About OneTaste
About One Taste
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There are nights. And people go to them.
Sometimes they have a good time or see an act that stands out and makes them want more before they go
back to work and their daily life.
Then there is OneTaste.
One Sunday a month, people come to The Bedford in Balham, South London, step into The Globe Theatre
and get a night of amazing music and poetry. Every time.
The kind of time that echoes into the new week and makes them tell friends.
Like a secret youre allowed to share.
In December 2004, a girl (Dannii Evans) and a boy (Jamie Woon), both artists themselves,
found a place that felt special and put on a night of artists that they would like to see.
Some people came.
Those people left feeling lucky.
They told their friends and next time they all came. Some of the artists came back, and a family began.
Songwriters, singers, poets, musicians. The place was The Bedfords red Tavistock room and the night
was called Nii. With standards set, in terms of quality performers and the friendly
spirit of the night, through word of mouth alone, the family grew.
And grew
until the Tavistock room could not hold all the people coming down each month.
Nii was amazing and, with a new team of artistic people involved, it was now ready to evolve.
That evolution led to a one day festival taking over the whole of The Bedford,
programming Nii artists and new talent in every space available. It worked.
Hundreds of people came and got a taste of the Nii atmosphere. A new chapter had begun; OneTaste was born.
On the back of the festival success the new night moved to The Globe Theatre downstairs in the same
building. The atmosphere and warmth moved with it and more people were coming than ever.
People left feeling like they were part of the night rather than simply seeing some great acts.
That sense of friendship meant they could relax and get excited at the same time and led
to many artists coming to the night even when they were not performing just to be part of it.
OneTaste felt like something you didnt want to be left out of.
The programming, still solely based on performers that the OneTaste team believed in and
respected, began to diversify with the intention of stretching the boundaries of what is
considered entertainment.
This, combined with the audience response, fully established the OneTaste sensibility of,
whatever it is, if its good, they can play.
As more people began coming to the night, this open minded,
strictly high quality ethos meant that more of the audience came back every month.
Art forms such as spoken word/performance poetry were given equal footing with music
and the audience got a real taste of things they hadnt seen before.
From this diversity grew collaborative projects between artists in the OneTaste family.
Artists such as Jamie Woon, Inua Ellams and Polarbear built on their relationship with
the audience beyond that of performer and listener. Artist residencies were introduced,
allowing projects and the development process of a poem or song to be observed and enjoyed
by the audience over a three month period.
A chance opportunity to make a live one hour TV version of the night was snapped up
and Tastebuds TV aired live on Sky Digital for three amazing shows,
beaming the experience of OneTaste into peoples homes.
Having now reached a point where anything seems and feels possible,
the OneTaste team have begun preparations for branch-off projects to keep the growth of family possible.
One-off parties and concerts at other venues, festival stages in summer 2007, publications of artists
material and compilation CDs and DVDs.
All these projects will exist safe in the knowledge that the OneTaste
sensibility and family has established itself from a bunch of friends putting
on a gig theyd like to see, into a bigger bunch of friends putting on lots of
gigs theyd like to see
and a lot more.
It really isnt rocket science; its just what Sundays are for.
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Written by a friend who has watched it
grow since the beginning.
To contact OneTaste please send an email to - Dannii
Press
South London Guardian - 22nd Sept 2005
-click on clipping to enlarge -
South London Newspapers- 22nd Sept 2005
Rise Magazine- 12th Oct 2005
Elmbridge Guardian- 13th Oct 2005
South London Guardian- 26th Oct 2005
