Silk_Road

Lunar disk by Emily Young

Silk Road Trio was formed in September 2007 on the occasion of a concert in celebration of the 800th anniversary of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, the Persian sage and mystic, at Sacred Space Gallery, St John’s Notting Hill. Silk Road Trio plays a mostly improvised music which builds up in ecstatic crescendos and intricate rhythmic patterns. The trio has played in the UK and the South of France , where they regularly perform.

To book the Silk Road Trio for a performance please contact info@sacredspacegallery.com

Musicians

Clem Alford was born in Glasgow, Scotland, where he studied the Scottish national instrument, the bagpipes. He was introduced to the sound of the sitar in the mid sixties. He travelled to India and studied with Pandit Sachindranath Saha, principal of the Midnapore Music College in West Bengal. Clem was awarded Jnr. Sangit Ratnakar with one of his examiners being the late great Md. Dabir Khan, the noted Dhrupad vocalist and Been player. He secured the diploma of Sangeet Sudhakar for expertise in sitar from Surer Maya Sangit Samaj of Calcutta in 1970. Clem has been associated with John Williams (classical guitar), John Mayer (composer/ Indo Jazz Fusions), Maurice Jarre (film scores), John Dankworth (jazz), Hemmant Kumar (vocalist), and a host of other striking personalities in the world of music.

Clem was music principal and sitar teacher at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (London) from 1972 - 1976 and he was visiting lecturer at C.C.A.T. in Cambridge from 1985 - 1988. Clem continues to work as performer working with Ricki Martin and performing for Paul Mc Cartney at his 64th birthday party and remains an innovative composer and teacher.

Sirishkumar was born in Tanzania and brought up in Uganda until 1972 when he and his family moved to England. He was taught music by his father Pandit Bhagwanji Bharadwaj, who in turn learnt from the great singer Pandit Omkarnath and harmonium player Master Vasant. He collaborates with both Asian and Western musicians, performing at events, composing and playing for productions at the Shakespeare’s Globe, Foster’s A Passage to India, with Nitin Sawhney on The Waiting Room at the National Theatre and in films, including City of Joy, working with Ennio Morricone & Richard Blackford. He performs with Inklein and was recently involved with a project for King A Cathedral Opera in Canterbery Cathedral with Stephen Barlow & Philip Wells.

Born in France , Stéphane is a professional iconographer in the Coptic tradition as well as a versatile musician who specialises in traditional stringed instruments. He has lived internationally, including Egypt, where he discovered the oud, and California where he found a thriving World Music scene and first became active as a oud player. He has played and recorded with various artists, including Peter Green, Dave Stewart, Yuval Ron, Jamshied Sharifi and Baheeg R. Mikhail among others. He collaborated as composer/arranger/musician with the English National Opera Gaddafi, A Living Myth, which premiered at the London Coliseum in September 2006. His cultural ecclecticism is strongly reflected in his music. He has known and collaborated with Sirishkumar for many years.

Stéphane René

Sirishkumar

Clem Alford

Next concert

18 May 2011

St John’s Notting Hill

7.30 pm