Events - Live

Music Showcase featuring Sulk Station and Ayanna Witter-Johnson

13 Sep 2012

9pm - 11pm

Free

Cafe Bar Contemporary

Sulk Station
9pm

Sulk Station is made up of Bangalore duo Tanvi Rao and Rahul Giri. Their ambient triphop/dubstep softly pulses an experimental beat pattern, layering the ethereal vocals of Rao on top to create a mystical genre that fuses classical Indian melodies with contemporary electronic music. With jazzy notes intrinsic to groups like Portishead, and the contrasting rhythms of acts like Four Tet, their unprecedented soundscapes illustrate a picture of modern day Indian musicianship as influenced by Western artists, but with a distinct flavour native to their homeland.

Sulk Station will be performing their recently released debut album, ‘Till You Appear’, a work which has garnered international praise. Credited with being unique in their hypnotic sound, media stations across India, including MTV Desi, are hailing this group as the next big thing to come out the country. Using a multitude of computers, sound equipment and instruments, the looped beats and uplifting bass engulf the listener in a body moving groove whilst Rao’s enchanting vocals wrap round the mind for an all encompassing experience. Minimalist yet complex in its affect, the atmospheres present in the work are an aural delight.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson
10pm

Ayanna Witter-Johnson is the exemplary British cellist, composer and singer performing at the WEYA launch event. Noted for her gift, she won scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music where she completed a master degree in Classical Composition. Whilst in New York, she composed for The Actors Company Theatre and was awarded an Artist in Residence at the International House. She was selected to participate in a master class with German composer Matthias Pintscher and stole 1st prize at Harlem’s Amateur Night Live at the Apollo.

At the Trinity College of Music London, she gained first class honours in Classical Composition, and was awarded the Trinity Silver Award for achievement. Internationally acclaimed composer Nitin Sawhney chose Ayanna to partake in his Aftershock project at the Southbank Centre. She was one of the first ‘Emerging Artists in Residence’ there between 2007 and 2009, leaving to tour the UK as part of the Jazz Warriors Afropeans, a band formed by legendary British saxophonist Courtney Pine CBE. She has played with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra, been part of London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and has worked on a number of prestigious projects only further announcing this young woman as a bastion for female musicians in the UK. Her technique is intricate and profound. Tapping complex rhythms on the body of her cello as she plucks with her left hand, she weaves a myriad of cross-cultural patterns, taking influence from a broad spectrum of music. Singing in classical-come-jazz vocals, her tone sits in perfect opposition to the deep bass of the cello for an unbelievably beautiful performance.