Under Ubi's Tree Nathan Riki Thomson

• 1Shikamoo Zawose03:49
• 2Bus To Bagamoyo04:13
• 3Waiting For Rain07:44
• 4For Johanna04:50
• 5Illalla04:15
• 6Interlude00:49
• 7Cheza05:21
• 8Under Ubi's Tree04:44
• 9Hello Porcupine03:02
• 10Song For Otso06:27
• Total Runtime45:14

Info for Under Ubi's Tree

Nathan’s trio is featured on the album along side a range of very special guests playing instruments from Africa, Asia, Brazil, Europe, Finland and Lebanon.

The well-travelled, Australian multi-instrumentalist Nathan Riki Thomson plays with groups led by Adriano Adewale and Luke Carver Goss, and this debut complements Adewale's recent album Sementes. There's a similar range of beguiling timbres, but Thomson's work veers towards spacier soundscapes - like New Age, but listenable. Thomson and producer-percussionist Simon Allen make their studio a mirror of the world, with thumb pianos, Hungarian cimbalom, Masai flutes, Arabic ney and everything you can shake a stick at - or just shake. Thomson's Finnish wife, Katja, supplies ethereal vocals on Waiting for Rain and the semi-traditional Song for Otso. There are traces of many kinds of world music - from Naná Vasconcelos to Radio Tarifa - but Thomson seems keen to avoid any single category, an admirable aim that makes the project hard to pin down. Fortunately, his forthright bass-playing and engaging themes mean that songs such as Cheza and the title track reward repeated listening. (John L Walters, The Guardian)

Adriano Adewale, Percussion, Berimbau, Calabash, Pandeiro
Simon Allen, Percussion, Concertina, Dulcimer, Bass Harmonica, Saw, Waterphone
Nathan Riki Thomson, Double Bass, Flutes, Ilimba, Kantele, Litungu

Special guests:
Jenny Adejayan, Cello
Antonio Forcione, Guitar
Jan Hendrickse, Fujara, Filimbi, Arabic Ney
Marit Lyngra, Violin
Nia Lynn, Vocals
John K. Miles, Bass Flute
Cassius Mlewa Magana, Vocals, Percussion
Katja Thomson, Viola, Vocals

Nathan Riki Thomson - Bassist
and multi-instrumentalist and composer with a focus on acoustic and traditional instruments. He has collaborated and performed with musicians from many parts of the world with a special interest in Africa where he lived and worked with traditional musicians for five years. He established the Amani Ensemble project in Tanzania, which is a unique ensemble made up of traditional musicians and dancers who perform, record and work on community projects in Tanzania. During his time in Tanzania Nathan was also a student of master musician Dr. Hukwe Zawose.

Nathan was born in Australia where he studied classical and jazz performance at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Further studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama brought him to London where he is now based. Nathan plays Double Bass, Flutes and Kalimba with the acclaimed Antonio Forcione Quartet, which performs all over the world. Performances include international festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, The Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and The Edinburgh festival. He is also in demand as a session player and performs with The Carver Trio, DouDou Cissoko, The Adriano Adewale Group and The Ian Macmillan Orchestra. Nathan is featured on the Live DVD and CD of the Antonio Forcione Quartet, which was released in 2007.

Nathan also performs and records for Film and Theatre. Credits include playing on the soundtrack for Paramount Pictures ‘Sahara’, the National Theatres production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and BBC’s ‘Skin Deep’.

Nathan teaches at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and works on community and education projects for many organizations. He was involved in researching trans-cultural arts practice for the Guildhall and has designed several innovative projects for the British Council in Africa and The Philippines, with a focus on collaboration between musicians from different cultures.

Adriano Adewale - Percussionist
was born in Sao Paulo‚ Brazil. He moved to London in 2000 and formed his first UK band Sambura, which released one album: Cru. Performing in various festivals and venues, Adriano was introduced to Antonio Forcione and soon became part of the Antonio Forcione Quartet which has been performing all over the world.

Other great collaborators he has worked with include: Jonny Phillips, Seu Jorge, Jonathan Preiss, Seb Rochford, Monica Vasconcelos, Andy Sheppard, Tuti Moreno, Rodolfo Stroeter, Modeste Hughes, Gustavo Marques, Netsayi Chigwendere, Julia Biel, Zoe Rahman, Steve Lodder and Ronu Majumdar. Working in partnerships with artists, he created sound tracks for: fine artist Monica de Miranda, the English dance company Stacked Wonky and a percussion based sound track for an animation movie based on the fairy tale ‚'Little Red Riding Hood'. He also shared the stage with Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe), Tcheka (Cape Verde) and supported Cesaria Evora, Airton Moreira and Flora Purim, Jools Holland, Seu Jorge, and Boubacar Traore. Venues he has perfrmed at include : QEH, RFH, Barbican, Apollo, Usher Hall, Olimpia (Paris), Jazz Cafe, Ronnie Scotts, SAGE.

In 2007 he formed international world-jazz quartet the Adriano Adewale Group releaseing their acclaimed debut album SEMENTES in 2008. As well as touring with his band, he has also developed a new cross-artform solo project SOUND JOURNEY in partnership with SEGUE Productions which was presented in 2009 at the Latitude Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Adriano Adewale is Artist in Residence at the Lakeside Theatre University of Essex, an Associate Artist of SEGUE and an Escalator Artist supported by Arts Council England East.

Simon Allen - Drums, Percussionist
Simon allen was brought up in northern ireland. raised on fry-ups and the bible he decided to leap across the ocean and landed in mighty england where he has remained for the past few years. he’s lived in many english towns and cities, some good, some very good. a few years back he met a woman with a black eye. a year later they were married and a year after that they celebrated the birth of their first child together, 17 months after that they had another to round off teamallen. around this time simon felt the fire of music burning in his belly again. simon is busy recording his debut album amongst a myriad of other things which make for one very busy boy!

Booklet for Under Ubi's Tree