Demerara Records

Plans continue to move forward for Demerara Records composer and recording artist Neil March and The Music of Sound with an album and tour project in motion. While Neil waits on decisions by two well-known music industry organisations about possible funding awards he is also exploring the option for crowd-funding.

Neil told DemeraraRecords.com ‘Even if I am fortunate enough to receive funding from one of the bodies I am waiting for news from, I may still pursue the crowd-funding route. I know it will be hard work and will take a gargantuan effort to raise significant funds but it will also give me greater freedom to mix and match the musicians I want to work with both in recording what will be an epic album, over an hour and around 14 tracks and in the subsequent live shows. I have had some amazing advice from fellow artists who have been down this route before and are full of ideas for raising extra cash. So I am thinking very seriously about it now’.

Neil is looking at a number of options including linking advance payment for the album with free tickets to gigs, free extra tracks and unreleased video ‘shorts’. He will also be taking some advice from other successful artist friends like The Untied Knot and Rothko.

Meanwhile we received another piece of exciting news; namely that another BBC Introducing artist who played the same stage at Latitude 2017 as Neil and TMOS may be playing support sets at some of the shows on the proposed tours. If this happens it will be a treat for audiences.

Look out for more news coming soon.

Sunday afternoon (12th November 2017) saw the Barbican Centre host a day of free performances including a stunning set from the (Im)Possibles; a 20+ strong collective of instrumentalists, singers and spoken word artists formed at but not exclusively drawn from Guildhall College of Music & Drama. Among their line-up was Demerara Records composer and pianist Dilara Aydin-Corbett and others who are likely to be involved with the label’s upcoming recording projects.

The group is led by Guildhall tutor Paul Griffiths who conducts while playing guitar and features a full rhythm section plus winds, horns, flutes, keyboards, singers and spoken word artists whose style verges on Hip Hop at times. Their music, all written by the group, is broadly a combination of Jazz Afrobeat Classical Prog Funk Hip Hop and various related influences. Their live energy is infectious, everyone swaying and partying on the stage and making a truly joyous sound.

Also spotted there in the audience were Demerara Records‘ composers and artists Neil March (who was also engaged in a lengthy conversation with another member of the (Im)Possibles about future projects) plus Joshan Mahmud and Sylvain Meneux. A little birdie tells us Moda Trio may have metamorphosised into a Quartet. So watch this space … 

Look out for more news about the (Im)Possibles soon.

Composer David Sutton-Anderson will conduct the New London Wind Ensemble in a concert performing his Nachtritt (for Ten Wind Instruments) at 7.30PM on Friday 17th November 2017 in the Salvation Army Hall on Oxford Street in London’s West End.

The podcast for Sunday’s (15th October 2017) edition of Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone on BBC 6 Music is now available for a month on the BBC website. Here’s the link. Neil’s track and Stuart’s fantastic comments are near the end of the 2 hour show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0992lzl#play

The new Demerara Records-released single by Neil March & The Music of Sound has been featured on Freak Zone with the legendary Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music this evening (Sunday 15th October 2017). Neil’s music has now been featured on the show several times.

The podcast for the show will be posted here very soon.

Reaction on social media to the new video of Water (1st Movement) has been amazing. Check it out on YouTube here.

NEIL MARCH’s ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT CAN BE ACCESSED here.

Composer and Pianist Dilara Aydin-Corbett has joined Neil March & The Music of Sound. Dilara, who became a close friend of Neil’s when they met at Goldsmiths University in 2011 and has performed Neil’s music in the past, will bring both her playing and her composing skills to the ensemble lending it an extended musical remit.

Neil told Demerara Records: ‘I am delighted that Dilara has agreed to join our group. She is much more than just an excellent pianist. Her composing and arranging skills and her positive energy will infuse our music and make us a better ensemble. We have been friends for nearly six years and have talked constantly about collaborating. Now we have that opportunity which is very exciting’.

Writing on social media Dilara exclaimed ‘My good friend and composer Neil March, who recently had the opportunity to play at the Latitude Festival, has asked me to join his group The Music of Sound on keys!! I am so excited to collaborate’.

Neil March & The Music of Sound played an electrifying set to an enthusiastic crowd at the BBC Introducing stage at the Latitude Festival on Sunday 16th July 2017. The line-up was Neil March (Conductor/Composer) John Molloy (Technical Director/Assistant MD) James Saxon (Piano) Matthew Saxon (Flute & Keyboards) and Mark Saxon (Cello).

The band were introduced by BBC Radio 3  presenter Suzy Klein and played a 25 minute set consisting of three tracks from the Demerara Records released EP Music To Plan Towns By plus the epic Metrospectra III from Demerara Records compilation album This is Tomorrow Calling and the newly composed (especially for Latitude) The Whole Town Is Singing.

Neil was also interviewed for BBC Radio 3‘s Late Junction by broadcasting legend Max Reinhardt and for BBC Radio 1 & World Service by Jaguar Bingham. Tracks from the live set and the interview with Neil by Max will be played on Late Junction this week.

Reception to the performance was fantastic and it also emerged that the panel who were tasked with choosing the artists to play the BBC Introducing stage had all picked Neil on the basis of hearing Music To Plan Towns By I.

The Podcast of the Late Junction edition presented by Max Reinhardt is now available for 30 days on the BBC website and includes the live recording of Neil March & The Music of Sound performing Music To Plan Towns By – I at Latitude. Their performance appears at around 1 hour 2 minutes and is followed by some cool incisive comments from Max but of course we recommend the whole 90 minute show. You can listen to it here.