Nik Nak

Approx. 30 min set

‘Origin’
An improvised turntable performance honouring Daphne Oram. 

For this special live performance on turntables, Nik Nak will create an improvisational piece using Daphne’s unique sounds, responding to them in real-time and manipulating them using effects and experimental scratch techniques to create strange, new textures from the Oram archives.

A trailblazing musical polymath, NikNak has carved a niche for herself in the music industry with her distinctive turntablism, immersive compositions, and captivating improvised performances.

QUBe

Approx. 10-15 min set

QUBe members will form the house band for the Handmade Music series. QUBe is a music collective based in Belfast involving students, staff, and musicians from inside and outside Queen’s University Belfast. QUBe brings together performers from diverse artistic backgrounds and musical interests.

Afromerm and Abi Asisa 

Approx. 30 min set

‘1966 interrupted’ 

1966 interrupted can be described as a transtemporal, collage-like sonic dialogue with Daphne Oram. Working with two surviving waveform slides from Oram’s Oramics machine, afromerm and abi asisa interpreted the slides as a graphic score, manipulating and obscuring the cello’s timbre in real time.

Their duet performance presents this piece alongside other compositions; they blend live processing, improvisation, and interruption, creating a dynamic interplay of texture, memory, and transformation.

afromerm and abi asisa are London-based composers whose practices have often intertwined, via various projects within their artistic ecosystems. Both projects draw influence from classical, jazz and experimental traditions.

Sourdure

Approx. 45 min set

Based in the French commune of Thiers, Ernest Bergez, aka Sourdure, has been exploring the boundaries of distant sound worlds for the past ten years, combining a spirit of experimentation with a personal, hand-crafted approach to traditional musical objects.

Both hybrid and exploratory, Sourdure’s music reveals many facets: baroque inventions on a traditional canvas, vociferous carnival-esque odes, stylistic borrowings from oriental music, and futuristic sonics born from musique concrète.

Bergez can be considered a one-man orchestra; his vocals are inspired by the voices of classical Arabic, Turkish or Persian music with the Occitan language of Auvergne taking centre stage. The rustic acoustics of the violin or the dotar (a Central Asian lute) combine with primitive electronics to create a kind of alchemy – altering our perceptions and the course of time.

We can’t wait to welcome Sourdure to Handmade Music for an extended set.

QUBe

Approx. 10-15 min set

QUBe members will form the house band for the Handmade Music series. QUBe is a music collective based in Belfast involving students, staff, and musicians from inside and outside Queen’s University Belfast. QUBe brings together performers from diverse artistic backgrounds and musical interests.