Saturday 16 October 2021, 7.30pm
“Dance to it, make love to it, consume it, listen to it, stare at the clouds to it!” – Iggy Pop
“One of my discoveries for the London Jazz Festival... Good is Good” – Gilles Peterson
“They were the unexpected stars of a glitzy show” – John Fordham, The Guardian (UK)
Bex Burch's Vula Viel is a group from London's incredible jazz+ scene, playing music based around the sound of the gyil, a wooden xylophone from West Africa, fused with elements of improvisation and minimal music.
Following the acclaimed release of ‘Do Not Be Afraid’ then 'What's Not Enough About That' and a busy tour that took them from UK to Europe and back, including a stellar performance at WOMAD captured by BBC Radio 3, Vula Viel continue their sonic explorations around the gyil, the wooden xylophone of the Dagaare from Upper West Ghana, on their brand new live set. Supported by Gilles Peterson with one of the only BBC 6 Music live sessions of 2020 and Album of the week.
Bex Burch (gyil), Ruth Goller (bass) and Jim Hart (drums) continue to forge their own unique fusions, stretch out the band’s sound, at times delicate and at others moving into raw post punk soundscapes, drawing from classical, minimalist and Dagaare Ghanaian influences.
Bex was apprentice to Dagaare xylophonist Thomas Sekgura, formed influential band Vula Viel in 2015 and performed live on BBC 6 Music for Gilles Peterson, Café OTO, Total Refreshment Centre, WOMAD, Moers Festival, Bezau Beatz, Willisau Jazz Festival and Music Meeting as Artist in Focus.
Ruth Goller’s ‘Skylla’ shines a long-awaited light on one of the most important musicians to have driven and revolutionised the UK jazz and improv scenes over the last 16 years. The bassist, vocalist, composer, environmentalist and now solo artist, draws inspiration from deep within to create a stunningly original and beautiful piece of work.
‘Skylla’ takes inspirations from Bulgarian folk song, via free jazz, 'Joyce', and the Italian Alps from where Ruth hails - with bewitching compositions featuring bass guitar harmonics in different tuning systems sparkling underneath other-worldly polyphonic songs.
"It's eerily compelling, fearlessly personal music, lying somewhere between O Superman-era Laurie Anderson and a crunching, boldy-retuned Derek Bailey-esque reinvention of the bass guitar." John Fordham, The Guardian
"It's kinda like a cross between Derek Bailey and Arthur Russell, and it's just really really beautiful" Zakia Sewell, BBC 6 Music
"We're gonna inhale, we're gonna exhale, and we're gonna step into the sunshine" Jamz Supernova, BBC 6 Music
“Very close, intimate sound.. so close and so tactile that you can feel the music stroking you on the shoulder” Corey Mwamba, BBC Radio 3
