statements have still retained an inspiring permanence that outweighs the transience of their precious lives.

Protest music is a term that can be applied to all manner of genres, from soul and jazz to folk and rock, but the defining feature of any work that might be deemed the sound of resistance is its awareness of the all-consuming nature of struggle and desire to stay the course, all the way to King’s ‘mountain top’, the promised land of equality.

Which is something that can also be identified in many different areas of art other than music. Song and speech, melody and oratory have long been entwined in African and black Diasporan culture. If musicians such as Cooke and religious leaders like King, the archetype of a preacher who often became singer when he performed a sermon, stood bravely in the vanguard of the war on oppression, cruelty, poverty and the presumed superiority of one race or class over another, then writers and poets were no less remarkable. For example, Langston Hughes was a monumental figure of the ‘30s Harlem Renaissance who saw the literary value of the blues as well as the dignity, beauty and humour of the second-class citizens of ‘the Colored Section.’ His What Happens To A Dream Deferred? is one of the great flights of rhetoric in modern literature, an urgent summary of what the downtrodden feel that is lifted up by the threat of what they can do, as the verse comes to ‘explode’ in its graphic finale.

The prospect of hearing these amazing musicians put their own spin on these and other iconic works by such as John Coltrane, Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone and Odetta, in A Change Is Gonna 'Come, is cause for celebration. They will also play their original compositions that remind us of their firm commitment to making music that duly addresses the subject of injustice. Anderson’s recent Cage Street Memorial project was a dazzling evocation of the unbreakable bedrock of the black family set against the backdrop of ‘Freedom marches’ in America as well as Anderson’s own path as artist and mother in Britain.

Creating continuums between one generation and the next, cementing the links of community while smashing the chains of slavery and the shackles of segregation has always been a priority for these exponents of protest music. The recognition of elders who made sacrifices for youngers and fought valiantly for equality on either side of the Atlantic - potently epitomized by Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Claudia Jones and Marcus Garvey - galvanizes countless melodies written against the abuse of power. Acts of remembrance thankfully counter those who would seek to deny real history.

In the church, one of the essential safe havens for the wretched of the ‘New world’, and the concert hall or nightclub, those arenas of popular music where a message can reach the masses by way of a golden horn or black vinyl, any songs that give people the precious commodity of hope are an integral part of the human condition. They are an earthly token of the sweet chariot swinging low from heaven. They instill courage in the most extreme circumstances, be it the sight of a Klansmen’s pointed hood or a policeman’s billy club. Amazing Grace is both weapon and anthem. As activists said when they were faced with state sponsored violence; ‘If in doubt pray… and sing.’

The tone of protest music can vary enormously from one artist to the next. However there is a recurrent theme in the seminal entries of the canon: the look to the future, the peremptory affirmation of what will, rather than might come to pass. It is as much in Gil Scott Scott-Heron’s stark warning that The Revolution Will Not Be Televised as it is Sam Cooke’s soothing promise that A Change Is Gonna Come. Oh yes, it will.

- Kevin Le Gendre, broadcaster, writer and journalist whose book Don’t Stop The Carnival – Black Music In Britain (The Peepal Press) is published on 24 May.
@k_le_gendre

We are delighted to announce A Change Is Gonna Come - Music for Human Rights, which sees four of the most gifted soul, jazz and hip hop artists explore the power of protest songs in this not to be missed collaboration. Leading an incredible sextet are supremely talented queens of their trade: the soulful Carleen Anderson, jazz virtuosos Nikki Yeoh and Nubya Garcia and Mercury Prize-Winning rapper Speech Debelle.

This special concert also features powerful new compositions by Anderson and Yeoh highlighting the ongoing fight for equal human rights. The band also includes awesome talents bassist Renell Shaw and drummer Rod Youngs.

Touring May 2018 

TICKETS

We are thrilled to be working with The British Paraorchestra on their PLAY! project.

Dust off your SNESs, N64s and boot up your PlayStations as Charles Hazlewood takes us on a musical adventure into some of the gaming world’s most memorable soundtracks.

18 March, Barbican Centre, LONDON
20 March, Leeds Town Hall, LEEDS
BOOK NOW

In association with Sound UK

Image credits:
1) Through Me Flows Water, Wayne Binitie. Credit Joshua Gaunt 
2) Lys*arp, Ulf Pedersen. Credit Joshua Gaunt
3) Apparition, Ulf Pedersen. Credit Joshua Gaunt
4) Droplets, Ulf Pedersen. Credit Joshue Gaunt
5) Piano Migrations, Kathy Hinde. Credit Kathy Hinde 
6) Music Box Migrations, Kathy Hinde. Credit Kathy Hinde
7) Luminous Birds, Kathy Hinde. Credit Joshua Gaunt 

Tickets have literally flown out for Alight! our new festive sound and light experience in Bath.

We can't wait to open gates to Prior Park Landscape Garden after-dark for visitors to enjoy beautiful lit artworks inspired by nature. There's the chance to discover illuminated birds, mysterious musical boxes, atmospheric ice vapour, a ghostly fish and more.

What to wear: If you are joining us this week, please dress for the weather, and wear sturdy footwear.

Getting there: The #2 bus provides a regular service from Bath bus and train station to Prior Park Landscape Garden (last few services on Sunday will stop by the entrance at 6.51, 7.21 and 7.51pm). Alternatively, it is a steep 1 mile walk from Bath Spa train station. Please note there is no parking.

Tickets are for a timed entry, please refer to your ticket confirmation.

15 - 17 December 2017
Prior Park Landscape Garden, Bath

Visitors to venues that Ulf works with find themselves immersed in an amazing play of light and colour, as the space changes into something unique and magical. Often architectural in scale Ulf’s work transforms the act of looking into a physical experience.

In addition to working closely with the raw materials of the site, Ulf use light and colour as his essential tools, often combining these natural or artificial elements with the new architectural forms he has designed. His work exploits both hi and lo-fi technologies and aims to highlight the poetic potential of place.

He has shown his work at Arts Festivals in Sydney, Hong Kong, Hobart & Wellington, as well as at national attractions including Kew Gardens and historic properties.

“Mind-blowingly brilliant. An unforgettably beautiful and resonant experience” — George Monbiot, journalist, on For The Birds

ulfpedersen.com

Image credit: Droplets, Ulf Pedersen

Currently undertaking his PhD at Royal College of Art, Binitie’s work explores the perception of glacial water through audio-visual art. He creates immersive soundscapes and installations which transform field recordings made at the British Antarctic Survey ice core archive, to reveal the significant role of glacial water within the wider global climate change challenge.

