New country, funder & ideas for new show!

New shoots aplenty are springing up for Adverse Camber as the spring sun peeks through this March. We're delighted to be on tour again with The Old Woman, the Buffalo and the Lion of Manding the amazing 2009 Festival at the Edge commission by Jan Blake, Kouame Sereba and Raymond Sereba, which tells the story of the origins of Sundiata Keita, the 13th Century Malian king, through West African songs, music and passionate storytelling.

"Hearing a tale from West Africa and realising that you already know a version of it from Iceland, or Ireland, or India makes the world suddenly feel like a much smaller, and somehow friendlier, place." See full Oxford review here

After three brilliant shows in Wolverhampton, Oxford and Manchester the artists took a creative break at Canada Water Culture Space to start exploring the next stage in the story of Sundiata Keita. They followed the story of the young Sundiata and his family into self-imposed exile - discovering how he gains the wisdom, skills and capacity for leadership that serve him so well as leader of Mali, as a refugee, journeying across many different kingdoms in Africa. [gallery columns="4" ids="3390,3394,3398,3402"] The story also follows Sundiata's griot Balla Fasséké, separated from his compatriots and held captive by the sorcerer king Soumaoro Kanté.  The griot uses his musical artistry to combat the magical forces exhibited by this tyrannical king - who commands an entire army of blacksmiths.   Exciting ideas were flowing between Jan and Kouame and Raymond, who grew up with the story in West Africa, as well as with members of the 2013 creative team who dropped in for a chat half way through the week.  Big thanks to The Albany and everyone at Canada Water Culture Space for making us so welcome.  We'll keep you updated as the plans evolve! Meanwhile, preparations have been reaching their conclusion for our very first trip to Scotland - thanks to support from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and a new partnership with the Village Storytelling Centre in Glasgow.  This week sees the inaugural Village Storytelling Festival, with a brilliant mix of community based projects, performances, discussions and symposiums. We're delighted to present the first two shows of the festival with The Old Woman, the Buffalo... on Tuesday and The Shahnameh: The Epic Book of Kings on Wednesday and to also offer more people the chance to immerse in joyous West African Singing traditions with three workshops at locations across Glasgow.  It's also a chance for us to discover more about what's happening with storytelling in Glasgow, so look forward to reports through the week on that! If you haven't caught up with the tour already, or we haven't come near you this time, keep your eyes peeled for first news of our Autumn tour dates - coming soon!