From small performances and workshops to full-scale pop or classical concerts, we in conjunction with our Arts unit bring UK music to Armenia, challenging outdated perceptions of the UK and making new collaborations and partnerships. Read on for a selection of our current and recent projects.
" ...a songwriter of rare power... her penetration, understated brilliance with words and melody..."
About Karine Polwart & her band
Karine Polwart - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Marc Clement - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Kevin McGuire - double bass, backing vocals
Matthew Foulds - drums / percussion
Inge Thomson - accordion, backing vocals
Karine Polwart first picked up a guitar before she reached double figures. It may have taken another 20 years before she became a professional musician, but a long and varied apprenticeship has allowed her to develop her own style, and at her own pace.
“In the musical style I’ve been associated with until now I’ve achieved things that have taken others many years. I think it’s been a combination of luck and grabbing opportunities. But I’m interested in all aspects of music and I get frustrated with people who want to pigeon hole me.”
Despite an increasingly busy touring and recording diary, Karine still works as a music tutor in community projects across Scotland.
“I think it’s important that young people hear music from all genres. They may be force fed Pop Idol and the like at the moment, but we don’t give them enough credit. They’re more highly politicized than we think. At one of my last songwriting sessions, I asked a group of teenagers what they wanted to write a song about and they chose Iraq. They know what’s going on.”
“Faultlines has given me an opportunity to explore things I really care about but encompassing all the styles of music that I love.”
Awards:
BBC Radio 2 Fold Awards -14 February 2005.
Horizon Award for Best Emerging Artist, Best Original Song for "The Sun's Comin Over the Hill" and Best Album for "Faultlines”
Rapper, Composer, Music Arranger, Lyricist
The concert took place in Yerevan in July 2004.
Soweto Kinch was born in London in 1978 to a Barbadian father and British-Jamaican mother and he is one of the most exciting and versatile young musicians to hit the British jazz scene in recent years. He is proclaimed as British Jazz's great hope.
Awards:
Peter Whittingham Award 2004 > Innovative Jazz Project
An Album Of The Year 2003 > Mercury Music Prize
Best Jazz Act 2003 > MOBO Awards
BBC Radio Jazz Awards > Rising Star 2002
"Fresh sound, aggressive virtuosity and raw, bluesy energy mark him out as an outstanding player"
Jazzwise Magazine
"Simply explosive. Promoters, media and audiences are suggesting him as a major new star"
Jazz Review Magazine
We presented a well-known British trombonist Dennis Rollins and his Bad Bone &Co jazz band.
Dennis Rollins
Trombone Player, Composer, Arranger, Producer
"the most exciting British trombonist for decades…" Jazzwise
"...a trombone player who combines seamlessly fluid improvising with a sumptuous sound." The Guardian
"...one of the most entertaining and inviting new funk combos currently burning up the UK scene" The Jazz Cafe, Camden
"Dennis Rollins plays the sexiest trombone in town." Paul Bradshaw, Straight No Chaser
Dennis' reputation as an artist of excellence who is comfortable performing many genres of music has resulted in his working with some of this country's and, indeed, the world's top jazz and pop personalities. Consequently, Dennis has toured the world extensively. Though appreciated for his distinctive approach to the trombone, Dennis' style has often been compared to that of the great Fred Wesley.
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