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We are very excited to be hosting The Noisy Women Present. We met Faradena Afifi when she played here and loved her! This project is an international, inclusive and intersectionally minded cohort of badass musicians and improvisers and they are bringing an 8 person ensemble to perform.
This event is part of a tour called The Noisy Women Present: Whispers and Waves. An inclusive afternoon of creativity and musical fun with the award winning Noisy Women Present. There will be a workshop followed by a Matinee performance.
About the workshop: 11am – 1pm Embodied improvisation workshop with Fara Afifi from The Noisy Women Present
Sound, ground, movement and stillness in improvised music. The art of improvised music uses listening, stillness, shape, space and connection. In this workshop we will use T’ai Chi based movements and practises to explore sound in an embodied and centred way. Instrumentalists and vocalists, people of any experience and ability are all welcome to attend. We will start and finish from quiet listening and experiencing sounds in the body and then working in small groups to explore embodied sound making. Faradena has been a community musician since 2006 and teaching T’ai Chi Chuan since 2003, she co founded The Noisy Women Present in 2021.
About the performance: 2.30pm – 3.30pm The performance “Whispers and Waves” will involve live visual arts, improvised music, poetry and movement and possibly the audience, embracing chaos, connection and spontaneous creativity in an ever evolving group. Featuring a stella ensemble lineup: Faradena Afifi (voice, multi -instrumentalist), Steve Beresford (pianao and electronics),Bettina Shroeder (spoken word, electric ukelele),Maureen Woloshin (Oboe), Julian Woods (guitar , bass), Maham Suhail (voice, beats, electronics), Nicky Smith (movement, sound, words),Aureli Frequa (dance, poetry, visual art)
Some words from The Noisy Women:
The Noisy Women Present or TNWP is a global, intersectional, multi-disciplinary creative hub, championing diversity, social and collective virtuosity. We provide an inclusive, supportive space for women, people and performers who may be non-binary, trans, multi-ethnic, global majority, neurodivergent or people with disabilities.
We intentionally use various forms of creativity at our concerts, workshops and events. We embrace improvised and experimental music, dance, art, photography, film, costume and poetry as equal players. TNWP believe in individual expression as part of a collaborative, liberating and empowering experience and include people from all walks of life, not limited by age, gender, culture, disability, financial status or experience.
Virtuosic and academic expertise combines effortlessly with grassroots artistic expression; everybody gets an equal say. We can be as small as a soloist on stage, or as large as a 100-piece improvising orchestra with dancers, artists, poets and a choir.
About the perfomers:
FARADENA Afifi
FARADENA AFIFI is an Anglo Afghan T’ai Chi Chuan practitioner and a community folk and experimental musician based in Cambridgeshire UK. She sings traditional folk songs and is a singer songwriter as well as a multi-instrumentalist. She is the founder of The Noisy Women Present, a multidisciplinary inclusive musicians and artists collective. Her music is heavily influenced by nature, especially birdsong. This channel is for her solo folk, healing and experimental music. Enjoy! ,
STEVE BERESFORD
STEVE BERESFORD has been a central figure in the British and international spontaneous music scenes for over forty years, freely improvising on the piano, electronics, and other things with people like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Han Bennink, John Zorn, and Alterations (with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack).
He has written songs, written for large and small ensembles, and scored short films, feature films, TV shows, and commercials. He was part of the editorial teams of Musics and Collusion magazines, writes about music in various contexts, and was a senior lecturer in music at the University of Westminster.
Steve has worked with Christian Marclay on numerous Marclay mixed media pieces. He has also worked with The Slits, Najma Akhtar, Stewart Lee, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Alan Hacker, Tania Chen, Ray Davies, Mandhira De Saram, The Flying Lizards, Zeena Parkins, The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Ilan Volkov, Rachel Musson, Vic Reeves, Lore Lixenberg and many others. Steve has an extensive discography as performer, arranger, free-improviser, composer and producer, and was awarded a Paul Hamlyn award for composers in 2012. In 2021, Bloomsbury published a book by Andy Hamilton: ‘Pianos, Toys, Music and Noise: Conversations with Steve Beresford’.
