About Horses Brawl
Laura Cannell - fiddle, hardanger fiddle, recorders & ocassional crumhorn
Laura is an innovative performer/composer based in Norfolk, UK. She is the founder member of the cutting edge contemporary instrumental duo Horses Brawl which she founded in 2003 and is currently supported by the Arts Council of England's Escalator Scheme for New Music. She recently had an artist residency at Aldeburgh Music where she worked on a new project with the experimental harpist Rhodri Davies, the project is called 'Renaissance Uprising' and the debut performance will be at the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival. She was also recently awarded a professional development grant by the Musician's Benevolent Fund for research and study of traditional folk fiddle styles. Laura combines classical and traditional folk techniques: A conservatoire trained recorder player and a self-taught folk fiddle player she has performed throughout the UK and in Canada and Ireland. As well as Horses Brawl, Laura plays baroque and contemporary recorder concerts forthcoming performances are with her new group The Harmonious Association and recently as a guest performer with Handel specialists The Brook Street Band. www.lauracannell.co.uk
Andre Bosman - guitar, acoustic bass guitar and Indian harmonium
Andre is a Norfolk based musician and performer. He joined Horses Brawl full time in August 2011. In his other main musical outlet he is primarily making sine wave and sample based music under the name of Hoofus, his work is concerned with creating tones and textures which evolve into unanticipated results through modulation, layering and distortion, and presenting these pieces in engaging and noisy live performances. He has a Masters in music from the University of East Anglia, has played at the Faster than Sound Festival, Brighton Komedia, Aurora Festival, Encompass Festival, Sound Arts Network Soundcircus, the Dublin Conservatoire and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and Resonance FM. He has also recently joined the highly acclaimed Experimental Medieval Folk Band Horses Brawl. www.hoofus.com
A Short History of Horses Brawl
The Beginning Horses Brawl was formed in 2003 by Laura for a Creative Arts East tour in rural Norfolk. For the first 3 years it was a trio (with cellist Jon Manton) and they released their debut album in 2005. From 2006 onwards it was a duo - Laura Cannell & Adrian Lever, with the occassional guest appearance from recorder and viol Philip Thorby between 2007 - 2009. In 2008 Horses Brawl were awarded Arts Council Lottery Funding to work in a collaboration with Philip resulting in several performances including the Bath International Music Festival which was recorded for BBC Radio 3, a tour in the East and South-west of England and two more albums 'Dindirin' 2007 and 'Wild Lament' 2009. The Next Bit Throughout all of this time Laura and Adrian toured extensively throughout the UK and in 2010 were awarded another Arts Council grant to develop new pieces and to develop ideas with an extended line-up which included a well received performance at Brighton Early Music Festival with the following performers: Arngier Hauksson - historical plucked strings & hurdygurdy, Rebecca Austen-Brown - recorders & medieval fiddle, Jim O'Toole - fiddles, Alexis Bennett - fiddle, Andre Bosman - gong and Alex Sanders - gong. The Future In 2011 Adrian departed Horses Brawl, their final performance together being Cambridge Folk Festival and Andre Bosman became a full time member performing and writing with Laura from August 2011. The new line-up marks an exciting new phase for Horses Brawl, exploring a more experimental and improvised sound world. The duo wrote and recorded new album in 2011 while also touring the new material, 'Ruminantia' is due for release in April 2012.