Through Me Flows Water, his new work created for Alight!, rethinks the landscape and water features of Prior Park, inviting audiences to experience the transformation of water in its three states of solid, liquid and vapour. The installation is anchored by the use of his own audio-visual field recordings made at the British Antarctic Survey ice core archive.

Wayne has participated in conferences, publications and exhibitions at the national and international level including Atmospheres, Denmark; Largo Sguardo, Rome, S:Future, London and as part of the Friday Late series at the V&A.

waynebinitie.com

Image credit: Wayne Binitie 

KATHY HINDE audio-visual artist — inspired by behaviours and phenomena found in nature and the everyday — working with sound, light, image, sculpture, location.

Drawing on inspiration from behaviours and phenomena found in the natural world, Kathy creates work that is generative; that evolves; that can be different each time it is experienced.

Kathy frequently works in collaboration with other practitioners and scientists and often actively involves the audience in the creative process. She has created light and sound installations in public spaces, including urban streets, woodlands and forests.

She has shown work extensively across Europe, China, Pakistan, USA, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and New Zealand. She became a Cryptic associate in 2015. Kathy received an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2015 for Tipping Point and Piano Migrations was runner up for the Sonic Arts Award 2014 and listed for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2014. Kathy received an Oram Award in 2017 for innovations in sound and music.

“There is something poignant about the delicacy of Hinde’s flock of origami birds… Lights rush in perfect harmony with the wash of sound creating a unified sensorial experience.”
The Times **** on Luminous Birds

kathyhinde.co.uk / @birdtwitchr

Image credits: 1) Piano Migrations, 2) Luminous Birds

Congratulations to Wayne Binitie on receiving Sound UK Arts’, Alight! Emerging Artist Award 2017!

Wayne Binitie - Through Me Flows Water

Currently undertaking his PhD at Royal College of Art, Wayne Binitie’s work explores the perception of glacial water through audio-visual art. Wayne has participated in conferences, publications and exhibitions at the national and international level including Atmospheres, Denmark; Largo Sguardo, Rome and S:Future, London.

Through Me Flows Water rethinks the landscape and water features of Prior Park, inviting audiences to experience the transformation of water in its three states of solid, liquid and vapour. The installation is anchored by the use of his own audio-visual field recordings made at the British Antarctic Survey ice core archive. Through Me Flows Water will be presented alongside work by Kathy Hinde and Ulf Pedersen as part of Alight! 

Find out more about Wayne here: waynebinitie.com

Book tickets for Alight! here. 

Image credit: Wayne Binitie

We loved touring KELD: Freshwater Songs with Kerry Andrew and her band You Are Wolf. We took the project to a Cornish town hall, a church in Devon, a community centre in London and a village hall in Wiltshire. You Are Wolf performed a new set of songs inspired by freshwater stories and folklore from the tour locations. Local music students, dancers and a local poet were also part of the live performance. Look out for our project film coming soon. In the meantime read some of our brilliant audience comments below: 

"Fabulous, fresh, innovative."

"Beautiful & wonderful. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was amazing!"

"It was really exciting to have contemporary art happening in the village (!) and to be able to attend an event like this locally, relating to our own environment."

"Amazing and inspirational."

"It is a wonderful model for an event. Beautiful sound quality. Innovative, fresh, sparky, edgy." 

Touring 18 - 21 October
Cornwall, Devon, Barking in London and Wiltshire
Book Now

By Kerry Andrew 

This month I have visited all of the areas we’re coming to on the tour. It’s been lovely to get a feel for each place, learn about the water there and most importantly meet people! I recorded people telling me about the local water and have been making texts out of them.

She said, ‘swim between the rocks.’
I said ‘you can’t do that, it’s far too dangerous.’
And she said ‘no, you go in with the tide,
and you just keep going.
You go up up up up
and you go down down down down.’

And it was lovely.

We started in North Devon, just at the bottom of Exmoor, on a very rainy day. I met the local teenage musicians who will be writing songs with their ex-teachers Carol and Sam, and we had fun making new loops and speedily arranging a version of a traditional tune, As Sylvie Was Walking, which I loved hearing sung by a great female pop voice!

Highlights of this visit were the excellently hearty grub in North Molton’s pub, and the all-female trip to Sherdon, in the moors. Sadly, the formal communal swim had been cancelled, as incessant rain had made the river swell a little dangerously. However, especially hardy locals Anya and Lucy stripped off, and I have a competitive streak when it comes to getting in water, so had to join them, wading through the fierce brown water, past a spiky gorse bush or three, to get in via a rock ledge. The water was, of course, freezing, pretty fast-flowing, taking us through a jagged wire dam and back into the main pool. It started raining heavily, which made everything more hilarious. You always feel brilliant after a swim, though, and I glowed in the back seat of Polly’s car whilst we steamed it up.

My own experience of the river was as a child.
We would have a lot of fun.
There was a nice deep area Bath’s Field off Under Lane
so we had our own swimming pool during the war.
You got a jam jar and a bit of string
and you’d go catching tiddlers.
It was a lovely restful time.
The water was an important part of your life.
We used to have some smashing fun.

The weather brightened for our trip just over the border to Launceston in Cornwall, where a whole host of meetings had been set up for me following the morning’s secondary school workshop. Octogenarian and local history expert Arthur filled me in on the history of the river and told me about his ‘dear friend’, the local poet Charles Causley. Jane read me some Causley in the old abbey ruins. The town crier, who’d been roped in for one day in the 1970s and ended up staying for 40 years, read me some more on the old bridge over St Thomas Water before the local nursery kids turned up to feed oats to the ducks. Two sisters who do regular long-distance sea-swims came to chat and one gave me recordings she’d made that morning of the stream at the bottom of the garden. I’m planning to use recordings of local water in each concert. She sings in the local choir, who hopefully will sing with us when we come back!

The river was rather too shallow to swim in, so some of us waded in up to our knees, watching our toes go blue. We checked out the Town Hall where we’ll be performing, and met a man and his tortoise, Zola, in the castle grounds. Most importantly of all, I ate a Cornish pasty.

Marshy silt on the edge of the river.
We get the most amazing big sky here.
The A13.
The Ford factory.
Pylons.

