Tuned In London

"Ethno Album of the Year" is the nomination attained for their most recent album by Ensemble Gamut!, whose "refreshing, soothing, intriguing and enlightening" music has attracted international interest across genres. This exceptional harp, jouhikko, blockflute (recorder) and voice trio from Finland, who combine and daringly rearrange elements from medieval music and Finnish folk songs, intertwining improvisation and electronic soundscapes, will be playing the London launch of their third album "MI", an exploration of the boundary between the living and the non-living, asking what is alive and what has already faded into extinction. The endangered flowers of the Arctic are a central focus, with this a rallying cry to protect them: there is still time.

From wild flowers to walled gardens: mystical spell-songs, 'rūn' in Old English, are the inspiration for the recently formed London-based Rune, whose fascination with the rare and touching beauty of music dating back 700 years runs deep. This special double bill concert draws together two different ensembles whose common love of harp, recorder, ancient strings and vocals will conjure a unique evening guaranteed to impress.

Ensemble Gamut!'s website

Rune's website

Valencia-based Persian/Kurdish-American vocalist and composer Elana Sasson breathes new life into her heritage with a fusion of Persian poetry, Kurdish melodies, jazz harmonies and vivid rhythms. Her “arrestingly beautiful” voice (Songlines Magazine) seamlessly merges tradition with innovation. The liminal sound—at once tender and grooving— of her newly released album ‘In Between’, explores placelessness, longing, belonging and the emotional complexities of navigating between cultures and identities. Elana (voice, saz) will be accompanied by Cypriot Manos Stratis (double bass) and together they will present a programme that moves fluidly between spacious minimalism and intricate melodic complexity.

Elana Sasson's website

New York, long considered a rich melting pot of Blues, Jazz, Klezmer and Gypsy fusions and rhythms often originally from Eastern Europe, France and Spain, will for this Independence Day special, provide the backdrop. Featuring both spoken word and music, Joff Watkins keeps it hot on chromatic harmonica, multi-award-winning Polish violinist Kamila Bydlowska, more often found as concerto soloist, dazzles with her incredible agility and prowess and our local US ex-pat music-making actor Nathan Osgood impresses on guitar and vocals, both sung and spoken, the latter of which you might have come across in film, radio or the stage.

Kamila Bydlowska's website