The important stuff:
14+ instruments,
Vocal range from D2-D5,
Across +/- 8 different genres.
Able to improvise.
Sound good? Read more below!
As an instrumentalist:
I have been playing music and performing since I was a child. I grew up with folk music from the UK and USA, and later developed a love for Greek, Middle-Eastern and Balkan styles of folk, as well as ancient Western music such as early & ‘medieval’ styles.
I have been fortunate enough to be encouraged to be curious, and as such I’ve developed improvisational proficiency in several instruments and styles:
Piano accordion
Piano
Harp
Guitar (rhythm & accompaniment)
Bluegrass (5-string) banjo
Mandola
Whistle (low & high)
Celtic flute
Oud
Curas / tzouras & Greek bouzouki
Mountain dulcimer (strummed & bowed)
Double bass
Bodhran
Non-drum percussion (e.g. spoons, zils)
For a playlist of songs I’ve contributed to, including some of my band in Cape Town, click here! (Link directs to a Spotify playlist.)
As a
vocalist:
I often say that my ‘first instrument’ is my voice. I have a deep love of singing and exploring new styles and expanding my range. While I am perhaps strongest as a tenor, I routinely sing bass in a Shapenote group and contribute a high harmony when singing folk. To date, my full range when warm is from D2 to D5, with F2 to A4 being my comfortable range.
I have a background, albeit shortlived, in Western classical & opera; however, this background has enabled me to sing in variety of other styles, including:
Celtic
Bluegrass & Country
Shapenote singing (what is that?)
Greek traditional (Cycladic, Thracian, Epirian, Rebetika)
Plainchant & choral
Byzantine chant
Arabic & Middle-Eastern
Western classical & opera
As a session musician:
I have found a deep love of improvisation: listening to someone’s work, arriving at the studio, and generating a response which moves with the rest of the music, tailored to suit the artist’s vision.
As my musical background is in learning by ear, I tend to avoid having to learn by sheet music. However, I have found that this skill is improving, in part thanks to my Shapenote singing.
I have had the great pleasure to contribute to folk albums, and soundtracks for films and games.
Three projects I am particularly proud to have contributed to are:
Skin Diver, (2018) a short film by Katya Abedian. I recorded, edited, & mixed the original score by improvising while watching the edited footage (done by the incredible Holmes Awa), which was then blended into the film by the talented Daniel Thackwray.
Manor Lords OST (2021-2023)
(Slavic Magic Studios via Pressure Cooker Studios)Cantigas de Santa Maria (bodhran, harp, mandola, spoons, whistles, zils)
Blood & Banners (cello, bodhran, esraj, voice)
Mayenzeit One Neidt (whistle, bodhran, wooden spoons, zils)
Kings And Paupers (harp from 7:55)
Foundations (harp)
Sonder (2024)
(Rhuari Campbell a.k.a. Slow For A Poet)
I am also currently working on a solo project of Shapenote songs to be released later this year, and some of my musical ‘doodles’ can be found on my Soundcloud.