Exclusive UK show for guitarist Ryan Francesconi. Perhaps best known as the musical director for Joanna Newsom's epic 'Have One On Me', Ryan Francesconi's guitar playing transcends the usual Takoma-tropes to incorporate a diverse range of influences from African kora music to Bulgarian folk.
RYAN FRANCESCONI
In 2011, Portland’s Ryan Francesconi (until recently best known for his work as the musical director on Joanna Newsom’s stunning triple album “Have One On Me”) has established himself as a leading figure in acoustic composition and performance. Now he prepares to comes back to Europe to prove it again.
“Parables”, his first record under his own name (having been producing solo electronic music as RF since 1999), gave dazzling notice of his ability to conjure pieces that ring with personal truth while absorbing myriad influences and techniques. Recorded live without overdubs, Francesconi's solo acoustic guitar creates a surprisingly rich sound that hints at his extensive musical interests - American bluegrass, Baroque lute music, traditional Bulgarian folk and jazz improvisation among others.
Francesconi embarked upon his first solo tour of Europe early in 2011, spellbinding hushed rooms across the continent and picking up press acclaim along the way (see below). Since then he’s been working on new music for his next album (slated for completion this year), and developing his duo work with fellow Joanna Newsom band member Mirabai Peart (violin) – both of which should be in evidence next year. For this tour though it’s just him and a guitar – expect whole worlds to open up.
QUOTES ON RYAN FRANCESCONI:
“One of the most awe-inspiring musicians I've known … it is nearly impossible to believe he's picking those strings with just one hand. This is solo music that sounds like an ensemble; an ecstatic and measured reconciliation of West-African/ Balkan/ Baroque/ bluegrass influences, which ultimately resembles nothing I know” Joanna Newsom
"The acoustic guitar carries with it so much cultural baggage that it's refreshing to hear it almost anew ... these eight questing tracks radiate a kind of eloquent calm that recalls fellow guitar travellers such as James Blackshaw" The Observer
“Sparkling ornaments that recall Toumani Diabaté's kora … although Francesconi undeniably has great technique, he doesn't go in for grandstanding or flashy sprints … a beautiful album, carried off with poetic aplomb” The Wire
"Quite lovely...it has an appealingly contemplative air throughout, as if Francesconi can project an air of calm through his music even in the midst of fiendish technical complexity" John Mulvey, Uncut
"One of the great instrumental music releases of the year ... it even seems like it’s Francesconi, and not Joanna Newsom, who is the seminal creator of the warm academicism and melodic mutation in a narrative thread that we saw in albums like "Have One On Me" Playground
For the past 40 years Mike Cooper has been an international musical explorer, performing and recording, solo and in a number of inspired groupings and a variety of genres. Initially a folk-blues guitarist and singer songwriter his work has diversified to include improvised and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations. He is also a music journalist, writing features for magazines, particularly on Pacific music and musicians, a visual artist, film and video maker, collector of Hawaiian shirts and appears on more than 60 records to date.
"Cooper stands out as the man who truly made something of his own out of Country-Blues..." (The Guardian)
"...a quantum leap into Folk-Jazz..." (Trout Steel - Folk Roots)
"...featured in the pioneering New Musical Express Book Of Rock in the mid-70's...Mike Cooper may never have matched the commercial success of some of his contemporaries, but he can boast an impressive body of work that continues to grow." (David Wells - Paper and Smoke liner notes)
In the late 1970's he began to develop a parallel career and establish himself on the avant-garde and free-improvised music scene, working initially with members of the London Musicians Collective, such as Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, David Toop, Steve Beresford, Max Eastley, Paul Burwell, dancer Jo-Anna Pyne. and vocalist Viv Corringham. With saxophonist Lol Coxhill and drummer Roger Turner, they formed The Recedents, a free improvising trio now in its third decade.
In 1999 he started HIPSHOT to produce limited edition cdRs from his studio The Steelworks in Rome where he currently lives. The first release Kiribati was chosen as one of the best 'Outer Limits' cds of the year by the prestigious UK magazine The WIRE and Rayon Hula won an honorary mention at the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica for Digital Music.
"Cooper here explores the drone in a loose tribute to fellow Rome resident, the late Giacinto Scelsi. Armed with his trusty National Resophonic and a small electric fan, plus some very discreet signal processing here and there, Cooper's work is, as usual, utterly spellbinding. The metallic resonance of his instrument heightens the harmonic overtones, producing gleaming textures that recall massed hurdy-gurdies one moment and indian tamburas the next. Cooper was forging connections between folk and experimental musics long before America got New or Wierd delving particularly deep into Hawaiian slide guitar styles. Giacinto is one of his more aesthetically demanding documents, not offering the consolation of the beautiful songs that broke up the rigorous improv of his 2004 album Reluctant Swimmer/Virtual Surfer, but still sounding like the work of one man, one guitar and endless supplies of imagination and heart." (Keith Moline - The Wire on GIACINTO - Hipshot 017)
COSTA & NERO
Guitar/Bouziki duo featuring Chris Hladowski from The Family Elan.
