Charlie Cawood Explained

Charlie Cawood
Landscape:yes
Birth Name:Charles Dennis Cawood
Birth Date:1988 3, df=y
Birth Place:Barking, London, England
Origin:Ilford, London, England
Years Active:2005–present
Label:Bad Elephant Music
Past Member Of:Achilla

Charles Dennis Cawood (born 19 March 1988) is an English multi-instrumental musician, composer and music journalist, known for his cross-disciplinary musical skills as well as his work with a wide variety of projects and artists.

An active member of Kyros, Lost Crowns, Knifeworld, Mediaeval Baebes, My Tricksy Spirit, Join the Din and Tonochrome (as well as a regular collaborator with The Anchoress), Cawood has worked in art rock, pop, folk and early music as well as Indian, Chinese and Balinese music and a variety of other forms. He has also released two solo albums of ensemble instrumental music.

Biography

Background and influences

Charles Dennis Cawood[1] is a native Londoner who began playing guitar at the age of eleven and soon developed a strong interest in experimental rock music. Educated at Loxford School of Science and Technology and training with Redbridge Music Services, he took classical exams up to ABRSM Grade 8, also playing in the RMS guitar ensemble and the Redbridge Youth Jazz Orchestra (winning the Jack Petchey Achievement award as well as the guitar prize at the Stratford & East London Music Festival two years running).

While still a teenager, Cawood became interested in the music of other cultures. Learning flamenco guitar at Escuela de Baile, he also branched out into studying the music of India, China and Bali via the Asian Music Circuit, learning the sitar under Mehboob Nadeem and the Chinese pipa lute under Cheng Yu (leader of the UK Chinese Music Ensemble) during summer schools at the Royal Academy of Music).[2] [3] [4]

Cawood graduated from both the Guitar Institute and the London Centre of Contemporary Music, gaining a Bachelor's degree in Popular Music Performance and Production. He went on to gain a Master's degree in Music Performance at SOAS, specialising in composition and in the music of East Asia and Southeast Asia). Having continued to broaden his performance skills, Cawood currently plays around twenty different instruments. He regularly performs on guitar (acoustic, electric and nylon-string classical), bass guitar, sitar, zither, cuatro, hurdy-gurdy, lyre and lap harp as well as occasional keyboards, gamelan instruments and the taishōgoto (Nagoya harp). Cawood also specialises in a variety of lutes – the Greek bouzouki and tzouras; the Arabian oud; the Turkish cümbüş and bağlama (or saz); the Chinese pipa, liuqin and ruan (the latter in its tenor and bass zhongruan and daruan/moon lute variants); the Japanese shamisen and the European lute.

Cawood should not be confused with the other London-based musician called Charlie Cawood (who leads the acid/roots rock project Time Space Reality Band and is billed as "Shane Charles Cawood" at ASCAP).[5] [6]

Career

Early work

Even before graduation, Cawood was heavily involved in both London's live music scene and in touring music. By the age of seventeen, he'd become a professional musician.[7] In 2006, at the age of eighteen, he toured as a backup guitarist for Icelandic alt-folk singer Hafdis Huld, during which time he also made his debut radio broadcast on Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Music show. Between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one, Cawood played guitar and bass guitar in Achilla, a Gothic progressive metal band (also featuring future Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida)[8] [9] which got strong reviews from Metal Hammer for their eponymous debut EP (plus an 8/10 live review).

Main work as band member

Cawood is currently the principal backing instrumentalist and co-arranger for Mediaeval Baebes (for whom he plays up to eight different instruments on tour).[10] As of 2020, he has performed a similar role for the Anchoress.

As an art-rock/progressive rock band member, Cawood is the bass guitarist for Kyros, Lost Crowns and Knifeworld, and the guitarist for art-pop group Tonochrome. Cawood has also contributed guitar/bass guitar/bağlama to "noir art-deco pop" project Spiritwo and has covered for guitarist Keith Moline in Kev Hopper's "micro-riffing" art-rock quartet Prescott. He has worked with goth/post-punk/industrial pop band Neurotic Mass Movement[11] and previously played guitar for the Frank Zappa cover band Spiders of Destiny.

Outside of the rock world, Cawood plays bass guitar, electric guitar, sitar and tzouras for the "electronic gamelan" group My Tricksy Spirit. and both electric and acoustic bass (plus electric guitar, sitar and bağlama) for London nu-jazz band Join the Din. He sometimes plays chamber folk with fellow Mediaeval Baebe Sophie Ramsay[12] and currently performs hammer dulcimer with occasional sea shanty band Admirals Hard (alongside Knifeworld/Lost Crowns bandmates Kavus Torabi and Richard Larcombe plus other London-based art rockers).

