Birds Eye View : Past Events : Latitude Festival

Latitude Festival

July 18th 15.20

Film and Music Arena
Henham Park, Southwold, Sunrise Coast, Suffolk

BEV chats to Bishi as she gears up for Latitude Festival...read more in our blog

Birds Eye View returned to the Latitude Festival in 2009 with another fab line-up from our festival programme. The audience enjoyed the enigmatic Bishi with Neil Kaczor and Zongamin performing alongside 1923 cinema classic Salome, starring mesmeric lesbian Hollywood icon Alla Nazimova. BEV walso presented short films Peter and Ben, and The Lake.

Bishi & Neil Kaczor present their new live soundtrack, specially commissioned to accompany Salome by the Bird's Eye View Film Festival – a collaboration that combines & juxtaposes the unique musical heritage of each artist. Bishi's passion for English & Eastern European folksong, traditional Indian music, progressive pop & electronica is complimented by Kaczor's large-scale orchestral works and electroacoustic soundscapes.Singing in Bulgarian, English & Bengali, Bishi also plays sitar and is accompanied by Neil Kaczor on keyboards, melodica and live electronics. They will be joined for this performance by a surprise guest on percussion.

About Salome
Dir. Charles Bryant, USA, 1923, 72 min
Starring Alla Nazimova, Mitchell Lewis, Nigel de Brulier
The mesmeric Alla Nazimova, lesbian Hollywood icon, plays Salome in this adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play, based on the biblical tale. When the Prophet Jokaanan rejects her advances, Salome persuades her step-father Herod to kill him through her entrancing dance. Relish in the stylised performances, with wonderful costumes and Audrey Beardsley-inspired sets by Natacha Rambova.

About the musicians
Bishi is a singer, multi instrumentalist and DJ based in London. She studied Sitar at The Ravi Shankar School for Music. In 2008 alone, Bishi recorded with a tango orchestra in Buenos Aires, performed shows at Glastonbury and Latitude and held a concert performing her album Nights at the Circus with the London Symphony Orchestra. This critically acclaimed album was also nominated for the Times Award and for a South Bank Show Award, and she has appeared on The Culture Show and Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. Her new album Albion Voice will be released in spring 2010.

Neil Kaczor studied composition at the Royal College of Music and electroacoustic music composition at City University, London. His music has been performed throughout Europe, South America and Japan. During the 1990s he cofounded The Offset, a multi-media performance collective and also played keyboards in the art-rock band Minty. He has written a number of vocal and instrumental works specially for Bishi, including the song-cycle Mirabai Settings and Khamaj Variations for sitar & orchestra, versions of which feature in the live accompaniment to Salome. Other commissions include music for the opening celebrations of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow; a sound installation for the Museum of Childhood, London and the soundtrack to Julian Cole's film With Gilbert & George.

Also Screening:
Peter And Ben
Dir. Pinny Grylis, UK 2007, 10'
Winner: Auteur Award, London Short Film Festival, 2007. Peter and Ben are two companions who leave the flock and form an unconventional friendship.

The Lake
Dir. Maarit Lalli, Finland 2006, 7', subtitles
One morning at dawn, the beleaguered Mallis takes her sister out in a rowboat to help her retrieve a lost item. Both are surprised by what the lake offers up.