Nick Awde
Encyclopedia
Nick Awde Hill is a British writer
, artist
, singer-songwriter
and critic
. The author, editor or illustrator of more than 50 books, he is based in London and Brussels. The son of an international lawyer (who formulated laws that enable containers to go round the world), he was raised in Nigeria
, the Sudan
and Kenya
before being sent to the Catholic boarding school Stonyhurst College
in the UK. Although his father moved to Northern Ireland
and his mother to Germany
after divorcing, most of Awde's teenage home life was spent in Soho
and the West End of London
. He studied Arabic and Hausa
at London's School of Oriental and African Studies
, later becoming a journalist after working for several years on building sites and teaching English in Spain
. He believes in combining art and communication in order to benefit and actively empower the end user while downplaying the presence of the artist (as well as the notion of 'art') - he cites his Chechen phrasebook, his career as a theatre critic and 2010 EP Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep as good, if seemingly unconnected, examples of working creatively within society to create change.
he co-wrote the comedy drama http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0413776026Pete and Dud: Come Again
], a hit at the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival
in August 2005 before transferring to London
's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, then doing a 90-date tour of the UK the following year. The play examines the highly influential comic relationship that existed between comedians Peter Cook
and Dudley Moore
- along with Alan Bennett
and Jonathan Miller
they kickstarted the satirical comedy movement in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s with Beyond the Fringe
, before branching off on their own. Set in a chat show during the early eighties, the play tells their tale from the perspective of Dudley Moore, by then an international film star. In June 2006 Pete and Dud: Come Again
transferred for a short run in Auckland, New Zealand, as part of the Bruce Mason Centre's first Best of British Festival. Classic rock group 10cc
shared the bill.
In 2007 two other plays have followed, premiering at the Edinburgh Festival: Unnatural Acts at Assembly and Blood Confession at the Gilded Balloon. Written with Chris Bartlett, directed by David Giles and starring Jessica Martin
and Jason Wood
, Unnatural Acts is a comedy about two flatmates, a gay man and a straight woman, who try to have a baby together. Written by Awde and directed by Jon Bonfiglio, Blood Confession is a violent drama about an interrogation, about a child murder from 25 years ago, that goes horribly wrong.
In 1993, Awde wrote, composed and produced http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1898948488Andrew Lloyd Webber
The Musical], described as "a bizarre mix of spoof and satire" by The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals. A pastich of the life of top musical composer Lloyd Webber, in loving homage to Mel Brooks
' The Producers
, it ran in a variety of fringe venues across London with several casts. It is now available in book form. Awde's 1994 follow-up Margaret Thatcher: The Musical failed to find backing. The satirical musical followed the fortunes of the former prime minister as she dies and is forced to wait at the Pearly Gates as a desperate God and the equally desperate Devil devise a game show in which the loser has to take her for eternity, complicated by an audience vote at the finale. Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Musical is reputed to be the first serious show to kickstart the 'celebrity title' genre, pioneering the way for hits such as Jerry Springer: The Opera
. Awde's other stage works are Eros and the Skull (Bloomsbury Theatre, London, 1988) - a multi-created one-man show about the French poet Baudelaire - and Semtex & Lipstick (King's Head Theatre, London, 1992) - a drama for actor and actress about love and political torture. He also co-designed costumes for historical drama Tewodros (Arts Theatre, 1987).
In 2003 he published his first novel, The Virgin Killers as part of The Public School Chronicles
series. It is a complex thriller about murders of priests at a Catholic prep school
in the wilds of Lancashire
that lead to a trail of Jesuit and Freemason conspiracies deep within the British Establishment
. Intended as a thinly disguised political comment on the state of the nation, the book, unusually for a thriller, also contains a historical appendix - a groundbreaking timeline linking events in British and Irish history to the constitutional oppression of Catholics, Jews
and other Non-Conformists within the United Kingdom
and Ireland right up to the present day.
He has been a theatre critic since the early 1990s, and has been writing for The Stage
newspaper for most of that time. Together with fellow Stage contributor Gerald Berkowitz, he set up in 1999 www.theatreguidelondon.co.uk, the first UK-based theatre website to be run exclusively by professional critics. He has also worked as an editor, sub-editor and designer for a wide range of publications, and during the 90s worked on more than 50 start-ups at various stages in their development. While working on The Voice
he was reputed to have written a front-page headline that caused a riot in Brixton the following day and attempted siege of the local police station.