BETTINA SCHROEDER
BETTINA SCHROEDER is a multidisciplinary artist who performs at numerous music and poetry events on electric Ukulele, frequently accompanying spoken word. She has also been on several album releases, featured on BBC Radio and Resonance Radio and her poetry book ‘Flirting on an Escalator’ was recently published by London Poetry Books. She regularly performs with the London Improvisers Orchestra and The Noisy Women Present and her visual art work is exhibited in shows around London and abroad.
Performances include: ‘MOPOMOSO’ events at Vortex Jazz Club, Cafe Oto with the London Improvisers Orchestra, Citizen’s Theatre Glasgow with the Noisy Women Present, üF-Beat Fringe Music Club at Crouch End Literary Festivals, CRUNCH’ poetry, music and exhibition events, Oooh International Improvisation Festivals, ‘BOA-TING’ with Steve Beresford, Neil Marsh’s Vanishing Point, events at Iklectik, international improv music SKRONKFESTS, Frauenmuseum in Bonn, Germany, Anna Göldi Museum, Glarus Switzerland, Intox Extravaganza London/ Brighton and more.
MAUREEN WOLLOSHIN
Dr Maureen Wolloshin is an oboist, free improviser composer and feministing artistic researcher. Her work is experimental and always with others. She plays with Free Women, Noisy Women, London Improvisers Orchestra (occasionally) and Free Range Orchestra, duets with Stevie Wishart, Henry Dagg, David Leahy and Khabat Abas and has presented her research across Europe. She is published in Echo Journal.
JULIAN WOODS
JULIAN WOODS is a musician, composer and improviser based in London. He recently graduated from the Guildhall School of Music in London, and has recently performed at the Vortex Jazz Club, Cafe OTO, Wigmore Hall, Porgy & Bess (Vienna), INNtoene Jazz Festival, and Pizza Express. He performs on guitars (microtonal or regular), bass guitars (fretted or fretless), and double bass. Julian is involved in a variety of projects, including directing the London Improvisers Orchestra, leading his group Buchteln Trio and collaborating with the Guildhall New Music Society.
MAHAM SUHAIL
MAHAM SUHAIL is an Indie Alternative artist whose sound borrows from vibrant Pop, Jazz & Ethnic influences. Drawing from her global experiences and cultural heritage, Maham’s creates immersive & transcendental sonic experiences, with lyrical themes that defy the mundane.
Maham has appeared on international Print, Radio, TV & Web media across 12 countries, and gained prestigious American, Indian, German awards as singer/songwriter. Through her fusion of electronic beats, ambient textures, and lyrical themes, Maham’s music embodies values of liberation, empowerment, and introspection. Known for her dynamic live performances, Maham’s soulful vocals and experimental soundscapes captivate audiences, taking them on a powerful journey of self-discovery. She moved to London (UK) on a Global Talent visa in 2023.
NICKY SMITH
NICKY SMITH is a Cambridge base creative practitioner whose passions lie in dance, sound, words & nature. As a qualified & experienced Meditation Teacher, Embodied Movement Teacher & Sound Artist she is interested in these as a development practice & enquiry into what it means to be human. Nicky has collaborated with many musicians, forming duos, bands, including the Noisy Women Present and the Noisy People’s Orchestra in Cambridge. She has performed at various Festivals, at improv gigs at Cafe OTo and the The Vortex in London performing experimental movement & sound.
AURELIE FREOUA
AURELIE FREOUA is a French artist and performer living and working in London. Her paintings have been exhibited widely in group and solo shows. Aurelie is collaborating with jazz clubs performing improvised live painting with musicians and has illustrated several album covers. Aurelie curates and performs in multidisciplinary live performances called ‘Résonances’ merging visual art, musical performances, poetry and dance. Alongside her painting performances, Aurelie has recently written a theatre play and is currently developing more multidisciplinary projects.
Through her work, Aurelie aims to explore and transcend such notions as the invisible, movement, ephemerality and the intangibility of emotion through vivid colours and harmonious compositions of form, line and light. Throughout her practice, she values authentic representation and intensity in a process of ‘making visible’.