Experimental musicians Midori Takada and Lafawndah premiere their stage work Ceremonial Blue – a groundbreaking show somewhere between musical performance and ritualistic theatre.
At the heart of the piece is Le Renard Bleu, their vividly beautiful 2018 piece conjuring the folkloric blue fox. With Ceremonial Blue, they pursue this myth even further, as Midori's minimalist percussion is augmented by Lafawndah's lofty, devotional vocal performances. They are joined by Indonesian dancer Dian Bokir, and SAMGHA, a group of Japanese Buddhist monks.
You can see why the cross-generational duo works so well – each artist has a daring and wide-reaching approach to creativity and theatricality. Midori Takada’s cult 1983 album Through The Looking Glass drew on classical minimalism, Ghanaian drumming and Japanese ceremonial traditions. Meanwhile, Lafawndah folds rhythms drawn from every corner of influence into the centre-piece of her new lane of pop music.