As an illustrator and cartoonist, over the years his more high-profile work has included newspapers such as The Voice
and The Weekly Journal - where he was the regular profile illustrator for several years - City Limits and The Guardian
newspaper. His cartoons also illustrate comedian Llewella Gideon's The Little Big Woman Book. He has done illustration work for Spanish educational publishers and has run a wide range of cartoon strips in specialist publications such as Boogie (music press, Spain), London Student, Untitled, The Wharf and The Stage.
has just come out of hibernation (since 1993) and in 2010 released the Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep
, a mini album (or long EP, according to its original concept) laced with Mellotron
keyboard arrangements. The first track is possibly the first time that a band has attempted a genuine reinterpretation of the milestone prog rock classic by Yes (the numerous other cover versions that exist of Close to the Edge are carbon copies by tribute bands - although special mention must be made of Japanese band Ruinzatova's jaw-dropping offering from 2003). Guest musicians include guitarist Fred James Hill, The Vibrators
guitarist Knox
, New York singer-songwriter Dean Friedman
, ex-Camel
drummer Andy Ward, ex-Wizzard
saxophonist Nick Pentelow and multi-instrumentalist Lyndon Connah (Level 42
, 64 Mice). The album complements Awde's 2008 book of interviews with rock stars: Mellotron
, subtitled The Machine and the Musicians That Revolutionised Rock. MelloRetro, an album of classic Mellotron rock covers, is in the pipelines to follow shortly afterwards, as is Sweet Revolutions, a collection of world pop protest songs similarly laced with Mellotron - the album pulls together Awde originals with surprising pop/rock songs from international songwriters better known for their political or revolutionary folk work. Close to the Edge... is MelloFest
Three and MelloRetro will be MelloFest Four (see section below).
Desert Hearts initially operated as a rock three-piece that also played under the name of Dr Wu in 1990 before becoming a more complex four-piece in 1991 with Awde on vocals, guitar and violin, Andy Matthews on bass and vocals, Leo Katana on guitars, plus a string of drummers (aka the Spinal Tap Syndrome). Both line-ups put out band-produced cassettes, amongst the original material were also covers of King Crimson
's "21st Century Schizoid Man
", Strawbs' "Hero and Heroine
" and Neil Young
's "Hey Hey My My". Dropping the Dr Wu tag, Awde went into the studio in 1993 to produce sessions with Andy Ward - Awde provided vocals and played all other instruments - guitars, bass, keyboards and violin. Some of the songs were released as a Desert Hearts band-produced cassette, including the satirical epic rocker "Rumble Fish
", the Steely Dan
-tinged "Meryl Streep
" and a bizarre cover of Elton John
's "Rocket Man" (complete with howling wolf chorus).
Sub-titled 'Love Songs from the Underground', 1996's I Saw Satan on the Northern Line was released as a 'CD without music'. Designed in the format of a CD lyrics booklet, it contains often comic observations on modern life. Although much of it is clearly autobiographical, Awde has always stressed that the subject matter is intended to reflect people and their attitudes in general. Parts of his unreleased musical I've Seen That Movie Too appear in the collection.
] take place at the Fiddler's Elbow in Kentish Town, London. Organised by Awde, MelloFest One featured two Mellotrons onstage along with discussions and live Mellotron-inspired music from very special guests plus the official launch of Awde's book Mellotron (book)
. Talking about their music and in some cases also playing it were: David Cross
(King Crimson
), Nick Magnus
(Steve Hackett
Band), Martin Orford
(IQ (band)
), Jakko Jakszyk
(21st Century Schizoid Band
/Tangent
/Level 42
), Dave Cousins
(Strawbs) & Robert Kirby
(Strawbs/Nick Drake
/Paul Weller
), Robert Webb
(England
) and Tony Clarke
, producer of the Moody Blues.
A more concert-based second MelloFest Two, complete with the possibly unique event of three Mellotrons onstage and a Stylophone, took place at The Luminaire in London on 2 May 2009 featuring Clarke, Orford, Webb, Maggie Alexander, Mark Rae, Andy Thompson and a virtual appearance from Jordan Rudess
of Dream Theater
demonstrating the new Ellatron iPod
/iPhone
Mellotron app.
