Festival Fukushima! - Flags Across Borders, three days of benefit concerts to support the work of Otomo Yoshihide and friends in the tsunami and nuclear fallout-afflicted Japanese prefecture of Fukushima.

This first night features all new assemblages headed up by a trio of composer/improviser David Toop with saxophonist Seymour Wright and percussionist Steve Noble.

We don't really know exactly what to expect from this trio which is precisely what makes it interesting and why you should come and see it. But this doesn't mean we are free of expectations; after all, we are familiar with the histories and inclinations of all the individuals involved: Toop's ludic eclecticism, Wright's cussed experimentalism and Noble's fractured temporalities. We are also aware that this is not what could be called a 'natural combination' and is perhaps unlikely to flow smoothly. But most of all, we are looking forward to finding out what happens when they start playing, what happens after that, and how they bring what ever happens to some sort of conclusion.

The night will also feature performances from Rie Nakajima, Rebecca Ribichini and a new quartet drawn from OTO staff including Daichi Yoshikawa, James Dunn, Roberto Mozzachiodi and John Chantler.

DAVID TOOP / various instruments

David Toop is a musician/composer (guitar, flutes, laptop), writer, and curator. David has worked with musicians including Brian Eno, John Zorn, Prince Far I, Jon Hassell, Derek Bailey, Talvin Singh, Evan Parker, Scanner, Ivor Cutler, Akio Suzuki and Jin Hi Kim.

Toop has also published five books including Ocean of Sound, Rap Attack, Haunted Weather and Sinister Resonance. Exhibitions he has curated include Sonic Boom for the Hayward Gallery, and Playing John Cage for Arnolfini Bristol. His first album, New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments, was released on Brian Eno's Obscure label in 1975; since 1995 he has released eight solo albums, including Black Chamber and Sound Body. As a critic he has written for many publications, including The Wire, The Face and Leonardo Music Journal. His sound works have been shown in Beijing, Tokyo and the National Gallery, London.

SEYMOUR WRIGHT / saxophones

“Saxophonist Seymour Wright has emerged as the most important saxophonist of his generation. . . [He] shows a command of the saxophone which in contrast to most ‘non-idiomatic’ playing – cynically translated as ‘make your saxophone sound like anything other than a saxophone’ – has deep roots in a tradition of playing that goes back to Frankie Trumbauer, Coleman Hawkins and Willie Smith.” - Brian Morton

Seymour Wright website

STEVE NOBLE / Drums

Steve Noble is London's leading drummer, a fearless and constantly inventive improviser whose super-precise, ultra-propulsive and hyper-detailed playing has galvanized encounters with Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen O'Malley, Joe McPhee, Alex Ward, Rhodri Davies and many, many more.

In the early eighties, Noble played with the Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde, Rip Rig and Panic, Brion Gysin and the Bow Gamelan Ensemble, before going on to work with the pianist Alex Maguire and with Derek Bailey (including Company Weeks 1987, 89 and 90). He was featured in the Bailey's excellent TV series on Improvisation for Channel 4 based on his book ‘Improvisation; its nature and practise’. He has toured and performed throughout Europe, Africa and America and currently leads the groups N.E.W (with John Edwards and Alex Ward) and DECOY (with John Edwards and Alexander Hawkins).



DAICHI YOSHIKAWA / objects, electronics

Daichi Yoshikawa is one of the most interesting young improvising musician currently based in London. Using a variety of inverted, diverted and reinvented electronic and acoustic devices he strikes a constantly evolving balance between harsh atonal feedback and elegant high-frequency constructions.

JAMES DUNN / drums, synthesizer

James Dunn is one half of London's free-rock mainstays Temperatures and regularly performs on Tinnitus Analyser and Circuit-bent electronics in various improvised groupings as well as making sound and music for theatre.

ROBERTO MOZZACHIODI / electronics

Using a set-up of lo-fi electronics and feedback circuits Mozzachiodi is capable of conjuring both dense waves of immersive noise and more elusive scraps of electronic filigree.

JOHN CHANTLER / synthesizer

John Chantler creates 'automatic' music with a small portable synthesizer set-up. His most recent solo record ‘The Luminous Ground‘ was #37 in The Wire Magazine’s top records of 2011.

“Hearing this music for the first time has a similar impact to the first exposure to Oval’s Systemisch from 1994, or the early Sähkö recordings like Ø’s Metri, in that it has a beauty partly derived from having travelled beyond the reach of human influence” Rob Young, The WIRE (on 'The Luminous Ground')

RIE NAKAJIMA

Rie Nakajima is an artist, from Yokohama, who lives and works in London. Her activities are mainly concerned with creating sound-based installations and performances. In both fields, her work develops from observing physical responses to the context of spaces/places by using sound and visuals. For materials she combines found objects, toy instruments, kinetic devices, and audio equipment.

Rie Nakajima website

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Project Fukushima website