Last week I had an amazing recording session with the brilliant Saxophonist, Shabaka Hutchings at BBC Broadcasting House.  The session was recorded for the legendary Late Junction programme, a show which I have listened to a number of times over the years when coming back from gigs or doing a late stint and had the radio on.  I never ever imagined that one day I would be recording a session for Late Junction!  It felt really great to bring my sound to the session and working with Shabaka is mind blowing!  We are hoping to do more over the coming 12 months, so keep in touch for updates.  If you fancy listening to the session, it will be going out on Radio 3′s Late Junction on 23rd February at 11pm.  You can also catch it on BBC iPlayer and download it as a podcast after it’s been transmitted.  I hope you enjoy listening to it as much I/we enjoyed playing on it and recording it.

Here’s a present from me to you, to say a huge Thank You for supporting me through what has been an incredibly creative year of lows, mids and immense highs!  So much amazing stuff has happened and I feel very fortunate to have worked with some incredibly gifted individuals and also released a solo album and performed in beautiful venues, festivals and countries all over this crazy spinning world and I also made new friends in the strangest of places!

Now I am taking a break to step off, relax and be a dad! Have a brilliant Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope to see you somewhere in 2012…

You can download the track by clicking on the downward pointing arrow to the right of the waveform.

Just letting you know that this coming Tuesday 6th December, on BBC 1, you can catch the Imagine documentary series which will be covering Rajasthan and all it’s amazingly rich heritage.

This is from the BBC’s website; “The arts series takes a road trip round the desert state of Rajasthan, meeting musicians whose existence is under threat from the new India. They meet Bhopa bards who recite four-night-long epics in front of huge hand-painted scrolls, saffron-clad, chillum-smoking sisters, cross-dressers and gypsy dancers who literally bend over backwards to pick up rupees.”

This episode will also cover some of the work I have been doing with Dharohar, the Rajasthani music project I have been involved in for the past 4 years, and our performance at the this years Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF)…which was brilliant! So, if you can, please watch BBC 1, 10.35pm this coming Tuesday 6th December.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00m8v8w

Cornerhouse Digital Reporter Beth Curran shares her experience ……

Back in the days when smoking a pipe was cool and blackberries and bluetooth actually meant an over fondness for fruit pies, came a film which would shape British cinema into what it is today. For those with an interest in film, I am sure Drifters is a title you will be familiar with. For those not in the know, it is the first film directed by John Grierson, who is considered the leading figure behind the documentary movement. Released in 1929, Drifters follows the average work day of a group of North Sea fishermen. At a time when Hollywood fiction ruled, this film, and others to succeed it would shape the documentary movement and bring a new lease of life to British cinema in general. Never before had the life of the ordinary man seemed a worthy and heroic subject matter for film – hence its importance back then and how its legacy remains today.

Hopefully that brings you up to speed. But you may be starting to wonder why I am discussing a film which was made over 80 years ago with you now? Well, I will explain why and this is a story that involves, believe it or not, a beatboxer.

When I first heard that Cornerhouse were putting on a cinema showing of Drifters I didn’t think anything of it, it was not until I read on to discover that Jason Singh was producing a live score on top that I became quite intrigued. If you haven’t heard of Jason Singh before I suggest you check him out. As a ‘human beatboxer, vocal sculptor and sound artist’ this man basically produces the most incredible sounds and beats you have ever heard, and from his voice alone – pretty impressive stuff. The closest I can come to producing any kind of beat with my voice is if I repeat ‘beans and mashed potato’ over and over really fast, but alas, even then I get tongue tied.

After sitting down in the cinema and a quick introduction from Jason on how the film had impacted him and how excited he was to work on this project, we begin. Haunting echoes and drones fill the room and gradually the film slowly comes to life. With the help of a computer looping system which resembled the helm of a spaceship, Jason created a multi layered soundscape which could rival that of a recorded film soundtrack. Greeted by the sounds of seagulls, chugging of boats, slapping of fish, and of course, some beatboxing, I was subjected to a wealth of different tones and effects, all of which harmonised well together. The part I found most impressive about Jason’s performance was his ability to recreate sounds to mimic real life. When we saw a ship sailing on screen, the noise of sea and wind seemed so authentic it was difficult to comprehend that the sounds were being created live by someone’s voice alone.