MelloFest Three is the Nick Awde & Desert Hearts EP Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep
, released in early 2010. MelloFest Four will be the band's follow-up album MelloRetro. MelloFest Six, a formal concert of Mellotron and singer-songwriter acts, is planned for the end of 2010. MelloFest Five is closely under wraps at the moment but may involve a location in Europe and four, possibly five Mellotrons onstage.
Phrasebook, a Georgian Phrasebook, Women In Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an
and Hadiths, An Illustrated History of Islam and an Arabic Dictionary. He has written three other dictionaries for Swahili
, Serbo-Croatian
and Hausa
, as well as 15-plus dictionary-phrasebooks. He has a good working knowledge of more than 25 languages, including several endangered languages.
He believes in collaboration as a way of forming bridges between cultures - and thus helping those in privileged nations to empower those in less privileged societies particularly children and women. This is reflected in the large number of co-authors he has worked with - most of who come from economically or war-ravaged countries such as Chechnya
, Somalia
, Iraq
and Afghanistan
. He has commissioned many more authors in the same spirit, particularly from the Caucasus
, editing and designing their books for other publishers.
He is also a longstanding consultant on the Caucasus, and, with Fred James Hill, runs the publishing companies Bennett & Bloom (academic) and Desert Hearts
(general arts).
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1997
1996
1992
1987
1986
1985
1982
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
. The author, editor or illustrator of more than 50 books, he is based in London and Brussels. The son of an international lawyer (who formulated laws that enable containers to go round the world), he was raised in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
before being sent to the Catholic boarding school Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College is a Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate near the village of Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley area of Lancashire, England, and occupies a Grade I listed building...
in the UK. Although his father moved to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and his mother to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
after divorcing, most of Awde's teenage home life was spent in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
and the West End of London
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. He studied Arabic and Hausa
Hausa language
Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...
at London's School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
, later becoming a journalist after working for several years on building sites and teaching English in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. He believes in combining art and communication in order to benefit and actively empower the end user while downplaying the presence of the artist (as well as the notion of 'art') - he cites his Chechen phrasebook, his career as a theatre critic and 2010 EP Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep as good, if seemingly unconnected, examples of working creatively within society to create change.
Plays and fiction
With Chris BartlettChris Bartlett
Chris Bartlett is a London-based writer and journalist.Along with Nick Awde, he co-wrote the stage play Pete and Dud: Come Again, a hit at the Assembly Rooms at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, starring Kevin Bishop as Dudley...
he co-wrote the comedy drama http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0413776026Pete and Dud: Come Again
Pete and Dud: Come Again
Pete and Dud: Come Again is a stage play about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore written by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde. This comedy drama had a sellout run at the Assembly Rooms as part of the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, in a...
], a hit at the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in August 2005 before transferring to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, then doing a 90-date tour of the UK the following year. The play examines the highly influential comic relationship that existed between comedians Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
and Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
- along with Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
and Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
they kickstarted the satirical comedy movement in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s with Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
, before branching off on their own. Set in a chat show during the early eighties, the play tells their tale from the perspective of Dudley Moore, by then an international film star. In June 2006 Pete and Dud: Come Again
Pete and Dud: Come Again
Pete and Dud: Come Again is a stage play about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore written by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde. This comedy drama had a sellout run at the Assembly Rooms as part of the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, in a...
transferred for a short run in Auckland, New Zealand, as part of the Bruce Mason Centre's first Best of British Festival. Classic rock group 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
shared the bill.
In 2007 two other plays have followed, premiering at the Edinburgh Festival: Unnatural Acts at Assembly and Blood Confession at the Gilded Balloon. Written with Chris Bartlett, directed by David Giles and starring Jessica Martin
Jessica Martin
Jessica Martin is an actor and comedian. She is probably best known for her work as an impressionist and voice artist on the television series Spitting Image, impersonating the voice of Her Majesty The Queen. She also appeared on Yorkshire Television's 3-2-1 in the 1980s with impressionist Aiden J...
and Jason Wood
Jason Wood
Jason Peter Wood , Australian politician, was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of La Trobe, Victoria for the Liberal Party of Australia at the 2004 federal election. He held the seat until his defeat at the 2010 federal election...
, Unnatural Acts is a comedy about two flatmates, a gay man and a straight woman, who try to have a baby together. Written by Awde and directed by Jon Bonfiglio, Blood Confession is a violent drama about an interrogation, about a child murder from 25 years ago, that goes horribly wrong.
