Memory Of A Free Festival – Lady Grinning Soul Live Video – Raf and O on The Beckenham Bandstand + Kaparte Oxjam 2013
October 13, 2013 § Leave a comment
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When we wrote about our memories of the festival in our last blog , we mentioned a new video was on the way – here it is, all the way from the Beckenham bandstand!
Raf and O perform a micro rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’ and ‘Lady Grinning Soul’.
Huge thanks to Luigi Altilia for filming. Further below – ‘Beckenham: Free Festival at bandstand jogs memories of a star man’s arts scene’.
Thanks goes to Wendy Woo for sending the newspaper clipping from the day above.
And from the iconic victorian bandstand to the stylish art deco settings of The Ivy House in Nunhead. Keeping it live in the South East, Raf and O will be performing next, at the excellent Kaparte Oxjam Festival- a great line up, alongside Ernesto Tomasini, Gagarin and more. Friday 18th October, a night of experimental and electronic music, avant-garde entertainment, visuals and djs. All proceedings will go to Oxfam. For details, address, tickets and FB event, please see our LIVE PAGE.
See you there!
X
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‘We Played Our Songs And Felt The London Sky …’ Memories Of Memory Of A Free Festival
September 23, 2013 § Leave a comment
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photo by Dave Flynn Photography
photo by Luigi Altilia
‘Tons of aliens came down, did you not recognise them?’ #rain Raf and O tweet. So the rain machine came down this time, but the crowd was not afraid.
Umbrella heaven in Croydon Road Recreation Ground and we all had a fabulous time!!!
‘Memory Of A Free Festival managed to recreate the magic of the original event’ – a local newspaper reports. The Beckenham Free Festival remake to save the iconic bandstand has been supported by David Bowie who donated signed items that were auctioned on the day. Media coverage includes the Independent, Daily Telegraph, NME, several others got behind the Festival. BBC news and radio also covered the event.
Raf and O had the pleasure to play a live session/ interview for BBC Radio Kent Breakfast Show prior to the Festival.
‘We played our songs and felt the London sky …’
photo by Dave Flynn Photography
We also had the privilege to open up proceedings on the Beckenham bandstand. After initial speeches from festival organiser Natasha Ryzhova Lau and Mary Finnigan who organised the original one with David, we took the stage; it had just started to pour down…the wind was sweeping the rain onto the bandstand, but we did not care, the audience was great, we opened with a micro rendition of ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’ then we played the rest of our set and ended with ‘Lady Grinning Soul’. I felt David’s energy up there.
It was a pleasure to share the stage with all who performed, we met some great people, performers, technicians, the audience, volunteers, people from present, past and future; Bill Liesegang, Amory Kane and Mary sharing their memories from 1969. All together at the end for a jam session joining in a longer version of ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’ – Darcy Debrett brought and played an harmonium for the occasion. This was the closure to the second chapter on the bandstand.
Then the auction …
Thanks to Mark Sparkler who compered on the day, Val on sound, big thanks to Natasha who’s done a fab job, Luigi Altilia for filming, all who took photographs, all who shared this moment. A live video from the event will be posted up soon.
Next we will be playing at the ever wonderful Kaparte Oxjam Festival – please check our LIVE PAGE for details and tickets.
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Time Machine And The Sun Machine – Memory Of A Free Festival 2013
August 7, 2013 § 1 Comment
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Raf and O announce the new album ‘Time Machine’ will be out in the autumn. We are extremely pleased to say that our album will be out before the year’s over; July called for some splendid sun, we’ve been walking and replenishing! We’re now making plans for our new release and will keep you posted.
On the gigging front, we’ve been playing some fresh material. Performing on the carpet where Bob Dylan stood and played London for the first time, Scaledown 90 at The King and Queen was our recent live outing. On the night also a powerful solo performance by the brilliant Charles Hayward. Thanks Scaledown for hosting us, it was a great night!
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Raf and O performing ‘Lady Grinning Soul’ December 2012 and Raf and O in the studio
We’re playing ‘Schrödinger’ And It’s Scaledown!
June 24, 2013 § Leave a comment
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Hi folks,
our next live outing will be at Scaledown a regular and welcome monthly night from the promoters of The Orchestra Pit.
Raf and O are so looking forward to join this month’s line up which will also see the splendid Charles Hayward performing!
Bird Radio’s birthday also beckons this July, we shall be joining the cocktail of musical elements in celebration at Stoke The Fire – details will be posted on our Live page.
Thanks to Jude Cowan for hosting us at the Full Stop last month where we tested out our new song ‘Schrödinger’ and to those who were there to support the experiment.
First up, this Friday, Scaledown 90! Upstairs at the King and Queen, London, W1.
Details HERE and FB EVENT
Raf and O x
Full Stop Gig, Nedry Remix of ‘The Fog’, ‘Strange’ Live Video
May 20, 2013 § Leave a comment
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Hi all,
Come join us this Sunday, see/ hear for yourself. Details on the LIVE PAGE.
