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Musicians' Stories Click below for stories of music-making from around the UK. Or use the selector (right) to search by location or type of music. |
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![Davide Giovannini](/staticarchive/3db34fb28aa9322d20a07745c362c31772d1e22f.jpg) |
Musicians A - J |
![Kim Ho Ip](/staticarchive/80f3866cea44379eec023764e9f6b01604405296.jpg) |
Musicians K - P |
![Ritu Sharma](/staticarchive/9444970272e7476666602fec05006b0aff7fe4f3.jpg) |
Musicians R - Z |
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![Kanyinda Koko Mukala](/staticarchive/c74f7f98f91e098da30cc24684fb5ef1595b0e90.jpg) Kanyinda Koko Mukala - Rumba: '...some of my friends disappeared just like that. To this very day, I never knew what happened to them.'
![Keith Angel](/staticarchive/34393827bc28e44803841e5bfcb14b5b0af0dd1b.jpg) Keith Angel - World fusion / English folk / Indian:'Once I heard all this wild music, I dug deeper and got involved in the whole Womad festival scene.'
![Kim Ho Ip](/staticarchive/80f3866cea44379eec023764e9f6b01604405296.jpg) Kim Ho Ip - Chinese instrumental:'...in my high school we were exposed to a different kind of instrument, a different kind of tradition.'
![Lamin Jassey](/staticarchive/5bd6150243cb92b2c3c75896aefd2ffe187693a7.jpg) Lamin Jassey - Sene-Gambian folk:'I've got a small drumming school there called 'Tan Tan Kounda' which means 'House of Drums'
![Len Liggins](/staticarchive/6fad277d50eca2fcc43f8ed2ec445212da5ca064.jpg) Len Liggins - Ukranian:'It is about a kozak (cossack) who has to ride off to war on his horse and leave his sweetheart behind.'
![Ling Lee](/staticarchive/d063e8932c4b9c4ffd3633f6abad7c00363727ad.jpg) Ling Lee - Traditional Chinese:'When learning the Chinese harp I'd practice for six to eight hours each day. Afterwards I'd be overwhelmed with tiredness ...'
![Linos Wengara Magaya](/staticarchive/248aff1bf9ae67497d6c8f1e94cb449f6fd364e9.jpg) Linos Wengara Magaya - Zimbabwean: 'I play solo sometimes, but also with a full band who use drums, keyboards, congas, bass and djembe.'
![Kanyinda Koko Mukala](/staticarchive/e24712e77100b9239b2ae868bfd181cc4a5dbb1d.jpg) Lino Rocha - Salsa / World Fusion: 'The UK Salsa scene was thriving in the mid-eighties and I was naturally drawn to it.'
![Little George Sueref](/staticarchive/412ce08d7034c96cba4a3f7ca82674eee5b347ce.jpg) Little George Sueref - downhome blues / Southern soul: 'I was feeling kind of inward bound, and the words just came right out of my mouth'
![Liz Dutton](/staticarchive/1fc7bb1abb288550737afb8eecd01fa77ec6d902.jpg) Liz Dutton - Gospel / Samba:'I was going through Cardiff town centre one day and became entranced by a group of samba players busking on the street.'
![Lukas](/staticarchive/a196e9a6d1489ac808516c98657f3137ee0c0569.jpg) Lukax Santana - Chilean / South American: 'Pinochet's military coup of 11th September, 1973, ended that. I spent a year in jail...'
![Malo Sonko](/staticarchive/d096019f22a070962184961b45dc758223d51db4.jpg) Malo Sonko - Mandinka Drumming: 'If I can't play I have to go somewhere where I can play. Drums are my medicine - music is my medicine.’
![Martin Taylor](/staticarchive/0ba7e49faa1327bad9c1f530177f92cafaf08495.jpg) Martin Taylor - Scottish / Jazz: '...in fact before I was even big enough to pick up a guitar, I started plucking myself.'
![Michel Cereso](/staticarchive/ed7f0002e7ee2c2ea3ce63425116a0ca7763795b.jpg) Michel Cereso - Bolivian / Samba / Cumbia / Cuban / World fusion: I think Salsa and Samba are replacing Brass Band music in England...'.