After the performance we all went upstairs to the Cornerhouse Annexe for some drinks and to discuss the performance. I for one was quite determined to find out whether what I heard in the cinema was all live, as parts of the performance sounded so multi-layered they had to be pre-recorded. Jason assured me it is all him, and every sound I heard was live – which pays testament to his devotion and talent. When he started to discuss the type of equipment he used to make the performance ‘ableton live, space echo, bass synth…’ my mind started to spin even further. It is certainly a talent which very few possess. I got the sense that to him improvising is the most exciting part of the performance, making it a new experience every time, for us and for him.

In my opinion, Singh’s score complimented Grierson’s visual to great effect, bringing new life to this classic documentary. If you did miss it, I suggest you keep an eye out for Jason’s future projects. I’m not going to lie, Drifters is not a film for everyone. It wouldn’t really satisfy the appetite of young film-goers today. There are no gun fights, CGI, blue creatures from other worlds… but it is certainly an important film for its time, and with Jason’s beautifully crafted soundtrack on top it certainly made for a really memorable and other worldly experience to watch.

Fellow Cornerhouse Digital Reporter Richard Greenwood was also impressed…

“Stunning”, “unbelievable”, “fantastic” and “how the blooming nora did he make that bell sound?” all floated across the Annexe like a herring trawler across the North Sea, following Jason Singh’s vocal score to 1929 classic, silent documentary, Drifters.

The project, three years in the making and part of The Cornerhouse’s Micro Commisions scheme, opened with Jason introducing himself and strangely revealing himself as a vegetarian. You wouldn’t have thought a film about men who daily kill thousands of fish would have been top of a vegetarian’s films to score, right?

However, it worked beautifully. The film became much more alive, squeals reflected the herrings struggle and opened the piece up to an emotion in which filmmaker John Grierson had probably never intended… fish sympathy.

For the daily routines of the fishermen, it was much the same. The crashing of the waves against the vessel, beatboxing building the sort of tension you get in an action movie, the pictures told the story of the fishermen’s fight against the elements but the score really gave it so much power. And then there was the bell, how the blooming nora did he make that bell sound? That bell sound that makes it oh so clear it’s part of routine and the fishermen’s brave battle continues again, tomorrow.

An incredible piece of work from Jason Singh, who afterwards seemed very keen on touring the live score. If it does happen, just quite simply, go.

Well its all going on at the minute, so whilst I feel a little organised, I thought I should upload a few pictures of the rehearsal.  It’s pretty tiring but loads of fun! So, here you go, and I really hope we get a good turn out for Sunday.  Jason.

Here’s a great little article from this months WIRED about my forthcoming live Beatbox score performance to Drifters at the Cornerhouse Cinema this Sunday (6th).

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-11/1/human-beatboxer-scores-film

I’m here at the Cornerhouse and just finished the first technical run of Drifters. There where initially a few glitchy moments but I have a great technician (Dave Petty) who managed to resolve the issue. I did the first run on the large screen in Cinema 2 and it felt amazing to be performing the score and seeing the final print on screen. I am a bit exhausted now, so having a fresh brew and then getting back on it
.

I will be performing my poetry for the first time in public on 31/10/11! Scarey! I guess that’s why it’s on Halloween, right!

The theme of the night is Sufi poetry and I will be performing some of my own writings with live vocally sculpted textures and also reading poems by Rumi, Baba Bulleh Shah, Kabir, Amir Khusrow, Attar, Mohammad Iqbal and more…it would be great if you could come down.

The event is part of the Levenshulme Festival and will take place at the Isis Cafe. Stockport Road, Levenshulme, on Monday 31st October 8-10pm, oh and it’s FREE entry.  For more info, check out the LF website

Hope you can make it down.

Human beatboxer, vocal sculptor and sound artist Jason Singh, will perform a live vocal score to the 1929 silent film Drifters, by John Grierson. Using techniques of prerecorded vocal sequences, live vocal processing and sampling, Singh will create a sonic backdrop of ambient textures, experimental atmospheres and rhythms created solely by the use of the voice to accompany the epic journey of a film that explores the tensions between tradition and modernity.

John Grierson was an instrumental Scottish documentary filmmaker, often considered the father of British documentary. Premiering in London alongside Battleship Potemkin in 1929, Drifters follows North Sea herring fisherman through their dramatic daily routines. “If you can tell me a story with a better crescendo in energies, images, atmospherics and all that make up the sum and substance of cinema, I promise you I shall make my next film of forthwith.” John Grierson

In partnership with BFI. A Cornerhouse Micro Commission supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

http://www.cornerhouse.org/film/cinema-listings/drifters-with-live-musical-accompaniment