To Barking! For this trip, we joined the Silk River walk, which stretched over about 10 days from the Thames out to sea, in a large artistic and community exchange with a town in India. Locals came to hold massive community-made silk banners and walk along the River Roding.

We had a bit of historical information from a chap in the 11th-century St Margaret’s Church before we went, and watched two of the banners float down on a raft past the barges. I loved chatting to Johnny, a local barge-owner and the heart of the river community, who was joined by his gorgeous dog Millie.

In the afternoon, we worked with Year 7-9s at the local secondary school, who were a mad, fun bunch with body percussion rhythms up their sleeves. I’m really looking forward to seeing what all the schools come up with for their own water-inspired songs, which they’ll be performing as my support act in each venue.

It makes me feel alive. Simple as.
Nothing else matters.
I use it as a psychological tool:
if I can do this, I can do anything,
so I make myself do it.
I get a real buzz.

The village of Holt in Wiltshire was our last stop, a very cute village with a really swanky café/business centre, the Glove Factory, at its heart. I worked with the Year 6s at the primary school, getting them to beatbox and make up riffs, before we had a walk to find some river sounds. This meant semi-trespassing over fields to a noisy weir, and getting over my fear of cows on the way back.

We met Cat and her dog Molly for an exclusive early-evening swim in the Glove Factory’s amazing members’ pond. Soft grass, milky clay, and subdued blue-green water. If I lived here, I’d be there every day. Cat was a brilliant, vivacious personality and talked happily about the effects of the water. Polly’s hands went alarmingly blue and I took about three hours to thoroughly warm up, but it was worth it.

It always is.

With the #keld tour happening in a few weeks, we asked Kerry Andrew (You Are Wolf) to put together a playlist inspired by freshwater. Her selection features Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Audrey Hepburn, M.I.A, Nick Drake, Sons Of Kemet plus many more. 

Enjoy listening here! 

If you have any of your own freshwater favourite songs tweet us at @soundukarts. 

Catch You Are Wolf on tour in Cornwall, Devon, Barking and Wiltshire this October. Full details here. 

Tom Phillips and Netia Jones on BBC Radio 3 Music Matters.

Listen again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09569t7

The artist Tom Phillips is a true creative polymath - a painter, gallery curator, singer, quilter, opera composer, set designer and much more. His seminal 1969 opera Irma is all sourced from passages in 'A Humament' - his life's work - and is largely left to the performers to interpret it however they choose. He talks to Tom at his home in Peckham about how he wrote his 'chance opera' and how to decipher the clues found within the libretto. Plus Tom talks to the acclaimed opera director Netia Jones, who is about to stage it in Peckham, about how to start piecing together the puzzle of the opera.

Irma intermedia artwork performances have now sold out. Don't miss out on the daytime installation bringing Phillips’ intricate visual score to life through an evocative combination of soundscape and video. This exciting weekend of events celebrates Philips’ extraordinary artistic output in art and music in his 80th year.

Irma installation
16, 17 Sept
11am - 6pm
South London Gallery 
Free

About Tom Phillips: Phillips attended art school during the 1960s and was swept up in the free exchange of art forms these institutions encouraged. He was instrumental in bringing composers like John Cage and Morton Feldman to the UK, and introducing Brian Eno to cross-art work. To name just a few of his artistic achievements, Tom Phillips was the second artist to have a retrospective of his portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in 1989 and was commissioned by the Royal Mint to design the first UK kilo coins to mark the occasion of the London 2012 Olympic Games. His design for the Benjamin Britten 50p piece in 2013 was the first to feature poetry. Phillips is also a judge for the Man Booker Prize 2017.

In 1966 Phillips resolved to dedicate himself to making art out of the first secondhand book he could find for threepence on Peckham Rye. Thus began A Humument, longest of Phillips's extended serial projects. A Humument is a radical 'treatment' of a forgotten Victorian novel by means of collage, cut-up, ornament and other techniques. On the fiftieth anniversary of its inception, in 2016, Phillips completed the sixth and final version of this work – each version with successively more pages reworked, until his original work had itself been completely transformed. Watch the video...

tomphillips.co.uk

News image credit: Tom Phillips, Bellenden Renewal Scheme, Rima Street Lamps, We Love Peckham mosaic

Irma: an opera
Director / Designer - Netia Jones
Music Director / Sound Design - Anton Lukoszevieze

About Netia Jones / Lightmap:
led by director and video artist Netia Jones, Lightmap is a critically acclaimed creative and technical studio working internationally in live performance, music, film and installation projects. Jones recently directed / designed for a new production of Midsummer Night’s Dream at Aldeburgh Festival 2017. Other projects include works by Georg Haas and György Kurtág at the Royal Opera House, Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin and Where the Wild Things Are by Oliver Knussen at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Barbican. Site-specific installations include Curlew River for Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival and the Barbican, London and Everlasting Light, a large-scale installation at Sizewell nuclear power station for Aldeburgh Festival. netiajones.com

"Sharply conceived technology, remarkable depth and invention...dazzling" - The Independent on LIGHTMAP

About Anton Lukoszevieze / Apartment House:
Apartment House was created by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze in 1995. Under his direction it has become an award winning exponent of avant-garde and experimental music from around the world. Their performances have included many UK and world premieres of music by a wide variety of composers. Notable portrait events have featured composers Jennifer Walshe, Luc Ferrari, Laurence Crane and Richard Ayres to name just a few. They are a regular feature on the European music scene and have ventured as far as Australia, Russia and USA. In 2012 they received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Outstanding Contribution to Chamber Music. They were the featured ensemble for the 2016 London Contemporary Music Festival, performing works by Julius Eastman, Frederic Rzewski and the UK Premiere of Arthur Russell’s Tower of Meaning. apartmenthouse.co.uk

"Apartment House’s [performance of] Femenine [...] hit the audience with an almost overwhelming force" - The Spectator

We are delighted to announce the Irma cast who will be working alongside director / designer Netia Jones, music director Anton Lukoszevieze and Apartment House as:

Grenville - Benjamin O'Mahony  

London born actor currently filming 'STRIKE BACK' for Sky1/HBO Cinemax & 'ONCE LOVED' for Warner Bros/Sky1. Currently appearing as a season regular in 'RIPPER STREET' on BBC 2/Amazon & 'KAJAKI: KILO TWO BRAVO' (BAFTA Nominee) on Netflix/BBCiPlayer.