In 1993, Awde wrote, composed and produced http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1898948488Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
The Musical], described as "a bizarre mix of spoof and satire" by The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals. A pastich of the life of top musical composer Lloyd Webber, in loving homage to Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
' The Producers
The Producers
The Producers commonly refers to Mel Brooks' series of comedic works about two con-men who attempt to cheat theater investors out of their money, only to have the scheme improbably backfire:...
, it ran in a variety of fringe venues across London with several casts. It is now available in book form. Awde's 1994 follow-up Margaret Thatcher: The Musical failed to find backing. The satirical musical followed the fortunes of the former prime minister as she dies and is forced to wait at the Pearly Gates as a desperate God and the equally desperate Devil devise a game show in which the loser has to take her for eternity, complicated by an audience vote at the finale. Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Musical is reputed to be the first serious show to kickstart the 'celebrity title' genre, pioneering the way for hits such as Jerry Springer: The Opera
Jerry Springer: The Opera
Jerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show. The musical is notable for its profanity, its irreverent treatment of Judeo-Christian themes, and surreal images such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux...
. Awde's other stage works are Eros and the Skull (Bloomsbury Theatre, London, 1988) - a multi-created one-man show about the French poet Baudelaire - and Semtex & Lipstick (King's Head Theatre, London, 1992) - a drama for actor and actress about love and political torture. He also co-designed costumes for historical drama Tewodros (Arts Theatre, 1987).
In 2003 he published his first novel, The Virgin Killers as part of The Public School Chronicles
The Public School Chronicles
The Public School Chronicles is a series published by Desert Hearts Books. The first two volumes are The Virgin Killers by Nick Awde and An Overseas Boy by Peter Lazard. The books form an interconnected story of life of schoolboys at three exclusive British boarding schools - two Jesuit preparatory...
series. It is a complex thriller about murders of priests at a Catholic prep school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
in the wilds of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
that lead to a trail of Jesuit and Freemason conspiracies deep within the British Establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
. Intended as a thinly disguised political comment on the state of the nation, the book, unusually for a thriller, also contains a historical appendix - a groundbreaking timeline linking events in British and Irish history to the constitutional oppression of Catholics, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and other Non-Conformists within the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland right up to the present day.
He has been a theatre critic since the early 1990s, and has been writing for The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
newspaper for most of that time. Together with fellow Stage contributor Gerald Berkowitz, he set up in 1999 www.theatreguidelondon.co.uk, the first UK-based theatre website to be run exclusively by professional critics. He has also worked as an editor, sub-editor and designer for a wide range of publications, and during the 90s worked on more than 50 start-ups at various stages in their development. While working on The Voice
The Voice (newspaper)
The Voice is a British national weekly tabloid newspaper owned by the Jamaican publisher, GV Media Group, aimed at the British Afro-Caribbean community. The paper is based in the London Docklands and is published every Monday.-History:...
he was reputed to have written a front-page headline that caused a riot in Brixton the following day and attempted siege of the local police station.
As an illustrator and cartoonist, over the years his more high-profile work has included newspapers such as The Voice
The Voice (newspaper)
The Voice is a British national weekly tabloid newspaper owned by the Jamaican publisher, GV Media Group, aimed at the British Afro-Caribbean community. The paper is based in the London Docklands and is published every Monday.-History:...
and The Weekly Journal - where he was the regular profile illustrator for several years - City Limits and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper. His cartoons also illustrate comedian Llewella Gideon's The Little Big Woman Book. He has done illustration work for Spanish educational publishers and has run a wide range of cartoon strips in specialist publications such as Boogie (music press, Spain), London Student, Untitled, The Wharf and The Stage.
Desert Hearts
Hill's rock group Desert HeartsDesert Hearts (band)
Desert Hearts is a rock band formed in London, England, by Nick Awde. Their music is a combination of progressive rock and world pop music.- Early days :...
has just come out of hibernation (since 1993) and in 2010 released the Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, a mini album (or long EP, according to its original concept) laced with Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
keyboard arrangements. The first track is possibly the first time that a band has attempted a genuine reinterpretation of the milestone prog rock classic by Yes (the numerous other cover versions that exist of Close to the Edge are carbon copies by tribute bands - although special mention must be made of Japanese band Ruinzatova's jaw-dropping offering from 2003). Guest musicians include guitarist Fred James Hill, The Vibrators
The Vibrators
- Early career:The Vibrators were founded by Ian 'Knox' Carnochan, bassist Pat Collier, guitarist John Ellis, and drummer John 'Eddie' Edwards. They first came to public notice at the 100 Club when they backed Chris Spedding in 1976. On Spedding's recommendation, Mickie Most signed them to his...
guitarist Knox
Knox (musician)
Knox also known as I.M. Carnarchan is a British musician and founding member of the seminal punk band The Vibrators.-Early life:...
