Welcome to myspace
Hi a few words from Cathy – I’m living in West Wales, by the sea & ancient Presceli Hills, & I love being here in this beautiful landscape - it is a daily inspiration.The picture of myself & Geoff was taken in the garden here, & the word ‘Mirage’ on the cover of the CD, was created by my friend Chris placing white quartz stones together, & then photographing them as the tide came in - he photographed all the pictures for the CD. He particularly loves the fantastic sunsets we get by the beach.We live by Carn Ingli, which means the ‘angel’s mountain’, where legend tells us that St. Brynach conversed with the angels in the sixth century. It is a very powerful place, full of ancient standing stones, cairns & stone circles, gorse & heather & fast-flowing streams…..
The estuary & sea attracts many local & migrating birds. Living here, we are all passionate about our local environment, & we have the now famous Brithdir Mawr Eco Village which is entirely run by wind & solar power & organically farmed – check out www.brithdirmawr.co.uk , & musiciansTony Wrench & Jane Faith’s long campaign to keep his ‘ Round House ’ on the land there –My friends Ravi & Rachel live in the largest timber framed strawbale house in the UK - for pictures of this beautiful building look at STRAW BALE BUILD PROJECT
Ravi plays the African Kora & performs around the world
His latest project here – ‘Neuneneu’ was with Brazilian Marlui Miranda & the indigenous Mehinaku tribe from the Amazon - Neuneneu means ‘humanity’ www.ravi-art.co.uk Their way of life will be destroyed if the destruction of the Amazon rainforests continues.In the year 2000 I established a community arts educational charity – ‘Sound of Life’ which focused on bringing cultural diversity into our rural area. Over the last 5 years I put on some fantastic artists, events & workshops & I’ve put some pictures up here - photography Miranda Walker.The last project I did was to bring the Cardiff Javanese Gamelan to our Newport venue, & organised various workshops for local communities & those with special needs.
From this event we created the ‘Woodland Orchestra’ inspired by the Gamelan instruments, & my very oldfriend the vocalist/community music teacher Maggie Nicols, continued the music workshops.
Her teaching work is dedicated to the memory of the late John Stevens.Maggie, Lindsay Cooper, myself & others, formed FIG – the Feminist Improvising Group - over 30 years ago, & Maggie is now living near me here, but sadly Lindsay is very ill with MS……….. Maggie now has created her own band ‘Dynamite Dream’ & we plan to do some gigs & workshops together in the near future.I have always been interested in Gamelan & it’s culture, & it was a truly wonderful experience to have the Cardiff Gamelan here for a week’s workshops. The performance with the dancer was amazing……….
although my favourite evening had to be the now world famous Purbayan Chatterjee – sitar - & Kumar Bose - tablas…..
& we had great fun afterwards at a late session in our local pub which does the ‘real thing’ curry!I especially love Indian music, & my musician friend Felix Padel & I, were privileged to attend the raga voice music workshops (Dhrupad) Summer School – organised by the Asian Music Circuit at S.O.A.S in 1998 – with teacher Dr. Ritwik Sanyal ( head of music at Benares University).
We then organised further workshops with Ritwik here in Wales. It was a truly holistic experience, & I believe this ancient raga tradition is one of the sources of the current ‘healing music’ & ‘healing sounds’ practices in the west. Felix & I then carried on with local teaching groups & raga influences are very much in my music & practice today.Also, very much part of my life is my beautiful ‘day book’ - ‘Buddhist Offerings 365 days’ with incredible photographs for each day by Danielle & Olivier Follmi. Every day there is a wise offering by different teachers, including the Dalai Lama - the one I am looking at now says ‘every individual in the world has a unique contribution’.The CD ‘Mirage’ was inspired by our many musical influences & this beautiful land/seascape. The historical ‘Meera’ was a devotee of Krishna in medieval Rajasthan, & eventually became a holy wandering woman & during her life time composed many beautiful songs of suffering, longing & resistance, & her tradition is kept alive today in Rajasthan. The fourth track, ‘Meera’ is also dedicated to Mother Meera, with love …………
If you would like to buy the full CD priced at £10 incl p&p– please click the album cover to email me your order.
Geoff & I are planning to continue to develop our music – more recording & performances. I am at present enjoying writing little ‘Haiku’s’ which I hope to set to music this year……’Thistle-down of feathersLie in the grassBecoming stars.’Many years ago, I worked in poetry & music with a wonderful poet, Libby Houston, & various other performance- art & visual artists. I plan to do so again here, with artist & performance artist Maura Hazleden - (who helped with our CD booklet picture of Geoff & I) & other visual artists.Some of my favourite musicians I have enjoyed playing with, wereLol Coxhill, Gerry Fitzgerald, Jack Monck, Colin McClure, Marcio Mattos, Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nicols , Georgie Born,John Stevens, Robin Musgrove, Chris Cutler, Charles Hayward,Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson, Henk Weltevreden, Liz Terry,Chloe Goodchild, Bongo Clive, Giles Petit, Felix Padel, Terry Mears, & many others - & last, but not least - of course, Geoff Leigh!Musical influences are very diverse & too many to mention here – so, I’ll just say thanks & love to Robert Wyatt & the rest of the cosmos & stars! Now, I mainly listen to indigenous world/folk/contemporary music & of course Indian Raga.As you may know – Geoff & I go back to the early ‘Henry Cow’ days, & later the bands ‘Radar Favourites’ & ‘Red Balune’.I wrote ‘Maximum Penalty’ & ‘Animus’ with the band ‘Red Balune’, This was recorded in Switzerland in 1979 with guests Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson & Marc Hollander. Animus has a great section of Gamelan inspired drumming from Robin Musgrove. Geoff was away when this was happening, but he later recorded his infamous solo EP there - ‘The Chemical Bank’ ( See Geoff's space ) on which I sang ‘back-up ‘ vocals………… (Both re-released in 2005 on the cd ‘MCCB – things from the past’ by Ad Hoc Records).
Hey – but this was over 20 years ago!Back to the NOW & just breathe……………………
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