Rise Kagona celebrates John Peel Day in London

10/08/2005 02:53PM

20 years after John Peel and Andy Kershaw first brought the music of the Bhundu Boys to British radio listeners, their founder and guitarist Rise Kagona plays a rare London show as part of John Peel Day.

Rise will be in London on October 13th, headlining an eclectic triple bill as part of the 'John Peel Day' celebrations - The day will be a celebration of John's life and massive contribution to music and broadcasting with as many venues as possible staging gigs across the UK under the banner of Peel Day.

Peel - who famously broke down in tears the first time he saw the Bhundu Boys live, such was the impact of their music on him - was a huge fan of the band, and Rise credits Peel with a huge part in bringing the Zimbabwean band to a European market. "John Peel did so much for us," says Rise, "I'm so happy to get to play as part of 'John Peel Day', to acknowledge that, to show my gratitude."

Rise Kagona was the guitarist with and founder of The Bhundu Boys, arguable Africa's most influential musical export. In the mid to late 80s, they toured extensively across the UK and Europe, opening for Madonna for three nights at Wembley Arena, played with Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton and Joe Strummer counted himself a fan.

"I first heard them when they put out an EP in the autumn of 1985," Andy Kershaw recalls. "Peel and I were in the office at Radio 1. We sat staring at each other, thinking this recording was absolutely wonderful. It was the dazzling quality of the music, the harmonies, the sparkling guitar playing. The Bhundu Boys were simply one of the greatest pop groups I have ever heard."

For this gig, Rise will be joined by long-time collaborator 'Champion' Doug Veitch on guitar, Steve Lawson on bass, who Rise met recently while they were both playing for Botswanan singer/songwriter Duncan Senyatso, Jez Carr on keyboards and percussionist extraordinaire, Orphy Robinson.

Appearing alongside Rise will be the UK's leading solo bassist Steve Lawson and critically acclaimed Scottish singer/songwriter Calamateur - this promises to be one of the highlights of John Peel Day.

Steve Lawson has spent the last five years building a reputation as the UK's leading solo bass guitarist. Avoiding the many pitfalls that so often trap anyone taking the bass out of its natural band habitat, he uses real-time looping to build soundscapes that combine gorgeous melodies with haunting backdrops, blending ambient, jazz and electronica into a beguiling soundtrack to a fantastic chilled night out. Though never played on John Peel's show, Steve's teenage years, spent in Berwick On Tweed, were spent listening to Peel's late night radio 1 show religiously, taping all manner of weird and wonderful music from the show to listen back to later, and discovering so many new acts that otherwise would never have reached North Northumberland. That exposure to 'boundary-less music' set the scene for Steve's musical career, and played a huge part in him becoming a solo bassist in the first place.

Calamateur, AKA Andrew Howie, was another act that Peel gave a leg up to by playing him on his Radio 1 show. Andrew has the knack of building songs from apparently disparate parts; delicately picked acoustic, soft harmonies, feedback, distortion, electronics, montages of samples, thunderous bass, rock guitar, and found sound; which make sense as satisfying, haunting wholes. His album, 'The Old Fox Of '45' was recently voted one of the top 15 Scottish albums of all time in a poll by 'Is This Music?' magazine. He's been played extensively on Radio 3's Late Junction and is hailed in his homeland of Scotland as something of a lofi singin' songwritin' genius. This will be his first London show.

The concert will be on Thursday Oct 13th, at Darbucka World Music Bar, 182 St John's Street, Clerkenwell, London, doors open 7.30pm, first band on at 8pm.

For tickets, go to http://www.stevelawson.net/store.

World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20051008085710216