She’Koyokh Archives - charleshutchpress

September 23, 2026

National Centre for Early Music goes global for autumn season opening on Sept 27

Denys Baptiste: Teaming up with Tomorrow’s Warriors band leader and double bass player Gary Crosby in an all-star quartet for A Love Supreme on November 25

THE National Centre for Early Music’s autumn season presents a host of artists from across the world at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York.

Opening the season on September 27 will be Irish singer and bouzouki and mandola player Andy Irvine, “ a tradition in himself” after 60 years of telling tales and making music. Joining him on the 6.30pm bill will be the award-winning Swedish folk band Quilty, celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Described by the late Jeff Beck as “the best guitarist in the world” and by Pat Metheny as “one of the most awesome solo guitar players in history”, fingerstyle player Martin Taylor returns to the NCEM on October 4 at 6.30pm.

Six decades into his career, his new solo show, Standards, celebrates the golden age of jazz through evocative arrangements of tunes from the Great American Songbook.

Polish-Belarusian band Hajda Banda: Rural music performed on acoustic village instruments on October 9. Picture: Michal Kalita

On October 9, the NCEM teams up with Songlines to present Polish-Belarusian band Hajda Banda, who specialise in traditional dances from eastern Poland’s Podlaise region, the western provinces of Belarus and the wetlands of Polesye, a cultural crossroads on the Poland-Ukraine- Belarus border. Audience members will be encouraged to dance, if they wish, to rural music performed on acoustic village instruments.

City Of Poets’ concert on October 10 reunites musicians across the Soviet-Chinese divide through an exploration of the maqam-based classical repertoire of the Central Asian Uzbek and Uyghur peoples. A group of players from different sides of the border, led by Abror Zufarov and Saniyem Ismail, focus on the works of 17th century mystic poet and wandering dervish Baba Rahim Mashrab, whose poetry continues to inspire musicians on both sides of the divide.

Grammy Award winners Tim Garland, mezzo-soprano saxophone, and Geoffrey Keezer, piano, return to the NCEM on October 12 with their new duet album Mezzo, recorded in a single, five-hour session in New York, capturing the intensity, fearless creativity and breathtaking interplay of their 25-year musical partnership.

The concert will begin at 7.20pm with a performance by York Music Forum young jazz players after they worked with Garland and Keezer earlier in the day.

Fiddlers at the double: Grace Smith and Sam Sweeney, playing the NCEM on October 25. Picture: Kate Griffin

Revered English folk acoustic and slide guitar player Martin Simpson plays solo on October 20, combining passion, sorrow, love, beauty, tragedy and majesty in his performance after 32 nominations over the 18 years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. His new album, Some Kind Of Jubilee, arrives on September 25 on Topic Records, marking 50 years since the release of his debut, Golden Vanity.

Bellowhead alumnus Sam Sweeney joins fellow fiddler Grace Smith at the NCEM for the first time on October 25 at 6.30pm. Rooted in tradition, yet constantly pushing boundaries, they bring a shared passion for reimagining archive material, championing new compositions and creating music both authentic and forward-looking.

Northern Silents presents Curtis Bernhardt’s 1929 German silent film The Woman Men Yearn For with a live music score performed by pianist Jonny Best on October 28. Marlene Dietrich ignites the screen in a tale of danger and desire, wherein Henri marries a wealthy heiress to save the family business , but on the eve of his honeymoon, he glimpses a mysterious woman through a frosted train window. Once their eyes meet, a chain of passion and betrayal hurtles towards disaster.

Based in London, She’Koyokh arrive at the NCEM on November 1 at 6.30pm with a line-up as diverse as their music-making. Their members hail from Turkey, Serbia, Spain and the UK: three are graduates from London’s Royal Academy of Music; two are esteemed jazz players; accordionist Zivorad Nikolic is among Serbia’s finest exponents of traditional folklore; singer Cigdem Aslan is a celebrity in the world of rembetiko music and Susi Evans is a queen of the klezmer clarinet. Together they perform the folk music traditions of Jewish Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Balkans.