Irma - Josephine Stephenson

Josephine Stephenson is a Franco-British composer and performer based in London. As a soprano, she regularly performs with groups such as EXAUDI, Tenebrae, The Erebus Ensemble, The Tallis Scholars, The Erebus Ensemble, Philharmonia Voices and Britten Sinfonia Voices.

Nurse - Elaine Mitchener
Elaine Mitchener is an experimental vocalist and movement artist whose work encompasses improvisation, contemporary composition, sound art, music theatre, physical theatre and performance art. She has performed at Venice Biennale, White Cube, London Contemporary Music Festival, Café Oto and ICA, London.

Chorus - Alastair Putt

Alastair Putt has a particular interest in performing new music, and sings regularly with the BBC Singers, EXAUDI and Synergy Vocals, alongside being a member of the choir of St Margaret's, Westminster.

Chorus - Francis Brett

Increasingly well known in the field of contemporary music, Francis sings regularly with the vocal ensemble EXAUDI with whom he has given numerous world and UK premieres, their Proms debut and many recordings. 

Chorus - Jon Stainsby

While working with several of Europe's foremost vocal ensembles, including the Choir of the Academy of Ancient Music, Dunedin Consort plus many more, he has appeared as a soloist at Wigmore Hall and the Barbican. Jon has extensive experience in the field of contemporary music and has had numerous appearances with EXAUDI.

Find out more about Irma: an opera here. 

KELD: Freshwater Songs
By You Are Wolf

Kerry Andrew – vocals, electronics / Sam Hall – bass guitar, cello / Peter Ashwell – percussion

18 - 21 October 2017

Keld - an old northern English word meaning 'the deep, still, smooth part of a river'

We are very excited to be working with award-winning singer and composer Kerry Andrew for our latest project, combining Kerry's passion for wild swimming with a love of gathering songs. Keld seeks out lesser known traditional songs, alongside myths and folklore from rural and urban locations, to inspire new material played by her trio You Are Wolf.

'Imagine Bjork working her magic on the English folk scene' – Uncut

Book tickets

DROP PIPES: The Drop Pipes are designed to be used as part of a larger structure such as the cladding around a treehouse. They are played by dropping/throwing down the pipes onto a rubber seal which creates a wave of sound. An alternative way to play this instrument is by lifting the pipe off the seal and using the flat of your hand on the top hollow.

Part of Sounding the Wood.

'He’s now in his 80s but the man who painted Beckett, illustrated Hell and made art out of beard trimmings, is still fired up. As his half-backwards opera Irma returns, we join the great experimentalist for a boozy lunch of artisanal bubble and squeak.'

Read the full interview here: bit.ly/2vu9SaQ

Delve more deeply into this unique artwork: https://opusxiib.com 

The Tongue Drum is one of the oldest instruments in human history, the drum is of Aztec origin. Early Tongue Drums were made of hollowed trees which were hit with sticks to create percussion tones. The Tongue Drum was used for storytelling and as a "battle cry" instrument in warfare in early African history.

Part of Sounding the Wood.

The instruments that you will find in the woods are the result of a research and development project for TouchWood Play in collaboration with Sound UK and The National Trust - TouchWood are a Bristol based playground design and build company.
The instruments in Sounding the Wood respond to the beautiful natural environment of Prior Park using natural and local materials. 

Discover more about Sounding the Wood.

ALIGHT!
Emerging Artist - commission opportunity

Sound UK is offering a new commission opportunity for an emerging artist to create two exciting new pieces of work to be exhibited alongside highly experienced, pioneering artists Kathy Hinde and Ulf Pedersen in a major public event at National Trust’s Prior Park from 15 – 17 December 2017.

A landscaped garden in the style of Capability Brown, Prior Park in Bath provides an inspiring manifestation of man’s interaction with nature.

Sound UK is looking for early stage artists that can create new works in the mediums of sound, light or projection that explore this context in a compelling and innovative way.

The award package will include support in the creation of new works, advice and support on developing their career and artistic practice as well as press and marketing coverage and an opportunity to show their work to national producers of outdoor work.

The brief: The artistic brief is to create an imaginative and high quality piece of work using sound, light or projection for an outdoor setting within budget. The artist will be asked to take nature and the landscape as the inspiration following the Trusts maxim, of ‘A Sense of Place’ and to create work that is accessible for a wide age range. They will have the opportunity to also spend time with Hinde and Pedersen to benefit from their experience and skills to ensure an effective, well designed, innovative piece and will need to be available for site visits, meetings with the producers, National Trust, funders and press.

The Award: The award of £1500 will include: the opportunity to exhibit two pieces of innovative art at a public event, the opportunity to work in an inspiring National Trust property, professional production support, extensive marketing and press for the event, showcase opportunity for artist and work to be seen by other promoters of outdoor work.
Selection Criteria and requirements: Applicants will have exhibited work in a professional setting at least 3 times in the last two years.

To apply please submit by post or email by 15 August 2017:
- examples (photographs, publicity material) of at least three pieces of work exhibited professionally
- two references from previous commissioner / exhibition producer
- a one page outline of proposed artistic idea
- 3 key objectives for professional development

Application assessment: The applicants will be reviewed by Kathy Hinde and Ulf Pedersen, Sound UK, and members of the Prior Park team.

Production of work: The Fresh Sparks will meet with Alight’s production personnel to work through any technical challenges in installing it and will be assigned their own production manager to install their work during the set up in Prior Park the week before Alight!

Email applications should be addressed to polly@sounduk.net, postal applications to Polly Eldridge, 22 Stanley Avenue, Bristol, BS7 9AH

Information on Alight! artists:
Ulf Pedersen Through a kind of light-based alchemy, Pedersen’s work transforms outdoor spaces into something magical. Working with the raw materials of the site, he also uses light and colour as essential tools. His practice exploits hi and lo-fi technologies and highlights the poetic potential of place. He has shown his work at Arts Festivals in Sydney, Hong Kong, Hobart & Wellington, as well as at national attractions including Kew Gardens and historic properties. Ulf delivers presentations and professional development workshops in conjunction with shows, most recently as part of Spectra in Aberdeen.

