Raghu Dixit Project – Queen Elizabeth Hall

Raghu Dixit Project – Queen Elizabeth Hall

Raghu Dixit Project  is an Asian folk and world music experience brought to you by the Bangalore-based singer and musician Raghu Dixit. This performance was an especially commissioned concert that brought together Dixit and his band with South Bank artists-in-residence Bellowhead – or rather, with the British folk collective’s fabulously louche horn section and angular percussionist, Pete Flood.

With little knowledge of Dixit or his band I was intrigued to disocover what all the hype was about. But as soon as Raghu Dixit opened his mouth it was easy to see why…

The singer has a voice of a star, with a depth and raw quality to his voice Dixit’s magnetic tone brought silence upon the whole room. His unique brand of folk-rock fusion blends tradition with urban grit and techno-friendly savvy brings energy and excitement to the hall.

The lyrics are a combination of  Hindi and Kannada-language which took inspiration from 18th century Indian poetry and philosophy.  The tracks performed included The Girl From Mysore, which became frenzied Asian-Celtic reels; Brendan Kelly’s saxophone slalomed and skidded through Rain Song, a new number that saw Dixit strumming flamenco-style and the Kathak dancer Gauri Sharma Tripathi putting her own modern spin on centuries-old folklore. A full house sang, danced and cheered throughout. And with Dixit addressing the crowd in a conversational way throughout, thre was something very warming and personal about this performance.

Raghu Dixit’s remarkable rise has been nothing short of spectacular. The former Bharatnatyam dancer’s rousing folk rock is not only the symbol of metropolitan India’s blossoming alternative music scene, but is also making waves internationally. As Raghu recounts, the music that The Raghu Dixit Project makes is a true representation of today’s India – ethnic and rooted at the core, but at the same time global in its outlook.

At the beginning of the night Dixit modestly reveals to his audience that “A year ago I was unknown”. As I look around at the roaring crowd one hour in, bellowing out the lyrics of song after song, I find it hard to believe that this was ever the case.!..

By Sumitra Upham

Guilty Pleasures music mix: here this Saturday

A Guilty Pleasures music mix to get you in the mood for the club night here this Saturday in the Clore Ballroom.

Buy tickets / More info

Calligraphy in Motion – Fashion Show

Caligraphy in Motion was Alchemy Festival’s first fashion event. Kinetic Calligraphy, conceived by Meera and Muzaffar Ali, is an innovative way of wearing Sufi script. Over the last 21 years, they have revived the traditional craft of the Kotwara region in North India, the historical and cultural centre which inspired the location for Muzaffar Ali’s film Umrao Jaan and Meera Ali’s contemporary design and craft collaborations.

The event began dramatically with the sound of vibrant drumming echoing from the back of the runway. The models then began to emerge one by in beautiful garments whose flowing fabrics and textures filled the hall with a sense of tranquillity. From the traditional Lehnga the garments had a wide range of western forms from long coats to shorter jackets, dresses, skirts and trousers. The garments were gently quilted, subtly embroidered and delicately hand finished, giving each one a universal appeal and relevance to an international contemporary audience.

By using the sense of fine detailing, which has evolved in India over the centuries, the range extends from innovations in Indian and western forms using simple craft techniques of chikan, zardozi, tukdi and appliqué with hand detailing to create dramatic effects. The collection has thus acquired a style of its own which is both avant-garde and traditional and evokes an image which incorporates the detailing and innovation of modernity mixed with timeless and customary classical forms.

The models, a combination of Asian and British decent, created an interesting juxtaposition in the way in their approach to dominating the catwalk. The Indian models mimicked the choreography of a traditional dance, bringing a worldly performative element to the show, whilst the British girls, with their western editorial demeanour reminded the audience that these were high-end garments with a universal appeal and ones that can be worn and consumed by an international market.

Live music accompanied the show, with a group of native musicians sat cross-legged at the top of the runway. The space was transformed into a spiritual setting as the models succinctly twirled their flowing dresses down the catwalk to the sound of drumming and chanting and lit candles at the end of the run way. The drumming created a vivacious atmosphere and complemented the exciting garments inspired by the nature and music of Northern India. This combined with the repetitious and hypnotic choreography performed by the models enticed the audience into a ritualistic celebration of contemporary Indian fashion.

Clothes for Meera and Muzaffar Ali are graceful and eloquent. They carry an essence of nostalgia that is reminiscent of the present and of hopes for the future. Because of this their garments evoke value and are items of clothing that people cherish. For the designers, they see their work as sacred clothes that enclose the temple of the human form.

