RED ORANGE arts agency

Asian Music Circuit in association with Red Orange presents

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TERRY RILEY, TALVIN SINGH, GEORGE BROOKS

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California Kirana – The West Coast Legacy of Pran Nath

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Terry Riley has been away from Europe for many years, and this is his 75th Birthday. Red Orange and the Asian Music Circuit are honoured to tour the world famous Terry Riley as he performs Indian ragas with arrangements on the saxophone played by the ever progressive saxophonist George Brooks and Mercury Music awarded tabla player Talvin Singh. Solos from each artist as well.

Music, like all living beings, must evolve to keep pace with a changing environment. The ancient arts of India struggle for survival in a world moving at an every increasing speed. Technology and desire for wealth move us forward and leave little time for the reflection and introspection necessary to evolve the high art known as raga.

Pran Nath’s music was rooted in the masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a young man he survived a harrowing journey during partition from Lahore to the new nation of India and later to the US where his most dedicated students absorbed his teachings and continue to reflect on them in deeply personal forms of artistic expression. Pran Nath took the ancient traditions of fierce dedication to craft and guru and handed them to a new generation of American disciples.

Terry Riley, George Brooks and Talvin Singh will perform traditional ragas arranged for piano, voice, saxophone and percussion, focusing on some of Pran Nath’s favorite ragas from the Kirana tradition such as Darbari, Bageshri, Malkauns, Yemen and Bhimpolasi. In addition they will perform works from their duo repertoire including movements from “Salome Dances for Peace” and “Ebony Horns”. Each artist will also perform a solo work.

Miguel Santos, the creative director of Red Orange, participates in the third edition of RadiaLx, Portugal’s unique festival dedicated to radio art. An International Radio Art Festival happening in Lisbon on 01-03 July 2010, it will include 3 x 57 minutes special programmes of Sleeping Dogs Lie, an ambient music programme made by Miguel Santos for Resonance FM.

This year, RadiaLx focuses exclusively on radio art and will feature three days of a special, non-stop, broadcast on Rádio Zero (local frequency of 99.0MHz in Lisbon) and will also be streamed worlwide. It comprises site-specific projects, streams from all over the world and live shows, as well as broadcasts of the most contemporary and inventive radio art works. Workshops, roundtables, interventions, exhibitions and performances will provide an in-depth showcase of live events in the hope of bringing listeners, students and practitioners into a forum of collaboration and direct engagement with the radio field.

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In recent years, a growing number of Japanese musicians have appeared on the UK music scene, performing at prestigious festivals, thanks in part to the enthusiasm of certain promoters. This recent popularity has been attributed to the uniqueness and versatility of Japanese music and musicians, appealing to the desire of music fans to experience something new and original.

For this event, the Japan Foundation has invited UK-based Japanese artist, DJ Scotch Egg, who has gained a reputation for mixing music from techno-related genres, including gabber and chiptunes, to talk about his musical career and artistic philosophy. He will be accompanied by Franck Stofer, of the artist agency, Sonore. Franck has been a passionate advocate of the creativity of contemporary Japanese music, and will share his views on the state and nature of the Japanese music scene as seen by a non-native living in Japan and working as part of the Japanese music industry. The evening’s proceedings will be chaired by Alan Cummings, Freelance Writer for music magazine, The Wire.

This event is organised in association with the London International Festival of Exploratory Music (LIFEM) which is committed to exciting music from every conceivable genre and origin, while continually challenging musical boundaries. DJ Scotch Egg will be showcased as part of this year’s LIFEM lineup, together with two other Japanese musicians, Oorutaichi and Midori Hirano on 7 November at Kings Place.

As well as complementing the performances by these three Japanese artists on 7^th November, this event also provides an opportunity to learn more about Japan’s exciting and innovative contemporary musical culture.

Red Orange is a media partner and a participant at the second International Art Forum “Without Borders”, which will take place in Balchik, Bulgaria, between 18 and 20 September 2009. It will include conferences, with the participation of promoters, journalists and other professionals in the field of music and culture from 24 countries and 4 continents, as well as an international showcase festival of arts and culture.