Thursday 5 March 2026, 7.30pm
Sakina Abdou, one of the most exciting rising voices on the international improvised music scene, makes her first appearance at Cafe OTO, presenting her lead projects in the UK for the first time. A fearless and distinctive saxophonist, she has presented her solo work at major festivals across Europe and North America, including FIMAV, Torino Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Météo, Music Unlimited and Summer Bummer.
This first two-day residency at Cafe OTO marks a special moment, spotlighting a body of work she has developed over the last few years in close collaboration with the US label Relative Pitch Records.
Across the residency, Sakina Abdou will unfold several facets of her music: her solo project; the trio Abdou – Gouband – Warelis with Marta Warelis (piano) and Thomas Gouband (drums, stones, leaves); a specially extended solo set with Mariam Rezaei; and a duo with a special guest to be announced.
Moving freely between jazz, experimental, noise and improvised music, Abdou has recently released a duo album with Bill Nace. She is also an active member of the Lille-based collective Muzzix, a vibrant hub for creative and free music, through which she has collaborated with artists such as Satoko Fujii, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Raymond Boni and Ingrid Laubrock.
Bold, uncompromising and deeply personal, this residency is an invitation to dive into Sakina Abdou’s musical world. Two nights to catch an artist in motion, tracing where she’s been and pushing into what’s coming next.
MARCH 5:
The second night shifts towards expanded forms and encounters. An extended solo set with Mariam Rezaei explores friction, resonance, dialogue and depth, opening new perspectives on Abdou’s musical language, followed by a trio with Elaine Mitchener and Neil Charles, bringing together singular voices from London’s adventurous music scene.
Mariam Rezaei is a multi-award-winning composer, turntablist and performer working across experimental new music, free improvisation, mutant club music and hip-hop. Described by The Wire as “one of the most technically adept and creatively daring artists to use the turntable as a musical instrument,” Rezaei uses a digital vinyl system, allowing her to manipulate an expansive range of samples in real time using classic turntablist skills and her own innovative techniques.
The Anglo-Iranian virtuoso’s latest solo release FRACTURED (Heat Crimes) has been praised by The Wire, Uncut and Bandcamp Daily, and was one of The Quietus’ cassette releases of 2024. Rezaei is a member of the international free music supergroup The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, the pioneering Turntable Trio with Evicshen and Maria Chávez, 1984 with Kobe Van Cauwenberghe and Sakina Abdou, and Fire! Orchestra.
Her co-composition with Matthew Shlomowitz, 6 Scenes for Turntable and Orchestra, was premiered at IMD Darmstadt 2023, while in October 2025, she premiered Scholar’s Record, a major commission for the 75th Donaueschinger Musiktage that draws on the legendary festival’s audio archives. Other recent projects include a collaboration with Ensemble Contrechamps and upcoming commissions from Ensemble Intercontemporain and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
Other collaborators include Pat Thomas, Bill Orcutt, Jennifer Walshe, Edward George, Farida Amadou, Mats Gustafsson, Valentina Magaletti, Robyn Rocket, Thurston Moore, Lasse Marhaug, Evicshen, Fritz Welch, Raymond MacDonald, Lukas König, Okkyung Lee, Dali de St Paul, Kenosist and Ali Robertson.
Elaine Mitchener is a veteran of vocal expression in the global Black Avant Garde, traversing free improvisation, cross-disciplinary music theatre and contemporary composition with clarity and joy.
Her debut album SOLO THROAT released in May 2024 under Café Oto’s OTOROKU label has been described as “An uncompromisingly imaginative approach to text that does credit to the power of the human voice, as well as the mind that pushes it on to previously unheard paths.” (Jazzwise)
Experimental musicians and improvisers she has worked with include Moor Mother, Joelle Leandre, Hamid Drake, William Parker, Pat Thomas, Black Top, David Toop, Xhosa Cole. Elaine is founder of the collective electroacoustic unit The Rolling Calf. Composers, visual artists and poets she has worked with include: George E Lewis, Jennifer Walshe, Matana Roberts; visual artists The Otolith Group, Christian Marclay, Sonia Boyce; Jay Bernard, Roy Claire Potter, Dante Micheaux; chamber ensembles Apartment House, ICE, Ensemble MAM, Klangforum Wien, Van Huynh Co.
Neil Charles is one of the most in-demand musicians on the scene, with a huge array of credits to his name, including Jack DeJohnette, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Mingus Big Band, Jose James, Jerry Dammers, Courtney Pine, and Terence Blanchard. His own projects have included Zed U, with Shabaka Hutchings and Tom Skinner, and the more recent ensemble Dark Days, dealing with the work of James Baldwin. Most recently, he has been heard across the international scene with Gabriels. As well as being known as a bass player with a huge sound and immaculate sense of time, he is equally renowned as a producer, going by the alias Ben Marc.
"Bassist Neil Charles went flying, from the first moment filling the space with the sound of his mighty wings Henning Bolte," – Europe Jazz Media Chart
