Murmurists plus Juxtavoices

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Murmurists is a large-scale live theatre project, encompassing any and all disciplines - from free jazz and noise, through film and dance

Greentop Community Circus

Murmurists is the brainchild of cross-disciplinary satirist Anthony Donovan. First formed as long ago as 1992, as a then vehicle for solo works and collaborations, Murmurists is by now a large-scale live theatre project, encompassing any and all disciplines - from free jazz and noise, through film and dance, to comedy and performance art, and even stylised banqueting. To-date, Murmurists has featured as little as 9 and as many as 86 participants at any one time; all ostensibly improvising from involved graphic scores prepared by Donovan, tailored to each participant and their particular specialism. This scoring process confers a strong narrative content upon proceedings, resulting in complex, dynamic pieces, such as 'Poor vs Poor', 'I am You, Dragging Halo' and 'Beneath is Translation'. By design, Murmurists live has no central point of focus, being instead comprised of any number of creative, collaborative fiefdoms and micro-dramas, prompted by the score to self-organise non-hierarchically, along syndicalist lines. There are the corollaries of musicians, of course, who react to one another in the usual way, all on their improvising metal, with instant creations of their own making. But participants might just as well be requested to sob uncontrollably or howl like an animal, or wield a pitchfolk or treasured childhood toy, or participate en masse in spoken word passages, which Donovan terms 'ornamental heckling', taking influence as much from Laing, Pinter, Brecht and Artaud, as it might from the febrile history of avant garde music. The result is intense and immersive, and ultimately cathartic, for participant and audience member alike. 

By now, hundreds of people have been involved in this ongoing series of unique Murmurists events, including members and ex-members of projects such as Henry Cow, Faust, The Three Johns, Stars of the Lid, Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere, Acid Mothers Temple, Crush!!!, The Sun City Girls, The Molecules, Cacophany Arkestra and the London and Birmingham Improvisers Orchestras, as well as collaborations with artists as great and diverse as John Zorn, Matmos, Otomo Yoshihide, James Chance, Adam Bohman, Bob Ostertag, Bryan Lewis Saunders, Chris Cutler, Bob Cobbing, Marc Ribot, Lol Coxhill, Elliott Sharp, Mick Beck, Pat Thomas, Evan Parker, Gino Robair, Sharon Gal, Damo Suzuki and Steve Beresford. 

The following 35 strong Murmurists will perform pieces from Donovan's new major three part work, Darwin is Jam Tomorrow:

Lee Allatson: percussion 
Julie Archer: vocal
Martin Archer: sax
Rebecca Bogue: dance 
Geoff Bright: bass sax
Mark Browne: sax / percussion 
Matt Dalby: voice / visual scores / objects
Annie Dee: foley / photography
Steve Dinsdale: percussion 
Anthony Donovan: bass, voc, film 
Andrew Duncan: synth
John Eyles: sax 
Mike Fibes: guitar / electronics 
Gary Fisher: gadgets
Chris Graham: foley 
Chris Hancox: guitar
Matt Harling: saxobone 
Chris Hill: clarinet
Lyn Hodnett: trumpet / cello / voice 
Keith Jafrate: sax
Satya-Sara Khachik: dance 
Noel Kidd: percussion 
Phil Lucking: trumpet
Simon Partridge: guitar 
Martin Pyne: vibes
Kris Reeder: trombone 
Sean Reynard: otamatone
Colin Robinson: sax
Walt Shaw: percussion 
Sonic Pleasure: masonry 
Jan Todd: harps / vocal 
Chris Warburton: sub-octave guitar
Julius Warburton: banjolele 
Jonathon Watkiss: electronics 
Gillian Whiteley: violin / accordion

Plus an opening set from Juxtavoices, 25 voice avantgarde performance poetry antichoir led by Martin Archer and Alan Halsey, now in their 9th year of disruption to the fabric of the universe.

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Murmurists plus Juxtavoices

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