, New York singer-songwriter Dean Friedman
Dean Friedman
Dean Friedman is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments, including the harmonica.-Music:...
, ex-Camel
Camel (band)
Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in 1971. An important group in the Canterbury scene, they have been releasing studio and live recordings steadily, with considerable success, since their formation.-1970s:...
drummer Andy Ward, ex-Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
saxophonist Nick Pentelow and multi-instrumentalist Lyndon Connah (Level 42
Level 42
Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
, 64 Mice). The album complements Awde's 2008 book of interviews with rock stars: Mellotron
Mellotron (book)
Written by writer and musician Nick Awde, - subtitled 'The Machine and the Musicians That Revolutionised Rock' is a series of discussions with influential British musicians who innovated popular music through the use of the Mellotron.-Symbol of social heritage:...
, subtitled The Machine and the Musicians That Revolutionised Rock. MelloRetro, an album of classic Mellotron rock covers, is in the pipelines to follow shortly afterwards, as is Sweet Revolutions, a collection of world pop protest songs similarly laced with Mellotron - the album pulls together Awde originals with surprising pop/rock songs from international songwriters better known for their political or revolutionary folk work. Close to the Edge... is MelloFest
MelloFest
MelloFest is a new festival that celebrates the Mellotron and Chamberlin keyboards and the music that they inspired as well as singer-songwriters in general...
Three and MelloRetro will be MelloFest Four (see section below).
Desert Hearts initially operated as a rock three-piece that also played under the name of Dr Wu in 1990 before becoming a more complex four-piece in 1991 with Awde on vocals, guitar and violin, Andy Matthews on bass and vocals, Leo Katana on guitars, plus a string of drummers (aka the Spinal Tap Syndrome). Both line-ups put out band-produced cassettes, amongst the original material were also covers of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
's "21st Century Schizoid Man
21st Century Schizoid Man
"21st Century Schizoid Man" is a song by progressive rock band King Crimson from their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King.-Personnel:* Greg Lake – Vocals, bass guitar* Ian McDonald – saxophone* Robert Fripp – guitars* Michael Giles – drums...
", Strawbs' "Hero and Heroine
Hero and Heroine
Hero and Heroine is a studio album by English band Strawbs. After the tour supporting the previous album, Bursting at the Seams, there was an acrimonious split leaving only Dave Cousins and Dave Lambert to rebuild the band. The new line-up gelled very quickly and studio sessions were very productive...
" and Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's "Hey Hey My My". Dropping the Dr Wu tag, Awde went into the studio in 1993 to produce sessions with Andy Ward - Awde provided vocals and played all other instruments - guitars, bass, keyboards and violin. Some of the songs were released as a Desert Hearts band-produced cassette, including the satirical epic rocker "Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
", the Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
-tinged "Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
" and a bizarre cover of Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's "Rocket Man" (complete with howling wolf chorus).
Sub-titled 'Love Songs from the Underground', 1996's I Saw Satan on the Northern Line was released as a 'CD without music'. Designed in the format of a CD lyrics booklet, it contains often comic observations on modern life. Although much of it is clearly autobiographical, Awde has always stressed that the subject matter is intended to reflect people and their attitudes in general. Parts of his unreleased musical I've Seen That Movie Too appear in the collection.
MelloFest
November 2008 saw the first http://www.mellofest.comMelloFestMelloFest
MelloFest is a new festival that celebrates the Mellotron and Chamberlin keyboards and the music that they inspired as well as singer-songwriters in general...
] take place at the Fiddler's Elbow in Kentish Town, London. Organised by Awde, MelloFest One featured two Mellotrons onstage along with discussions and live Mellotron-inspired music from very special guests plus the official launch of Awde's book Mellotron (book)
Mellotron (book)
Written by writer and musician Nick Awde, - subtitled 'The Machine and the Musicians That Revolutionised Rock' is a series of discussions with influential British musicians who innovated popular music through the use of the Mellotron.-Symbol of social heritage:...
