Bongosan
...is a made-up name i have been playing under for the last five years or so...
With my club set up consisting of congas, bongos, african drums and cowbells, I divide my time between live projects and club gigs. This makes for a varied life as the people I get to play with represent a broad sweep of the musical spectrum- from house, electro and breaks to electronica and drum and bass, dub, dancehall and dubstep to reggaeton, samba and salsa... I am also a trained music facilitator and run community drum circle sessions...
.. Breaking News from Our Man in Bongostan:
...... the Koolwaters Live project continues with a monthly residency at lush London venue the Whitehouse in Clapham. So far all these nights have been absolute smashers, with Marc Vedo at the helm ably supported by myself and Sam on sax... we are also pleased to welcome virtuoso flautist Helen Jenner to the family; anyone in the South London area should really try and check these nights out, see above for dates....
...... new live project Kundama has hit the ground running with a slew of bristol dates... very pleased to announce the involvement of two female vocalists to our stirpped-down 3-piece sound, recordings to follow... more info including some rough early recordings on the myspace page, click the link in my 'top friends'...
........ more club gigs in the offing along with my erstwhile sax-blowing companion Sam Shotoka at LOCO, the upbeat house night from Jose Matador over in Bath.....
........ and another band I'll be getting involved with this year is the excellent Dr Meaker, all set to rock the nation with their upbeat brand of live drum and bass. I had my first gig with them, randomly supporting the Sugar Hill Gang at Birmingham's Custard Factory, in November '08, and have recently been in the studio with the good Doctor himself, so expect to hear some fatty drumbothering jungle breaks from me in the not-too-distant future.....
Current Club Residencies:
Ruffnek Diskotek, mixing all kinds of bass-driven dub-inflected styles from jungle breaks to dubstep, this monthly bash from Dub Boy, Brother Wetlands and Atki2 has one of the best party vibes around and has recently played to host to DJ Rupture, RSD aka Rob Smith and the dubstep innovator Pinch...
Ruffnek was recently voted Bristol's best club night by a poll in Venue Magazine and Dub Boy picked up the gong for Dj of the Year...nice one boys!
Groove On! This mid-week slab of electro silliness is brought to you by Tom Bacon and others in the Just Jack stable, and has been quietly packing them in at the Dojo on wednesday nights during student term-time for over three years now; regular guests include Deepgroove's Lee Pattison and excellent Freejive resident Jambo...
Koolwaters Live Sessions, a live project put together by Marc Vedo and the team at Koolwaters, featuring vocalist Anna Lease - video below...
Galvanize, a charity event held quarterly at Timbuk2 in aid of the Free West Papua campaign, Galvanize is a bass-heavy Bristol soundclash with a heart of gold. This night traditionally boasts a strong line-up, with the likes of RSD, 2 King's Andy 'Dubmaster' Scholes and Dr Meaker himself all making regular appearances...
Present and prior collaborators include: (no particular order):
Rob Smith aka RSD (Smith and Mighty, Dub Related), Greg Dread,
MC Spee and Earl 16 (Dreadzone Soundsystem, Leftfield), Mike Nice (Arcade, T4), Capoeira Twins (Hope Recordings), Jambo, Jay L and Louis Mackenzie
(Freejive), Deepgroove (Kling Klang Recordings, Play), Moonmonkey (Vibrations, Galvanize), Kundama, Marc Vedo (koolwaters), Mungo's Hi-Fi (Scotch Bonnet), Dan Wild, Tom Bacon and Sam Wicks (Just Jack/Zoo/Groove On!), Audiowhores (Tempogroove, Knee Deep), Jose Matador (LOCO), Indy 500 (Secret Sanchez), Rob Worth, Dave Kirik, Greg Shaw, Renny C, Jay Russell and Olivia Zabell (Drama, Dirty Blue, Summer Summons), Dubrovnik Soundclash (Dubrovnik), Brother Wetlands, Dub Boy and Atki2 (Duchess, Ruffnek Diskotek), Forsaken (Punch Drunk, Soul Motive), Bella Beatz (Summer Summons, Pascha London), DJ Die (Full Cycle), El Dj and Nigel 'La Tempesta' May (Salsamania, Mas y Mas, Barrio Latino),
Scott Giles (Pukka Up, Pascha London), Crystal Death (B.E.A.R. Collective), Hannu Haito and Paul Conroy (Kiss FM, T4), CN Williams (Escape, Reel House), Andy Childs (Elevator Suite), Stuart Wilkinson (Empathy), Dj Aleksei (Religion, Chemical Records), Plimsouls
Sambacana gig at Brighton Samba Encontro '04:
Just a short memento of a nice gig that happened a long time ago.... this cuts out just as it's getting going but hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway...
(That's me in the hat, back row on the left!)
Drum Circle Facilitation
Rhythm is a universal language and for thousands of years different cultures worldwide have turned to the awesome power of the drum to bring people together, building stronger communities through music and dancing.
The beauty of percussion is that it is so accessible- a musical novice can pick up any number of percussion instruments with very little direction, and can be up and playing with others in no time at all.
For this reason, drum circles are popular among educational establishments, community groups and businesses, where they can be used to strengthen interpersonal relationships within teams, and also promote wellbeing and self-esteem in a creative, engaging way. Playing music together is something we can all do, and in fact is one of the healthiest things we can do for our state of mind.
I started facilitating drum circles in 2004 and take immense pleasure in helping others to have the experience of playing music together on the fly, in schools, community events and corporate seminars. It really feels like the best job in the world. In 2008 I did my first solo work with a group of children with severe learning difficulties through the Bristol Kids project in Kingswood, and also with a group of adults affected by mental illness through national charity Rethink. I also had a great day at the Not-So-Supermarket, Start the Bus's monthly local art and fashion antimarket (see pics below), co-facilitated a drum circle of 300 doctors at an NHS conference at Dartington Hall, with Simon Carver of HumDrumStrum, and with my excellent friend and co-facilitator Laurie mangaged to get our drum circle featured on tv news coverage of the Bristol festival.