Corey Mwamba

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Previous Gigs

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19th Jan 10

We had a great time in Stratford - the venue really works as an acoustic room. Dave and Joshua were sounding great! I was a bit ropey but warmed up gradually; I was feeling a bit jittery with the horror of knowing I have to move house. Again.

But still, a lovely musical set - and typically of Stratford, in front of a healthy, listening audience. There should be more places like that. The Vortex next!..

New to the site: Comments!

I've added a comments form on the rambles page now! It's moderated at the moment to avoid spam, etc.; and it's under a trial so if it proves too much hassle then I can remove it. But it'd be nice to hear from people directly!

11th Feb 10

Well, I've moved again. Waiting for Virgin to connect me, so maybe in the next year or so...

Best chance for anyone to get hold of me this next two weeks is to come to a gig [wink].

The house move was quite stressful, thanks to our despicably slack letting agents, but we're in now - I've made up for the loss of the garage by taking residence in a massive room inside the house. It's very nice, and very handy for local amenities... not that I'll be seeing much of them over the fortnight: in Reading Saturday, a recording session with The Heliocentrics and Lloyd Miller on Sunday; then more gigs... busy, busy. It's tiring, but good.

12th Oct 11

So many "thank yous"... to all who came to Leicester, for a start - this was a new thing for the trio, actually performing a composition, AND at that length...

AND to Nottingham for the Framework Raise The Roof Festival. It was tricky listening with the DJing in the next room, but we put our souls into it. Good to see Nat Birchall, Gavin Barras, Rachael Gladwin and Matt Halsall, as well as a good chat/catch up with Julian Siegel.

8th Jan 12

Friday was a roast! @[Robert Mitchell], Tom Mason and Richard Spaven played brilliantly - was much, much fun. Managed to get a confirmed date for recording myself and my brothers-in-music @[Dave Kane] and @[Joshua Blackmore] - we'll be hitting the room in late March, which is later than I wanted in some ways, but it's not like we have a time-limit! I'm going to try keeping a composition log [yes, I'm writing again]: but we'll see how long that lasts...

11th Oct 12

Sat in my hotel room, waiting for breakfast to start in fifty-five minutes. Sirens and traffic noise mark out how far away I am from home.

26th Mar 13

Although the audience was small, had a great gig last night with Martin Archer\'s Engine Room Favourites! Really nice to hear a bit of Matthew Bourne and Seaming To\'s duo Billy Moon, and a bit of Andy Champion\'s ACV before leaving. The Highways Agency had plans to scupper @[Walt Shaw]\'s carefully planned route by shutting exits to the M6, so it was a long journey home. Some quiet reflection today; and some thinking around wordless love songs - ideas for solo work are flowing right now.

9th Jun 13

Beautifully clear video by Robert Laing from Splinter Jazz. The sound was great in the room and fantastic on this video. Andy and Ntshuks [who really should be recognised as a unique and masterful voice on the saxophone] are amazing on this.

13th Nov 13

Uni today, but but tomorrow: @[Andy Champion], @[Ntshuks Bonga] and I get together in a room. Extremely excited.

15th Nov 13

The room we were in - @[Paper Stone Studios] - had a beautiful acoustic. It was the top part of a converted Victorian cinema.

27th Dec 13

New gig: Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/general-1394393400

3rd Feb 14

New gig: Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/general-1396639800

3rd Feb 14

Change to gig: Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/general-1394393400

10th Mar 14

Had an insanely good night playing in Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites last night!

13th Mar 14

Enjoyable time in Sheffield with Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites!

oemb::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkaNlP-8GT4

13th Mar 14

The Engine Room Favourites gig has had to move because the previous venue won an award and thus decided to close and cancel a gig.

2nd Apr 14

New gig: Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/erf-1417118400

2nd Apr 14

New gig: Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/erf-1413748800

9th Apr 14

New gig: Manchester Jazz Festival: Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/erf-1406221200

18th Jul 14

... with Adam again the next day, but in @[Nat Birchall]'s quintet; then Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites after that! Diverse music!

25th Jul 14

As someone said yesterday, FIERCE music yesterday with Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites at @[Manchester Jazz Festival]!

14th Oct 14

Starting two days of recording with Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites! New music on its way...

20th Oct 14

Hot night in Newcastle with the Engine Room Favourites! Energising.

21st Oct 14

Fantastic review for the Engine Room Favourites gig on Sunday!

7th Feb 15

Deliriously happy at having a kettle and a bath in the hotel room. Bielefeld was a fantastic night; @[Rachel Musson] sounded amazing, as did Albrecht Maurer and Simon Camatta. Now to Hagen for the last trip!

27th Mar 15

New gig: Engine Room Favourites - http://www.coreymwamba.co.uk/gig/erf-1428525000

6th Apr 15

AND I'm with Engine Room Favourites in Sheffield on Wednesday! Hope to see you.

8th Apr 15

Later: Martin Archer's Engine Room Favourites at The Lescar!

