Moira Smiley and Friends

Event information

Moira Smiley tours her new, acclaimed album The Rhizome Project following appearances at the Dublin Irish Festival, Philidelphia Folk Festival and Songroots Canada this summer.
Percussive, plaintive, lush string arrangements are woven through Appalachian, Anglo Celtic, and original songs. She is joined by a string quartet curated by acclaimed Oxford duo BALLADESTE (Tara Franks and Preetha Narayanan) with guest players Flora Curzon and Laura Moody) Brought together by their shared ethos in connecting people through sound - in performance and participatory events the quartet will interweave their own extraordinary original repertoire through Moira's songs.
THE RHIZOME PROJECT, made with the velvet ferocity of voices & strings, brings old folk songs and their power to the fore and reminds us of our shared ‘sugar-in-the-ground’ – an unsentimental, underground connectivity that defies a divisive era.
Moira and Balladeste will also be joined on stage by their hosts Cowley-based FEISTY CHOIR.

About Moira
Moira Smiley is renowned for her mastery of the voice and ability to inspire singers of all levels. She is a celebrated educator, teaching at leading musical institutions and inspiring singers of all backgrounds. She’s published over 100 choral works that are sung by millions of singers worldwide. With a deep respect for the cultural roles of singing, Moira blends teaching, composing, and performing to empower communities and celebrate the transformative power of music.
Known for her rich voice and dynamic stage presence, Moira has collaborated with some of the most celebrated names in music, including Tune-Yards, Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen. As a member of Tune-Yards, she has performed on major platforms such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Later with Jools Holland. Recently, she performed & recorded for Laurie Anderson’s ARK.
She is regularly commissioned to write choral & chamber music works, with millions singing her music around the world. Moira has been featured in TED conferences, on BBC Radio and TV, NPR, ABC Australia, and live at countless venues from Carnegie Hall to the Royal Festival Hall. Smiley is known for enchanting audiences whether on stage, atop glaciers, inside ships or in cozy kitchens from Norway to Tasmania.

Balladeste
A collaboration between Preetha Narayanan (Violin) and Tara Franks (cello), string duo, Balladeste, explore the versatility and sound potential of string instruments. Balladeste creates a musical narrative that is both ancient yet contemporary, devotional whilst pastoral, writing original compositions that are vibrant, experimental, melodic and contemplative in quality - Songs without words with contemporary alt-folk twist.

"Absolutely stunning" BBC Radio 4 - Anita Rani (Woman's Hour)
"Cinematographers looking for music that can radiate suspense but at the same time is warm and intimate ... then look no further" Songlines 4****

Moira's words about the Rhizome Project
"An album, a collection, a bundle, a root system, a packet of seeds, a rhizome…

Making a music album — maybe especially in an era when most of us listen to singles, playlists and fragments — can invite a listener into a collection of ideas or feelings that make more sense when gathered together. Curating an album of folk songs that ‘formed me’ helps me make sense of the new sounds I create today. Gathering these songs, these stories and these pictures helps me know why certain songs (and people) keep nurturing and challenging me across decades — allowing me to remain a ‘resonant reed’.

Several of the songs in The Rhizome Project were the first songs to allow me the confidence to sing alone, while others outlined elemental ethics that my little voice could grow into.
I am a worker bee for music, an introvert and dreamer who travels to make my living. One of the lessons of being in my forties is how deeply shaped I am by the landscape and people I come home to. I look to certain neighbors and friends to remind me of the myriad creative and practical ways to be human – right here, right now, in all the mess, the ordinary, painful and precious.

The Rhizome Project celebrates all the powerful ways we are connected, though, like the rhizome roots, those connections may be hidden or forgotten. "

Listen: https://moirasmiley.bandcamp.com/
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcYziccV2MeVHCYbz6k6bKQ
About: https://moirasmiley.com/

Balladeste https://www.balladeste.co.uk/
Listen: https://balladeste.bandcamp.com/