Live Music – Hullabaloo present Mike Cooper – Weds 2nd October 2019

Doors open 7.30 pm – Concert 8 pm

Tickets £10 on the door, £8 on line

Mike Cooper is an extra-ordinary musician and artist. For the past 50 years Mike plays lap steel guitar and sings, is an improviser and composer, song-maker, a film and video maker and radio arts producer, he is an international sound explorer constantly pushing the boundaries. Initially known as a blues artist and singer, one of the key figures in the blues revival in the 60s, he now tours the world with his multi-media performances and installations.

“Cooper stands out as the man who truly made something of his own out of
Country-Blues…” The Guardian

His shows mix blues, improvised songs, electronic improvisations, abstract sound and film and much more. Tonight Mike will be performing solo, accompanyinghis own short films and collaborating with local musicians. More at http://www.cooparia.com/

Support comes from sound sculptor and artist Michael Fairfax, playing his beautiful instrument hewn from wood and saxophonist/improviser Tim Hill

“Guitarist Mike Cooper is as responsible as anyone else — and more so than many — for ushering in the blues boom in the U.K. in the late ’60s. His use of a ’20s National Steel didn’t hurt, but neither did his knowledge of the techniques of Fred McDowell and Blind BOy Fuller; or his rock-solid songwriting in both the folk and blues genres.” -( All Music Guide – Thom Jurek.)

“Really can’t think of many other 75 year old guitarists whose music still feels somehow relevant thru it’s sheer, expressive abstraction nowadays. And this recording proves; Mike Cooper is pretty special.” – Boomkat Review of Reluctant Swimmer/Virtual Surfer

Mike has, arguably, stretched the possibilities of that genre even more than his better known contemporaries Davy Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourne etc. by pursuing it into the more avant-garde musical areas occupied by guitar innovators such as Elliott Sharp, Keith Rowe, Fred Frith and Marc Ribot, with an eclectic mix of the many styles he has practiced over the years. Ranging freely through free improvisation, his own idiosyncratic original songs, electro-acoustic music, exotica, traditional country blues, folk, pop songs, and ‘sonic gestural’ playing utilising open tunings, extended guitar techniques and electronics. After a long time living in Rome, he currently resides in Valencia

 Influential British guitarist Mike Cooper is primarily regarded as a folk-blues guitarist and singer/songwriter, though his wide range of work cannot be so easily defined. He is also a celebrated improviser and electronic musician. In addition, he creates sound installations and radio art; he’s a videographer, journalist, and music historian; and he performs scores for silent films