YolanDa
Brown will be releasing her debut album ‘April Showers,
May Showers’ on February 13th on Black Grape Records.
She will also begin her UK tour from 14th February at
the Hammersmith Apollo (With The Royal Philharmonic
Concert Orchestra on February 14th and 17th).
YolanDa Brown is a one-off, very much a woman of her
time. As much entrepreneur as she is musician, as much
gifted singer-songwriter as she is the UK's premier
saxophonist. After several years on the world’s jazz
circuits, she is now poised to release her debut album,
April Showers, May Flowers on February 13th on Black
Grape Records.
YolanDa’s debut album will surely see her cult
reputation brought to the fore. April Showers, May
Flowers is a beautifully sculpted record that touches
lightly on jazz and soul and R&B, each track bestowed
with the kind of lyrical insight - on love, on life -
that suggests its author is something of a poet, too.
It is an album of effortless unfurling grace and
impeccable soulful poise, featuring 8 Saxophone tracks
and for the first time 2 vocal tracks (Bitter Sweet and
Without You) on which YolanDa showcases her beautiful
voice.
YolanDa Brown will be touring the UK from February 14th.
Jo Hamilton releases her new DVD
featuring her playing a brand new music invention, the
Air Piano. The instrument is a stunning sonic and visual
creation.
2011 was an amazing year for Jo as she performed with
the a brand new instrument called the Air Piano on Radio
4's Loose Ends with Clive Anderson. Fellow studio guest
Bill Bailey described the instrument as "a thing of
ethereal beauty"
Jo has over 50,000 fans on her Facebook page and
featured over a full page feature the Christmas issue of
Wired magazine talking about the Air Piano and also
featured late last year in the Observer.
2012 promises much the same as Jo started the year with
a live BBC World Service set broadcast to over 1 million
worldwide.
Jo Hamilton is the daughter of a Jamaican mother and a
Kenyan father. She was brought up in the Scottish
Highlands and went on to live in in Turkey, UAE, Kuwait,
Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
She is the first artist in the world to work with an air
piano. The air piano is a new musical interface which
allows playing and controlling software instruments
simply by moving hands in the air. Her debut release
“Gown“ has received huge acclaim in the U.K.
The album
has also won three awards in the 2010 Recharged Radio
awards and the Guardian describe Jo as 'singular and
unforgettable, Hamilton is quite a discovery'
In January 2011 Gown leapt to number 3 in the Amazon
movers and shakers chart and was featured in the Rolling
Stone France Magazine. The song “Pick Me Up” went to
number 2 on the Music World Radio charts, and made the
B-list in Northern Ireland’s Q102.9FM station.
Jo is
also about to unveil a Summer tour of 10 Apple stores in
the US where she will perform exclusive city sets with
the Air Piano.
Award winning Jo Hamilton is an enigma. Occasionally
compared to Goldfrapp or even Bjork, she’s more likely
to crash into your consciousness as some kind of
perfectly imagined symbiosis of K.D. Lang fronting Sigur
Ros. Stemming from a nomadic family with roots in Kenya and Jamaica, Jo was brought up in a house two
miles from the nearest neighbour in the wilds of
northern Scotland.
A snapshot of the intensity of this wilderness is
revealed by Jo herself.
“There were three of us in our
one-room primary school at the top of a hill in the
Highlands. With our teacher from the Isle of Skye, we
sang together, nostalgic old Gaelic lullabies and island
folk songs about the land, sea, and returning home,
while in the distance we could hear the roars of the
rutting stags.”
Jo also spent much of her youth in Turkey, UAE, Kuwait,
Sri Lanka and Cambodia before studying classical viola
in Edinburgh and at Birmingham Conservatoire. Her debut
album, the gentle but muscular, headily addictive Gown,
betrays much of this musical heritage and has already
garnered huge plaudits for its singular mix of sense and
sensuality.
It’s a haunting and unique record but above
all it’s Jo’s voice that stands out, a voice that Scott
Matthews suggests can ‘brush softly against your soul or
fill you with the intensity of an earthquake.’
Jo has the only prototype of an Air Piano (www.airpiano.de)
in use anywhere in the world outside a laboratory. The
Air Piano is an innovative musical interface which
allows the user to play and control software instruments
on an attached computer simply by moving their hands in
the air above it.
What is so magical about the
instrument is that it makes extremely high technology
completely invisible and so is the perfect compliment to
Jo's graceful stage presence (described by Caroline
Sullivan of the Guardian as "unearthly"). The model Jo
is using is unique and enables her to literally pick
sounds out of the air.
