Photos: Jordan Harris
Our cornex:discover series offers a chance to venture beyond the mainstream. The series allows audiences to experience less well known acts and explore new genres of music and gives Cambridge Live the chance to offer a platform for unique performers who we think deserve to be seen.
Thursday 21 April was the first time a cornex:discover show happened at a venue other than the Corn Exchange, with Brazilian artist Criolo performing at the Cambridge Junction. It was the opening concert in Criolo’s first UK tour, which sees him performing his new album Convoque seu Buda in six venues across the country.
In an interview with Cambridge News last week, Criolo said that he wanted his concert to be an evening with “a lot of good energy, deliverance and gratitude” and it definitely was that. Criolo’s performance was enjoyed by an energetic audience of Criolo fans, who were thrilled to see him perform in a much smaller venue than he would in Brazil, and fresh audiences who were there to discover something new. There was a long queue for signings with Criolo after the event, with fans posing for photos.
Criolo was supported by a youth act from Cambridge, organised by Romsey Mill. The boys had prepared some original music and also sampled Criolo’s instrumental. This performance gave them an opportunity to work towards something during weekly sessions and to perform in a professional venue in front of an audience.
During the day, the boys from Romsey Mill watched Criolo sound check and he then watched them and listened to the new track they had written with his instrumental. They had the chance to meet him in his dressing room and ask him questions about his hip hop career and stayed to watch his incredible set after they had performed.
Cambridge Live are very grateful to ARM for their support of the Romsey Mill project and to Cambridge Junction for being such a fantastic venue.
Criolo with the boys from Romsey Mill
There are two shows coming soon in the cornex:discover series:
Tindersticks – Fri 6 May
Cult indie band Tindersticks perform their new album, The Waiting Room, with each song accompanied by a specially commissioned short film produced by La Blogoteque and directed by a host of international film directors.
Ockham’s Razor: Tipping Point – Fri 13 - Sun 15 May
Five performers, enclosed within the circle of the stage, transform simple metal poles into a rich landscape of images. Poles are balanced on fingertips, hung from the roof, lashed, climbed, swung from and walked along, they become forests, crossroads and pendulums. The audience drawn in close as the action veers from catastrophe to mastery.