Classical and world music work

As a classical musician, Cawood is best known for having performed the pipa part for the UK premiere of Philip Glass' chamber opera Sound of a Voice but has also worked with the Chamber Music Company and the Temujin Ensemble.

Cawood is also a noted player on the London world music scene. He has performed Chinese music (mostly on daruan) with Yin Yang Collective,[13] [14] Central Asian music (on oud, bağlama and pipa) with Uzbek singer Alla Seydalieva, and Turkish/Romani music with Opaz Ensemble.[15] He was also part of the Anatolian folk-fusion group which later launched the career of Olcay Bayir.[16] [17] As a gamelan musician, he's worked with LSO Community Gamelan Group[18] and Lila Cita.

Work as project leader and composer

In addition to his work as a supporting player, Cawood composes his own instrumental music. He has stated that although his music refers to and is influenced by avant-garde music, he doesn't aim to be avant-garde himself, preferring to produce "accessible" music.[19] His debut solo album, The Divine Abstract was released on the Bad Elephant Music label on 3 November 2017. Blending multiple aspects and influences from Cawood's career to date, the album featured twenty-one musicians drawn from his varied other bands and projects, including Mediaeval Baebes, Tonochrome, Knifeworld and assorted musicians associated with his SOAS alma mater. The Divine Abstract also featured forty-two different instruments drawn from European, Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern traditions – various guitars and lutes; assorted keyboards, woodwinds, reeds, brass and strings; erhu, sitar, pipa, and a variety of percussion instruments from tuned Western orchestral to gamelan. The Divine Abstract received rave reviews, mostly from progressive rock magazines and websites.[20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]

Cawood's second solo album, Blurring into Motion, was released in 2019. Featuring a more Western-orientated instrumental palette, it featured two writing-and-performance collaborations with iamthemorning singer Marjana Semkina of as a guest vocalist on two tracks, and (bar returning cor anglais player Ben Marshall) a mostly new sixteen-strong cast of supporting musicians including percussionist Beibei Wang, London Myriad Ensemble flautist Julie Groves, VÄLVĒ harpist Elen Evans, cellist Maddie Cutter (Parallax Orchestra, Anna Meredith) and fellow composer-instrumentalists Maria Moraru (Pandora Jodara, Lullabies for the New Normal, Modulus Quartet, Mediaeval Baebes) and Thomas Stone. As was the case with its predecessor, the album was well received by reviewers.[27] [28] [29] [30]

Teaching and journalism

Cawood also works as an educator and writer. He teaches at the part-time guitar courses at the London Centre of Contemporary Music (part of the London College of Creative Media) and at All About the Band (a workshop for teenage musicians in the London borough of Southwark). He is a contributing writer for the folk and world music magazine Songlines. As an acknowledged sufferer from depression, he's written about the topic and its specific impact on musicians in an article written for Echoes and Dust.[31]