Gown was produced by Jon Cotton, who produced Scott
Matthew’s Ivor Novello Award-winning album Elusive, and
was initially released in summer 2010. The single hink
Of Me caused 2009 Mercury nominee Sweet Billy Pilgrim to
enthuse “When Jo sings, something thaws that I didn’t
even realise was frozen.”
Steve Cradock begins his acoustic UK tour
this February and March.
As quintessential as beans on toast and a parka jacket,
he epitomizes British cool and is constantly regarded as
one of the finest guitarists and songwriters in the
land.
His outstanding achievements in the 90s with Ocean
Colour Scene and continuing global success as
collaborator of Paul Weller have made Steve one of the
modern day giants in British rock.
This tour of intimate venues across the UK will showcase
Steve’s two recent acclaimed solo albums ‘Peace City
West’ and ‘Kundalini Target’ before rejoining Weller for
his round of dates this year.
Steve also has a new album scheduled for release this
September.
The Symphony Hall celebrates 21
years of bringing great music to
Birmingham with a major festival
running until July 2012.
The vibrant and exciting
festival includes music, comedy,
dance, film, family events and
more. Elvis Costello, John
Malkovich, The Wizard of Oz,
Lord of the Dance, Billy
Connolly, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle
all appear during the festival
with more to be announced.
Special events include world
premieres, innovative projects,
film screenings with live
accompaniment, workshops and
behind the scenes access.
Curious Sounds in Curious
Spaces, an imaginative and
adventurous family open day in
partnership with Fierce
Festival, will explore Symphony
Hall, and 1000 children from 21
Birmingham schools will come
together to Sing A Song For 21,
in association with Ex Cathedra,
filling Symphony Hall and the
International Convention Centre
(also celebrating its 21st
anniversary) with music.
Wagnerfest
Antonio Pappano by Sheila Rock
The festival opened in January
with a rare and much
anticipated return visit from
The Royal Opera and Antonio
Pappano who performed Die
Meistersinger. This marks the
first of four great Wagner
operas to be heard during the
Festival - a landmark
mini-series for Birmingham.
‘Wagnerfest’ then continues with
Tristan und Isolde played by the
City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra with Andris Nelsons.
Parsifal is conducted by Valery
Gergiev with the Chorus &
Orchestra of the Mariinsky
Theatre which, in August 1991
and then known as the Kirov, was
the first opera company ever to
appear in Symphony Hall.
Finally, Opera North, under the
baton of Richard Farnes,
performs Die Walküre, the second
instalment in the company’s
first Ring cycle.
Special
projects
John
Malkovich by Olga Martschitsch
A series of four special
anniversary projects includes a
Centenary tribute to Captain
Scott which combines Herbert
Ponting’s evocative photographs
of the ill-fated 1910 Antarctic
expedition with Vaughan
Williams’s Sinfonia Antartica
and the world premiere of
Seventy Degrees Below Zero by
Cecilia McDowall, setting words
from his final letter ‘To my
widow’.
There are screenings of popular
1939 film The Wizard of Oz with
live orchestral score played
live by the BBC Symphony
Orchestra and John Wilson.
Original music by Philip Glass
accompanies a screening of the
1931 film Dracula featuring Bela
Lugosi in the title role. The
score, for keyboards and
strings, will be played by Glass
himself with the renowned Kronos
Quartet.
Acclaimed actor John Malkovich
stars in The Infernal Comedy a
stage play for baroque
orchestra, singers and actor
based on the chilling, true
story of serial
killer-turned-author, Jack
Unterweger.
Family
open day
For families, there is a
stimulating and imaginative free
open day in partnership with
Fierce Festival. Curious Sounds
in Curious Spaces is a journey
around Symphony Hall for
adventurous ears of all ages
exploring sound and music-based
performances, installations and
interactive activities and
workshops.
The day will see not just the
hall and foyers, but staircases,
backstage areas, reverberation
chambers and other unusual
spaces used for installations
and performance. Local artists
include Juneau Projects, 8bit
Lounge and Soundkitchen.
High-profile artists include
Phil Minton and his ‘Feral
Choir’ and one of the launch
performances of Mobile Sinfonia
– a piece for an ‘orchestra’ of
mobile phones, performed by the
public and conceived by Jem
Finer (formerly of The Pogues).
