I was so pleased to be back at Howard Assembly Room I even changed my plans for a weekend away at an old friend’s in Lincolnshire so that I could see this event on Friday and travel on Saturday morning. It was a win/win as I got to see four amazing acts and he and his wife had one fewer day to put up with me.

Not only does Opera North stage major productions, concerts and smaller events at Howard Assembly Room, but they also have various schemes designed to encourage and nurture new talent. The Resonance programme runs workshops for music creators of colour based in the North of England working in any genre. It enables the participants to develop new ideas and, through collaboration with other artists, take their work in other directions. As its name suggests, Resonance Showcase gives said artists a chance to perform their work, presenting it to a wider audience and giving them experience on stage.

The evening was by no means an amateur hour, as some of those who entertained us are already seasoned performers who have used the Resonance scheme to make them more rounded in their work.

Ladies of Midnight Blue. Hannabiell Sanders and Yilis del Carmen Suriel

The show was introduced and compered by Resonance alumni, Ladies of Midnight Blue. The duo comprises Hannabiell Sanders and Yilis del Carmen Suriel, an Afro-Latin percussion and brass combo originally from New Jersey but now based in Newcastle. I must say that they were no Ant and Dec when it came to presenting, but my goodness they blew the place away with their performance which began the second part of the evening.

Camille Maalawy

The first act on the bill was Camille Maalawy, an Egyptian mezzo soprano who performed a song cycle fusing Arabic and European musical styles. The theme of the pieces was the way in which composers, artists and poets have conveyed the feeling of being an outsider. She was accompanied on piano by composer Mark Slater and percussionist Guy Schalom, who, at one point played the tiny finger cymbals with all the panache of one crashing together the full-sized version at an orchestral concert. There was a backdrop enabling explanations of the various pieces to be illustrated and explained but you didn’t need to understand the meaning of the works to appreciate what a fine voice Ms Maalawy possesses. To see Camille’s Resonance video have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exNWUIwO9Ek

Balraj Samrai, SCAPA and LINTD

Next up was Samrai, a musician, DJ, curator and facilitator who has had experience of performing and just released an album called Work & Roti some of the tracks of which he performed with the vocal skills of LINTD and the technical wizardry of SCAPA. I was struggling to place the kind of music this was, electro? rap? ambient? but then I realised that innovative composing and performing should not be pigeon-holed but enjoyed for what it is. To do otherwise is to set your expectations when it comes to future work, thus prejudicing the way in which you approach it.

I missed the title of the first piece they performed so, when the set was over, I spoke with Balraj Samrai who was quite the most pleasant person I have met in a while. I was told that they didn’t know how to describe it either. Based in Manchester, Samrai said that the title of the album was based on the indelible memory of their father who was either working or eating roti, which made him literally the breadwinner!

Rather than my try to describe the music, why not click on this link and hear it for yourself. Samrai is on the keyboards with vocals by LINTD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZlvHPuFAms&t=28s

The second half began with no introduction from the dynamic duo, just Hannibiell Sanders sauntering into the room softly playing the trombone, yes it can be played softly, and chatting with the audience including myself. She whispered something to me which I didn’t catch so she repeated the question as to what I had had for breakfast. I replied that I it was toast to which she informed me her’s had comprised fried shrimp. I resisted the temptation to ask if there was anything special I could cook her for breakfast tomorrow morning, as I had to get an early train to Lincoln and I don’t make promises I can’t keep.

Whilst we were being entertained by the brass section, Yilis del Carmen Suriel had taken her position on stage and had joined in on percussion. She was soon reunited there with her partner and the pair did a couple of numbers in that format before Ms Sanders hung up her trombone and they did some synchronised drumming. Incredible. I found a clip on YouTube of their Resonance Showcase performance when they had completed the workshop. They are a lot more polished now but this gives a great insight into their work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lljwF0FLynU

Ni Maxine

Finally something a little more laid back. Ni Maxine is a neo-jazz composer and vocalist whose work explores what it is like to be a modern black woman in Britain. She was accompanied by pianist, Matt, making her songs match perfectly the intimate seating arrangement for the evening, with cabaret-style tables in front of the stage. I put in my notebook ‘cocktail lounge with a message’. I believe that most of the songs were her compositions although she did sing the Billie Holiday/ Arthur Herzog classic, God Bless The Child, and a great job she made of it too. Something which impressed me as much as her singing was that, although this was her showcase moment, she was generous enough to let Matt have a solo in the piece. Here is a sample of Ni Maxine’s performance accompanied by guitar at Sage, Gateshead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMevMQ5aVrE

If Britain really has got talent then a disproportion of it is based in the North. But we knew that already didn’t we.

For more information about Opera North please go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/ and to see what is coming up at Howard Assembly Room it is https://www.operanorth.co.uk/howard-assembly-room/

All photographs by Stan Graham. Feature image provide by Opera North

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