From 5 am the students are up and busy with tasks, such as breaking enough eggs to constitute a satisfactory breakfast portion for all 160 students. Everyone shares in the workload. By 6am they’re busy standing amongst the school grounds on the mountaintop, blasting their instruments and waking anyone who hadn’t yet been woken by the general bustling about.

I am grateful for the acceptance I have received from the teachers, as well as the students. They have such an extraordinarily strong community and musical ethos.

After a few days, I note that not only is their musical technique already incredibly advanced (sight-reading, scales and arpeggios, classical musicianship), they are also taught to have perfect pitch from the age of five years old! It is evident, however, that the art of music is a serious, practised  subject with not much room for fun and feeling.

At last, (and I think I speak for both Nick and myself) we found something that would help in their musical education (other than teaching subjects they have no teachers for). We’re going to get them having fun!

I have been utilising emotions and dynamics in my classes. Using these as the main tools for learning, which my students can use to improve their own ability with the instrument – rather than formally teaching them a piece of music and correcting their techniques. With my more able violinists, I am encouraging improvisation. Engaging them with listening techniques and creating games to play. Furthermore, with the help of the incredible piano teacher, Vladimir, we have had a few excellent musical improv sessions, which are opening up a process of learning that they have not engaged with previously.

This more facilitative style of teaching is more comfortable for me than being strict and regimented in my ways, and I am seeing it also allows students a more creative and relaxed environment for the process of self-exploration with their instrument.

That’s all for now.

Love and abundance to all,

N x x

On my first day, I taught 30 little kids; really little, from five or six years old, to about ten!

It was AMAZING and so funny. It’s hard core trying to teach 30 kids the violin who have never held one before, when you’ve only got seven violins to go around; three of which don’t even have all their strings!! After TWO HOURS of that (!#**!) I taught what I was told, would be a ‘one- to-one‘ violin class, which actually turned out to be over 60 of the school students – between 15 and 19 years old – still with only the seven violins!  So I very quickly scraped that idea in the last second and gave a vocal improv workshop instead, which was one of the funniest things ever!  In the end the kids all got really close together and started a competition between the two groups I’d put them in.  One person doing something and the other group doing it back, then another doing something harder etc…we have a moonwalker in the school!

When that finished, a few students sat down and waited for a violin lesson – including some teachers and the Headmaster of the school.  So, I gave a violin lesson straight after, which was great. At the end of the class, the piano teacher, Vladimir, started playing the piano and we had an improv session, which went really well. I think, for the two more intermediate level violinists, I’m gonna get the kids to learn how to improvise on the violin with Nick or Vladimir playing guitar or piano to guide them…that’s the plan…

It’s pretty hard. I’m using up my musical resources fast! But this is an unbelievably excellent challenge.

We’re eating beans, chilli and tortilla for breakfast; beans, chilli and tortilla for lunch; and last night we had beans, chorizo and spaghetti for dinner; followed by chilli beans and tortilla for breakfast!  I wonder what we’ll have for lunch…hmm…

I just went into town for the first time today with another teacher showing me around, and got three giant avocados, a huge papaya, a little watermelon and lots of, apparently, delicious mangos, so I can get a little break from all the beans!

Anyway, there you go…can’t think of more ‘stuff’ right now…

It’s great here so far. I hope you are all doing well back home; I send you lots of love and hope you are having good times where you are.

I love you all & lots of light and abundance,

Nava x x

between…

Stuart Wright and Lisa Johnson!

Masses of congratulations to both Stuart and Lisa and we must say, we are really looking forward to working with you both on all of our OneTaste events.

Here are Stuart and Lisa’s winning designs as chosen by YOU!

We sincerely apologise for the delay in announcing the winners, however, due to the extraordinarily close voting, it took a while to choose between them and thus we came to the fairest conclusion, to work with both!

Thank you very much to everyone who voted and many more thank you’s to all the amazing entries we received.  We were wonderfully overwhelmed by the entries and to see the creativity and passion coming through, was beautiful.

