Justin Adams & Mauro Durante
Wednesday, 30th October 2024 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
The Auditorium, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
A blues-rock guitarist steeped in the music of North and West Africa and a violinist and percussionist specialising in the Southern Italian folk dance styles of taranta and pizzica: the collaboration between Justin Adams and Mauro Durante is perhaps an unusual one, but it has produced wonderful (and critically acclaimed) results. Together, the duo explore the roots and pathways of their styles, and unite them through the common thread of trance and the use of music to cast out illnesses of the mind and body. That way, the culture of the Salento peninsula is linked with the sacred sounds of the Sufi mystics, the travelling musicians of the Saharan trade routes, and the added spices of dirty, raucous blues.
Justin Adams is renowned for his skills as a collaborator, working closely with Robert Plant, Sinéad O’Connor and Jah Wobble, and forging special relationships with African musicians including Tinariwen, Rachid Taha and Juldeh Camara, among countless others. Mauro Durante is the leader of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, the most successful exponents of folk music from Salento in modern times. Their debut album together, Still Moving from 2021, is an intimate set, recorded live in the studio. It was a triumph, winning a Songlines Music Award for ‘Best Fusion’ and leading to three years of worldwide touring and even more intense musical encounters, and now their follow-up album is almost here: Sweet Release is out on 18th October. Justin Adams and Mauro Durante are two of the most innovative explorers in roots music today, and we’re thrilled to bring this exciting meeting of master musicians to The World’s Music at Oxford!
*Justin and Mauro will also be conducting a free public lecture entitled ‘Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Trance Traditions in the 21st Century’ at the Music Faculty on St Aldates on Tuesday, 29th October at 5:15pm.*
Chand Ali Khan Qawwal & Party
Friday, 24th January 2025 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
The Auditorium, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
FREE ENTRY!
Qawwali is a devotional art of Sufi Muslims in India and Pakistan, a musical poetry that speaks of deep love and longing for God, and the ecstasy and intoxication to be found in his blessing. Performed by a lead qawwal and chorus, and accompanied by harmonium and tabla, the power of qawwali is such that its practitioners and audience often become gripped by divine trance. It’s a tradition that stretches back to the 13th century, which has found a passionate international audience in the 20th century through the art of great performers such as Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Sabri Brothers.
Born in Pakistan and now based in the UK, Chand Ali Khan has become recognised as one of the leading lights of qawwali in Europe. Having been initiated and trained under the Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Memorial Academy, Chand made his first public performance at the age of 13 and has since been blessed with the tutelage of Ustad Iqbal Hassan Khan and Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. His performances are fiery, full of raw emotion and true passion, inspiring audiences across the world.
Qawwali is one of the world’s most touching musical and spiritual traditions, capable of moving audiences beyond any boundaries of language or religious belief. This is sure to be a very special concert. We are thrilled that Chand Ali Khan Qawwal and Party will bring their extraordinary performance to the World’s Music at Oxford!
A special thanks to Noorani Events for supporting this concert.
Jacken Elswyth
Saturday, 1st March 2025 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Sunday, 2nd March 2025 at 2pm (doors at 1:30pm)
The Barn, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
FREE ENTRY!
The World’s Music at Oxford welcomes in the spring with TWO concerts by one of the most exciting instrumentalists on the UK folk scene!
For the first time, The World’s Music at Oxford presents a (mini) residency, as Jacken Elswyth joins us for two performances in St John’s College’s unique and intimate art-space The Barn – one in the evening (Saturday 1st March) and one in the afternoon (Sunday 2nd March).
Jacken Elswyth is dedicated to the banjo. As a musician, she finds new directions for the instrument’s solo repertoire, deeply rooted in traditions from Britain and Appalachia, explored and extrapolated through experimentation with drones (supplied live by a foot-pumped shruti box), musique concrète, extended techniques and improvisation. Her art also extends past the banjo’s sound itself, as she builds and repairs the instruments, focussing on folk and vernacular techniques and creating her own designs, too. These dual experiences as instrument builder and musician inform each other, connecting craft and music with the same purpose and passion – heard most evidently in Jacken’s astonishing 2021 album Banjo with the Sound of its Own Making. Her most recent album – 2024’s At Fargrounds – was a critical success, with The Guardian placing it in their top 10 folk albums of 2024, and The Quietus proclaiming it #14 in their overall albums of the year. Look out for her limited-run CD and zine with poet CA Conrad, to be released on 6th February.
In her solo work as well as her wide-reaching collaborations and as a member of the pioneering Shovel Dance Collective, Jacken Elswyth uses the banjo to create a traditional music to resonate with the people and culture of the 21st century.
Akolá Tambó
Tuesday, 29th April at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
The Auditorium, St John’s College, St Giles’ OX1 3JP
FREE ENTRY! Booking required.
Bullerengue is a whirlwind of drums, dancing, songs, percussion and handclaps from the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Panama. The core of the bullerengue is the rueda – a circle of participants singing together in a unified voice of inclusivity and togetherness, led by the drums: the llamador keeps the dance going while the alegre leads the sound, improvising the whole time. Chants are traded back and forth in call-and-response, extempo shouts, whoops and cheers lift the energy and encourage the dancers as they twirl and shimmy. This beat is ancestral: the roots lie in West Africa, brought to the Americas in the hearts of the stolen people, where it mixed with the traditions of the indigenous population. It is sound and movement to be enjoyed and to stir the emotions, but it is also a ritual, a way-of-life and a community, a trance music to heal body and mind.
Akolá Tambó are the first bullerengue group to be founded outside the style’s homeland. The collective was brought together in 2020 by Esteban Card and Valeria Pacific, London-based Colombians inspired to dive deep into their heritage by the voice of the mighty Totó La Momposina. They have already become stalwarts of the London scene, whipping up a fire of intense, driving and joyous music and beautiful, ecstatic dance wherever they choose to beat their drum, move their feet and raise their voices. Passionate, liberating and gloriously unpretentious roots music and dance relevant to 21st century life – Akolá Tambó are one of the rising stars of the UK’s international music sphere, and we can’t wait to bring the infectious sound of bullerengue to Oxford for the first time. Sitting still is not an option!
THE WORLD'S MUSIC AT OXFORD 