Soundscapes

This image is taken from the opening of the Cornerhouse Cinema and Contemporary Arts Centre, Manchester in 1985. Chris and Inner Sense Percussion were given their own gallery space to fill with scaffolding, junk percussion, drums and electronica. They played continuously for three days.

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In 2004, with friend and poet Linda Chase, Chris founded ‘Poets and Players’ – a bimonthly event curated by them, which showcased new writers alongside established poets and musicians at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

Here’s a video of musician and composer Matthew Halsall and the newly formed Gondwana Orchestra. 

These are some of the more recent projects which Chris has composed and recorded music for:

  • Yoga Manchester’s video presentations and demonstrations which capture the art and spirituality of this ancient practice
  • Creative Indian Dance promo video for Sangeeta Ghosh Yesley
  • The Empowering Jewellery Collection – a project to support and empower Tanzanian women to develop skills and confidence whilst creating exquisite jewellery
  • Instruments used – tabla, udu, surdo, djembe, bells, guitar, drones, bamboo flute, voice, saxophone, xylophones, sequencing and computer programming
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Performing with Matthew Halsall at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

    • Recorded music for two BBC Radio 4 plays – ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ and ‘Hamlet’ using bamboo flute and percussion
    • Played live music at the opening of Cameron Scott’s art exhibition at the Portico Gallery, Manchester
    • Played live music at the opening of ‘Syria, Reaching Out to Children and Parents of War’ at Z-Arts Manchester
    • Recorded and composed music for “Celestial sound cloud” with Pif-Paf Theatre for the Kendal Calling Festival 2016.

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      An exhibition at Z – Arts about the effects of war on children in Syria.

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      With harpist Rachael Gladwin.

          • Composed and played live the music for ‘The Adventures of Prince Achmed’ at the National Media Museum (see separate page)
          • Current project  ‘Do not yet fold your wings’ is an installation at the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool with Bisakha Sarker and Ansuman Biswas. Together they will explore the relationship between dance and the ageing body, linked to themes from Athul Gawande’s book ‘Being Mortal‘
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      Ansuman and Bisakha.

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      Playing into the void.

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            • Composed and recorded a soundtrack for an Islamic Themed Space at the Whitaker Gallery, Rossendale, Lancs, for a Horse and Bamboo Theatre project ‘Different Moons’ using tabla, bamboo flute, drones and sampling.

      Listen to an edit of the ‘Different Moons’ soundtrack featuring Olivia Moore on violin.

      Testimonial

      “The music Chris presented for the Different Moons Exhibition was amazing. I could listen to it for hours; it combined the spiritual Qawali vibes with flavours of sufism.  As a person who had never met him or known of his work, I was taken aback by his understanding of the different threads in the music. As a Muslim I was very deeply touched  by the music. I would recommend Chris to create music for any project as he captures the essence like no other.” 

      Arry Nessa – Project support for the Different Moons team.

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      Different Moons.

      Listen to a remix of the music for the first ever Twittering Machine.