She’Koyokh: Performing folk music traditions of Jewish Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Balkans on November 1

Led by composer, musician and visionary James Lascelles, now returned to the Harewood estate, Talking Spirits play a blend of world-jazz, folk and Caribbean grooves on November 11. Between them, the band members have performed, recorded and collaborated with avant-garde luminary Frank Zappa, pioneering violinist L Shankar, the rock theatricality of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and the soulful Joan Armatrading.

Presented by Nava Arts, on November 14, the soulful voice of Samin Ghorbani, the enchanting shurangiz of composer Vahid Taremi and the electronics, clarinet and modern arrangements of Rouzbeh Esfand bring to York what the Persian trio calls “the sound of their shadows from a Trembling Land”, drawn together from three separate cities across Europe.

The Instituto Cervantes, in Manchester, and Iberian and Latin American Music Society link up with the NCEM to present a 7.30pm concert on November 17 and workshop from 1.30pm to 5.30pm on November 22. First up, Spanish soprano Lorena Paz Nieto and British-Hispanic pianist Helen Glaisher-Hernandez present The Secret Art, featuring Spanish and Latin American art song as conceived by beguiling women composers.

Then, as part of The Secret Art: Mujeres Presentes project, the inimitable Odaline de la Martinez leads a half-day Sunday workshop focusing on the sounds of 17th-century Mexican convents, Afro-Cuban beats and the rhythms of the Rio Carnival. The workshop will finish with a short run-through for family and friends at 5pm. Places must be booked by November 8.

Odaline de la Martin: Hosting workshop on November 22. Picture: Malcolm Crowther

King Kong directors Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack’s epic 1925 silent film Grass, a documentary about the heroic annual migration of the nomadic Bakhtiari tribes of Iran, will be accompanied by a live performance by Iranian pianist and composer Peyman Yazdanivan, joined by Adib Rostami on kamancheh and tonbak, on November 24.

Mercury Prize-nominated saxophonist Denys Baptiste and Tomorrow’s Warriors band leader and co-founder, double bass player Gary Crosby, lead an all-star quartet for A Love Supreme, a 60th anniversary celebration of John Coltrane’s jazz masterpiece, on November 25.

The 7.20pm concert will begin with a 20-minute performance by York Music Forum young players after a workshop with band members earlier in the day.

Each December since a one-off pilot in 2015, “festive folk supergroup” A Winter Union reconvene to share their joyous Christmas party around the country, complementing reimagined winter classics from both sides of the Atlantic with little-known Yuletide gems and songs direct from the pens of the songwriting quintet of Jade Rhiannon (from The Willows), Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts (from Gilmore & Roberts) and Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage. On December 12, they make their NCEM debut.

National Centre for Early Music director Delma Tomlin

By way of contrast, Awake Arise make their fourth visit on December 18 to present A Christmas Show For Our Times. Lady Maisery members Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans and Hazel Askew will be joined by Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith to celebrate winter traditions and reflect on how the hope and resilience in music and song can bring joy in the darkest season.

Looking forward to the autumn season, NCEM director Delma Tomlin says: “It’s partly serendipitous that so many are on tour, but I’m extremely pleased at the quality of the names and also by the mix of world music artists drawn from all over the globe.

“It means so much to us to continue to share this cultural world with York at this introspective time, whether from Persia or Spain, with our relationship with the Spanish Embassy bringing in acts.

“The Polish-Belarusian band Hajda Banda are a bit of a wild-card that came through a recommendation from my friends at Songlines, and so we decided to book them for the first time. They’re a dancing band, so we’ll need room at the edges because you’ll be encouraged to dance to this Polish high-energy music. Off you go!”

Tickets for the autumn season are on sale on 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk. Events start at 7.30pm unless stated otherwise.

October 4, 2022October 4, 2022

National Centre for Early Music launches new season of diverse musical adventures, films and festivals led off by Making Tracks

*Jean Toussaint: Performing with his jazz quintet at the NCEM tomorrow*

THE National Centre for Early Music’s autumn season of jazz, folk, global and early music and films opens today with the return of Making Tracks at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York.

First set up by a network of British venues in 2010 and re-launched in 2019, the project selects young world music professionals, bringing them together for a two-week residency and national tour designed to reach across social, cultural and geographical divides and to foster a deeper appreciation of musical and cultural diversity.