. Talking about their music and in some cases also playing it were: David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
(King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
), Nick Magnus
Nick Magnus
Nick Magnus is a British keyboard player, songwriter, composer, arranger, engineer and producer.He is from the progressive school of keyboard players, mostly associated with instrumental and rock music...
(Steve Hackett
Steve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...
Band), Martin Orford
Martin Orford
Martin Orford is an English keyboard player best known as the keyboardist and founder member of progressive rock bands IQ and Jadis. He also worked with former King Crimson, UK and Asia bassist John Wetton, and released a solo album, Classical Music and Popular Songs in 2000...
(IQ (band)
IQ (band)
IQ are a British neo-progressive rock band founded by Mike Holmes and Martin Orford in 1981 following the dissolution of their original band The Lens...
), Jakko Jakszyk
Jakko Jakszyk
Jakko M. Jakszyk is an English guitarist, singer-songwriter , multi-instrumentalist and producer...
(21st Century Schizoid Band
21st Century Schizoid Band
21st Century Schizoid Band are a King Crimson alumnus group formed in 2002.The name derives from the famous song "21st Century Schizoid Man" from the first King Crimson album, In the Court of the Crimson King...
/Tangent
Tangent
In geometry, the tangent line to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. More precisely, a straight line is said to be a tangent of a curve at a point on the curve if the line passes through the point on the curve and has slope where f...
/Level 42
Level 42
Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
), Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins has been the leader, singer and most active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967.-Career:...
(Strawbs) & Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby was a British born arranger of string sections for rock and folk music. He is best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but has also worked with Elton John, Ralph McTell, Strawbs, Paul Weller and Elvis Costello.-At Cambridge:Patrick...
(Strawbs/Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
/Paul Weller
Paul Weller
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
), Robert Webb
Robert Webb
Robert Webb may refer to:*Robert Webb , English actor, comedian and writer*Robert Webb , University of Virginia professor*Robert Webb, the creator of polyhedra software Stella*Robert D. Webb, film maker*Robert Wallace Webb, geoscientist...
(England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) and Tony Clarke
Tony Clarke (producer)
Tony Clarke was an English rock music record producer and guitarist. Born in Coventry, he is best known for producing The Moody Blues from 1966 to 1979.-Biography:...
, producer of the Moody Blues.
A more concert-based second MelloFest Two, complete with the possibly unique event of three Mellotrons onstage and a Stylophone, took place at The Luminaire in London on 2 May 2009 featuring Clarke, Orford, Webb, Maggie Alexander, Mark Rae, Andy Thompson and a virtual appearance from Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess is an American keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment.-Biography:...
of Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
demonstrating the new Ellatron iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
/iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
Mellotron app.
MelloFest Three is the Nick Awde & Desert Hearts EP Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, released in early 2010. MelloFest Four will be the band's follow-up album MelloRetro. MelloFest Six, a formal concert of Mellotron and singer-songwriter acts, is planned for the end of 2010. MelloFest Five is closely under wraps at the moment but may involve a location in Europe and four, possibly five Mellotrons onstage.
Academic work
As Nicholas Awde, Hill has written or edited books on non-European languages and cultures, including a ChechenChechen language
The Chechen language is spoken by more than 1.5 million people, mostly in Chechnya and by Chechen people elsewhere. It is a member of the Northeast Caucasian languages.-Classification:...
Phrasebook, a Georgian Phrasebook, Women In Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and Hadiths, An Illustrated History of Islam and an Arabic Dictionary. He has written three other dictionaries for Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
, Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
and Hausa
Hausa language
Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...
, as well as 15-plus dictionary-phrasebooks. He has a good working knowledge of more than 25 languages, including several endangered languages.
He believes in collaboration as a way of forming bridges between cultures - and thus helping those in privileged nations to empower those in less privileged societies particularly children and women. This is reflected in the large number of co-authors he has worked with - most of who come from economically or war-ravaged countries such as Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. He has commissioned many more authors in the same spirit, particularly from the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, editing and designing their books for other publishers.
He is also a longstanding consultant on the Caucasus, and, with Fred James Hill, runs the publishing companies Bennett & Bloom (academic) and Desert Hearts
Desert Hearts
Desert Hearts is a 1985 lesbian-themed romantic drama film loosely based on the Jane Rule novel Desert of the Heart. Directed by Donna Deitch, the film stars Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau with a supporting performance by Audra Lindley....
(general arts).
