Earth And Sky

"This three 52-minute films series, Japan between sky and earth, takes us on a journey of discovery though a wild and little-known Japan filmed and showed as never before with 4K images and spectacular aerial shots. The three films, from north to south, shot on 4 seasons, reveal the mystery of some the most beautiful sites in the country, the great spectacle of nature and the subtle balance that prevails in Japan between tradition and modernity." Japan, Land of the Rising Sun, with its panoramas forged by volcanoes and tradition, is a mighty international economic power.

Japan, land of modernity and tradition, developed to the rhythm of its main island, Honshu. At the foot of Mount Fuji, it is the largest and the most populated of the archipelago. Hurt by earthquarkes and wars, it is the domain of the capital Tokyo and the ancient imperial city of Kyoto. This journey between land and sky, into the heart of the third world economic power, plunges into the intimate life of a people who made the History.

The Traveller, for choir, children’s choir, orchestra, tenor, violin and speaker, was the third in a series of four major works with words by Vikram Seth and music by Alec Roth, commissioned jointly over four years by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals (2006-09). Each work featured the violinist Philippe Honoré as soloist, and each took a different geographical/cultural area as its starting point.

There is folk that wants to whisper in your ear, and then there is the music of Lankum: urgent, desperate and detonating, full of lyrics and sounds smacking together like waves shattering stones in a storm. The latest folk signing to Rough Trade Records (a label delving brilliantly into traditional song in recent years), the quartet – formerly known as Lynched – marry the rawness of the Watersons with the roar of Richard Dawson, and eerie drones plunge their coarse, clattering harmonies further into darkness.

I’m very pleased to announce that I have a new album coming out on the 16th February 2024. Titled Ashes and Dust, Earth and Sky, LLudw a Llwch, Daear a Nef, it is a solo project that feels like a bit of a shift in direction for me. One of the outcomes of a DYCP grant (thank you Arts Council England) that I received to explore composition using different recording techniques, it uses field recordings collected from West Wales and London, and recordings of saxophones, flutes and other bits and pieces.

Avalon: Between Earth and Sky’, is a gorgeous Neo Classical album. This magical story tells the tale of a beautiful young queen and her sudden rise to power. Magnificently orchestrated with live guitar, vocals, keyboards, mandolin, penny whistle, strings and flute, Avalon: Between Earth and Sky, will transport you back to that mystical realm.

BAFTA Award-winning actor Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Girl) reanimates the nineteenth-century poet John Clare through his poems and prose, paired with nine creative transcriptions from Clare's book of fiddle tunes - conceived for clarinet and violin by Julian Philips.