Byron Wallen has been described as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive" (Jazzwise Magazine). His 'Black Flag' project started life in 2004 as 'Dangerous Duets': a series of improvising duos performing live in response to the photography of Annabel Elgar. In 2022 this project was revisited and released as a book of photographs and a CD featuring Byron on trumpet and his long-term musical partner, Nick Ramm, on keyboards.

Informed by Byron’s own experience, this music charts the psychological and emotional frontiers of contact between a mother and her son separated by the Atlantic Ocean. It dives into the multi-layered toxic waste caused by global imperialism and colonialism and the creation of lost souls and generations living in socio-economic poverty confined within a mental bubble of paralysis. Byron invites us to "explore the shifting balance of power between the urban and rural with a glimpse of light before the Sun".

"A moment for transcendence on loop. A reminder of a home outside of ourselves. An affirmation that oneness of spirit is both our journey and destination. The Black Flag is an exercise in becoming. The spirit of hope, woven in sound"
(Dr Aditi Jaganathan)

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Black Flag
Byron Wallen website
👁 Extract of a duet set with Lemn Sissay and Byron Wallen
👂 Listen/read about Black Flag (album 2022)
Nick Ramm website
👁 The Cinematic Orchestra - Time & Space (ft Nick Ramm)
👂 Hello Skinny - Hello Skinny (ft Nick Ramm) via Bandcamp

The extraordinary lyric poet Kelvin Corcoran will be reading from his collected poems, to be published by the prestigious Shearsman Press in May 2023.

"Corcoran has as wide a range and as rich a vocabulary as any poet now writing. He possesses a flawless ear, a fresh eye for image and detail, penetrating analysis and a storyteller’s gift. He can shift registers suddenly, from lyric to formal mode to common speech, and even a snatch of song … Kelvin Corcoran is one of the rare true poets. Reading him is a privilege and a pleasure, a new awareness’
(David Wevill)

Balladeste are Preetha Narayanan (violin) and Tara Franks (cello), who explore the versatility and sound potential of just two string instruments. With traces of contemporary minimalism, Indian classical and folk, they co-create all original compositions that are vibrant and experimental yet melodic and filmic in quality – songs without words with a contemporary alt-folk twist.

"music that can radiate suspense but at the same time is warm and intimate" (Songlines 4****)

"Absolutely stunning"
(BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour)

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Kelvin Corcoran
Shearsmith books
👂 Kelvin Corcoran reading at Free Range in 2012

Balladeste
Balladeste website
👂 Balladeste - 'Dina Dukhio' via Bandcamp
👁 Balladeste - 'Being' via YouTube