65: Fifty Years in Show Business!
As we were rehearsing Uncharted Crossings in December, the climax of the Grand Union Orchestra’s autumn programme, it suddenly struck me that it was exactly fifty years since I had … Continue reading
64: Can’t Chain Up Me Mind
Can’t Chain Up Me Mind was written exactly 30 years ago for Freedom Calls, which was recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and became the Grand Union Orchestra’s first … Continue reading
63: Uncharted Crossings
Earlier in the year, I learnt that this autumn our local Museum was to curate an exhibition called Black British Music in Hackney. It immediately occurred to me that it … Continue reading
62: What the River Brings
In Lisbon a couple of weeks ago with my daughter, we enacted a favourite ritual – take a ferry from the Cais do Sodre across the river to Cacilhas and … Continue reading
61: Mirage – welcome to 2018!
Just coming to the end of a very welcome and much needed month’s break in Australia, I was looking for a piece to accompany greetings and set the tone for the year ahead. As … Continue reading
60: Twelve Days of Christmas – a MixTape!
My sixtieth blog post – a milestone worth celebrating! Mix tapes are back in fashion, so why not a collection of favourite pieces I’ve written for the Grand Union Orchestra … Continue reading
59: Activism Unleashed
In many ways, this piece lies at the heart of Song of Contagion, and captures its essence, for several different reasons – although it’s not really typical of the show … Continue reading
58: What a Result!
No, I don’t mean the UK general election (although strangely that may have helped!), but the performances of Song of Contagion at Wilton’s Music Hall. By common consent, this was probably … Continue reading
57: An Alliance of Music and Science
For the next three months, leading up to the première performances of Song of Contagion at Wilton’s Music Hall (June 13th to 17th), the form of this blog will change. … Continue reading
56: If Music Could…
Looking for some music to set a positive tone for 2017 to go with New Year greetings, I remembered this from the Grand Union Orchesta repertoire – wistful maybe, but … Continue reading
55: In Memoriam Alan Dossor
These days I open the review pages of The Guardian with some apprehension: they are usually immediately opposite the obituary page. On Friday August 12th I was surprised and saddened … Continue reading
54: The Battle of Cable Street
Earlier this month, Grand Union commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street (which I wrote about in my previous post 53: Silence is Consent) with two quite … Continue reading
53: Silence is Consent
On October 4th 1936, Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists (known as the Blackshirts) attempted to march through the streets of East London, threatening the local, long-established Jewish … Continue reading
52: After Brexit
I’m writing this in Marseille, in the aftermath of Britain’s devastating vote to leave the European Union. How are we to respond to this as musicians, and what can we … Continue reading
