Lou is interested in emotional, lyrical encounters with edge. Her background in dance music combined with a love of pop and folk gives her a unique sound.
She writes and sings for DJs, composers and herself, and has appeared as one half of Stroop. Her next incarnation, Civil Beasts, in collaboration with Derek Kirkup, is due for release in 2025. And dance floors are already abuzz with her experimental house project in conjunction with London legendaries Jeremy Newall and Frankie Valentine.
A musical nomad, Essien (aka musician and producer, James Fellows) came of age in the early days of London’s rare groove renaissance and the city’s growing IDM scene.
Inspired by a producer friend recently returned from Nigeria, Essien’s pursuit of a truly expansive musical education took him to French-speaking West Africa, where he spent a year steeped in Malian blues and Congolese Rumba.
From West Africa, Essien moved to Paris, dividing his time between classical concert halls and intimate basement jazz clubs, and DJing at some of the city’s most eclectic house parties. A chance, last-night encounter with legendary jazz poet, Gil Scott-Heron, turned him back to his rare groove beginnings and, back to London.
Returning just as the nu-jazz, downtempo scene was gaining traction, Essien began composing instrumental pieces on acoustic instruments, weaving them between layers of electronic sounds. His vision was to capture the soul-expanding moments, those tides of orchestration where jazz and classical meet, foregrounded with rich layers of electronica and the organic hum of live instrumentation.
It finally came together in Bristol – the city’s joyful, genre-blending, D.I.Y. soul connecting him with like-minded singers and artists to conjure something truly unique.
The resulting debut album, “Your Best Thinking Got Me Here,” pulls his musical loves, past and present, into an emotionally rich, yet irresistibly danceable tour-de-force.
Seki Lynch is an author, poet, lyricist and playwright whose work explores love, connection and consciousness.
His show, ‘Under the Sun Our Heart Are Beating’ pairs poetry from his debut collection of the same name, blending poetry with jazz accompaniment from three members of the Ancient Infinity Orchestra.
His most recent stage production, ‘Barber B: Each One, Teach One’, wove storytelling, music, dance and multi-media archives to tell stories from the life of barber and Leeds legend Brian Swarray.
A native of Los Angeles, poet Kamau Daáood’s career began in the late 1960s as a member of the Watts Writers Workshop and the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra under the direction of pianist Horace Tapscott.
Daáood has spent over 40 years performing, recording, curating, teaching and producing, organizing and creating art in schools, churches, prisons, storefronts, libraries, festivals, conferences, museums, and galleries locally, nationally, and internationally.
He has worked as an instructor and curator for the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department at the Watts Towers Arts Center, taught African American music at Cal State Northridge and Otis College, and co-founded the World Stage Performance Gallery with drummer Billy Higgins.
“I am a devout poet. I believe that the right words offered in the right way can be music holding us together.
When we can speak the language of essence, we will be able to commune in a space miles above dogma and the confines of individual traditions. And we can develop into evolved human beings capable of radiating profound love, light, and service to others.
I believe wholeheartedly that art in community is noble work that fosters beauty and meaning into our lives.
That art is vital and necessary.”
A graduate of the South African College of Music, Carmen Ross is a musician (piano, bass, drums), vocalist, producer and song-writer.
She has performed under the baton of the English composer and conductor, Sir John Rutter as well as in a host of jazz collectives and orchestras.
Now firmly rooted in London, Carmen has composed and produced music for musicals, adverts and cross-genre commercial tracks.
Her voice is rich in character but shot through with a disarming tenderness that lends her performances a powerful emotional heft.