Kathy Hinde Kathy Hinde’s work grows from a partnership between nature and technology expressed through installations and performances that combine sound, sculpture, image and light. She has created work in public spaces, including town high streets and nature reserves across Europe, Scandinavia, China, Pakistan, USA, Colombia, Brazil and New Zealand.
Hinde has given presentations at events such as KIKK festival 2016; NESTA FutureFest 2013; TED Global Edinburgh 2012; TEDxAldeburgh 2011 (https://youtu.be/2jtFXfl2_l8). She is regularly invited to speak and run workshops at various institutions including Goldsmiths University, Bath Spa University, Brunel University, and Prague Academy of Performing Arts. Kathy Hinde previously led the Sound strand on the ‘SISE’ (Sound Image and Sensory Experience) Module at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

The connection of both artists’ works to nature and site, together with their teaching experience make them the perfect choice as mentors for this project.

Information on Sound UK: Sound UK Arts (Sound UK) is producer of new music and sound projects. Since it was founded in 2001 it has delivered a large number of new commissions and collaborations including new music tours, commissions for rural communities, museum installations and digital art projects.

At the heart of Sound UK’s work is a passion to provide new opportunities and a supportive context for artists creating imaginative high quality work which extends their practise and presents engaging experiences for audiences. It uses its projects to offer artists professional development through new commissions and collaborations, often working with partners to give artists contexts and ideas that push the boundaries of their work to present extraordinary art in unexpected places.
Sound UK is fascinated by how artists respond to conceptual, social or environmental provocations to their work and has worked with the National Trust, Somerset House, Horniman Museum, Opera North, Barbican and others to create high profile, innovative projects.

“Sound UK has given me the opportunity to collaborate with musicians I’ve not worked with before and venues I’ve not played in. A very rich and enhancing venture both creatively and in terms of my future career.” Lisa Knapp, singer (on Broadside Ballads and Canal Music)

“The installation was perfection. I’ve done many more elaborate ones in the past 40 years. But this, for its utter simplicity and powerful delivery in a dedicated space, is amongst the best. Congrats on all you’ve done. It’s really quite exceptional.” Bernie Krause (on Great Animal Orchestra at the Horniman Museum)

Find out more about Sound UK’s work by exploring the website

Irma: Our Lamplit History

Year: 2017
Medium: Digital print with silkscreen
Dimensions: h28.4cm x w21cm
Edition Details: Edition of 50 
All prints are sent signed and numbered by the artist

£ 360 VAT, postage and handling included

A unique print created by Tom Phillips in support of the first performance and installation of the new, full Irma score at South London Gallery, September 2017, directed / designed by Netia Jones, musical direction Anton Lukoszevieze, performed by Apartment House featuring Josephine Stephenson and Elaine Mitchener with video by Lightmap. 

Find out more about Irma: an opera here. 

Thank you very much to those who supported Irma: an opera. We raised over £2000 pounds!

Thank you for all donations and to the following people who chose a reward: Tansy Spinks, Alex Handover, Trish Brown, Henry Meyrichughes, John L. Walters, Patrick Wildgust, Robert Caunt, Joel Hernandez, plus all anonymous donations. 

The donations will help towards rehearsal costs and the creation of the video for this extraordinary artwork. We look forward to celebrating the artistic output of Tom Phillips and his 80th birthday in his home of Peckham this September.

If you haven’t yet bought tickets to the performances you can do so by visiting our web page: http://www.sounduk.net/events/tom-phillips/.

The performances take place on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September from 7.30pm at South London Gallery. During the day the installation (free admission) brings Phillips’ intricate visual score to life through an evocative combination of soundscape and video.

We look forward to seeing you there.

With best wishes,
Maija, Polly & Chloe

On Tuesday 27 June we installed a pop up musical playground at Prior Park Landscape Garden. Sounding the Wood, made by TouchWood, is part of Forest of the Imagination this weekend. A four-day playful and contemporary arts event and creative learning programme - free for everyone of all ages.

Check out www.forestofimagination.org.uk for full programme of events from 29 June - 2 July. 

Sounding the Wood will be installed at Prior Park Landscape Garden until December.
Find out more

The photos show a taster of some of the instruments we've installed.

Next week we launch our musical playground project Sounding the Wood produced by Sound UK and TouchWood in partnership with the National Trust at Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath. Our musical playground will also feature as part of Forest of the Imagination festival. Watch this space for more information coming soon... 

Photos by TouchWood, Making of Sounding the Wood...

About Tom Phillips: Phillips attended art school during the 1960s and was swept up in the free exchange of art forms these institutions encouraged. He was instrumental in bringing composers like John Cage and Morton Feldman to the UK, and introducing Brian Eno to cross-art work. To name just a few of his artistic achievements, Tom Phillips was the second artist to have a retrospective of his portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in 1989 and was commissioned by the Royal Mint to design the first UK kilo coins to mark the occasion of the London 2012 Olympic Games. His design for the Benjamin Britten 50p piece in 2013 was the first to feature poetry. Phillips is also a judge for the Man Booker Prize 2017.

In 1966 Phillips resolved to dedicate himself to making art out of the first secondhand book he could find for threepence on Peckham Rye. Thus began A Humument, longest of Phillips's extended serial projects. A Humument is a radical 'treatment' of a forgotten Victorian novel by means of collage, cut-up, ornament and other techniques. On the fiftieth anniversary of its inception, in 2016, Phillips completed the sixth and final version of this work – each version with successively more pages reworked, until his original work had itself been completely transformed. Watch the video... 

Our project Irma: an opera is drawn from A Humument. Be part of Irma and support our crowdfunder campaign. Check out the unique rewards including a limited edition Tom Phillips print. Support now. Thank you! www.crowdfunder.co.uk/tom-phillips-irma

tomphillips.co.uk

An exhibition of Tom Phillips' work Connected Works runs at Flowers Gallery from 26 May – 1 July 2017.

News image credit: Tom Phillips, Bellenden Renewal Scheme, Rima Street Lamps, We Love Peckham mosaic

We have just launched our first crowdfunder campaign!

Help us create a unique artwork that marks Tom Phillips RA’s 80th birthday and celebrates his extraordinary output in art and music.

We need your support to produce the first multimedia production of Royal Academy artist Tom Phillips’ Irma: an opera, happening in his home of Peckham this September.

Set within the South London Gallery, where Phillips first showed his work as a student, Irma is inspired by his most famous artwork A Humument. This exquisite miniature opera and audio visual installation brings together one of the UK’s most imaginative opera designer / directors Netia Jones and her company Lightmap, with music director Anton Lukoszevieze and his leading ensemble Apartment House.

YOU can play a key role in Phillips’ new artwork. We need to raise £5,000 to help pay for rehearsals and the creation of the video for this unique artwork.

