BREVIEW: Rosie Tee – launch of Chambers EP @ The Edge 28.03.19

Words by Emily Doyle / Pics by Jessica H Ingram

The Edge is tucked away on Cheapside, arguably one of the less inviting corners of Digbeth. On entry, however, it’s decked out like a disco in a greenhouse.

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The space is awash with green lights and spacey projections, and houseplants occupy every corner. The stage is draped with vines and tinsel, and the DJ is playing a laid-back mix of ambient, jazzy electronica. It could be this reviewer’s imagination, but the room even seems to smell like a garden – although that may be the cocktail bar in the corner, where cucumber margaritas and beetroot G&T’s are being garnished with violets and sprigs of rosemary.

The venue is quite full, so experimental theatre group L Y N N E B E C manage to weave themselves into the crowd without anyone really noticing. However, the four performers soon make their presence known, launching into a performance that quickly has the talkative crowd hushed and watching.

Full of acrobatic lifts and captivating freestyle, L Y N N E B E C’s dance performance is devised to a mix of electronic music put together by Rosie Tee herself. Tracks from the likes of Natureboy Flako and Photay are threaded together with snippets of Tee’s new EP, Chambers. By the end of the performance the dancefloor is scatted with leaves and petals that have fallen from the performer’s costumes during the piece – each dancer is pulling members of the crowd out to dance with them, most of whom are more than happy to oblige. As well as an endearing end to the display, it’s a great way to break down the ‘inevitable semi-circle’ that crowds tend to form around the front of the stage, just in time for Tee’s set.

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Rosie Tee and her band make themselves at home on the stage, bathed in the psychedelic projections. It’s the eve of the release Chambers and a stack of copies are already on the merch table. There’s an air of anticipation in the audience, from the crowd stood at the front to the people occupying the tired armchairs and Chesterfields dotted around the space. Within minutes of the band beginning, Tee has the room under her spell.

‘Wax & Wane’ is one of the first tracks from Chambers to make an appearance. Tee’s swaying vocal carries the song, gently conducting the rest of the band with the odd flick of the wrist. Skittering jazz drums from Kai Chareunsy and wobbling bass from Dan Cippico are a sturdy foundation for the glittering keys of Tom Harris, not to mention the ringing punctuation of Tee’s glockenspiel, which she stands poised over like a sequined automaton.

Tee is every bit a host as well as a performer. Between her jazz-pop compositions she shares insights into her writing process, introduces the band – proudly announcing that Cippicolay produced the new EP – and takes the time to thank everyone involved, from the sound team to the bar staff.

New songs ‘Watersong’ and ‘Siren’ close the set just as they close the new EP. The former sees Tee scat singing through a grin, while the shivering rhythm of the latter draws the performance to an uptempo close. Rosie Tee and her ensemble take a bow, but it’s only a few minutes before Harris and Chareunsy are back on stage with their own band, Trampette – who keep the room dancing with high energy grooves late into the night.

Rosie Tee – launch of Chambers EP @ The Edge 28.03.19 / Jessica H Ingram

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For more on Rosie Tee, visit www.rosietee.uk

For more on L Y N N E B E C, visit www.facebook.com/lynnebec

For more on Trampette, visit www.facebook.com/trampetteband

For more from Friction Arts and The Edge, visit www.frictionarts.com

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NOT NORMAL – NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this feature – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse, or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL – NOT OK website.

BPREVIEW: A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 @ Various 10-26.05.18

BPREVIEW: A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 @ Various 10-26.05.18

Words by Ed King

Running from 10th to 26th May, A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 comes to venues across Birmingham – presenting a programme of events, talks, tours and exhibitions that use ‘arts and culture to encourage open and honest conversation about death and dying.’

A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 has activities suitable for all ages, from children as young as 4 years and upwards – as programmed and run by Brum YODO. For direct festival information, including venue details and online tickets for each event, click here.

Birmingham Review first came across Brum YODO, a‘diverse community collective including health professionals, undertakers, artists, hospice staff and lawyers’, when they were part of the panel discussion following Lucy Nicholls and Antonia Beck’s The Death Show at Birmingham REP – exploring themes from funerals to the fear of finality.

The continuation of the ‘bottomless pit conversation about our own mortality’ though a festival programme was mentioned, and being both obsessed with and skeptical about discussions on death I kept the event on my editorial radar. Then, as with all things final yet sudden, the time had come and I was woefully under prepared. Luckily, and unlike the afterlife or void, there were press releases. So, what can we expect from this year’s ‘festival of arts and cultural activities focusing on death and dying’.

Opening A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 are two events – the exhibition Et in Arcadia Ego by Charlotte Jarvis, being held at Ort Café (10th May to 21st June, free entry) and a screening of Sleepy Hollow at The Electric Cinema with a taste-along from the gloriously macabre Conjurer’s Kitchen (10th May at 8pm, £20.70 – £25.90).

Et in Arcadia Ego sees artist Charlotte Jarvis collaborate with Professor. Hans Clevers and Dr Jarno Drost from the Hubrecht Institute ‘to grow her own tumour’. Why..? This innovative approach ‘aims to examine mortality and create a dialogue with and about cancer’ whilst confronting one of the world’s biggest killers by staring directly at it. Grown specifically for the purpose. As for eating a specially created platter to compliment Tim Burton’s adaptation of Washington Irving’s ghoulish nightmare, beset with headless horsemen and headless villages… I suspect beetroot might make an appearance.

A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 continues with a programme of talks and workshops, including How to Have a Fabulous Funeral at the John Lewis Community Hub (11th May from 10:30am to 11:30am, free), Climbing a Mountain – free creative workshop for children and families at Library of Birmingham (12th May from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, free), A Matter of Life & Death Marketplace at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (13th May from 11:00am – 3:00pm, free) Dying Matters – Ask the Funeral Director at The Coffin Works (16th May from 6:30pm to 8:30pm) and Call the *Soul* Midwife at mac (17th May from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, free). 

Theatre plays a part on the programme for A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018, as Bootworks Theatre Company present The Many Doors of Frank Feelbad at the Children’s Library (12th May from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, £5) – where younger audiences are invited to follow Frank, ‘an inquisitive chap with a big problem: he’s just lost his mum’, in a show about ‘bereavement for kids and their accompanying grown-ups.’ Then there’s The Birth of Death at Friction Arts/The Edge (19th May from 7:30, £8:50) – where Joanne Tremarco explores the often taboo subject of death by ‘drawing on end of life conversations with her mother, training as a death doula and adventures as a Lucid Dreamer.’

Whilst further film comes in the form of A Love That Never Dies, again at The Electric Cinema (21st May from 8:50pm, £7.80) – where Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds travel across North America, following the death of their son, to ‘find out why, in a world where death will always make front page news, real life conversations about death, dying and bereavement are so problematic.’

But perhaps one of the highlights of A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 (especially to a man who can’t keep his gob shut or mind free of thoughts on eternity) is Death Over Dinner at Stirchley Baths (12th May from 6:30pm to 10:30pm, £35) – where patrons can enjoy an eclectic cuisine, ‘fragrant, sumptuous and from around the world, reflecting the global nature of death’, whilst watching a series of talks and performances exploring death and our relationship with it. Probably a bad idea for a Tinder date, but fascinating in both content and approach.

A Matter of Life & Death Festival 2018 will be holding events across a variety of venues in and around  Birmingham, running from 10th to 26th May. For direct event information, including the full festival programme and links to online ticket sales, visit www.brumyodo.org.uk/matter-life-death 

For more on Brum YODO, visit www.brumyodo.org.uk