Great
names
Other highlights announced to
date include two nights with the
‘Big Yin’ Billy Connolly and a
return visit from hugely popular
comedian Sarah Millican. There’s
a rare appearance by revered
singer, lyricist and composer,
the Kashmiri-Indian pop-rock
singer Kailash Kher. For six
nights in March, the feet and
fiddles of the Irish spectacular
Lord of the Dance will take over
Symphony Hall’s stage.
And
there’s a visit from Elvis
Costello, whose latest tour sees
fortune in charge of the
programme as the audience is
invited to ‘spin the wheel’ to
determine the next song. In
July, Wynton Marsalis and the
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
close the Festival and celebrate
the presence in Birmingham of
the US Olympic track and field
team.
Sing A
Song For 21
In partnership with Ex Cathedra,
Sing a Song for 21 will see 1000
children from 21 schools in
Ladywood (the constituency in
which Symphony Hall is based)
and elsewhere in Birmingham
participate in a major project
designed to inspire and promote
the joys of singing and create a
legacy of singing in schools.
Following a series of in-school
workshops, the project’s finale
will be a promenade-style
performance filling Symphony
Hall and the Mall of the
International Convention Centre
(also celebrating its 21st
anniversary) with music based on
playground singing games.
Symphony Hall Birmingham,
photograph by Craig
Holmes
The culmination of Symphony
Hall’s 21st Anniversary Festival
comes in June with a pair
concerts by the CBSO and Chorus
conducted by Andris Nelsons and
Simon Halsey marking the
official royal opening of the
hall by HM The Queen on 12 June
1991. The concerts (on 12 & 13
June) include a centenary
performance of Elgar’s The Music
Makers - premiered in
Birmingham’s Town Hall - and
Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé suite,
performed at the very first
Symphony Hall concert. Bryn
Terfel joins the orchestra for a
selection of operatic arias.
Twenty one years after
conducting the opening concerts
of Symphony Hall, Sir Simon
Rattle returns, this time with
the Vienna Philharmonic, and
City Organist Thomas Trotter
gives a concert on the Symphony
Organ, installed for the Hall’s
10th birthday in 2001 following
a £1.5m fundraising appeal.
Commenting on Symphony Hall’s
21st Anniversary Festival,
Andrew Jowett, Director of Town
Hall & Symphony Hall said, “2012
is a very special year for
Symphony Hall as we celebrate
our 21st anniversary with an
extraordinary line-up of world
class artists, innovative
projects and large scale and
participative events. Since
1991, over 10 million people
have come here to enjoy,
participate in and learn more
about music.
"We’ve welcomed hundreds of the
greatest artistes on the musical
stage - from Placido Domingo to
Alison Krauss, Cecilia Bartoli
to Tony Bennett and Bruce
Springsteen to Ravi Shankar. The
Birmingham International Concert
Season has become one of the
UK’s most important seasons of
visiting musicians, and of
course we’re also the home of
the celebrated City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
currently enjoying massive
international acclaim under
their brilliant young conductor
Andris Nelsons.
"It is also a very special year
for me, looking back on all the
years I have been Director of
this extraordinary concert hall
and, more recently, the
wonderfully refurbished Town
Hall. I remain immensely proud
that 21 years on, Symphony Hall
is still at the top of the list
of the world’s greatest concert
halls and is still cherished by
the people of Birmingham. We
look forward to connecting many
more people to music through
this ambitious and exciting
festival.”
Over the last few months, Tom
Moriarty has been making people
across the media really sit up
and take note… garnering
enthusiastic radio support and
inspiring an entire BBC TV News
story about his ‘Don’t just talk
the talk - walk the walk’ career
move from London’s financially
rewarding City mean streets to
its most famous ever recording
studio.
His new single Smile If You Want
to Get High is out now has been
played by Q Radio and the was on
the Radio 2 C Playlist for the
first two weeks of 2012.
The single has been supported by
Terry Wogan, Steve Wright,
Janice Long and Craig Charles.
Tom will be supporting Foy Vance
on Feb 6th (8pm) at the HMV Next
Big Thing gig at The Relentless
Garage in Islington.
It’s all part of the HMV Next
Big Thing festival which takes
place across 9 venues in London
from the 2nd-12th February. It’s
amazing for Tom to be a part of
it and join the names of so many
artists performing over the 11
days that are all set for great
things in 2012.
