Music

A Golden String: William Blake In Words, Song and Image

Susheela Raman and Sam Mills

Date and Time:: Saturday 24 Jan, 7-8pm
Location:: Minassa

‘A Golden String’ is a performance work created by singer Susheela Raman, which meshes music, poetry and visual art to offer a raw encounter with the mind of visionary poet and artist William Blake (1757- 1827). Susheela Raman performs alongside her co-composer and guitarist Sam Mills.

The show features powerful visuals drawn from William Blake’s art curated by Stephen Ellcock and designed by Sam Sharples.

Two hundred years after his death in poverty and obscurity, Blake’s work retains a surprising edge, relevance and popularity. A dissenting thinker who celebrated the power of the individual imagination to shape the reality we experience, Blake, the working Londoner, has in turn inspired countless artists, poets, writers and musicians to commit to their own vision.

In an era of identity politics, disinformation, digital surveillance and environmental crisis, Blake reminds us that the individuals artistic and poetic imagination are indispensable. Susheela says “As a child of immigrants myself, I find Blake’s imaginative perspective on place, person and identity to be timely and very necessary.”

Doors open at 6.30pm; performance starts at 7pm and finishes at 8pm; no intervals.

Susheela Raman is a London born singer and composer. A compelling performer on stage and in the studio, described by the Guardian as “that rarity: a true innovator.” Alongside guitarist and producer Sam Mills, she has made eight albums beginning with the Mercury-shortlisted ‘Salt Rain’ in 2001 through to ‘Ghost Gamelan’ in 2018 which was nominated by The Guardian and Le Monde among their albums of the year. Susheela has performed around the world and she has helmed ambitious and acclaimed live projects involving Indian classical and folk musicians, Sufi devotional singers, Eastern Christian musicians from Greece, Russia and Ethiopia, Javanese Gamelan ensembles and Moroccan Gnawa Trance masters amongst others. Her current focus on by William Blake follows the unorthodox questing spirit of her previouswork.

Sam Mills was born in London and started his musical adventures in post-punk experimentalist band 23 Skidoo. After first visiting India in the mid-1980s, he lived in Bangladesh and Japan and gained a Phd in Anthropology from the LSE, on the topic of Sufism. Returning to music, he produced several records for Peter Gabriel’s Real World records. This began with ‘Real Sugar’ (1997) a collaboration with Bengali singer Paban Das Baul. Sam also organised concerts in London featuring Baul musicians and performed live with Paban Das Baul and others at WOMAD, Jaipur Lit Fest, Sydney Opera House, The Barbican and the South Bank. He has been working closely with Susheela, co-creating all her albums and live projects since 1998.