With the integration of fashion, music and dance this was no ordinary catwalk show and instead became more like a platform for a celebration of culture and diversity in the UK and India – a brilliant introduction to The Southbank Centre’s The Alchemy Festival 2011.

The Rite of Spring gets a 3D makeover

Just a quick reminder that this Saturday we welcome digital artist Klaus Obermaier, dancer Julia Mach and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ilan Volkov, for what promises to be an incredible night of sight and sounds. With live 3D visuals, expect to experience Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in a completely new way. Take a look at the video below for a sneak preview.

Book Tickets for Rites: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with live 3D visuals

Seun Kuti – Following Fela

Seun Kuti’s father, the late, great Fela Kuti is quite something to follow and there’s been few articles written about him – this blog included – that haven’t mentioned the original pioneer of Afrobeat.

However, even though he is now fronting his father’s incredible band Egypt 80, Seun has found an idiosyncratic, powerful voice of his own, one that has seen him hailed as the new king of Afrobeat.

Following from his 2008 debut Many Things is new album From Africa With Fury: Rise, produced by John Reynolds, Seun himself and Brian Eno no less. Eno has indeed hailed Kuti and the band for ‘making some of the biggest, wildest, livest music on the planet.’ Listening to the record, it’s an exhilarating, thrilling LP, and combined with Seun’s famed dynamism on stage, Wednesday’s gig at Royal Festival Hall promises to be something very special indeed.

In anticipation of the show, we’ve 5 copies of Seun’s new album to give away. Simply answer the following question:

Seun Kuti comes from which country?

Please send your answers with your full name and address to competitions@southbankcentre.co.uk by Friday 15 April.

Book tickets for the gig

Ether 2011: Space Capsule lands at Southbank Centre

On 31 March & 1 April, Will Gregory’s Piccard in Space crash-lands at Southbank Centre as part of Ether 2011. Gregory’s (of Goldfrapp) debut opera is a classic adventure about the real-life physicist Auguste Piccard and his mission to prove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

In 1931, he broke aviation records by reaching 51,775 feet (15,781m) above the earth in a tiny airtight capsule. Against all odds, Piccard survived being roasted by the sun and crashing into the Alps. In 1932, he went up again, reaching 53,152 feet (16,200m).

Clearly not a blackboard and chalk type of scientist, Piccard became world front-page news and the inspiration for Hergé’s cartoon character Professor Calculus in The Adventures of Tintin series.

Auguste Piccard

 

To celebrate BBC Concert Orchestra and Will Gregory’s collaboration, we have brought the actual 1932 capsule to Royal Festival Hall. Landing on site today, the capsule will be on display in the foyer until 11 April.

See Will Gregory’s Piccard in Space at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 31 March & 1 April as part of Ether 2011. Get tickets here.

Ether 2011: Young Xenarchitects – Painting with Sound

Ether 2011 sees a focus on one of the 20th century’s most important composers, Iannis Xenakis with performances and interactive workshops . Here composer Aleks Kolkowski tells us about his experiences with the Ether project ‘Young Xenarchitects’ at Southbank Centre.

Iannis Xenakis‘ dual career as architect and composer is beautifully illustrated by his 1953 masterpiece Metasastis, whose graphic blueprint for the final conventionally notated musical score became the basis for the design of the Philips Pavilion in Brussels, 1958. A desire to draw sounds in the draftsman-like manner of an architect led Xenakis in 1977 to devise UPIC (Unité Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu), a system where sounds were created, drawn and arranged on a computer screen using an electromagnetic pencil. One of the first pieces that Xenakis composed through it is Mycenae Alpha (1978).

UPIC proved to be so popular internationally as a unique music-composing and educational tool for non-musicians, artists, programmers and children alike, that a second machine had to be built at great expense so that Xenakis could continue to work with it.

Today’s modern audio painting software using graphic tablets and touch screens all descend from UPIC, but the origins of sound painting goes back much further than Xenakis, to the early methods of visualising sound through the chladni plates, phonautograms and harmonographs of the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the early twentieth century, the development of sound-on-film with soundtracks recorded directly onto celluloid led to many artists, including Oskar Fischinger in Germany and Evgeny Sholpo in Russia to experiment with optical sound by drawing patterns onto film, played back via photo-electric cells. In the 1950s, some twenty years before Xenakis and UPIC, the pioneering British electronic music composer Daphne Oram created the Oramics Machine, a highly sophisticated analogue device enabling her to draw the parameters of sounds and paint her own waveforms.

Informed and inspired by this fascinating historical background to the art of sound painting, the Young Xenarchitects have taken up the challenge of composing graphically through HighC – software developed by Thomas Baudel that is closely modeled on the original UPIC system. Using HighC, they can paint sounds with the cursor, create waveforms and patterns, modify dynamics, determine pitch scales and rhythms and even import their own recordings to be manipulated or painted within the program.