Discography

as project leader

as group member

with Achilla

with Knifeworld

with Tonochrome

with Spiritwo

with My Tricksy Spirit

with Lost Crowns

with Join the Din

as contributing musician

with Sinah

with Mediaeval Baebes

with I Heard from Lavinia

with The Anchoress

other appearances

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Record Transcription: England & Wales Births 1837-2006 . 20 September 2023 . Findmypast.
  2. http://nomadsplaylist.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/meet-musicians-charlie-cawood.html 'Meet the Musicians: Charlie Cawood'
  3. https://lccm.org.uk/tutors/charlie-cawood-tutor/ Charlie Cawood tutor page
  4. Web site: Charlie Cawood: Influencer, Band Member and Guitarist - London, UK. StarNow.
  5. Web site: CD Baby Music Store. Store.cdbaby.com.
  6. Web site: CAN'T HURT ME NOW . ASCAP . American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . March 13, 2023.
  7. Bad Elephant Music press release for The Divine Abstract, October 2017
  8. Web site: Achilla discography. RateYourMusic.
  9. https://rockoverdose.gr/martamaria-achilla-on-rock-overdose-i-am-the-guinness-vocal-range-world-record-holder/ Martamaria (ACHILLA) on Rock Overdose: “I am the Guinness vocal range world record holder!”
  10. http://www.djournal.com/oxford/lifestyle/mediaeval-baebes-to-serenade-ford-center/article_3bb640ff-af75-5af5-9e33-ca640c23edb9.html 'Mediaeval Baebes to serenade Ford Center'
  11. https://www.facebook.com/NEUROTICMASSMOVEMENT/photos/a.10150281027400464.545192.108044730463/10156153132205464/?type=3&theater Facebook reference to Charlie Cawood's work with Neurotic Mass Movement
  12. http://www.hootanannybrixton.co.uk/sophie-ramsay-alex-bayly-ayanna/ 'Sophie Ramsay + Alex Bayly + Ayanna' Hootenanny Brixton concert listing
  13. http://www.rhythmpassport.com/events/chinese-new-year-yin-yang-collective/ Gig notification for Yin Yang Collective
  14. http://www.japansociety.org.uk/30313/pochagi/ Gig notification for Yin Yang Collective
  15. http://opazensemble.weebly.com/the-band.html Band page
  16. https://stethelburgas.org/event/olcay-bayir-erdogan-bayir-ensemble-turkey/ Concert listing
  17. https://www.discogs.com/Olcay-Bayir-Neva-Harmony/release/8304812
  18. https://lso.co.uk/images/pdf/22-06-Web-v2.pdf LSO 'Living Music' concert programme
  19. Charlie Cawood interview on 'Deep Cuts' podcast No. 159, broadcast 11 December 2017
  20. http://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2017/10/25/charlie-cawood-the-divine-abstract/ Review of The Divine Abstract
  21. http://www.progradar.org/index.php/2017/10/28/review-charlie-cawood-the-divine-abstract/ Review of The Divine Abstract
  22. https://progressivemusicplanet.com/2017/10/30/charlie-cawood-the-divine-abstract/ Review of The Divine Abstract
  23. http://www.openmagazine.info/2017/11/04/charlie-cawood-the-divine-abstract-2017/ Review of The Divine Abstract
  24. http://altprogcore.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/charlie-cawood-divine-abstract-2017.html?m=1 Review of The Divine Abstract
  25. http://www.dprp.net/reviews/2017-081/ Review of The Divine Abstract
  26. http://teamrock.com/review/2017-11-13/charlie-cawood-the-divine-abstract-album-review Review of The Divine Abstract
  27. https://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2019/09/01/charlie-cawood-blurring-into-motion/ Review of Blurring Into Motion
  28. https://progressivemusicplanet.com/2019/09/05/charlie-cawood-blurring-into-motion/ Review of Blurring Into Motion
  29. https://v13.net/2019/09/charlie-cawood-blurring-into-motion-album-review/ Review of Blurring Into Motion
  30. https://everythingisnoise.net/reviews/charlie-cawood-blurring-into-motion/ Review of Blurring Into Motion
  31. http://echoesanddust.com/2016/11/musical-therapy-charlie-cawood-from-knifeworld/ '(((O))) : Musical Therapy: Charlie Cawood from Knifeworld'
  32. https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Cawood-The-Divine-Abstract/release/11087886 Charlie Cawood: The Divine Abstract
  33. https://www.discogs.com/release/14099949-Charlie-Cawood-Blurring-Into-Motion Charlie Cawood: Blurring into Motion
  34. https://www.discogs.com/release/2788092-Achilla-Arashi Achilla: Arashi
  35. https://www.discogs.com/Knifeworld-Clairvoyant-Fortnight/master/467567 Knifeworld: Clairvoyant Fortnight
  36. https://www.discogs.com/Knifeworld-Dont-Land-On-Me/release/4903396 Knifeworld: Don't Land On Me
  37. https://www.discogs.com/Knifeworld-The-Unravelling/master/713075 Knifeworld: The Unravelling
  38. https://www.discogs.com/Knifeworld-Home-Of-The-Newly-Departed/master/1156807 Knifeworld: Home of the Newly Departed
