I spent the most glorious day of the year so far in the sepulchral, hipster church of too-cool that is Dalston’s Boys Club - bristling with taxidermy birds, mannequins and stacks of darkly smudged oil paintings against the walls - with sunlight jealously peeping through the gothic scraps of black sheet on the windows at the camera and lights glinting in the gloom. This was how I filmed an exclusive version of Pirates And Diamonds for Spine TV’s March issue of their Stolen Moments series. Here is the film, produced and directed by Dan Canyon and assisted by Jackson Ducasse.
In March 2011 I was commissioned by the Tate Modern to write a new piece - a musical response to Richter’s “Cage Paintings”. I performed it beneath Richter’s breathtaking paintings at the Tate Modern as part of their free Visual Dialogues celebration event.
I’ve just found out I’m a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition, chosen by judges including Peter Gabriel, Tom Waits, Regina Spektor, Adele and Robert Smith (The Cure)!… Well done to all the winners, truly worldwide.
This Friday 11th March 2011 is the UK Premiere of “Life Goes On”, the feature film I wrote some music for and have a cameo appearance in!
I wrote a song called Zindagi especially for the film, along with music by Sarod-player extraordinaire Soumik Datta and Hindi lyrics by Bollywood super-songwriter Javed Akhtar. The film is a British-Asian retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, starring Sharmila Tagore, Om Puri and Soha Ali Khan among others, with visually stunning direction by Sangeeta Datta (Brick Lane). There are a few tickets left for the premiere at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London, on Friday night at 7.30 - www.empirecinemas.co.uk
Or it is being shown at selected cinemas nationwide - check your local listings LifeGoesOnFilm