Moriarty simply jacked
everything in and returned to
his first, and true, love –
making music. Gifted since early
childhood, the Cambridge, London
School of Economics and Music
Institute, Los Angeles-graduated
talent quickly came to the
attention of über-producer Ian
Grimble (Travis, Red Hot Chili
Peppers, The Cure, KT Tunstall,
Mumford & Sons). Grimble whipped
Tom into Abbey Road’s famous
Studio 2 and a gorgeous album -
Fire In The Doll’s House - was
born.
Quickly drawing very favourable
critics’ comparisons with John
Martyn, Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits
and even Bruce Springsteen,
Moriarty landed a distribution
deal with Universal Music’s
Absolute arm. Journalists
purred; Radio presenters raved -
with BBC London’s Robert Elms
even describing Moriarty as ‘a
pearl amongst oysters’.
With a hugely successful ongoing
first Wednesday of the month
residency at West London’s
trendy Elgin (where The Clash
cut their teeth but an
altogether more classy night out
in 2011) and features and
sessions across all media in the
very recent past, Tom Moriarty
is clearly a man with something
to say and September 5th sees
the release of a single so
instant in appeal it should be
banned. Life’s A Mystery has
been remixed by ultra hot top
producer (Duffy, Jon Allen)
Tristan Longworth and can be
heard on your radio like, now!
“If you like Ben Harper and Ray
Lamontagne, you’ll love this!”
says Guitarist Magazine 4 Album
review.
A
sensational new album from the
co-founder of Wet Wet Wet
Sixtyplusurfers
is offering three lucky readers the
chance to win Mr Understanding,
a sensational new album from
Graeme Clark, the co-founder of
Wet Wet Wet.
Graeme Clark, founder member of
the hugely successful and multi
million selling band Wet Wet Wet
has released a beautiful and
soulful debut album Mr
Understanding, together with a
single “Kiss of Life”.
You might not know the name but
chances are, you know his music.
Graeme Clark is a founder
member, Bass Player and
Songwriter with the
multi-million selling band Wet
Wet Wet – the band that during
the late 1980’s and through the
1990’s produced 30 hit singles –
including 3 number ones – and 4
number one albums. The Wets
disbanded in 1999, and having
resolved their issues, reformed,
toured and continue to discuss
future efforts.
In recent years however, Graeme
has decided to write songs for
his own use. And while his
lyrical and musical influences
on Wet Wet Wet music is clear,
his recent writing has more of
his roots influencing the
melodic soul than before. Free
from the limitations that a
successful band can bring, his
music is flourishing and
exhibiting the best of his
creative seams.
Graeme’s craft of writing and
producing wasn’t an easy road.
“It took me a long time to
compose the material I felt
would suit me. I put a lot more
into the writing. Not having a
deadline made it easier and I
could work at my own pace. I’m
genuinely excited about the
creative processes and have
found my love of song-writing
once again.”
Along the way Graeme has
summoned influence and input
from his team in and out of the
studio resulting in an acoustic
album of great depth and
diversity.
“Mr Understanding” was recorded
at The Foundry Music Lab in
Glasgow in Graeme’s home studio
and the G2 Studio London over a
12 month period. It’s a powerful
body of work displaying a wealth
of variety but with the
ever-present soul influences
that have been a trade-mark of
Graeme’s work. The songs are
tuneful, thoughtful and, as you
might expect, soulful with an
interesting range of influences.
With the exception of 1 track,
all songs were written and
produced by Graeme. Naturally
there's a hint of The Wets in
parts of the music, but there's
much, much more to Graeme's
musical vocabulary.
Having recently toured
showcasing tracks from “Mr
Understanding”, he is joined on
stage by Wets’ guitarist, Graeme
Duffin along with friend and
musical collaborator Iain Duff –
on accordion and piano. Their UK
live dates will include one or
two old favourites along with a
natural enthusiasm that is
evident both on this album and
also in all their live shows.
But, as Graeme says, “I love
that band and it would be
pompous and foolish to turn my
back on it”. As a result, their
live set includes some old
favourites in addition to this
new material – a set that aims
to welcome everyone to the world
of Graeme Clark.
The move to centre stage has
shown Graeme to be a natural and
talented performer.
Intimate, acoustic shows provide
the perfect environment to see
the man and to hear his music in
a more natural way. As a
well-known music industry
insider put it “GC is without
ego. He lives to perform and
just loves getting close to the
audience”.
No surprise then that he's
always pleased to say hello
after his shows.
