EBE OKE

The composer Ebe Oke is coming back to Café Oto for an intimate evening before he goes off to follow Brian Eno’s invitation to perform at Punkt festival in Norway.

Born in the deep American south of Georgia, Oke has made London his residence of choice from where he crafts compositions that combine sonic remnants of his rural upbringing with tropes of the musical avant-garde of the twentieth century through solid songwriting, which provides the perfect vehicle for his extraordinary quality as a vocalist.

After receiving a development deal through Rough Trade Records, which led him to collaborate and record with Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Oke was invited to study compostion with legendary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen in Germany.



His recent compositions are complex in nature and yet universally accessible. His unusual instrumentation, which currently blend classical instruments with instruments of diverse cultural origins the world over and processed field recordings of birdsong and nature sounds form a well measured backdrop to his lyrical songmanship, which is delivered with an unshakeable clarity through his unforgettable androgynous voice.

Ebe Oke is currently performing with an electro acoustic ensemble in which he plays the piano and sings. His enchanting live shows are of a rare engaging beauty, always new and surprising through changing improvised passages and multimedia elements.

Ebe Oke on Facebook

Ebe Oke photo by Prema Goet



NATHANIEL ROBIN MANN

Nathaniel Robin Mann (animateddog) is perhaps better know as one third of the UK’s finest performance outfit Dead Rat Orchestra. Described as ‘unconventional, traditional, highly liberal and subversive’ (Sam Lee Magpies Nest) his solo explorations chart diverse realms. Drawing from a collection of both folk tradition and original material, on stage Nathaniel uses a curious collection of instruments and objects to provide accompaniment and percussion: Phonofiddle, meat cleaver, 2x4, ukulele, guitar, stomps, bells and whistles and stark a cappella moments.

Nathaniel is the Embedded composer in Residence at the Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology in Oxford, and has written for the LCO and National Ukrainian Orchestra Kievskaya Kamerata. Within the Dead Rat Orchestra,Nathaniel has collaborated closely with Baby Dee, Marc Almond & Eric Chenuax, and in his solo guise has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with such diverse artists such as Ryan Driver, Doomed Bird of Providence and Emily Portman.

www.nathanielmann.co.uk



BIRD RADIO

Drawing on a wide range of influences from 20th Century and traditional folk musics, Bird Radio incorporates dream/journey inspired lyrics, handmade instruments, flutes, loops, electronics, vocals and a suitcase bass-drum to create a unique and unforgettable performance which has been describes as "uneasy listening at its finest". Bird Radio released his EP "A Walk Through Wooda" composed for a collection of short films by director Chiara Ambrosio in June 2012 and his debut album "The Boy and the Audience" is due for release later this year.

“Bird Radio is future medieval, as if J.G. Ballard had written The Wicker Man”. Steve Chandra Savale, Asian Dub Foundation

“Bird Radio loops flutes, bones, a red kick drum suitcase and his own very un-ethereal vocals to create an intensely curious mash-up between electronic music and traditional folk tales” Critics’ choice, Time Out

Bird Radio website