Wednesday 9 September 2026, 7.30pm
Yumi Hara’s Groove Study are avant-rock trio consisting of ex-Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler; London-based Japanese composer/pianist/vocalist Yumi Hara, the driving force of Lindsay Cooper Songbook, who has been collaborating extensively
with Canterbury/Rock in Opposition/Krautrock/contemporary classical music such as Hugh Hopper of Soft Machine, Daevid Allen of Gong, Jean-Hervé Péron of faUSt, Tim Hodgkinson, John Greaves, Geoff Leigh, Dagmar Krause of Henry Cow, and
PianoCircus; and ex-MELT-BANANA and collaborator of Jim O'Rourke and Eiko Ishibashi (also appeared her score for the film Drive My Car) bassist Toshiaki Sudoh, performing music with complex rhythm and harmony, yet accessible with memorable melodies, fusing ever-changing odd metres and world rhythms (expect Gamelan in 6, reggae in 7, West-African polyrhythms in 10, Baroque fugue in 15), medieval modes and Japanese scales which would appeal fans of Canterbury Scene, Rock in Opposition, Avant-Prog and Recommended Records: ‘incisive’, ‘fizzes with invention and inspiration’, ‘distils so many of the musical ideas’, ‘nothing short of majestic’ (Sid Smith, PROG magazine).
Yumi Hara studied the piano from 3 years old but stopped at the age of 12 when she felt the classical material she was practising was boring compared to British rock she found then. She subsequently studied North Indian music and dance, and went on to study medicine and became psychiatrist, but at the age of 33, she decided to go back to music and settled in London. She studied West African percussion, Korean percussion, North Indian vocal music, Javanese Gamelan at SOAS as occasional student, then continued to study 20th Century piano music, ethnomusicology, instrumental and electroacoustic composition and recording at City University and gained BMus and PhD. She performed as a member of Frank Chickens, run a concert series Bonobo’s Ark, did some drum’n’bass production and DJ, and her compositions have been performed by contemporary classical ensembles such as PianoCircus and the BBC Singers, but she has become increasingly well-known as an improvisor and performer in the avant-rock, Canterbury and RIO scene since she performed with David Cross (ex-violinist of King Crimson), and released a CD album DUNE with Hugh Hopper (ex-Soft Machine bassist) as HUMI in 2008. Since then, she has been collaborating with ex-Henry Cow musicians Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Geoff Leigh, John Greaves and Dagmar Krause, faUSt musicians Jean-Herve Peron and Zappi, ex-GONG Daevid Allen as The Artaud Beats, THE WATTS, Half the Sky/Lindsay Cooper Songbook, you me & us, and Jump for Joy! She has also performed and/or collaborated with Tatsuya Yoshida, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, David Jackson, Guy Evans, Asaf Sirkis, Charles Hayward, Fred Frith, Akira Sakata, Chloe Herington, Pierre Chevalier, Guy Harries, David Toop and Kiku Day, among others.
Chris Cutler (drums) is a renowned drummer whose activities encompasses from rock to contemporary art music, composition to improvisation, tonal song form to found sound. At the start of the seventies, he co-founded The Ottawa Music Company before joining British experimental group Henry Cow, with whom he toured, recorded and worked for the next eight years. Subsequently he co-founded a series of mixed national groups such as Art Bears and Cassiber. He is a permanent member of The Artaud Beats (with Yumi Hara Cawkwell, Geoff Leigh, John Greaves) and Half the Sky/Lindsay Cooper Songbook. He also founded and runs the independent label ReR Megacorp www.rermegacorp.com and is author of the theoretical collection File Under Popular as well as of numerous articles and papers published in 16 languages.
Toshiaki Sudoh is a Japanese musician, bassist, drummer, engineer. He began his career in the 90's as the original drummer of MELT-BANANA, and later became the drummer of MACHINE AND THE SYNERGETIC NUTS, while also working as a bassist in several bands and sessions. He has also played bass in the works of Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi (also her soundtrack for Drive My Car), and others. https://pseudodimension.com/profile/