  39. https://www.discogs.com/Knifeworld-Bottled-Out-Of-Eden/master/993455 Knifeworld: Bottled Out Of Eden
  40. https://www.discogs.com/Tonochrome-Tonochrome-EP/release/4473271 Tonochrome: Tonochrome
  41. https://www.discogs.com/Tonochrome-Interference/release/5009210 Tonochrome: Interference
  42. https://www.discogs.com/release/11235134-Tonochrome-Not-Gonna-End-Well Tonochrome: "Not Gonna End Well"
  43. https://www.discogs.com/release/11548725-Tonochrome-A-Map-In-Fragments Tonochrome: A Map in Fragments
  44. https://www.discogs.com/Spiritwo-Primitive-Twinship/release/4687141 Spiritwo: Primitive Twinship
  45. https://www.discogs.com/Spiritwo-Mesumamim/release/11115317 Spiritwo: Mesumamim
  46. https://www.discogs.com/My-Tricksy-Spirit-My-Tricksy-Spirit/release/10823904 My Tricksy Spirit: My Tricksy Spirit
  47. https://www.discogs.com/master/1493144-Lost-Crowns-Every-Night-Something-Happens Lost Crowns: Every Night Something Happens
  48. https://www.discogs.com/release/23901821-Join-The-Din-Elephants-In-Autumn-Rage Join the Din: Elephants in Autumn Rage
  49. https://www.discogs.com/release/27728802-Join-The-Din-Change Join the Din: Change
  50. https://www.discogs.com/Sinah-Sinah/release/7137353 Sinah: Sinah
  51. https://www.discogs.com/release/11919028-Sinah-Roads Sinah: Roads
  52. https://www.discogs.com/release/11204920-Medi%C3%A6val-B%C3%A6bes-Live-At-Berkeley-Castle Mediæval Bæbes: Live at Berkeley Castle
  53. https://www.discogs.com/master/1580483-Medi%C3%A6val-B%C3%A6bes-A-Pocketful-Of-Posies Mediæval Bæbes: A Pocketful of Posies
  54. https://www.discogs.com/release/16620714-Medi%C3%A6val-B%C3%A6bes-Prayers-Of-The-Rosary Mediæval Bæbes: Prayers of the Rosary
  55. https://www.discogs.com/release/25337608-Medi%C3%A6val-B%C3%A6bes-MydWynter Mediæval Bæbes: MydWynter
  56. https://www.discogs.com/release/27719190-I-Heard-From-Lavinia-Different-Kinds-Of-Winter I Heard from Lavinia: Different Kinds of Winter
  57. https://www.discogs.com/release/23629052-I-Heard-From-Lavinia-This-Room-Has-No-Doors I Heard from Lavinia: This Room Has No Doors
  58. https://www.discogs.com/release/15435615-The-Anchoress-Small-Black-Flowers-That-Grow-In-The-Sky The Anchoress: Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky
  59. https://www.discogs.com/release/17881591-The-Anchoress-Wicked-Game The Anchoress: Wicked Game
  60. https://www.discogs.com/release/23129240-The-Anchoress-Enjoy-The-Silence The Anchoress: Enjoy the Silence
  61. https://www.discogs.com/release/23429810-The-Anchoress-These-Days The Anchoress: These Days
  62. https://www.discogs.com/release/23429960-The-Anchoress-The-Tradition The Anchoress: The Tradition
  63. https://www.discogs.com/release/24136361-The-Anchoress-Bizarre-Love-Triangle The Anchoress: Bizarre Love Triangle
  64. https://www.discogs.com/release/24793151-The-Anchoress-Friday-Im-In-Love-Acoustic The Anchoress: Friday I'm in Love (Acoustic)
  65. https://www.discogs.com/master/2863609-The-Anchoress-Versions-EP2 The Anchoress: Versions EP2
  66. https://www.discogs.com/release/26779226-The-Anchoress-Versions-EP3 The Anchoress: Versions EP3
  67. https://www.discogs.com/Karin-Fransson-Private-Behaviour/release/2987507 Karin Fransson: Private Behaviour
  68. https://www.discogs.com/Matt-Stevens-Lucid/release/8697669 Matt Stevens: Lucid
  69. https://www.discogs.com/Nick-Prol-The-Proletarians-Loon-Attic/release/10288797 Nick Prol & The Proletarians: Loon Attic
  70. https://proletarians.bandcamp.com/album/loon-attic Nick Prol & The Proletarians Loon Attic album
  71. https://www.discogs.com/Lucie-Treacher-Wunderkabinett/release/11117635 Lucie Treacher: Wunderkabinett
  72. https://www.discogs.com/release/12623722-Matt-Calvert-Typewritten Matt Calvert: Typewritten
  73. https://www.discogs.com/release/12637467-Sterbus-Real-Estate-Fake-Inverno Sterbus: Real Estate/Fake Inverno
  74. https://www.discogs.com/release/13489432-UPF-Planetary-Overload-Part-1-Loss UPF: Planetary Overload - Part 1: Loss
  75. https://www.discogs.com/release/13929724-Marco-Ragni-Oceans-Of-Thought Marco Ragni: Oceans of Thought
  76. https://www.discogs.com/release/13929774-Evan-Carson-Ocipinski Evan Carson: Ocipinski
  77. https://www.discogs.com/release/15540028-Nick-Marsh-Waltzing-Bones Nick Marsh: Waltzing Bones
  78. https://www.discogs.com/release/17216515-Chl%C3%B6e-Herington-Silent-Reflux Chlöe Herington: Silent Reflux
  79. https://www.discogs.com/release/22851800-The-Witching-Tale-The-Witching-Tale The Witching Tale: The Witching Tale
  80. https://www.discogs.com/release/22517234-Greta-Aurora-Dying-Venus Greta Aurora: Dying Venus

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