21st May 17

There was a point, just before the end of college, where the hills that surrounded my mood had evolved into mountains. I did not know how to choose. The not knowing added granite, basalt. In this valley, I sought refuge in the library. The array of plastic cases carried iron, silts of memory. I did not know how to choose. My hand moved towards one of an artist I had discounted before. I did not know how to choose. I sought refuge in my room and filled it with a sound. Three men; one near the end of his, knowing and communicating before his eventual silence. My mood looked up from the valley and saw only trees, and sun. From that point, I knew that I did not know how to choose. So I learned how to pay attention instead.

8th Jun 17

This one tonight... lovely room!

20th Oct 17

Today is a day of very new things. @[yana] -- which in my mind will always be "Corey Mwamba | Dave Kane | Joshua Blackmore" -- has music on a record label, mainly because Alya from @[Two Rivers Records] believed we should have one, and cared enough to make it happen in the best possible way. We have physical copies of our music, which is not new for us; but instead of them being made by my two hands, the CDs have had a team behind them in terms of design and production. The support and listening we have had from Two Rivers has been wonderful.

As most people who know me know, this group is special to me for a number of reasons. First, it showed me what I could do if I applied my will and stuck with it. I wanted to hear Dave and Joshua together (they had not met previously), and it happened and kept happening because we kept believing it should happen, even when (in the earlier days) people's understanding of what we were doing was limited.

Second, this group allowed me to make the music I wanted to without worrying about... well, lots of things that working in music makes you think you have to worry about. It has always been difficult to get us in the same room as we're all very busy; but when we do get in the same room, things are unbelievably simple.

Third, the musical mind we form is unlike any I have experienced in any other group. It would take me a very long time to talk about what happens inside, but in short there is a love, a language and a groove that I feel palpably, every time we play. And it is amazing to be inside that, and to learn from it. When I listen back to our first recordings, I understand how much we have moved; not away from anything, but deeper into how we communicate. And the time we spend not playing together is immaterial. Today will be the first time we've played together for a year and that is by no means unusual.

I think we have had more support from fellow musicians who have heard/seen us over the years, but also powerful encouragement from audiences over the years. You might wonder why we're doing Cambridge first, but it's for a very good reason (other than Joshua living there). Graham Lee and Carol Garrison are two of the most devoted music fans I know. For us to play for their night is a pure honour; they've travelled with this group from the beginning. There is nowhere else we would want to be.

If you can make it down tonight, it'd be lovely to see you: but if not, then please buy a copy of the album, and I hope you like it.

Open, living music.

13th May 19

I was able to get to the Pear Tree Library meeting yesterday. These are some notes from the meeting. As far as possible, they will be neutral in tone, and not too descriptive; this is mainly so that they are clear in terms of what was said at the meeting. I have added extra information as appropriate.

The meeting was organised by Sonya from the Mandela Community Centre

Last June, the library was closed for repairs. It has been closed since then. There was a proposal to pay for the repairs but it may have been rejected.

In November, the Council announced that the library was being relocated.

It seems that the Council Cabinet decided on the sale with no further consultation: it was not discussed at the wider council level, and no further consultation with the community, although there was a meeting (but no one could remember when) to tell the community is was happening.

There was no information about the single quote for the roof, or how any of repairs were costed.

Since the library has been closed since last June, and the new proposed library is still not open, this means that there has been no library provision in the Normanton area for almost a year.

This should be alarming to all Derby citizens. According to the Council's own Strategic Review (hence SR), it was the most-needed library section for its catchment area (SR section 6.20). This assessment was based on 1. the building's location in most socio-economically disadvantaged catchment (SR 6.9); 2. the fact that it was the third busiest library (SR 6.12); and 3. that Pear Tree covered a wider catchment area and was used by users outside the library catchment area (SR 6.15)

The challenges we face are:

  • what do we want the building to be? If we are to take the Council at its word (and -- less neutrally -- I do not think that we should) then there will already be "a library" in the Normanton catchment area by 2020. We talked about what the library was used for, and what else could bring in.
  • who should pay for it, and how? If it were decided to acquire Pear Tree as a community-run space, then the community would have to find funds to run it. There were suggestions about possible stakeholders in such a space, and opportunities for access funding for renovation/conservation.
  • how much should the council be involved? This was decided pretty quickly -- any organising group needed to be separate from party political discussions, as this was a community matter. There was a strong feeling in the room that this kind of negligence was an on-going pattern for the council with regards to Normanton/Pear Tree.

From the meeting, we formed an organising group. There are no councillors on that group as it was decided that any campaign should be separate from party political influence. I am not sure of the other names on the group but Sonya is chairing it and has the names.

Currently:

  • there is an application to nominate the library as an Asset of Community Value. If successful, this will delay the sale for six months, which will give us time to plan, raise funds, &c.
  • Sonya is putting together Freedom of Information requests pertaining to the quotes and decision-making processes.
  • We are doing some research into whether the building was a gift to the people of Derby -- this may put it into the same position as Bass Recreation Ground, which could not be sold as it did not belong to the council.
  • There is a petition on Change.org
  • There is also a Facebook Page
  • The organising group is going to try and have a meeting this week.

There is a viewing of the interior today at 12:30p.m. I requested a slot, but no one got back to me; I'll try to head down anyway.

17th Mar 20

It matters not. The floor is uneven. And perhaps it should be, so that some voices can be heard clearly. The room is darkened, dimmed; only some people hold lanterns, papers.