Little Black Boat was conceived in Castle Wolfsburg, Germany, in 2006. Kate Ellis was playing cello with Declan de Barra during one of his shows at a 13th century castle as part of a contemporary music festival. The pair started to play onstage in the central courtyard through a PA system. They quickly abandoned the stage and dragged the entire audience inside one of the castles amazing halls for a completely acoustic performance. As the acoustics were so beautiful inside the hall, with it's vaulted ceilings, they duo decided to try two improvised pieces. They went down a storm and afterwards, over a coffee a banana beer and two fine slices of German cake, they decided to develop the idea of an improvised project with vocal and cello as the core further. The project was given the moniker Little Black Boat.
With Kate and Declan as the core Little Black Boat will draw on the talents of various musicians for live improvised performances. No doubt with time some of the pieces will grow into solid structured pieces alongside the improvisation.
The pieces you hear now were recorded in a Hall in Dublin in August live to minidisc. The violinist who played on the recordings was the wonderfully talented Adrian Hart.
Little Black Boat will be touring in 2007. Each show will be recorded and documented.
DECLAN DE BARRA VOCAL
Declan was a founding member of cult group Clann Zu before embarking on a solo career which sees him touring extensively. He released his debut album ' Song of a Thousand Birds' in 2006 and is currently writing his second album. Declan is also a film maker and painter.
KATE ELLIS CELLO
Kate Ellis is a freelance cellist based in Dublin. Working extensively within all genres of contemporary, classical and improvised music, she is a member of the CRASH ENSEMBLE, one of Ireland's most dynamic and innnovative performance groups and tours with the KARAN CASEY BAND. She performs with I.M.C jazz artists the FUZZY LOGIC ENSEMBLE, TRIPLE PIGLET and the Balkan inspired YURODNI SEPTET.
LINKS
http://www.crashensemble.com
http://www.declandenarra.com
http://www.clannzu.com
my norwegian friend Gro asked me to check out Declan's acoustic stuff, but my ears pricked up when i heard about this project (this is more my cup of tea!)... I love these pieces... Interested to know of what happens to this in the future...
