Grand Union Orchestra

Bio:

Grand Union, the UK's most successful and diverse world/jazz orchestra was established in 1984. The Grand Union Orchestra is the acknowledged pioneer and leading exponent of original, cross-cultural music making. It assembles musicians from virtually every part of the world to create and perform new work drawing on their own experience, culture and musical background.

Grand Union’s priority is live performance and touring. Early shows include The Song of Many Tongues, A Book of Numbers and Songlines, followed by Freedom Calls, The Rhythm of Tides, Now Comes the Dragon’s Hour and If Paradise… – all of which were recorded by the BBC, broadcast on Radio 3 and subsequently published as CDs. Over the last 20 years, Grand Union has notched up hundreds of performances across virtually the whole of the UK, and has produced projects in Holland, Germany, Paris, Luxembourg, Lisbon & Southern Portugal, Shanghai, Turkey, Bangladesh and Australia.

Grand Union is also well known for its large-scale participatory shows, combining student musicians and folkloric groups with the Orchestra. Such projects include Threads, If Music Could.… and Dancing in the Flames; and more recently Where the Rivers Meet at Sadler’s Wells Theatre and Bhangra, Babylon and the Blues, a touring project commissioned by the Eastern Orchestral Board – both of which were also broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Doctor Carnival was first seen in 2001, and since then has appeared in major venues in twelve regions from the South Coast to Orkney. On Liberation Street was first performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds in November 2005, then at Wavendon and Gateshead, and continues to be Grand Union’s flagship large-scale show.

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Bhangra Brass (Grand Union Orchestra)

From the If Paradise DVD



Now Comes the Dragon's Hour (Grand Union Orchestra)

Chinese musicians and singers from Grand Union Orchestra performing material from Now Comes the Dragon's Hour



On Liberation Street (Grand Union Orchestra)

Musicians from Grand Union Orchestra performing a South American medley from the "On Liberation Street" show.



Where the Rivers Meet (Grand Union Orchestra)

Indian/Bangladeshi musicians from the Grand Union Orchestra performing material from Where the Rivers Meet.



The Perfumes of Paradise Blues (Grand Union Orchestra)

From the If Paradise DVD.

Member Since:

November 15, 2007

Members:

Tony Haynes
Claude Deppa
Tony Kofi
Davina Wright
Lucy Rahman
Richard Scott
Vladimir Vega
Yousuf Ali Khan
Kevin Robinson
Paul Jayasinha
Chris Biscoe
Louise Elliott
Tim Smart
Ros Davies
Andy Grappy
Gerry Hunt
Andy Lafone
Brian Abrahams
Josefina Cupido
Harry Brown
Bravo Fimber
Wei Li
Sadjo Djolo
Akash Sulton
Baluji Shrivastav
Cheng Yu
Ken Johnson
Emmanuel Tagoe
Byron Wallen
Mingo Rangel
Rui Junior

Influences:

Some of the elements that go into our melting pot are: African drumming and chant, exuberant Latin and Caribbean rhythms, Bhangra and the classical music of India and Bangladesh, township brass and Brazilian street percussion, haunting Turkish and Arabic strings, evocative sounds of the Andes, ancient Chinese opera and ancestral instruments, European harmony and spell-binding voices, stunning jazz improvisation, heart-stopping big-band blues

Sounds Like:

Record Label:

RedGold Music / RedGold records