Amirtha Kidambi with Manon McCoy

Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music in association with GemArts, Jazz North East and The Lit and Phil presents…

Amirtha Kidambi with Manon McCoy

The Literary and Philosophical Society (The Private Members Library)
Friday 4th October 2024
Doors: 6.00pm (Music Starts 6.20pm)
Full Price: £8.00   
Age Restrictions: All ages welcome with under 18’s accompanied by an adult.

6.20pm - 7.00pm
Amirtha Kidambi with Manon McCoy
Amirtha Kidambi (Voice and Electronics) / Manon McCoy (Harp and Electronics)


Part of Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music

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www.newcastlefestivalofjazzandimprovisedmusic.co.uk

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The Literary and Philosophical Society
The Literary and Philosophical Society, 23 Westgate Road, NE1 1SE
0191 232 0192 / library@litandphil.org.uk
www.litandphil.org.uk


The Literary and Philosophical Society

Age Restrictions: All ages welcome with under 18’s accompanied by an adult.

Accessibility: The Loftus Room at The Lit and Phil is partly accessible. There is a lift at the venue entrance for wheelchair users to access the building and performance space, no wheelchair accessible toilets are available in the building. 

The festival has permissions for visiting wheelchair users to access toilets located on the ground floor in Sleeperz Hotel which is just a few doors down (16 ft) to the right of the Lit and Phil as you exit the building. 

Accessible toilets are also available at 5 Quarter Cafe Bar to the left as you exit the building. 

The Private Members Library is not a wheelchair accessible space and is preceded by a small number of stairs. 

Travel: Any Bus and Metro to Central Station which is located less than 300 ft from the venue (approximately 2 minutes walk).

There is limited street parking, the closest car park is at Central Station
(Charges may apply).


Artist Biographies 

Amirtha Kidambi 

Amirtha Kidambi "takes a holistic approach to singing, which can mean treating every element as unfixed: Words can be opened up, rendered nonspecific. Melody can be repeated and frozen and stuck in place. Markings of rhythm can become utterly abstract, freed from cadence." (New York Times). 

Amirtha Kidambi is invested in the creation and performance of subversive, anti-hegemonic music, from free improvisation and avant-jazz, to Indian carnatic and devotional, experimental bands, electronic music, noise and new music. 

She is an educator, activist and organizer working to challenge systems of white supremacist, colonial, capitalist, patriarchy, and is co-founder and co-organizer of South Asian Artists in Diaspora and Musicians Against Police Brutality. 

As a bandleader and composer, she is the creative force behind the incendiary protest group Elder Ones and has received critical praise for her albums Holy Science (2016) and From Untruth (2019) on Northern Spy records from the New York Times, Pitchfork, Wire Magazine and Downbeat among others, topping Critics Poll in the categories of "Rising Star Vocalist", "Rising Star Composer" and "Rising Star Jazz Group". 

Kidambi is active in several improvising duos with bassist Luke Stewart, guitarist Matteo Liberatore, meimei with pianist Ananya Ganesh and Neti-Neti, with percussionist Matt Evans. 

Amirtha Kidambi is a key collaborator in MacArthur “genius” Mary Halvorson's sextet Code Girl, the duo Angels & Demons with saxophonist Darius Jones based on the poetry of Sun Ra, and in various collaborations with bassist William Parker and with late elders Muhal Richard Abrams and Robert Ashley. She has also worked with several of New York’s luminary improvisers including Matana Roberts, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Hamid Drake, Nick Dunston, Maria Grand, Ava Mendoza, Shahzad Ismaily, Trevor Dunn and many others. 

It’s a pleasure to welcome Amirtha Kidambi to Newcastle for a brand new collaboration put together by the festival. She will perform in an improvised duo setting alongside the Sheffield based Harpist Manon McCoy who played a captivating set with her group Balo at the 2023 festival edition.

www.amirthakidambi.com


Manon McCoy 

Manon McCoy (she/her) is a Sheffield based composer, experimental harpist and singer who’s work draws from training western classical music, contemporary classical music, free improvisation and British folk music. Manon is currently studying an MA at the RNCM generously supported by the William and Frances Dobie Charitable Foundation.

Manon’s playing reframes the role of the harp in her ensembles, taking a rhythmic lead and exploring repetitive and dynamic textures, likened to the works of experimental harpists such as ‘Zeena Parkins and Lara Somogyi’ in a recent review by James Cardie (NowThen Magazine).

Her compositional practice explores themes that arise from her own lived experiences such as body, gender, and phenomenological perceptions of time and space. She is particularly interested in the uses of spaces both musical and physical, often designing pieces that rework the performer-audience dynamic. 

Her works bring with them a strong sense of storytelling and sharing of space. 

We’re delighted that Manon McCoy will return to the festival again, this time to play in an improvised duo setting with Amirtha Kidambi who travels from the United States to be with us.

www.manonmccoymusic.com