To thank you for your invaluable support, we have put together a selection of unique rewards based on Irma characters, including an exclusive limited edition print created by Tom Phillips and mementos of his work.

To support or choose a reward visit:
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/tom-phillips-irma

TOM PHILLIPS
Irma: an opera

Ahead of Royal Academy artist Tom Phillips’ 80th birthday next week, Sound UK is delighted to announce the first multimedia performance of Irma: an opera at South London Gallery.

This landmark event in Phillips’ home of Peckham, brings together world-class director and designer Netia Jones, and her company Lightmap, with Anton Lukoszevieze, and his acclaimed ensemble Apartment House. Together they will celebrate one of Britain’s most distinguished artists, recognising Phillips’ work as a composer and wider influence on the world of music.

16, 17 September
South London Gallery
Find out more

Discover the Sonic Journey commission from composer Gavin Bryars and poet Blake Morrison available to download again as part of Hull2017 (1 May - 1 July 2017).

Sonic Journey: Gavin Bryars + Blake Morrison
The Stopping Train

Download for free here sonicjourneys.co.uk

Photos from Broadside Ballads Oxford show with OCM at Holywell Music Room.

Photo credit: Ian Wallman

Review Jazz Journal: Quercus at Turner Sims - "one of the most compelling concerts I've heard in quite some while"

Read in full: www.jazzjournal.co.uk/jazz-latest-news/1201/

Hear Quercus live in Oxford with OCM at SJE Arts and in London at Kings Place next month! http://www.sounduk.net/events/quercus-uk-tour/

If you're in Hull head on over to the Humber Bridge for an extraordinary sound adventure. We recommend The Height of the Reeds produced by Opera North for Hull UK City of Culture 2017.

Music by Arve Henriksen on trumpet, guitarist Eivind Aarset and electronic wizard Jan Bang gives way to the vast sound of the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North; threaded through with the deep music of the Bridge itself, captured by Hull based sound artist Jez riley French.

Now until – 31 Apr 2017
Tickets: Free, but should be booked in advanced
Find out more

Image credit: Tom Arber

Tyondai Braxton recently chatted to Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music's Freak Zone.

Listen again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gj672

Tyondai also created a Freakier Zone BBC 6 music playlist. His picks include Ben Vida, Glenn Branca and Kara-Lis Coverdale.

Check it out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gj2zc

Blog post by Dr Meraud Ferguson Hand

The Broadside Ballads Project brings together three contemporary English folk artists, giving them access to the Bodleian’s printed ballad collections, online digital ballad archives, and hands-on experience of past printing techniques. The aim was not to reconstruct ballads as they were originally sung, but to allow the artists to respond to the physical archive, the songs, and the history of how they were made, in whatever ways their own creative interests led them.

What is a ‘broadside ballad’? A broadside is just a single printed sheet of paper: a cheap format because there is no need for folding, collating, or binding. The broadside was used for a variety of purposes: news of strange events, the texts of royal proclamations, and notices of auctions or trials and executions, among other things.

The most well-known use of the format, though, was for ballads. A ballad is a song that tells a story, usually in the form of short four-line verses. They were composed on a range of subjects from love affairs to murder and other extraordinary or historical happenings; they were often accompanied by woodcut illustrations which add their own layer of eccentricity to the overall effect.

Printed ballads were produced from the sixteenth century onwards (though the most recent ballads in the Bodleian collection date from the 1950s). For much of their history they were sold not just by booksellers but on street corners by itinerant peddlers, who travelled the country selling (and singing) the songs. The ballad-seller must have been a familiar character: Autolycus, the ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’ in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, roams the country in a peddler’s guise picking pockets, cheating the unwary, and cheerfully mixing this with singing snippets of ballads he seems to have picked up along the way.

Ballads seem to have been enjoyed by a broad social range: though they were cheap and non-literary in content, the majority of printed ballads survived because they were collected by relatively wealthy and well-read individuals (Samuel Pepys being the most famous).

Communal singing is an ancient practice; in the past, people would sing at social gatherings, but they would also sing while they worked. Many songs were passed by word of mouth, but it is human nature to be eager for novelty: printing a new song, a new story to sing, made good commercial sense. Though public literacy was increasing, in the early centuries of ballad printing many people would still not have been able to read the ballad themselves: access to them would have been aural, so they were a crossing-place, a permeable border between the printed word and the oral dissemination of traditional songs.

In the 19th century, industrialization changed England’s social fabric beyond recognition and thousands of families migrated from rural areas to find work in the expanding cities. Communities in cities came from dispersed traditions; jobs were found in factories where the din from the machinery made singing redundant. The rhythm of work became the rhythm of the machine, not of the voice.

It seemed that traditional songs were endangered as a result of these changes, so collectors set out to catch them while the traditions were still alive. The social trauma of the industrial revolution meant that these songs, which reminded collectors of a dying pace of life, became somewhat romanticized. Ascribing increased cultural value to these traditions was at the heart of English Romanticism: Wordsworth and Coleridge’s ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (DATE) attempted to rehabilitate the aesthetic of the popular ballad in the eyes of the cultural elite.

The process of collecting added to the mystique: collectors were mostly middle-class, and would have little personal contact with working-class people other than as servants or a distant ‘mob’. Travelling into the depths of the countryside (via the new railway system), seeking out elderly singers in small, smoky inns, was in itself a form of exotic activity, a transgression of middle-class (and urban) social norms.

As a result, traditional songs (christened ‘folk’ songs in the 19th century) gained a touch of mystery, and the opaqueness of some of the phrasing or subject matter encouraged folk-song enthusiasts to look for a deeper, older, pre-industrial wisdom in the material. Collectors were working with what appeared mainly to have been an oral tradition: songs passed down by word of mouth, sometimes over a number of generations. This, too, added to the sense of mystery and exoticism for educated, highly literate people whose schooling had taught them to venerate the oral sources of ancient Greek literary culture. Many ballads, however, turn out to have moved in and out of the printed and oral traditions at various points in their history.

Spending time among the ballads, seeing the broadsides themselves, you almost feel you can hear and touch the world that made them. This almost-ness, the alienation effect of looking into this sometimes forgotten world from a modern perspective can become a fascination in itself. Now that the broadsides are digitised and online, they are freely available to millions more readers: but fewer people than ever will seek out the real thing, and know how they feel to the touch, how papery they smell. 

Broadside Ballads tours 25 Feb - 01 March 

Take a sneak peek into the Bodleian Libraries' printing workshop with Lisa Knapp, Sam Lee and Nathaniel Mann as part of the development of Broadside Ballads.

