In Britain, ten years and further ago, going to a percussion concert was an act of extreme masochism. The emergence of ensemblebash in 1992 put paid to that very quickly. Using the music of West Africa as both the core of our repertoire and a guiding spiritual influence, we mix contemporary, classical, theatrical, jazz and traditional African music into unforgettable performances.

To date we've commissioned more than fifty new pieces from a breadth of composers including Graham Fitkin, Stewart Copeland, Michael Daugherty, Nitin Sawhney, Orphy Robinson, Howard Skempton, David Bedford, Stephen Montague, Keith Tippett, Nick Hayes and John Woolrich. We've also performed European premieres by Tan Dun and Steve Reich.

Collaborators include Joanna MacGregor, Django Bates, The Hilliard Ensemble, Chick Corea, Stewart Copeland, The Pan African Orchestra, Oficina Zöe, The National Dance Company of Ghana and Steve Reich, who joined us as the fifth player in a performance of his Music for Pieces of Wood as part of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 1998.

We have performed in Italy at the final concert of La Notte della Taranta Festival in 2003 to an audience of more than 50,000, in Hong Kong to mark the handover of the island to the Chinese in 1997 and played for The Queen and Nelson Mandela at the 1998 Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Edinburgh. We've played at venues all over Europe and in 1999 made a much acclaimed appearance at the Sydney Festival. In the past couple of years we've also played two BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.


We've just been featured on 2 CD/DVD releases on the Ponderosa Music & Art label, Orchestralli and La Notte della Taranta. Our past recordings have included releases on SoundCircus, Sony and Argo.
more about Ensemble Bash recordings

Most ensemblebash concerts are supported by extensive education
work, either as a pre-concert workshop or a longer project leading to a performance. We have been running the percussion course at the Dartington International Summer school since our conception, as well as doing around fifty educational workshops and concerts both here and abroad each year.
more about the Education Program




Recent highlights

Four tours in Italy since November 2002, with a whole host of artists including Stewart Copeland (co-founder of The Police), Radiodervish, Joanna MacGregor, Oficina Zöe, Ensemble Notte della Taranta and Raiz. On 1st May 2004 we performed La Notte della Taranta in Piazza San Giovanni, Rome to an audience of more than 500,000 to celebrate Labour Day.

Two major UK tours, our 10th Anniversary Tour and Light & Shade with Joanna MacGregor and the Britten Sinfonia, plus performances with Django Bates, Evelyn Glennie, Kathryn Tickell and Piers Adams to name a few.




ensemblebash are Chris Brannick, Joby Burgess, Stephen Hiscock and Andrew Martin