Half The World is an occasional performance series, or sometimes a one-off show, by artists from around the world, staged at The Pizza On The Park on Knightsbridge, in association with fRoots magazine .
With a capacity of just 100, an intimate, elegantly comfortable atmosphere, excellent sound and lights, and good food at affordable prices, this is the ideal venue at which to see first class world music artists up close.
"This is far and away the best small venue in London right now" - Charlie Gillett (BBC Radio 3 & BBC World Service)You can book without any obligation to eat, but most people do dine - it makes for a pleasant evening out to combine food and music, and means you don't have to rush a meal before it. Service is sensitive, quiet and unobtrusive, so eating doesn't distract from the performance. The first set normally begins at 9pm, but the doors to the venue (downstairs from the street-level Pizza on the Park restaurant) open at 7.30pm and most people arrive around 7.30-8.00 so they can begin their meal before the show.
The Pizza on the Park is very close to Hyde Park Corner tube station (take exit 4) and there are plenty of free parking spaces nearby in the evening.
When we're not using it for a Half the World show, the Pizza on the Park venue is now also available for hire, for showcase gigs and other suitable performances and events. For details and rates contact Jamie Orchard-Lisle by sending a MySpace message to Half the World.
On Sunday 22nd June we had
BLUE BLOKES 3
Some wonky string band twanging and banging on old time nomadicised English country blues and death folk.
Blue Blokes 3 are:
Ian Anderson (English Country Blues Band, Hot Vultures, Tiger Moth and more) on vocals, guitar and slide guitar,
Lu Edmonds (Mekons, Billy Bragg's Blokes, 3 Mustaphas 3, Shriekback, PiL, The Damned and more) on vocals, cumbus, saz and guitar,
and Ben Mandelson (Billy B's Blokes, 3 Mustaphas 3, Tiger Moth and more) on vocals, mandolin, baritone bouzouki, banjo, tenor guitar and electric guitar.
Plus: MBIRA QUEENS
Mbira magic from the new trio featuring Zuzana Novak with Manuel 'Magic Thumbs' Jimenez and David William Ashton McKenny.
In January we had (see the Blog for reviews)
Thursday 24th January 2008
Kries
Led by the husky vocals of the charismatic Mojmir Novakovic, with a new expanded line-up featuring gutty skin-headed drums, goatskin bagpipes, Dalmatian bowed lijerica, electric guitar, bass and drumkit, Kries draws on the strong forms of Croatian village music to make a powerful new dance-impelling music that's spearheading musical change in Croatia.
This, the London launch of their new album Kocijani, is the band's only appearance in England on a brief UK trip that also includes a show at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival the previous night.
"...I doubt you'll have heard such things deployed with such a degree of gritty urgency. This music would seem equally relevant to the village wedding or the urban mega-rave." - The Telegraph
In May 2007 we had:
Tuesday May 29th:
Debashish & Subhasis Bhattacharya
Kolkata’s Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, bridging raga’s past and future, is a master of breathtaking speed, dexterity and creativity on the sympathetic-stringed, hollow-necked slide guitars of his own invention. Accompanied, as in this Half the World show, by the brilliant tabla of his brother Subhasis, he drew excited crowds at Womad last year, and is the winner of the Asia/Pacific category in this year's BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music .
Stop press: The Bhattacharyas' half-hour set at the World Music Award Winners' concert at the Barbican on May 27th was one of the hits of the evening. This Half the World performance on the 29th will be their only full-length UK show on this trip, before they fly back to India on Wednesday.
The whole World Music Award-winners' show is available on demand, in streaming audio and video, via BBC online here .
“He uses a unique three-finger picking technique that gives him lightning speed and creates hypnotic flurries of notes that it would take a battery of special effects to produce from a western guitar. The results are as beautiful as they are extraordinary.†– The Times
“The music has a perfect balance of poetry and virtuosity†– Evening Standard
“Building to passages of stunningly sinuous artistry, this music is imbued at every turn with that disconcerting proximity of the spiritual and the sensual that is so central to Indian culture.†– Daily Telegraph
In April 2007 we had::
Monday 2nd April Natacha Atlas
A glorious singer, well-known for combining the beauty and energy of middle eastern music with pop, Atlas, who is nominated this year for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music, has lately been blazing new trails with her acoustic and electric bands. This special intimate show, following on from her two stunning sold-out performances in the August ’06 Half the World season, is a sneak preview of the latest developments.
"Dazzling slices of international pop, twenty first century style" - The Observer
"Bewitching in any language" - Uncut
"Positively groundbreaking" - Daily Telegraph
"The queen of new north African cool" - The Guardian
"Natacha Atlas seamlessly melds authentic Indo-Arabic musical forms with a mélange of North African and contemporary Western musical influences including R&B, dancehall and electronic" - Billboard
"She is the face of tomorrow’s culture: not of any geographical lineage, but an infusion of cultures in one dynamic body." - Global Rhythm
"Natacha Atlas' voice ... fragile, sensual, mysterious - remains her output's constant strength" - Time Out New York
"Atlas boasts one of Earth’s most affecting voices" - Chicago New City
Tuesday 3rd April:
Eliza Carthy & the Ratcatchers
The queen of today’s English roots music on the home and world stage, winner of a slew of awards including two Mercury nominations, with her magnificent band which includes fellow scene-leaders Jon Boden and John Spiers.
