Side project news: over the past 5 years, I’ve been performing clarinet, tin whistles, and singing with a Brisbane multicultural folk music band called Ensemble Diaspora.

I’m well behind on sharing updates (can I blame the global pandemic?) - but, we’ve recorded two singles!

Written by other members of Ensemble Diaspora, singles Ritual and Daffodil Reverie draw on Celtic and Persian folk music. They are available to download/stream at all the usual places. (Except actual streams, rivers or creeks).

1. Ritual
I played clarinet and sang some (very distant) high backing vocals in the recording of this song! I also co-produced and edited the recording with arranger/percussionist Arash Zanganeh - with the great help of staff at The Edge, State Library of Queensland. Guest vocalist Saman Sarami was recorded in Iran by Arash Zanganeh.

The song received a Highly Commended in the World Music category of the 2020 QUEENSLAND MUSIC AWARDS!

Wonderfully unexpectedly, through singer Saman’s connections, the satellite network GEM TV offered to make a video clip for the song! The beautiful video (featuring Saman Sarami) is available to watch on YouTube.

Ritual was written by Ensemble Diaspora members Sebastian Flynn and Arash Zanganeh.

2. Daffodil Reverie
On this track, I played tin whistle and clarinet.

Featuring Grammy-nominated vocalist Tenzin Choegyal, it was composed by Ensemble Diaspora members Martin Reese and Arash Zanganeh, and was inspired by the way that English dance tunes speed up and slow down.

Stream/download now!

In early September, my multicultural music group Ensemble Diaspora performed at Sandgate Town Hall, as part of the beloved Music by the Sea series that is held there once a month.

This was the first time I'd ever performed in Sandgate - and was blown away by how enthusiastic the audience was. I was told it was a full house! A concert of Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and Celtic folk music might be seen as "niche", but the audience seemed to love every minute of it - calling for an encore at the end!

In addition to our usual Ensemble Diaspora setlist, we broke into duets and trios throughout. Here is a video of Martin Reese and I playing a Galician tune. I don't even know the name of this tune. I heard it played by an Irish musician named Adrian Jeffries at an Irish music session around a decade ago, which I recorded and learnt. Thankfully, Martin somehow knows the chords, so two days before the show, we decided to perform it! (Well, I decided, and Martin was happy to play it, because he is a legend. Between the beautiful acoustics of Sandgate Town Hall, and the talents and care of the wonderful sound technician - I think it sounded rather lovely!

Thanks to Music By The Sea for asking us to perform and for capturing this video.

And, thank-you to our audience at Sandgate It was a blast!