![Mikey Doran](/staticarchive/b018c09ae6038139d2b0d7e958524aaf5f56d5ce.jpg) Mikey Doran - Irish uilleann pipe: My grandfather made a tape called 'The Last of the Travelling Pipers'.
![Mamadou Diaw](/staticarchive/fa348791e2c2be0c023ad0150a4283757911a657.jpg) Mamadou Diaw - Senegalese mbalax: 'The master drummer of the area is called to drum the song that will bring out the dragon, Nigki Nanka... '
![Modeste Hugues](/staticarchive/f714f2b0b5ae16d350d913c39f710fb0a877c4db.jpg) Modeste Hugues - Malagasy: 'Though I left Betroka as a young man, Malagasy music is embedded in my heart – it’s in my blood. It keeps me cool and happy'.
![Mohammad Alim Maihan](/staticarchive/ecac3559ab5aba5f16edd83c3b6c50926f83adbb.jpg) Mohammad Alim Maihan - Afghan: 'I play malli music - a mix of Afghani and Indian music which is 5,000 years old.'
![Mosi Conde](/staticarchive/262aec11e6074e50e0c11f2db3754686dca06bc4.jpg) Mosi Conde - Traditional Manding: 'After my work with Messenger of Sakaran, I played with a band called Kalim Star and then I moved to the Ivory Coast'
![Musa Mboob](/staticarchive/770b1f68ce2841843f500814d1c9a295a854dc65.jpg) Musa Mboob - Gambian, mbalax: 'I was coming back and forth, doing tours in England and Switzerland, doing some education work as well in schools.'
![Netsayi Chigwendere © Mark Simmons Photography](/staticarchive/717ffd84e1444f501a8cc99f5546f973c62f52cc.jpg) Netsayi Chigwendere - African American / Zimbabwean: ' I wanted him to teach me about drum patterns, because I wanted to focus on rhythm, but he persuaded me I should learn mbira.'
![Oludele Olaseinde](/staticarchive/baf319845645a2663cf98ccf830a6e1b314e5dba.jpg) Oludele Olaseinde - Toxteth, Liverpool: 'We have so many beautiful folk songs. When we play this music it makes us very happy.'
![PádraigÃn Nà Uallacháin](/staticarchive/59409d96efd1714eb5b2e542839ca1c64c794ca4.jpg) PádraigÃn Nà Uallacháin - sean nos / Irish folk: 'What draws me is the emotion of music and the feeling that's conveyed through performance.'
![Paul Aguilera](/staticarchive/307108878400564f9827eb499a2905768bb23693.jpg) Paul Aguilera - Flamenco / Spanish / Brazilian / Jazz: 'Every village in Spain has a pena so that's what we try to re-create in Lewes.'
![Paul Henderson](/staticarchive/244d5529a8eec3d1da1511ab32415085352c4b74.jpg) Paul Henderson - Scottish folk / Blues: 'They could be singing about something really sad but there’s a wry humour running through it - I relate to that bittersweet balance.'
![Paul Marshall](/staticarchive/b2d6281e9742c9d7d7095523fbb39958dd9a9cd0.jpg) Paul Marshall - World fusion / Irish folk: 'I took a leap of faith, resigned from my Civil Service post and now I'm a professional musician and sound artist.'
![Paulo Carnoth](/staticarchive/ba93a0571f80bed9576f7d654b345842ece32a81.jpg) Paulo Carnoth - Angolan Folk / soul: 'The drum is special because all music comes from the drum.'
![Pedro Martins](/staticarchive/2f15cf3ce0695fea2147fd05f4803101d8327056.jpg) Pedro Martins - Brazilian: 'I wanted to do good music and I kept in mind bossa nova, the gentleness of it.'
![Pete Morton](/staticarchive/85dbe762cbad32157eaee8c6b2b07e8b2c8bed51.jpg) Pete Morton - English folk / country: '...they were songs that were told around the fireplace, before there was any other form of entertainment after a hard day's work'
![Philip Contini](/staticarchive/75d59d07acee6002df8f5aad786f7194d0f2cdcd.jpg) Philip Contini - Italian/Neopolitan: 'When I went to Naples on holiday I'd go to the old music shops and I'd bring back sheet music to learn the songs..'
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