iyatraQuartet Launch BREAK THE DAWN in City Hope Church

On 30 September Tuned In London have invited iyatraQuartet to launch their critically acclaimed lockdown album BREAK THE DAWN, in person! This is a chance to hear the album performed live and to hear new music by this unique quartet, including a new commission to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower´s voyage from Rotherhithe to the ´New World´.

iyatraQuartet take their name from the Hindi word ‘yatra’ for ‘travel’ with a sense of a ‘pilgrimage’, a journey that started for the quartet 8 years ago. Their music evolves through group improvisation sessions, drawing on diverse inspirations from plainchant, English folksong, poetry and Karnatic classical music.

BREAK THE DAWN has both delicacy and power throughout. The core instruments of violin (Alice Barron), bass clarinet (George Sleightholme), cello (Rich Phillips) and percussion (Will Roberts) are augmented by additional instruments, all performed by the quartet, including bodhran, singing bowls, charango, kalimba, rice bowls, tabla and a healthy dose of sublime vocals.

iyatraQuartet make original music rooted in ancient melodies and folk tales. Their distinct vocal harmonies emerge from a rich sound world of soaring strings, the exuberant lyricism of the bass clarinet and sensitive percussion abounding with groove.

Delving into generations-old European traditions for inspiration, particularly the work of 12th Century pioneering female composers, iyatraQuartet re-imagine early music and stories through their unique contemporary twist. Taking their name after the Hindi word for travel or pilgrimage, the band embraces this sense of journey through place and time in their music.

iyatraQuartet: Break The Dawn Live

30th September 7.45pm Tickets £8 / £10 / £14

City Hope Church SE16 2JY

City Hope Church is opposite the Biscuit Factory on Drummond Road and is an easy walk from Bermondsey Tube Station. It is spacious with plenty of scope for good social distancing measures.

“Absolutely beautiful” Cerys Matthews BBC Radio 6 Music

“Melding their classical roots with dynamic traditional and improvised music” Hannah Peel, BBC Radio 3

“Totally wonderful” Max Reinhardt, Soho Radio

“With Break the Dawn they’ve scored an absolute triumph!” DJ Ritu, A World In London

“... exquisite polyphony... a journey worth joining” Liam Izod, Songlines

“Break the Dawn exists as a complex, stunningly-performed artefact that offers a little hope in dark times” FolkRadioUK

“There’s Minimalism and late twentieth century modernity in your music… But you’ve gone much further afield, the harmonies, the way you use your instruments…each of the pieces take us on a journey…” Max Reinhardt, Soho Radio

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