Don't miss their uniquely contemporary take on these songs on tour from 25 February - 1 March.

Book tickets 

We've made a short film about the project and would love for you to watch it. 

Last year, The Paper Cinema brought to life local tales of the supernatural through live film and music. We toured to Devon, Cornwall, Shropshire, Wiltshire and London introducing new audiences to their fascinating and innovative world of witches, ghouls and ghostly apparitions. 

Artist Nathaniel Mann gives us an insight into the Broadside Ballads project research... 

In what's become a bit of a folk tradition in itself, Sam, Lisa and I spent time delving into the Bodleian's ballad archives. Spanning more than 500 years of music and verse, it feels essential that each generation of folk-inspired musicians revisits these sources directly. To re-read a verse 400 years later is to re-write it with through the eyes and ears of today. As we touch, smell and breath-in these sheets we draw fresh meanings from these old pages, reinterpreting and revaluating them as we go. We're not at all interested in attempting to historically recreate these songs, we are excited about how we can make them resonant in completely new ways. – Nathaniel Mann

Touring 25 Feb - 01 March 2017

#broadsides

We are very excited to announce Pete Flood (percussion) and Seth Bennett (double bass) and will join Sam Lee, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann on the Broadside Ballads tour. 

Pete Flood is a drummer, percussionist, composer. A member of Bellowhead, he contributed numerous arrangements to their output, and has written for other ensembles ranging from orchestras to jazz trios. Pete also started the Anglo-Japanese project Setsubun Bean Unit which mixed Bon-Odori dance music with electronica and jazz to great acclaim on their one, eponymous release on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental imprint.

'Pete Flood’s arrangements have already long given Bellowhead their left field edge, but here he enters darker territory entirely…hugely entertaining' - FRoots

Seth Bennett is one of the U.K.'s pre-eminent improvising double bass players. Currently based in London, his work involves free improvisation and composition for improvisers. Recent works include En Bas Quartet, a low string quartet for improvisers, plus CD releases by improvising sextet Sloth Racket, the Julie Tippetts/Martin Archer Ensemble, and the ensemble Six of One.

A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. Broadside ballads, from the 16th to 20th centuries, contain words and images once displayed and sung daily in Britain’s streets and inns. Although part of living traditions of folksong, popular art and literature, these illustrated printed sheets are now rare and preserved in only a few libraries.

Digital collections and catalogues have improved access to these fragile survivors of popular culture in print. The Bodleian Libraries holds nearly 30,000 broadside ballads, many of them unique survivals, printed from the 16th to the 20th Centuries. Digital facsimiles and an online database were first made accessible in 1999. In 2013, the Libraries launched Broadside Ballads Online, which is a digital collection of the Bodleian’s broadside ballads together with links to digital collections at other libraries and institutions. ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

A don't miss double bill of electronic musician and former Battles front man, Tyondai Braxton and startling original trio Dawn of Midi - tour dates just announced!

Lisa Knapp, Sam Lee, Nathaniel Mann 

Three of the UK’s most innovative folk artists reinvent a collection of British broadsides – low cost daily song sheets sold for pence - giving a rare insight into Britain’s music, literary and political history.

Delving into the collection of Broadsides at the Bodleian Libraries and beyond, Sam Lee, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann lead a five-piece band, and bring to life Broadside Ballads for a new generation.

Touring 25 Feb - 01 March 2017

#broadsides

With almost two weeks to go excitement is mounting about The Paper Cinema's fantastic new show Ghost Stories. To whet your appetite check out this trailer filmed at recent rehearsals at the Puppet Centre, Bristol.

Don't miss the live shows from 19 - 23 October in the lead up to Halloween. Waa ha ha!

THE PAPER CINEMA – GHOST STORIES
FREE ANIMATION WORKSHOP FOR AGES 8 - 10
1.30PM – 5.30PM, SATURDAY 1 OCTOBER, FREE ADMISSION
STUDIO 3 ARTS, BOUNDARY ROAD, BARKING, IG11 7JR

Learn how to create your own hand drawn animation short live film in this workshop with internationally acclaimed live film and music company The Paper Cinema.

With the help of three Paper Cinema professional puppeteers and composer / musician, create hand drawn puppets and perform your own live animation show based on a local ghost story.

Participants also get half price tickets to The Paper Cinema’s Ghost Stories at Studio 3 Arts on 23 October, a stunning new live animation and music show that brings local ghost stories - including the Barking Boiler Explosion by local crime writer Linda Rhodes - to life.

Workshop spaces are free but need to be booked on a first come first served basis at hello@studio3arts.org.uk
More information about Ghost Stories at www.sounduk.net

Generously supported by: Arts Council England, Barking & Dagenham Community Music Service. Produced by Sound UK in partnership with Studio 3 Arts.

Beat the post-Olympic blues with this gem of a video from Kimmo Pohjonen's 2012 UK premiere of Accordion Wrestling. Featuring accordion adventurer Pohjonen set against 12 champion wrestlers, this extraordinary sport and music experience wowed UK audiences including Janet Street-Porter.

Here are just a few pictures of the amazing night that saw 150 Year 5 students from Gascoigne Primary School and Studio 3 Arts' community group, perform alongside workshop leader Paul Griffiths and saxophonist Iain Ballamy and accordionist Stian Carstensen from The Little Radio.

The concert on 22 June was the fruition of 5 weeks workshops undertaken by Paul and each group creating brilliant new songs such as Future Rock and The Time is Now, performed alongside The Little Radio's repertoire. A hugely inspirational night!

The Little Radio was produced by Sound UK in partnership with Barbican Centre, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Barking & Dagenham Music Service. Supported by Arts Council England and PRS for Music Foundation.

Gavin Bryars and Blake Morrison's evocative "symphony of stories" (The Guardian) is now available to download. Get a taste with this gorgeous trailer shot on the stopping train from Goole to Hull...

We've been thrilled with the coverage Sonic Journeys: Gavin Bryars + Blake Morrison has achieved so far. Journalists from BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and The Guardian have all taken the train from Goole to Hull to experience the piece and here's how they reported back:

BBC Radio 4 Front Row, broadcast 12 June

BBC Radio 3 Music Matters, broadcast 13 June

The Guardian, published 16 June

Earlier this year we took a captivating musical voyage of with the superb Kings of the South Seas, Tim Eriksen and Philip Hoare which took us to venues as magificent as the Cutty Sark. Check out the tour film here.

