Friday 21 March 2025, 7.30pm
An electrifying long-form improvisation of music and words by live-electronic music wizard Pouya Ehsaei and voice-shifting performer-writer Tara Fatehi. Each From the Lips to the Moon performance is a unique experience with a fresh line-up of guest musicians and poets weaving together live electronics, unearthly melodies, noise, twisted beats, fierce poetry, heavy subs, and non-stories told in goosebumps and half-familiar languages.
For this Cafe OTO edition Pouya and Tara are joined by multidisciplinary improviser Kenichi Iwasa, Kahlil Ibn Barbara of Tom Skinner’s ensemble on the cello, and writers and spoken word artists Zohab Zee Khan and Belinda Zhawi.
From the Lips to the Moon creates an immersive space filled with fantasy, noise, experimentation, and thrown-togetherness. Since 2022, they have performed at the V&A, Southbank Centre, The Vinyl Factory, Reference Point, NTS, Soho Radio, Radio al-Hara, and internationally, and worked with over 95 guest artists. Their first book of poetry, music, runaway words, and echoes is called In times of darkness (2024) and they’re debut album is coming out in 2025. www.lipstomoon.com
With support from:
POUYA EHSAEI is a live electronic musician, composer and sound designer working on the intersections of experimental electronic music, live improv and dub techno, characterised by influences from industrial music, breakbeat, jazz, noise, and Iranian folk and classical music. He is the band-leader of Cuban-Iranian ensemble Ariwo and co-founder of Parasang where he led long-from improvisations in a clubbing context. He has released two solo albums There (Entr’acte), RocRast (Zabte Sote) and two albums with Ariwo and performed at Montreux Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Barbican, Southbank Centre, Womad, Tehran Contemporary Sounds, Womex, Fold and many more. www.pouyaehsaei.com
TARA FATEHI is a performer, actor, writer and multidisciplinary creative. She has sixteen different voices and performs apocalyptic facts, soul-crunching laughs, adult lullabies and theatrical treasures that forefront mistranslation, ambiguity, disjunction, playfulness and unfinishedness. She has performed at Nottdance, Southbank Centre, Nuffield Theatre, Montpelier Dance, Alkantara, and many more. Her 365 day artwork Mishandled Archive is published as a book by LADA (2020) and tours as performance and lectures. She was the first ever resident artist at the United Nations’ Archive in Geneva. www.tarafatehi.com
Kenichi Iwasa is a London based improviser and multidisciplinary artist from Japan, also known for his legendary Krautrock Karaoke night, and collaborations with visual artists and musicians such as Beatrice Dillon, Maxwell Sterling and Linder Sterling.
He currently performs with Naima Karlsson under the name Exotic Sin and released LP on Blank Forms.
Kahlil Ibn Barbara (aka Kareem Dayes) is a cellist, composer, community organiser and mathematician. Kareem aspires to become a transdisciplinary movement builder and is committed to building alternative community led organisations to meet the crises of climate breakdown, inequality and war. He has performed with United Vibrations and his most recent project is Tom Skinner's Quartet Voices of Bishara.
Zohab Zee Khan is a performance poet and wellness coach. Zohab has conducted over a thousand poetry and self-development workshops across the globe and has performed his poetry at some of the world's premier writers' festivals. His work seamlessly integrates Urdu and Punjabi as he paints poetic pictures of family, heritage, and a better world.
Zohab Zee Khan is a performance poet and wellness coach. Zohab has conducted over a thousand poetry and self-development workshops across the globe and has performed his poetry at some of the world's premier writers' festivals. His work seamlessly integrates Urdu and Punjabi as he paints poetic pictures of family, heritage, and a better world.
Belinda Zhawi aka MA.MOYO (b. Zimbabwe) is a literary & sound artist based in London & Marseille, author of Small Inheritances. Her literary & sound works have been featured on various platforms including The White Review, Vogue, NTS, Boiler Room & BBC Radio. She was a Brixton House Associate Artist 2022 - 24 and is the co-founder of literary arts platform, BORN::FREE. Her debut album was released on AD93 Records in November 2024.