Eight musicians will be performing as soloists and collaboratively. In the line-up will be oud player Alaa Zouiten, from Morocco/Germany; Swedish fiddler Anna Ekborg; Scottish lever harpist and composer Lucie Hendry, based in Denmark, and Scottish Highlands smallpipes, whistle, pedals and fiddle player, composer, instrument maker, educator and musical director Malin Lewis.

So too will Cherif Soumano, the rising star of the kora from Mali, now living in Paris; Leeds folk singer, folklore songwriter, guitarist and shruti box player Iona Lane; Iranian-born tar, setar and daf player and vocalist Shabab Azinmehr, from Belgium, and Ranjana Ghatak, a London singer, composer and tanpura player embedded in the classical and devotional Hindustani vocal tradition, who is also part of the Yorkston/Thorne/Ghatak trio with James Yorkston and Jon Thorne.

As part of their residency, the Making Tracks musicians also will be hosting a free music workshop for young people.

Saxophonist Jean Toussaint, who came to prominence in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1982 and moved to London in 1987, will be showcasing his latest album tomorrow.

Songs For Sisters Brothers And Others reflects on the turbulent Covid-19 years. “The pandemic caused me to focus on the fragility of life and the fact we’re here one moment and gone the next,” he says of penning songs as a “tribute to my wonderful siblings while they were still around to enjoy it”.

*Zoe Rahman: Giving a foretaste of her 2023 album on November 9*

Joining him in his quintet in York will be Freddie Gavita, trumpet, Jonathan Gee, piano, Conor Murray, bass, and Shane Forbes, drums.

THE NCEM is offering a reduced ticket price for those who book simultaneously for Toussaint’s gig and the Zoe Rahman Trio’s NCEM debut on November 9, when the exuberant British/Bengali pianist and composer steeped in jazz and classical music will be introducing compositions from her forthcoming album, set for release next year.

Rahman has worked with George Mraz, Courtney Pine and Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra music and won the Ivor Novello Impact Award at the 2021 Ivors Composer Awards, a MOBO award and British Jazz Award and has been nominated for the Mercury Prize. In York, she will be performing with Gene Calderazzo on drums and Andrea Di Biase on bass and will be working with York Music Forum too.

Fresh from the BBC Proms, Welsh harpist Catriona Finch teams up once more with Senegalese kora specialist Seckou Keita on Saturday in their multi-award-winning duo to mark May’s release of their third album, Echo, on Rough Trade.

Combining classical and folk, traditional and contemporary, Finch and Keita’s tender musical alliance explores different cultures and shared humanity “as their fingers flow like opposing tributaries into a single river of sound”.

The folk programme takes in co-promotions with the Black Swan Folk Club for Irish singer and bouzouki player Daoirí (pronounced ‘Derry’) Farrell, performing songs from album True Born Irishman and A Lifetime Of Happiness, on October 12 and performers and authors John Watterson (aka Fake Thackray) and Paul Thompson presenting Beware Of The Bull, The Enigmatic Genius Of Jake Thackray on October 28 at 8pm.

They will be combining humorous Thackray songs with stories of the late Jake in the wake of publishing their biography charting the life of the Leeds topical comedy songwriter, poet and journalist.

*Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita: Welsh harp and Senegalese kora*

THE NCEM’s own folk promotions will be led off by Scottish multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer John McCusker & Friends on November 2, after the former Battlefield Band fledgling marked his 30^th anniversary as a professional musician by releasing his Best Of compilation from solo records and television and film soundtracks in 2021.

Lady Maisery, the innovative award-winning English vocal harmony trio of Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans, play on November 16.

All composers and multi-instrumentalists in their own right, they perform intelligent and thoughtful folk arrangements of both trad repertoire and original compositions, whether unearthing a feminist twist hidden in a traditional tale, delivering a poignant anti-war ballad or drawing on myriad influences in their own songs.

On December 2, The Furrow Collective – Lucy Farrell viola, saw, voice, Rachel Newton, harp, fiddle, voice, Emily Portman, banjo, concertina, voice, and Alasdair Roberts guitars, voice – present Winter Nights, a spine-tingling evening of harmony and storytelling, bringing light into the wintry gloom.