Facebook event
Here is one more video courtesy of Luigi Altilia from our launch at Cafe OTO back in April.
‘Raf and O caress Bowie’ Bowie Wonderworld
Raf and O x
Lady Grinning Soul / The Fog Out Now + News From Launch at Cafe OTO
April 8, 2013 § Leave a comment
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Hello!
our single is coming out today!! Very excited about it, it’s a self-release, please support us by getting yourself a copy HERE
It includes our version of David Bowie‘s Lady Grinning Soul (studio take)
‘The Fog’ and a remix of The Fog by electronic trio Nedry.
The LIVE VIDEO has reached 1000 plays in just over a month and the feedback so far has been fantastic!
‘Very creative. I enjoyed it a lot’
Mike Garson (David Bowie’s pianist/ collaborator since 1972)
‘Awesomely bizarre’
God Is In The TV Zine
‘Raf and O caress Bowie’
Bowie Wonderworld
News from our recent Launch at Cafe OTO … it was a wicked night! You can watch a video HERE and there’s more to come.
Thanks to all who came down to this brilliant venue; so many people and such an attentive audience! Promoted by our wonderful friend, the very excellent Klarita from Kaparte, we supported Larsen with Little Annie – they did a fantastic show.
And thanks to Angelique Le Marchand for these and other brilliant shots! (Below)
Get yourself a copy of our single, it’s going for a song, quite literally on iTunes!
LADY GRINNING SOUL / THE FOG – BUY HERE
Raf and O x
Mike Garson And Bowie Wonderworld Praise Raf and O’s Version Of Lady Grinning Soul!
March 14, 2013 § Leave a comment
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Raf and O are thrilled to have received this endorsement from David Bowie’s creative collaborator since 1972 and stunning pianist on the original ‘Lady Grinning Soul‘!
‘Very creative. I enjoyed it a lot’ Mike Garson. Raf is buzzing, as this era of Bowie was central to her initial musical development.
Our live video has also been featured in the Bowie Wonderworld website and has been described as ‘Raf and O caress Bowie’.
The upcoming single ‘Lady Grinning Soul/ The Fog will soon be available to pre-order. To be updated on this, please join our mailing list; just send an email to info@rafando.com
By joining you will also be entitled to periodic freebies only available to this list.
We are really excited and your support is absolutely invaluable.
Tickets for the launch at Cafe OTO are still available HERE
Raf and O x
Raf and O announce release for Bowie’s Lady Grinning Soul + The Fog + Remix by Nedry (Cafe OTO Launch)
February 26, 2013 § Leave a comment
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Hi folks!
Lots happening!!!
Having spent all of 2012 closing the live shows with our rework of David Bowie‘s ‘Lady Grinning Soul from the seminal album ‘Aladdin Sane‘ we are finally releasing it ahead of our new album. We’ve had some thoroughly excellent feedback from live audiences, so we are celebrating this as well as Bowie’s return!! Being long standing fans of his work and Raf a complete Bowie nut means we are buzzing!
It will be released as a package containing the studio version of ‘Lady Grinning Soul‘, ‘The Fog‘ and a wicked Remix of the latter courtesy of the brilliant three piece post-dubstep/ electronic band Nedry. More details on this soon.
In the meantime, here is a video of a live version of ‘Lady Grinning Soul’ from the Lewisham Arthouse show – massive thanks to Luigi Altilia for filming.
The launch is to be taking place at CAFE OTO on April 1st promoted by the wonderful Klarita from Kaparte Promotions – great venue and great bill!
We will be opening for Larsen (15 years of avant/ experimental activity) on their European Tour feat. legendary dub-diva Little Annie (a.k.a. Annie Anxiety Bandez), who has recently released her autobiography.
You can get your TICKETS HERE
FACEBOOK EVENT
We’ve also just started a TWITTER page – you can follows us HERE
Extremely excited 😀
Raf and O
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‘Saturated Dreams’ Live Video
January 2, 2013 § Leave a comment
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Happy New Year!
As promised …. first of a clutch of videos – from the Lewisham Arthouse Show, December 2012 .
ENJOY!
From 12 12 And Back – A Year Of Live Reflections
December 21, 2012 § Leave a comment
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Thanks 2012 for making our yet unreleased new album come alive ‘live’!
The Lewisham Arthouse show captured the whole essence of the year! We have for that to thank Charles Hayward who’s been making brilliant forward thinking music for decades; Charles curated the whole event – it was a special night. Brian did the beautiful winterland decor making the Lewisham Arthouse into a magical environment and even fetched for us the paper moon lamp that we planned to rig up but never quite found the time to implement. We plunged into a long set and so did the fabulous Snorkel after us – a great energy was shared by everybody in the room. It was all captured in photos (to be found HERE) and live video footage, which will be made available very soon. A big thanks goes to Luigi Altilia for filming us in action.
And thank you if you’ve come to our shows, offered us shows, fed back on material, bought our music and/ or supported us in some way, please spread the word, it’s fundamental for independent music!!
Have a beautiful Xmas time.
Raf and O x
Raf and O 
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