iyatraQuartet
alt-folk
Saturday May 10th at 3pm £12/£10/£4(u18) BUY TICKETS
Alice Barron – violin, vocal
Rich Phillips – cello, vocal
Will Roberts – percussion, vocal
George Sleightholme – bass clarinet, vocal
Alt-folk band, iyatraQuartet (iyatra is pronounced ‘eye-at-tra’) make original music rooted in ancient melodies and folk tales. Their distinct vocal harmonies emerge from a rich sound world of soaring strings, the exuberant lyricism of the bass clarinet and sensitive percussion abound with groove.
Other instruments played include harmonium, shruti box and charango
Delving into generations-old European traditions for inspiration, particularly the work of 12th century pioneering female composers, iyatraQuartet re-imagine songs and stories through their unique contemporary twist. Taking their name after the Hindi word for travel or pilgrimage, the band embraces this sense of journey through place and time in their music.
Their debut album, This World Alone (2015), was praised by violinist Nigel Kennedy as ‘beautiful … full of space and truth’. In 2019, iyatraQuartet were recipients of the inaugural Kennedy-Kolodziejski Award and PRS Foundation’s Open Fund. Released during lockdown, their 2nd album, Break the Dawn (2020), received critical international acclaim, including from Cerys Matthews, Folk Radio UK and Max Reinhardt.
This concert is part of a tour for the release of iyatraQuartet’s 3rd album, Wild Green. Wild Green traces the cycle of the year celebrating the natural world in all its beauty and wildness. Many of the tracks were devised outdoors, encompassing stormy seas, the vivid greenness of late spring, a full strawberry moon, midsummer energy and a yuletide lullaby.
“Absolutely beautiful” Cerys Matthews, BBC 6 Music
“Melding their classical roots with dynamic traditional and improvised music” Hannah Peel, BBC Radio 3
“Break the Dawn exists as a complex, stunningly-performed artefact that offers a little hope in dark times” Thomas Blake, Folk Radio
“…stunning fusion… a deep and subtle inner journey in sound” Songlines
“The music is absolutely packed with a feeling of exploration” Sarah Ward, Jazz FM
@iyatra_quartet (instagram)