Counterpoints was delighted to be one of the organisations supporting a gig by Orchestra of Samples in Bristol last month, produced in collaboration with Bristol Refugee Festival and Lorraine Ayensu Refugee Arts, with connections made via our Platforma festival.
Orchestra of Samples is by artists Addictive TV and has been an enormous undertaking. Over a decade spent recording more than 300 musicians improvising while touring and performing internationally, then sampling and splicing them all to create new compositions. Using music to breakdown cultural barriers, they wanted a project that brought together as many musicians as possible from all backgrounds, both cultural and musical – an impractical task in the real world but not in the digital world of sampling.
In Bristol they worked with Alphonse Touna, the amazing Cameroonian multi-instrumentalist and frontman of the band Hélélé. Alphonse performed on the night, singing and playing guitar and an assortment of percussion including his west African balafon, which he built himself.
It was a packed and fantastic night at the Bristol city centre venue Strange Brew, close to Castle Park and the canals. Other performers included the kora and trumpet duo Bristol Griot.