Thank you and many congratulations to Stuart Wright and Lisa Johnson again!

OneTaste xx

More details coming soon…

Come and share art, ideas, spark new collaborations and create friendships by enjoying a slice of London’s creative community.

So, whether you are looking for a gig at OneTaste, wanting to try out your new material, in search of new collaborators or simply coming to hang out and embrace the unexpected, you will be warmly welcomed to this lively night of spontaneity and art.

So what’s the deal?

ARTIST SIGN UP:

We welcome poets, dancers, storytellers, comedians, musicians, cabaret acts… and more!

* Please arrive at the Bedroom Bar at 19:00 on the night and sign up to play

* Slots will be given on a first come basis

* Slots are 10 minutes for each performance

* We allocate half of the slots for music, and the other half are allocated for other types of performance

* Due to short slot lengths, we advise that smaller acoustic versions of large bands would suit the night perfectly! (e.g. bring a cahon instead of a drumkit!)….

Audience: Doors open at 19:00 and it’s £5 on the door – there will be no tickets sold in advance for this show.

Show: kicks off at 20:00!

More details coming soon…

It all started two weeks ago when we heard from our friend Ginny who runs one of the most incredible Music based charities called The Music Lesson.  The charity uses music as a platform for cross-culture exchanges between young people in developing countries and their peers in the western world. The idea is that through music young people can create a pathway across the cultural divide, creating a relationship and deep connection between not only their two communities but the environments that surround them.

Ginny asked OneTaste if we could provide two OneTaste Collective members to spend some time in the small Mixe community of Tlahuitoltepec in Mexico and work with the CECAM Indigenous Music School, a school which has just 6 teachers to its 188 students.

So we sent our very own Mr Nick Mulvey and violin playing, music teaching, OneTaste Assistant Producer, Nava Kazemi along with students from Catholic Memorial to Mexico at the weekend. They are probably, right this very second working towards implementing a sustainable resident teaching program to help with the schools need for more teachers.  It’s incredible isn’t it!

Nick and Nava will be keeping us up to date with everything by posting blogs right here in our OneTaste Blogs section. We are so proud to be involved in this project and can not wait to hear about their progress and adventures.

Stay tuned!

OneTaste x

‘Angel Sunbeam’ photo by Suki

Line-up:

TAWIAH

Mark Ronson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Cee Lo Green, The Guillemots and Gilles Peterson are just some of the names who have already discovered the south Londoner Tawiah.

Like many of the chart-bothering elite, Tawiah is a graduate of the Brit School.  But while having the likes of Adele and Leona Lewis among your contemporaries is all well and good, its greatest importance in Tawiah’s story is that it introduced her to Blue and Jodi Milliner – two musicians and producers with whom she continues to enjoy a musical connection with.

Having worked with Corinne Bailey Rae, Tawiah was still at the Brit School when a call from Mark Ronson offered her a role fronting his touring band: The Version Players, on songs made famous by Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Mary J. Blige.  The Battersea teenager subsequently embarked upon a series of global tours before she’d even began any serious recording work, regularly substituting for Amy Winehouse during performances of Ronson’s biggest hit, Valerie.

Back home, Tawiah soon found herself invited to work with the likes of The Guillemots.  But she was eager to spread her wings and progress to become an artist in her own right.

Again working with Jodi Milliner, Tawiah crafted her independently financed debut EP In Jodi’s Bedroom’, which became a cult favourite on the underground.  It caught the attention of Gilles Peterson, and Tawiah subsequently won his Worldwide Award for Best Newcomer.

Currently working on material for her upcoming debut album, Tawiah can’t be pigeonholed.  Sure, her soulful vocals evoke memories of genre’s past, but her songs cross into increasingly diverse territory.  Inspired by London’s mass of cultures, her sound offers something new on every turn: one moment it conveys melodic pop with a fiercely independent attitude, yet the next track might be a modern take on classic ska cut with fierce guitar riffs.