On December 17, Green Matthews evoke the spirit of Christmas past in Gaudete, spanning 600 years of music that brings the festive season to life in a riot of sound and colour. In the line-up are Chris Green and Sophie Matthews, cittern, English border bagpipes, shawm, guitar, flute and piano accordion; Chris Matthews and Emily Baines, woodwinds, and Richard Baines, violin.

Bookers for any two of Lady Maisery, The Furrow Collective and Green Matthews will receive a £5 discount; book all three for an £8 saving.

The NCEM’s Family Friendly show “for a while” presents Mish Mash Productions in a return to York with Strange Creatures, a musical adventure for children aged four to seven and families alike, on Sunday, October 16 at 1.30pm and 3pm.

Lady Maisery: English vocal harmonies on November 16

Violin, viola and cello combine to create a magical world inspired by the book Beegu, written and illustrated by Alexis Deacon and performed by arrangement with Penguin Random House.

On the film front, Victor Sjöström’s 1921 Swedish silent movie The Phantom Carriage will be shown with live musical accompaniment on October 26 as part of York Ghost Week 2022.

In this 100-minute Dickensian ghost story and deeply moving drama that inspired a 12-year-old Ingmar Bergman to make films, the last person to die before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve is doomed to ride Death’s carriage, collecting souls for the year ahead.

This eerie and innovative Swedish classic also was a showcase for ground-breaking special effects as well as haunting visuals, now to be complemented by the spontaneous performance of Frame Ensemble, a quartet of northern musicians – Irine Røsnes, violin, Liz Hanks, cello, Trevor Bartlett, percussion, and Jonny Best, piano, specialising in improvised silent film.

The Aesthetica Short Film Festival will be returning to the NCEM during its November 1 to 6 run, showcasing 300 films in a celebration of independent cinema that connects audiences through powerful storytelling.

The international festival spans comedies to dramas, immersive virtual realities to family-friendly animations, alongside masterclasses.

The NCEM may be the National Centre for Early Music but its brief under director Delma Tomlin is far broader. Three examples are Singlr An Appera on October 23 at 8pm, klezmer and Balkan band She’Koyokh on October 30 at 6.30pm and Manasamitra’s Slumber Stories and Dusk Notes on November 11 at 5pm and 7.30pm respectively.

*She’Koyokh: Klezmer and Balkan band from London*

Organised by Lydia Cottrell of SLAP, Loré Lixenberg’s Singlr An Appera is a dreamlike musical evening in the Singlr salon where ambient electronic tracks and live musicians accompany the vocalised conversations of the Singlr app participants.

London’s international seven-piece klezmer and Balkan band She’Koyokh will be presenting Klezmer With Nightingales, a night of energetic klezmer combined with ancient Sephardic songs, reflecting the diversity of Jewish heritages, the history of migration and the musical integration that has taken place across Europe and beyond over hundreds of years.

In the band are Çiğdem Aslan, vocals, Susi Evans, clarinet, Meg Hamilton, violin, Matt Bacon, guitars, Živorad Nikolić, accordion, Paul Moylan, double bass, and Christina Borgenstierna, percussion.

In Leeds-based Manasamitra’s Slumber Stories, stories from around the world swirl together with semi-improvised music to create the background to a restful, rejuvenating and meditative rest-time story ritual for adults and children alike.

For Dusk Notes, vocalist Supriya Nagarajan and musician and soundscape artist Duncan Chapman unite with designer Pritpal Ajimal in a spiritual work that speaks to the Hindu gods, particularly Krishna, the god of compassion, tenderness and love.

Combining songs whose melodies date back to the 2nd and 3rd century, Dusk Notes has ragas to suit the mood of a mellow winter evening at the time of twilight just before the sun goes down.

Early music enthusiasts should look out for the young Spanish instrumental group El Gran Teatro del Mundo, who head to the NCEM on November 20 at 6.30pm after a week-long debut British tour. These rising stars of the EEEmerging programme promise a sparkling concert of 17^th and 18^th century works by Vivaldi, Telemann and Fasch.

*Leveret: Springing into spontaneous action next March*

Organised by the NCEM, the 2022 York Early Music Festival’s run from December 8 to 17 features such guest artists as Solomon’s Knot, the Orlando Consort and Bojan Cicic. Full details can be found at ncem.co.uk/yemcf.