Some have chosen to use HighC as a sketch-board to make blueprints for conventional scores for instrumental ensemble; others will create electro-acoustic works combined with sound recordings and together with live instruments.

The possibilities are endless and sound painting is a lot of fun, but creating a coherent musical work in such an unorthodox manner, with relatively little time to get used to some peculiar techniques, is no easy task. Nevertheless, the speed in which the Young Xenarchitects have got to grips with the program and their enthusiasm for composing music is staggering. I can’t wait to hear the final pieces.

Aleks Kolkowski, March 2011

A free version of HighC is available to download here.

See Young Xenarchitects at Southbank Centre as part of Ether 2011 for FREE on 1 April 2011. More info here.

Explore more of Iannis Xenakis’ work at London Sinfonietta’s concert Xenakis – Architect of Sound at Southbank Centre as part of Ether 2011 on 2 April 2011. Get tickets here.

Ether 2011: Steve Reich’s Drumming with the Colin Currie Group

Ether has established itself as a festival of experimentation and groundbreaking work. This year it features minimalist composer Steve Reich’s 1971 masterpiece, Drumming. Universally hailed as one of the great composers of our time and heralded by bands such as Radiohead and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Steve Reich has transformed the world of contemporary music with his innovative approach to harmony, rhythm and form.

A pioneer in his field, Reich used the technique of phasing in a number of his works. Phasing occurs when two musicians play a single repeated pattern in unison. Player One then changes their tempo slightly while Player Two maintains the original tempo. Eventually they are both several beats out of sync with each other. In Drumming four drummers phase in and out with each other, and are then joined by more musicians in parts two, three and four.

For Ether Festival the acclaimed Colin Currie group will be performing Drumming in its entirety as well as hosting a free pre-concert event where they will be demonstrating and discussing sections of the piece.

 

See the Colin Currie Group play Steve Reich’s Drumming at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 8 and 9 April 2011 as part of Ether 2011. Get tickets here.

Get the latest news first plus Ether playlists and free downloads.

Twitter.com/etherfestival

Line-up announced for Ether Festival 2011 & listen to our Ether Spotify playlist

Ether, Southbank Centre’s annual music festival of innovation, art, technology and cross-arts experimentation, returns from 24 March – 28 April for its tenth year this year with a mix of rock iconoclasts and contemporary classical pioneers.

From Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke playing alongside London Sinfonietta and members of The Nazareth Orchestra in 2005 to Chris Cunningham’s mind-and-eye-blowing audio-visual spectacular in 2010, Ether has presented groundbreaking work for a decade now.

As we celebrate its tenth birthday, this year is no different as we bring you one-off collaborations and groundbreaking work including post-punk pioneers Killing Joke, Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey with a live score from the Philharmonia Orchestra and special shows from the likes of Tim Exile, Will Gregory, Pantha du Prince, Wolfgang Voigt and Micachu & the Shapes.

We have a selection of events focussing on contemporary-classical innovator Iannis Xenakis and his architectural approach to composition, plus Rites, a special performance of Stravinsky’s early modernist masterpiece The Rite of Spring, with stunning 3D visuals. Southbank Centre Resident Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, also perform a series of concerts including the work of minimalist composer Louis Andriessen.

Plus workshops with Tim Exile, the Xenakis International Symposium, free gigs and much more.

We’ve put together an Spotify playlist for you to sample some of the upcoming Ether artists. Listen here.

Get the latest news first plus Ether playlists and free downloads.

Twitter.com/etherfestival

SEE FULL ETHER LISTINGS AND BOOK TICKETS AT

SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.UK/ETHER

Matthew Herbert & London Sinfonietta: One Day

Tirelessly inventive and a man of more-than-many talents, Matthew Herbert has been a dazzling tour-de-force with his own music that has soared from big band jazz to electronica and microhouse; a producer for Micachu & The Shapes and Patrick Wolf; and a remixer for Björk, REM, John Cale, Dizzee Rascal and even Mahler’s 10th Symphony. What’s more he also in the brains behind Accidental Records, the home to the Mercury Prize nominated The Invisible.

One of the great maverick experimenters of the UK music scene, Herbert’s latest project sees him turn to the news or rather turn the news into music. On Saturday 20 November at Royal Festival Hall, he and the London Sinfonietta will perform the 25 September 2010 edition of The Guardian, featuring everything from stories about the Labour leadership campaign to the recipe pages and sporting headlines –  expect an utterly unique and incredible concert experience. Watch the trailer for the concert.

Book tickets

Part of the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3