Combining traditional wind instruments from various parts of the world in an interesting and unusual way, the World Wind Band offers a new musical experience.
Dirk Campbell and Jan Hendrickse, joined by bass flute player Nathan Thompson and percussionist Tim Garside will be doing just that for audiences at the Manoel Theatre next Tuesday at 7.30pm, in a performance courtesy of the British Council.
As a performing group, the World Wind Band presents arrangements of ethnic wind traditions encompassing Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, illustrating the immense range of sonorities produced by these instruments and demonstrating the connections between different traditions as in the case of Europe and Asia which have always exerted a strong influence on each other.
The World Wind Band’s repertoire employs numerous wind instruments, most of which are excitingly new to our ears: folk flutes such as the bansuri and the sareva – transverse flutes from India and West Africa; reed pipes such as the arghoul and zummara from Egypt and the Levant; and bagpipes such as the zampogna from Calabria/Sicily and the tulum from Turkey.
Jan Hendrickse teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has run community and education projects for many organisations including the Barbican centre, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Proms as well as running art development projects in Tanzania and Palestine.
He is currently researching trans-cultural arts practice for the Guildhall School of Music. He has recorded extensively and is in great demand for film, tv and theatre work. Film credits include The Lord of the Rings, The Passion of the Christ, Troy and Chocolat. He has appeared as a featured soloist with several British prestigious orchestras.
A visiting lecturer at Goldsmith College London and Bath Spa University, Dirk Campbell has studied traditional wind instruments with Theodoros Kekes in Athens and Djivan Gasparian in Armenia as well as with musicians from the Kurdish, Iranian, Albanian and Greek communities in London. He learnt a good deal about tribal music during his childhood years spent in Kenya.
He has composed award-winning music for television, films and documentaries after having studied composition at the Royal College of Music.
The World Wind Band is partly a vehicle for the demonstration of traditional musical skills and partly a vehicle for new combinations; it is also a medium for broader collaborative and educational projects, enjoying enthusiastic receptions wherever it performs.
Reservations for the World Wind Band’s forthcoming performance at the Manoel may be made from the Manoel Theatre Booking Office, tel.: 2124-6389, email: bookings
@teatrumanoel.com.mt.