Live Dates for Graeme Clark
You can see Graeme perform at
the following venues:
26th February - Louisiana,
Bristol
29th February - Islington
Garage, London
6th March - Fibbers, York
10th March - Birmingham HMV
Institute
5th March - Glasgow King Tuts,
Glasgow
18th March - Brighton Komedia
22nd March - Liverpool O2
Academy 2
Tell us which popular band
did Graeme Clark co-found?
a) Duran Duran
b) Wet Wet Wet
c) Spandau Ballet
d)
The Bay City Rollers To
Enter the Competition
Tell us which popular band did
Graeme Clark co-found?
Then send
in your answer,
together with your full name,
address and telephone number to
the Sixtyplusurfers
email
address below:
sixtypluscomp@hotmail.co.uk
*This
competition is open to
our UK readers only
Djanan Turan
Look out for a great new singer,
Turkish born Djanan Turan who
has recently released her
debut EP 'Artigo' in the UK.
Artigo is a beautiful collection
of poignant and exhilarating
songs, co-produced with
London-based producer/drummer
Tansay Omar (Bjork, Lokkhi
Terra, Smoke City) and featuring
contributions from various
musicians from the London
underground including Raz Olsher
(ZeJ / Fossil Studios), Sam
Ritchie, (Sam and the Womp) Paul
Tkachenko (Shekoyah) and Ernesto
Estruch, (Ska Cubano).
A unique collection of kooky and
playful songs the EP saw Djanan
establish herself and her music
on various new music shows
around the UK, resulting in
airplay for her track Goldfish a
serious plaudits from industry
tastemakers resulting in a One
to Watch feature on the highly
respected Gaydar website.
Djanan’s live performances are
equally impressive with
appearances already chalked up
at Glastonbury, Secret Garden
Party, World London Festival in
Queen Elizabeth Hall, The
Rollright Fayre, and Playgroup
as well as numerous live
appearances around Europe and
2012 promises to be busy with
numerous festivals already aware
of Djanan’s burgeoning talent.
Arriving in the UK, Djanan
studied singing, harmony and
composition with Timur Selcuk
who is an acclaimed Turkish
composer/conductor/singer. She
quickly got involved with the
global club music scene and
began performing and
collaborating with various UK
based bands such as Oojami,
Gillbert , Awale, Sam and The
Womp and Voices of Nature and
with the Nabiz Project of
Istanbul based percussionist
Engin Gurkey.
She has recently completed a
small tour of her native Turkey,
performing a mixture of her
Turkish and English songs.
Djanan also featured in Mike
Figgis’s London Documentary
which was shown in Trafalgar
Square for the closing of the
London Film Festival and as also
appeared as a special guest on
DJ Ritu’s BBC Radio ‘World in
London’ music show.
She has also composed and
recorded music with Max Ringham,
in collaboration with Layla Roza,
a London based curator and
trapeze artist for her various
shows such as What If and Shake.
She have performed for the show
she has directed with Circus
Space for the closing show of St
Magnus Festival.
The
25th Anniversary Of Paul Simon's
'Graceland' is being with a new
documentary film and
commemorative editions of the
classic album.
Coming this spring, Legacy
Recordings/Sony Commercial Music
Group will release a Graceland
25th anniversary commemorative
edition deluxe collector's box
set as well as a special
two-disc set, each featuring the
original album with bonus tracks
and the director's cut of "Under
African Skies".
"Under African Skies" travels
with Paul Simon back to South
Africa 25 years after his first
visit. Simon revisits the making
of the record, surveying from
the vantage of history the
turbulence and controversy
surrounding the album's genesis.
His artistic decision to
collaborate with African
musicians created a new world
musical fusion, combining
American and African musical
idioms while igniting an intense
political crossfire, with Paul
Simon accused of breaking the UN
cultural boycott of South Africa
designed to end the Apartheid
regime.
The universal appeal of the
music of Graceland proved more
powerful and enduring than the
political hotbed attending its
creation. In 1986, the album
sold 14 million copies
worldwide, and received
universal praise from critics
around the globe. Simon and the
members of Ladysmith Black
Mambazo performed on 'Saturday
Night Live' and appeared on the
cover of Rolling Stone.
In the film, Simon provides a
fresh and revelatory perspective
on the album while gathering the
record's original musicians for
a transcendental Graceland
concert reunion. "Under African
Skies" features interviews with
key anti-apartheid activists of
the time and such musical
legends as Quincy Jones, Harry
Belafonte, Paul McCartney, David
Byrne and Peter Gabriel.
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