Archives: Projects

Celebrating 20 years of democracy in South Africa, Inala brought together legendary choral group LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO and award-winning choreographer Mark Baldwin and world class dancers including talent from the Royal Ballet.

Performing Inala’s original score by Joseph Shabalala and classical composer Ella Spira, Ladysmith Black Mambazo blend the intricate rhythms and infectious harmonies of their native musical roots with live percussion, piano and strings. Mark Baldwin’s richly visceral choreography unites Zulu traditions with classical ballet and contemporary dance, performed by an exceptional company of eighteen dancers and singers.

THE MAKING OF INALA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2setLx1_DE

Paloma Faith is proving to be one of the most innovative and creative female singers of her generation; never afraid to take risks or push boundaries.

In 2010 and 2012, to critical acclaim, she wowed the Cheltenham Festival and London Barbican by teaming up with 42-piece Guy Barker Orchestra to present full-blown orchestral arrangements of her own material intermingled with classic jazz ballads, and she now takes that to a new level with the Symphonic Grace tour courtesy of Music Beyond Mainstream.

Featuring new orchestral arrangements from her Brit-nominated Fall to Grace album, including the hits Picking Up The Pieces and 30 Minute Love Affair, as well as a few other surprises on the way, Symphonic Grace is yet another bold step in Paloma’s adventurous career and MBM’s repertoire of unrepeatable tours.

With a 42-piece orchestra, brand new orchestra arrangements from Guy Barker, backing singers and fabulous costumes, Paloma Faith was at her most epic for this project.

EFTERKLANG created this epic scale project originating from their expedition to the former Russian mining settlement of Piramida on Spitsbergen, now a ghost town just 1,000km from the North Pole. The band spent nine days collecting more than 1000 sounds.

MBM’s Piramida Concerts tour saw this innovative rock band collaborate with the 35-piece Northern Sinfonia, orchestra of The Sage Gateshead, conducted by André de Ridder. The Danish trio performed as a six-piece, augmented by Peter Broderick (piano), Katinka Fogh Vindelev (choir) and Budgie (drums) of Siouxsie and the Banshees & The Creatures. They were joined by JOHN GRANT to open the concerts.

With special guests Maddy Prior, Thea Gilmore, Joan Wasser (aka Joan As Police Woman), Green Gartside, PP Arnold, Dave Swarbrick, Jerry Donahue, Lavinia Blackwall, Sam Carter & Blair Dunlop

In the years since her tragic early death, folk icon Sandy Denny has emerged as one of the UK’s greatest singer-songwriters. She had a pivotal role in the British folk rock movement of the 1960s/70s both solo and in iconic bands Fairport Convention and Fotheringay.

In 2011 an album of new songs discovered in her archive were completed by THEA GILMORE and released entitled Don’t Stop Singing. Thea joined this unique line up of artists including former colleagues and friends Maddy Prior, Dave Swarbrick and Jerry Donahue alongside young admirers, established vocalists and musicians to celebrate the singer-songwriter who Richard Thompson has described as ‘the greatest British female artist of her generation’.

Traveller brings together the passionate and diverse music of Spain with the vibrant sounds of the Indian tradition, tracing the gypsies’ journey from their homeland in Rajasthan to finally settling in Southern Europe.

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR, one of the world’s greatest sitar players, performed this MBM tour with her specially selected group of all-star Indian and flamenco musicians on percussion, flute, shehnai and vocals.

This MBM tour combined Tindersticks’ unique sound with compelling, sensual and alternately meditative and shocking visuals handpicked from across Denis’ striking work.

For lovers of intensely beautiful and thought provoking film and music, this collaboration between world-renowned French film-maker Claire Denis and TINDERSTICKS front man Stuart Staples was a match made in heaven.

TINDERSTICKS are one of the most original and distinctive British acts crafting dense, meaningful songs layered with literary lyrics, intertwining melodies, brooding vocals, and gently melancholy orchestrations. Claire Denis, a Paris-based film director and one of the major artistic voices of contemporary French cinema.

African Soul Rebels is a concept created by MBM to showcase some of the most amazing talent from the continent. Vibrant, contemporary, relevant music from a continent as diverse as it is stunning. Normally the ASR concept features a triple bill but for this ASR special we settled on Seun Kuti as the ambassador of contemporary afrobeat and a performing tour de force.

Seun Kuti is an unbelievable force in Nigerian Music, having inherited his father Fela Kuti’s band, he is now the crowned king of Afrobeat. Having not been eclipsed by his father , who was the biggest 20th century star of African music, for some, Seun now outshines him.

His music, dance, politics and funky Yoruba Afrobeat never let tradition down and Seun plays with such dynamism, precision and energy that everyone lucky enough to have seen his father’s show live, is now left in awe of his son Seun.

For this project MBM brought together on the same bill two of the most original musical artists around.

PENGUIN CAFE’s music has infiltrated daily life from films like Napoleon Dynamite to countless theme tunes, and they’ve played festivals from Bestival and The Big Chill to a sold out Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. Their unique, quintessentially English sound is influenced by folk, bluegrass, avant garde classical music and pop.

Electronica meets 21st century-jazz in PORTICO QUARTET’s melodic, rhythmic music that mixes the inspiration of Philip Glass and Steve Reich with a very contemporary kind of improvisation. Their hook-laden, darkly atmospheric post-jazz has pushed them to the forefront of the contemporary music scene and got them nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.

A landmark concert bringing the warmth and optimism of South African music to the stage through two of the rainbow nation’s finest artists.

HUGH MASEKELA has been at the heart of the music of his country since the 1960s through the years of struggle to liberation; his soaring, joyful trumpet sound that nourishes the soul and frees the spirit, continues as an expression of resistance and a celebration of resilience.

THE MAHOTELLA QUEENS, who performed a stunning a cappella set, are an award-winning vocal trio that has exerted enormous influence on the musical life of South Africa.

Packed with all the intensity, depth and raw energy that have become this maestro’s trademark. Some of the world’s best flamenco dancers combine with a sensational band of musicians and virtuoso singers in this brand new show from legendary flamenco guitarist PACO PENA and toured by MBM.

Revisiting an often overlooked part of the flamenco repertoire, world-reknowned virtuoso Peña explores a musical fusion that occurred at the turn of the twentieth century – when touring Spanish musicians toured South America and discovered a rich musical culture and folklore which resonated strongly with their own music.