Thursday 13 January 2022, 8pm
The duo of NAIMA KARLSSON and KENICHI IWASA first came together for a performance celebrating the art and music of Karlsson's grandparents, Moki and Don Cherry, before continuing as an independent unit that still incorporates some of the Cherrys' instruments as well as their synergetic integration of improvised music with visual art. Preferring the stark contrasts of analog/digital, acoustic/electric, and natural/unnatural sounds, the duo collide piano, trumpet, percussion and two of Don Cherry's "zen saxophones", (woodwinds handmade by attaching reed mouthpieces to plastic plumbing parts), with loops, sampling, and anachronistic '90s keyboards.
With such timbral juxtapositions, the spirit of Exotic Sin is reminiscent of a number of leftfield jazz-meets-electronics duos from the 1970s, including Don Cherry's collaborations with Jon Appleton and Terry Riley, Anthony Braxton's work with Richard Teitelbaum, and lhan Mimaro lu's album with Freddie Hubbard, Sing Me a Song of Songmy (Atlantic, 1971).
Kenichi Iwasa is an improviser and multidisciplinary artist, also known for his legendary Krautrock Karaoke night, and collaborations with visual artists and musicians such as Beatrice Dillon, Maxwell Sterling and Linder Sterling.
Naima Karlsson is a musician, visual artist and an archivist/coordinator for the Cherry Estate. She continues to learn and study Don's compositions and his approach to piano with her uncles, Eagle-Eye and David Ornette Cherry, and with the Mexican pianist Ana Ruiz who collaborated and toured with Don and Moki in 1977.
TYSON is a singer, songwriter and performer. She co-founded Ladies Music Pub (LMP) a non-profit organisation for women, non-binary and gender variant people working in and around music. LMP is also a record label through which she self released her debut EP ‘Pisces Problems’ in 2021. She is the sister of Naima, and occasional collaborator with Exotic Sin.