• Why the Memorymoog - what is the significance of that particular instrument over the piano with this project?

I’ve always had a love for analogue/vintage synthesisers of any kind and, the Moog Memorymoog was one of those instruments I’d only ever heard about so, when one came up on eBay, and local to me, I jumped at the chance. On collecting it, I met Phil Manchester - an amazing person and keyboard player with a vast musical experience. He’d owned the instrument for 25 years (from new), and occupied a special place in his life. It was then modified by Rudi Linhard in Germany a few years later, making it a Lintronics Advanced Memorymoog (LAMM). This project is all about that instrument, the human story of the people that have been involved with it, and places that have provided both direct and indirect inspiration of some kind. There’s no significance over the piano, here, it’s just a project centred around the narrative of what is now a LAMM.

• How did you and Michael first start working together? How did you become aware of his work?

Michael and I have known each other for a number of years, and had met through mutual friends in Manchester. I asked him if he would work on designing the cover for the moogmemory album (it was Michael who came up with the album’s title), and went from there. I’ve always loved his work; be it graphic, film or anything else - the majestic detail that goes into each piece of work is mind-blowing. We’d always wanted to work together on something and now, we’re finally getting round to doing something. Hopefully it’ll be the first of many things to come. He’s been a real inspiration to me...

• Location and place seem to hold a special significance to the moogmemory project. Can you tell us why?

Sure. As touched on above, it’s chiefly about the people involved: the engineering of Bob Moog and Rudi Linhard, the loving care bestowed on it by Phil James for half of its life, and its subsequent modification (by Rudi), and finally, to the present, where the album and live project has emerged. It was Michael who was excited by the idea of tying together a human/geographical narrative to everything - the design of the album, the photographs (taken on the moor above my home in Airedale - where all of the music was recorded), filming the reunion between Phil James and his old Memorymoog, my correspondences with Rudi whilst the instrument was undergoing repair; all of these strands will feed into the narrative of the show in one way or another. Michael was also keen to capture the place where my own personal musical turning point began in 2009: in Montauk, NY - and travelled there especially to capture footage for this show, as well as additional filming on the beautiful Yorkshire moors.

• How do you approach composition and has the process changed on this project?

I don’t compose in the traditional sense of the word. If I can’t capture something more or less as it emerges, subsequent repetition of the idea proves to be fatal, and the impulse/energy dies, and withers as I struggle to dissolve the consciousness that has arisen, the awareness of what I am doing. Personally, the more contrived something becomes, the less true it feels, to me. So, I have to trick myself into capturing these ideas by stealth - almost by accident, if you like. So, for the pieces on the moogmemory album, most of them are either first takes, or, were completed in ‘one hit’: finished within a very short burst of time, so as to not lose focus, or open the door to compositional contrivance and design. As a result, many ideas that arose in this period, died in the flames of repetition… Preparing to perform this music live has presented considerable challenges in that there is a tightrope to be walked between the specificity of already-established material and the familiar spontaneity that live performance affords. I have to practice performing the structural arc of the original, whilst retaining enough room for variation, difference, and the chance for something new to happen in the performance arena. Playing something in the exact same way, over and over again, is a false trail. I’m sure that, if I were a better musician, I’d make much lighter weather of it all...

• Which one moog / synth tune would you have loved to have written?

Theme from Fletch, by Harold Faltermeyer, and Spaced (from the album Gandharva & In a Wild Sanctuary), by Beaver & Krause.

• Are there specific tunes, tech or performers in particular that got you hooked on the analogue synth sound?

Musically, it was probably something from Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band. The albums Crossings, Sextant, Inside Out and Realization (the latter two are under trumpeter Eddie Henderson’s name), are all amazing - and made quite an impression on me - particularly the work of Patrick Gleeson (listen to Water Torture from Crossings), whose work is prevalent on much of this material (and who also first introduced Hancock to synthesisers). Gleeson is a much overlooked figure in the cannon of analogue synthesiser recordings. I started off with a Moog Prodigy (who I later sold to Glenn Armstrong, of Coup D’Archet records - and, incidentally, became great friends!).

• What can people expect from the tour?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jxj41VwYw

• What are your plans for the rest of 2016 - involving / after Moogmemory?

Well, maybe a little live album of the moogmemory tour, as there’s a few new pieces, and very different/reworked versions of a number of the album tracks. We’ll see. I’ve already got another album (piano & cello) in the can, so to speak. It’s a much slower and bleaker sister to Montauk Variations. All of the tracks were recorded at home - most of them in very bad weather! You can hear one of them, here: https://soundcloud.com/matthew-bourne/isotach

*** Matthew Bourne and Michael England's Moogmemory tour continues with dates in Brighton (17 March), Southampton (18 March) and Glasgow (23 April). Click here for details ***

We're delighted to share this lovely film about The Little Radio's recent rural tour and workshops in Wiltshire, Cornwall, Devon and Shropshire. It was our first project where we delivered our own workshop programme and heralds an exciting way for us to work in the future. We can't wait to get started on the Barking workshops culminating in a performance at the Broadway Theartre on 22 June.

Ahead of the much awaited UK dates for Arve Henrksen's Places of Worship (11-13 May), we're delighted to share these gorgeous images from Anastasia Isachsen's video that form part of the performance.

Check out more and full details about the tour here

We're very excited to share the trailer for Moogmemory with you today.

UK tour dates for this special collaboration between genre bending pianist Matthew Bourne and his visual cohort Michael England kick off in just over 2 weeks from 4 March to 23 April.

Together they'll explore the resonant, spacey qualities of analogue synths taking audiences on an audiovisual journey from Montauk, New York to the Yorkshire Moors.

Hear Matthew Bourne's live interview and exclusive track on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction at 11.30pm tonight.

We hope you had a great festive break and wish you a superb 2016.
The year gets off to a great start for Sound UK with the announcement of a special London premiere for Matthew Bourne and Michael England's Moogmemory at BFI Southbank on 5 March.

An evocative audiovisual journey, Moogmemory explores the spacey, resonant qualities of analogue audio and video synthesisers in this exciting first time collaboration.

Not feeling cold enough for the festive season?

Get your dose of wintry magic courtesy of the wonderful ice musician Terje Isungset.

Recorded in an ice cave underneath the amazing Nigard Glacier(Jostedalen) in Norway ... naturally!

Watch here

Happy Xmas!