The Bamboo Pearl Orchestra

 The Bamboo Pearl Orchestra

 Standing l-r: Ai Zaini, Ismet Ruchimat, Abdullah Mufa, Martyn Barker, Colin Bass, Phousa Thirapouth, Rita Tila, Julian Poulsen, Srey Channthy, Tong and Nenni. Front: Ben Mandelson, Kim Burton, Great Lekakul

 

The highlight of the summer for me was the opportunity to put together a glittering array of singers, musicians and dancers for the BT River of Music Festival, part of the Olympic Culture programme which took place in London a week before the opening of the games. The commission was to make a one-hour performance including artists from six Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei. First step was getting in my long-time collaborator Ismet Ruchimat and fabulous singing lady Rita Tila from Indonesia, both of the dynamic urban gamelan collective from Bandung, Sambasunda. Then came the idea of putting them together with Srey Channthy and Julien Poulsen of the amazing psychedelic combo from Phnom Phen, the Cambodian Space Project. 
That used up all the budget for long-distance flights so further research and recruitment was confined to artists already in the UK. Which was totally ok, as fellow producer, tireless liaison and coordination and concept development and realisation expert Katerina Pavlakis and I were able to bring together the young