Biography of Oriole

A sensory banquet of soaring melodies, colourful South American folklore, lively dances and emotional ballads of longing. Music that creates a rich, emotionally disquieting world that is at once familiar and dreamlike. A world of freedom, of movement, of dusty roads and traveling musicians in shaded market squares whose journey will never end. These are songs of magical realism mingling elements of fantasy, myth, desire and wanderlust in renderings that blur traditional distinctions between what is serious or trivial, melancholic or joyous.
“The magical realist does not try to copy the surrounding reality or to wound it but to seize the mystery that breathes behind things."
Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature

Oriole’s composer and guitarist Jonny Phillips was described by The Guardian as A big new composing presence and Time Out as the brilliant F-IRE collective guitarist on the release of the first Oriole album Song for the Sleeping in 2005. He has traveled widely blending the musical, folkloric and dance traditions of North Brazil, West Africa, Southern Europe and beyond. These Influences have been as important as the folkloric music of his own region and the church music of his composer parents. Here both the migrations of the composer and the band members have resulted in the creation of new musical hybrids; the physical and artistic travels being inseparable.
Oriole features an award winning international line-up including drummer Sebastian Rochford, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, cellist Ben Davis, guitarist Jonny Phillips, pianist - Nick Ramm, percussionist - Adriano Adewale Itauna and bassist - Ruth Goller.