TUNED IN London is presenting a year of concerts that invite audiences to reflect on the movement of people around the world, people who up sticks for a multitude of reasons, and head to lands unknown, marking the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Ship leaving Rotherhithe’s shore, captained and crewed by Rotherhithe residents.
Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno
Rapasa is a singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, music educator and passionate advocate of traditional music.
He plays several East African indigenous instruments, his pride and joy being the Nyatiti, a beautiful eight-string lyre belonging to the Lüo community, whose people have now settled along the Kenyan shores of Nam Lolwe (Lake Victoria), where he is from.
Rapasa’s love and interest in music manifested at a tender age in the village back in Ugenya. He can trace back a lineage of Nyatiti practitioners from Alego Usonga, with both his grandparents having roots in traditional music and dance.
He ventured into the music world full-time just over a decade ago, and developed his Nyatiti playing skills with Owiny Sigoma as well as spent time with masters of Nyatiti in the villages of the instrument’s heartland (Alego and Ugenya).
He has researched other Lüo Nyatiti genres too, for example the Dodo genre which used to be practiced by men in the past, before women took it on. He has delved into the technicalities of the instrument, historical records, process of fabrication and the different tuning from individual gurus during the making of the documentary Master’s of Nyatiti by Singingwells and Ketebul Music (2017).
His music gives an insight into our ancestor’s wisdom and is steeped in heritage. Rapasa will take the audience on a voyage, following the music of the Nyatiti as his ancestors migrated with it along the great waterway that is the Nile, drawing a likeness to those who set sail aboard the Mayflower and headed seaward from our own riverside community.
Currently based in Newcastle, Rapasa has taken part in the prestigious One Beat (Oregon), Nile Project and recent Making Tracks programmes and toured internationally. Out now on most digital platforms is his EP Songs of Equality and coming soon, will be his debut album Tipona.
Date and time: Thursday March 5, 7pm (doors 6.30pm)
Location: Finnish Church, Albion St, Rotherhithe
Tickets: Tickets are available from the Tuned In London website
TOUKI: Amadou Diagne and Cory Seznec
Senegalese Amadou Diagne and French-American Cory Seznec planted the seeds of a future collaboration at a chance encounter busking, weaving musical inspirations that draw on West African, American and Ethiopian traditions.
Life took them on different touki (journeys in Wolof), but a decade later their paths have rejoined and their brand new album, Right of Passage, is fresh out of Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.
Kora dances playfully with banjo and guitar whilst the calabash adds powerful, driving beats. Their silky, soulful voices entrancingly envelop the music.
They come to Rotherhithe for the last-but-one night of their UK tour.
Find out more about the duo here.
Date and time: Thursday March 26, 7.45pm (doors open 7.15pm)
Location: St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe
Tickets: Tickets are available from the Tuned In London website
Comments Form