Dramatic Works
- Blood Confession (2007)
- Unnatural Acts (2007), with Chris Bartlett
- Pete and Dud: Come Again (2005), with Chris Bartlett
- Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Musical (1994)
- Semtex & Lipstick (1993)
- Eros & the Skull (1988), with Peter Stevenson & John FitZgeRald
- Design: Tewodros (1987)
Discography
- Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep (Spring 2010)
- Sweet Revolutions (Summer 2010)
Select bibliography
2010- Georgia: A Short History, edited with Fred James Hill (forthcoming)
- One-Person Show (forthcoming)
- Singer-Songwriters Vol. 1 (forthcoming)
- Zazaki (Dimli) Phrasebook (forthcoming)
- Kurdish (Kurmanji) Phrasebook (forthcoming)
- The Armenians: People, Culture & History, edited with Fred James Hill (forthcoming
2009
- The Azerbaijanis: People, Culture & History, edited with Fred James Hill
- KurdishKurdish languageKurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
(SoranSoranm²Soran may refer to:Places*Soran Emirate, a Kurdish principality*Soran District, a region within the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq*Soran, Iraq, the seat of the district government, adjacent to DiyanaPeople*Soran clan, Kurdish clan...
i) Phrasebook - Tatar Phrasebook
2008
- MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
: The Machine and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock
2007
- Modern Aramaic Dictionary & Phrasebook (Assyrian/Syriac: Swadaya and Turoyo), with Nineb Limassu and Nicholas Al-Jeloo
2006
- Pete and Dud: Come Again, with Chris Bartlett
- Western Armenian Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Vazken-Khatchig Davidian
- Farsi Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Camilla Shahribaf
2005
- Women in Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an & Hadiths [first edition 1985]
- Turkmen Dictionary & Phrasebook, with William Dirks & Amandurdy Amadurdyev
2004
- Serbian Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Duska Radosavljevic
2003
- The Virgin Killers
- History of the Islamic World (Illustrated), with Fred James Hill
- Eastern Armenian Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Peter Maghdashyan
- Pashto Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Asmatullah Sarwan
- Dari Dictionary & Phrasebook
- Urdu Dictionary & Phrasebook
2002
- London: An Illustrated History, with Robert Chester
- Uzbek Dictionary & Phrasebook, with William Dirks & Umida Hikmatullaeva
- Swahili Dictionary & Phrasebook
2001
- Armenian First Names, with Emanuela Losi
2000
- Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Musical
- Swahili Dictionary
1999
- The Little Big Woman Book, by Llewella Gideon, illustrated by Nick Awde
- Somali Dictionary & Phrasebook
- Azerbaijani Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Famil Ismailov
- Igbo Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Onyekachi Wambu
- Treasury of Indian Love: Poems & Proverbs, with Christopher Shackle
1997
- Armenian Perspectives (edited)
- Treasury of African Love: Poems & Proverbs
- Georgian Dictionary & Phrasebook, with Thea Khitarishvili
- The Mandeer Ayurvedic Cookbook, by Ramesh Patel, illustrated by Nick Awde
1996
- I Saw Satan on the Northern Line: Love Songs from the Underground
- Chechen Dictionary and Phrasebook, with Muhammad Galaev
- Serbo-Croatian Dictionary
- Hausa Dictionary
- Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa (Studies in Arabic literature): Vols. 1 & 2, edited by Stefan Sperl & Christopher Shackle, consultant editor Nicholas Awde
1992
- Playground: Vols. 1, 2 & 3, with Imad Alassir
1987
- 21st Century Hausa
- Hausa Reader
1986
- Arabic: How to Read & Write It
1985
- Women in Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an & Hadiths [new edition 2005]
- Bibliography of Caucasian Linguistics
1982
- Pickled Priests, illustrated by Nick Awde
Reviews
Nick Awde’s extensive love song to the Mellotron weighs in with a thumping 590 pages, contains interviews with 21 musicians who’ve either played one of the beasts (or stood next to someone who has), engrossing background interviews with the instruments creators, a series of appendices which include (amongst other things) the dates and places of birth of those interviewed or mentioned in the book along with their star signs (no, really), along with a clutch of period adverts and of course, the all-important Mellotron-related discography and “Top 25 songs and albums” list. Words such as “comprehensive”, “exhaustive” and “obsessive,” whilst certainly applying to the book, don’t really do justice to Awde’s achievement here.