Now signed to Warner Bros. Records, Tawiah’s debut album is planned for release in 2012.

Link to Tawiah

Bear

One third of Park Bench Poet and also one of the masterminds behind Natty’s music for the past few years, Bear is currently branching out into his own solo material. Influenced by sounds from across the globe, from English folk to African grooves, via Motown and Reggae.  Feel good vibes all night long whenever Bear is on stage!

Link to Bear

Sabrina Mahfouz

Sabrina Mahfouz is the Creative in Residence for Theatre and Poetry at The Hospital Club. She’s also Associate Playwright at Bush Theatre, where her ‘magical’ (Guardian) poetry show Dry Ice will be on from 8-12 May. Come!

‘In a different league…astonishing…she speaks lyrically and powerfully’  The Times.

Link to Sabrina Mahfouz

G. R. E. Ed. S

Born in Oyo State Nigeria, Yomi Sode also known as G.R.E.Ed.S (Generating Rhymes to Engage the EnlightenD Soul) grew up around music.

In 2005,  G.R.E.Ed.S found the words and the release he felt when using them, led him to start writing as a means to express, to vent and to explore. Under the moniker G.R.E.E.d.s, Yomi began performing.  After completing his debut project Volume In Silence in 2009, G.R.E.Ed.S  took a step further and in late 2011 he teamed up with session band The Remedies, to release his brand new EP ironically entitled Ready.  Ready has received radio play (BBC 1Xtra & BBCR1) as well as being featured on the MTV Wrap Up Site, BBC Introducing Site and well known blogs such as Soul Culture and We Plug Good Music.

Link to G.R.E.Ed.S

The Deadly Gentlemen

Instead of having a lead singer, The Deadly Gentlemen use a nonstop orchestration of somewhat unconventional vocals, with everybody in the band doing everything they can. Expect a lot of three-part harmony singing, group shouting, really dense rhymes and an almost rap-like phrasing.

Their songs have kind of a rock ‘n’ roll feel, despite the acoustic bluegrass instrumentation. The melodies tend toward the anthemic side, and the upright bass is usually pretty in-your-face. A lot of the songs’ lyrics started out as miniature epic poems based on folk songs. That’s where the term “epic folk” comes from. The grasscore songs are the ones where everybody in the band throws caution to the wind and goes completely berserk. Kind of the punk or hardcore mentality, but applied to bluegrass.

Link to The Deadly Gentlemen

Press enquiries – please email: jess@onetaste.co.uk

Tickets: £7 in adv / £10 on door

Over the past three weeks we have opened our doors to find the new OneTaste Graphic Designer!

We have had so many amazing applications and design entries for our new OneTaste Open Mic flyer.

We have now short listed these down to five designs and we want YOU to make the final decision on which design best sings out OneTaste and who gets the job!

We would like to say a really big THANK YOU to all who applied to be our new OneTaste Graphic Designer!

The vote will be concluded and our new designer announced on Monday 2nd April…

Please take a look at the flyer designs and vote below!

OneTaste x

But you certainly would be a fool to miss such an incredible line-up:

TAWIAH
Bear
Sabrina Mahfouz
G. R. E. Ed. S

Plus The Deadly Gentlemen – all the way from the US!

After spending the last 5 years working with and wowing people like Mark Ronson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Cee Lo Green, The Guillemots and Gilles Peterson, we are very excited to have our wonderful friend Tawiah come back to play her first show with us in AGES!  With Bear, Sabrina Mahfouz, G.R.E.Ed.S and an outrageously excellent American surprise, this show is going to be AMAZEBALLS!

Tickets: £7 in adv / £10 on door

All info & how to buy your tix CLICK HERE!

Press Enquires: please email Jess at jess@onetaste.co.uk

Table Bookings: please email tablebookings@onetaste.co.uk – THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE RESERVED TICKETS – buy these in advance to secure entry on the night!!