Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga - World Premiere
I am SO excited to share that I’ll be reuniting with Cello Octet Amsterdam to premiere a new work, ‘Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga’, at @rewirefestival (The Hague, NL) this April!!
I first performed with @cellooctetamsterdam in 2022 (along with @matt_evans_loves_music & @alev_lenz), performing music from my first record, ‘peace places: kenyan memories’. (In this video, we were performing ‘Equator song’). To date, it remains one of my most favourite shows. The collaboration was such a beautiful experience and so i’ve just been buzzing at this opportunity to make some new sounds together again. (Also, i just love love writing for cello!!😅)
‘Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga’ is quickly turning out to be a special project for me — i have my ears to the skies all the time now — though perhaps it’s unsurprising; every composer ultimately returns to birds.
i’ve been thinking about the vitality of oral traditions; i’ve been thinking about how birds have always trusted sound to store their knowledge; and how similarly, communities across the african continent have trusted sound to archive their knowledge.
As a result, the work is my attempt to honour these keepers of our indigenous knowledge. the birds, the trees, our ancestors — and the responsibility to keep doing so ourselves.
so yes — v excited to be sharing new music, and to be part of this amazingggg lineup!!! more details will be shared soon // see you there 💐🦜🌷
I am very excited to share that I will be reuniting with Cello Octet Amsterdam to premiere a new work, ‘Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga’, at Rewire Festival in The Hague, NL.
Cello Octet Amsterdam return to Rewire to present the world premiere of a new collaborative work with Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki titled Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga. Having collaborated with composers such as Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Arvo Pärt, the Cello Octet Amsterdam have made a name for themselves as a distinguished chamber-music ensemble in the Netherlands and abroad. Kariũki is a composer, sound artist, and artistic researcher who performs with piano, voice, electronics, and several instruments from the African continent. In Birdsongs from Kĩrĩnyaga, Kariũki’s voice alternates with field recordings of East African songbirds and the deft playing of Cello Octet Amsterdam to foster a lively habitat of sounds which offers an interplay between nature and human heritage. Through her relationship with these songbirds, Kariũki examines humanity’s link with nature – seeking to expand the concept of “lineage” so that it might inhabit more-than-human lifeworlds.
Find the full lineup of Rewire Festival here: https://www.rewirefestival.nl/
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