As part of the Barbican’s Film in Focus series of world-class arts and learning projects that celebrate the medium of film throughout 2017, the two upcoming Jim Jarmusch Revisited concerts in the Barbican Theatre are landmark live tributes to the soundtrack of American independent director Jim Jarmusch’s poetic films.
A stellar cast including musicians Mulatu Astatke, Alex Kapranos, Camille O’Sullivan, Kirin J Callinan and Jolie Holland will revisit the sonic world of Jarmusch’s cinema as well as the works of Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Screaming’ Jay Hawkins, Neil Young, John Lurie, Sqürl and more with specially curated new arrangements of the music. All backed by a house band, assembled by musical director David Coulter (saw, guitar, percussions) and also featuring Terry Edwards (saxophones, trumpet), Dave Okumu (guitar), Steve Nieve (piano), Tom Herbert (bass), Seb Rochford (drums), Carla Pallone (violin) and Gaspar Claus (cello). For more info and tickets visit the website
When Wednesday 20 & Thursday 21 September 2017 at 7.30PM Where: Barbican Theatre (Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS) Tickets: £15 – £30 plus booking fee (book your tickets here)
Susheela Raman: Sacred Imaginations 1: New and Ancient Music of the Christian East Barbican Hall
Part of Trascender 2017, Sacred Imaginations is a long-term musical project started in 2015 by London-based guitarist Sam Mills and British Indian singer Susheela Raman, who performed at the very first Transcender series in 2009.
This first edition of Sacred Imaginations will be presented at the Barbican Hall, gathering seventeen musicians, each of whom are specialists in a variety of Eastern Christian music traditions. The Christian traditions of Greece, Ethiopia, Syria, India and Russia have inspired music of intense beauty, and this Transcender concert features some of the finest singers and instrumentalists from these countries.
Amongst the prestigious cast of performers are Manos Achalinotopolous, one of the world’s finest clarinet players and an expert in the Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan traditions of clarinet playing; Ethiopian piano wizard Samuel Yirga, and Doros Male Vocal Group, masters of the rich Russian Orthodox Polyphonic vocal tradition. Also joining the Sacred Imaginationscast are Syrian Strings, a trio of former members of the Syrian National Orchestra who explore the crossing points between traditional Syrian and Western music. For more info and tickets visit the website. When: Saturday 30 September 2017 at 7.30PM Where: Barbican Hall (Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS) Tickets: £20 – 27.50 plus booking fee (book your tickets here)
Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Arto Lindsay + Justin Strauss Barbican Hall
Part of Basquiat: Boom for Real the Barbican hosts an evening of music drawn from the life and times of American artist Basquiat featuring Kid Creole & the Coconuts and Arto Lindsay. Both musicians inhabited the same cultural sphere as Basquiat, namely New York city of the 70s and 80s. This concert will feature the heady concoction of influences running from jazz to disco via numerous subcultures of punk and no wave – sounds that intertwined, unravelled and cross-pollinated during this exceptionally creative period. The musical languages of both Kid Creole and Arto Lindsay also draw further multicultural parallels to Basquiat given their shared Caribbean and Latin American heritages. Additionally DJ Justin Strauss joins the evening’s line-up. When: Saturday 7 October 2017 at 7.30PM Where: Barbican Hall (Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS)
Tickets: £17.50 – £25 plus booking fee (please book your tickets here).
Gilberto Gil + Cortejo Afro – Barbican Hall
Brazil’s iconic singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil returns to the Barbican on 31 October with a brand new show, direct from this year’s Bahian Carnival. Here Gil’s charismatic stage presence is complemented by the rhythms and vocal power of the visually stunning Bahian group Cortejo Afro, the Nucleo de Opera de Bahia and chamber ensemble Orquestra Nova Lisboa – with specially commissioned arrangements from musical director Aldo Brizzi – to create an exuberant and life-affirming celebration.
Presenting a mix of African rhythms, electronic beats and pop, Cortejo Afro create a sound they refer to as “afro-baiana musical revolution”. Translated into English as ‘Afro Court’, the group was formed to celebrate the African identity of Carnival. For more info and tickets visit the website.
Tickets: £20 – £60 When: Tuesday 31 October 2017 at 7.30PM Where: Barbican Hall (Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS)
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