Still on the Christmas theme, The York Waits – Tim Bayley, Lizzie Gutteridge, Anna Marshall, Susan Marshall, William Marshall and singer Deborah Catterall – focus on The Mirth & Melody Of Angels, Music for Christmas and The Festive Season from Medieval and Renaissance Europe, as they celebrate the 45^th anniversary of their re-creation of York’s historic city band, on December 20.

Booked into the diary for 2023 already are two folk nights: The Rheingans Sisters on March 3 and Leveret on March 15. Book for both concerts by October 31 to save £5.

The Rheingans Sisters make playful, powerful music that is contemporary yet deeply anchored in folk traditions, performed on myriad instruments, many made by their luthier father. Nominated for Best Duo/Group at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, in 2020 they released their fourth album, Receiver.

Leveret brings together three of England’s finest folk musicians, fiddle player Sam Sweeney, button accordionist Andy Cutting and concertina player Rob Harbron, whose natural, relaxed musicianship is not arranged in the conventional sense. Instead, they rely on mutual trust and spontaneous musical interaction to create new settings of their repertoire in the moment, with no two performances ever alike.

The NCEM is supported by City of York Council, Make it York, Arts Council England, Creative Europe and Mayfield Valley Arts Trust.

All concerts start at 7.30pm unless stated otherwise. Tickets can be booked on 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk.

Spanish ensemble El Gran Teatro del Mundo to play York as finale to first UK tour promoted by NCEM in November

*El Gran Teatro del Mundo: First UK tour concludes at NCEM in York*

SPANISH baroque ensemble El Gran Teatro del Mundo will embark on their debut British tour in November, organised by the National Centre for Early Music, York, in its first venture as promoters.

The tour is supported by the Creative Europe EEEmerging+ programme [whose bridge-building work concludes next summer alas] and the Ministry of Culture of Spain through INAEM, the National Institute for Performing Arts and Music.

Winners of the Diapason d’Or for their first album, Die Lullisten, the six-piece ensemble previously won the Cambridge Early Music Prize at the 2019 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition.

The ensemble comprises Claudio Rado, violín, Michael Form, recorders, Miriam Jorde, oboe,
Bruno Hurtado, cello, Jonas Nordberg, archlute, and director Julio Caballero, harpsichord.

Rising stars of the EEEmerging+ programme, El Gran Teatro del Mundo have performed at prestigious venues and festivals all over Europe, such as: Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht; Festtage Alter Musik Basel; Musikinstrumentenmuseum Berlin; Musica Antica Urbino; Festival d’Ambronay; Centro Botìn Santander; the Riga Early Music Festival and the Festival Baroque de Tarantaise in France.

Specialising in music from the 17th and 18th centuries played on oboe, recorders, cello, theorbo and harpsichord, the ensemble will celebrate the genius of Vivaldi, Telemann and Fasch in a tour programme of work entitled The Art Of Conversation.

*“We are delighted to be initiating this exciting UK tour,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin*

El Gran Teatro del Mundo will appear at St John Smith’s Square, London, November 14; Turner Sims Concert Hall, University of Southampton, November 15; Cambridge Early Music, November 16; Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, November 17, and St George’s, Bristol, November 18. The grand finale, at the NCEM on November 20, will be filmed.

El Gran Teatro del Mundo say: “The 2019 York Early Music competition was a wonderful experience for us and we were really looking forward to coming back to the UK. After a very long wait, we can finally share with the British public the wide range of emotions and feelings that our energetic programme conveys.

“We are especially grateful to the NCEM for their support and dedication in making this tour possible. We are working to make it a great artistic and human experience for everyone.”

NCEM director Delma Tomlin says: “We are delighted to be initiating this exciting UK tour and to work with promoters from across the country as we welcome this impressive young instrumental group.

“We first welcomed El Gran Teatro del Mundo to York in 2019 when they took part in the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition. We were impressed with their talent and artistry, and they have continued to go from strength to strength, recently winning the coveted Diapason d’Or.

“This is the first chance to invite them post-Covid restrictions, and we can’t wait for them to return to the NCEM this autumn.”

Tickets for the 6.30pm York concert are on sale on 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk.