Joglaresa

Early music's 'bit of rough' - this rebellious London-based medieval/folk ensemble sounds more like a street band than a solemn early music group. Joglaresa pushes, and often transcends, the limits of what is thought of as early music and embodies the boldness and improvisatory chutzpah that gets straight to the heart of medieval music.

Comprising outstanding international performers from classical, world and folk, Joglaresa has a sound that is at once traditional and contemporary – combining intoxicating elements of Medieval, Middle Eastern, Flamenco, and Celtic musics, they create a unique London sound that is both extrovert and intimate.

Founded by Belinda Sykes, this London-based ensemble has been playing in changing line-ups since 1992. They were the first medieval band to develop a programme of songs entirely devoted to Mary Magdalen, and they were pioneers in programming medieval Jewish and Arabic texts for otherwise more-commonplace Iberian and Crusades programmes – their Crusades programme (The Scimitar and the Sword) represents the voices of Judaism and Islam alongside the Christian viewpoint, and their Arts Council-award-winning programme of medieval Hebrew/Arabic/Spanish song (Dreams of Andalusia) includes songs by medieval Arab-Andalusian poets and Spanish-Hebrew poets.

Their work focuses on connecting ancient and traditional musics, but rather than create a ‘fusion’ or a surreal mix of these styles, they aim to use their combined experiences (upbringings drenched in traditional Irish, English, Maghrebi, Balkan, and Middle Eastern music) to create a homogenous sound – Joglaresa members spent years in North Africa and the Middle East absorbing the best traditional tunes, learning the local languages (Arabic and Hebrew).

Their performances (and accompanying live radio broadcasts) have included the Aldeburgh Festival, York Early Music Festival, London’s Lufthansa Festival, the Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), St David’s Hall (Cardiff), London’s Barbican Centre, Sana’a & Aden (Yemen), Brezice Early Music Festival (Slovenia), Istanbul, Amsterdam International Festival of Jewish Music, Chinchilla Early Music Festival, and tours in Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Holland.