"...extraordinary singer and bandleader. Already Carthy has become a figurehead of contemporary English folk - and there's a whole wave of twentysomething players following in her footsteps." "Eliza has become one of the clearest, most assertive voices in promoting, defining and defending the English song tradition."- The Guardian
"An international star of English Folk in the 21st century" - The Times"Compelling music" - Evening Standard
"Seriously impressive" - The Telegraph
"A gloriously natural singer" - Q
"Their magnificent set enhanced by sparkling sound, I found myself more excited by an English roots music gig than I can remember being for many years, and in this world-music context their strength was all the more evident." - fRoots
In our second season from 8th to 13th February 2007 we had:
Thurs 8th February: Jaune Toujours
The pulse of today’s multicultural Brussels, show-stealers in the last Half the World season, a wild mix of accordion, brass and Piet Maris’s gruff vocals.
(A track from their new live album Club is on the fRoots 28 CD that came with the Jan/Feb double issue of fRoots).
"The lineup is dominated by that most Belgian of instruments, the accordion, along with an impressive brass section, while the songs manage to switch constantly between moody European balladry, frantic Gypsy jazz, slinky riffs, fairground music, and echoes of reggae and ska. Surely destined to become one of the great European party bands." - Robin Denselow, The Guardian, Jan 19th.
"The combination of trumpets, saxophone and Piet Maris's high-spirited accordion generates irresistible joie de vivre." - Clive Davis, Sunday Times, Jan 21st.
Fri 9th February: Liu Fang
World-leading virtuoso of the pipa (4-stringed teardrop-shaped lute) and gucheng (long zither), from Yunnan, China. Acclaimed at Womad 2005, she's a performer of extraordinary intensity of focus.
(This show was recorded by BBC Radio 3's "World Routes" programme, for broadcast on March 10th).
Sat 10th February:
Andrew Cronshaw And…
Meetings with remarkable musicians: zitherist multi-instrumentalist Cronshaw plays with Armenian duduk master Tigran Aleksanyan, Iraqi oud virtuoso Attab Haddad, Syrian ney master Louai Alhenawi, cello ace Jenny Adejayan, exceptional mbira player/singer Zuzana Novak, and a special guest vocalist...
(Hear a track from Cronshaw and Aleksanyan, and one by Novak too, on the fRoots 28 CD).
UPDATE: Half an hour of this February 10th Half the World show by Andrew Cronshaw And... (comprising Andrew Cronshaw, Tigran Aleksanyan, Jenny Adejayan, Louai Alhenawi, Attab Haddad, Zuzana Novak and guest Natacha Atlas) is now online in fRoots Radio's April 07 edition, presented by fRoots editor Ian Anderson. Click here to listen .
Sun 11th February: Thierry 'Titi' Robin
Generating a big buzz at Womad 2006, oud, guitar and bouzouki doyen Titi has deep experience of playing Middle Eastern, Breton, Indian, flamenco, Rajasthani and European Roma musics, and with his trio he creates his own distinctive tradition.
"...an appreciation that keeps on growing stronger. Titi is playing in London at the Pizza on the Park on Feb 11 and 13 as part of the strongly recommended Festival promoted by Half the World." - Charlie Gillett, BBC World Service, Feb 3rd
Mon 12th February: Ellika & Solo
Boundary-crossing winners of BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music. The vocals and kora of Casamance griot Solo Cissokho intertwine with Ellika Frisell’s masterly Swedish polska fiddling.
(This show was recorded by BBC Radio 3's "World Routes" programme for broadcast on March 10th).
Tues 13th February: Thierry 'Titi' Robin
See Sun 11th.
In our first season from 11th to 19th August 2006 we had:
Fri 11th August: from Senegal in West Africa, songwriter/ guitarist Daby Balde with his band.
Sat 12th August: from Syria, qanun master Abdullah Chhadeh with his band Nara.
Sun 13th August: from Brussels, Belgium, multicultural rootsters Jaune Toujours plus their North African project Arabanda .
Mon 14th & Tues 15th August: from Marseille, France, the UK debut of Moussu T e lei Jovents , recently championed by Andy Kershaw and fRoots. Read the fRoots feature on Moussu T e lei Jovents here
Weds 16th August: Sephardic songs meet flamenco, tango and gypsy rhythms with Los Desterrados .
Thurs 17th August: English multi-instrumentalist Andrew Cronshaw with Armenia's Tigran Aleksanyan on duduk. Read the fRoots feature on Andrew Cronshaw here
Fri 18th & Sat 19th August: Two nights of Natacha Atlas .