Charlie Cawood is an English multi-instrumental musician, composer and music journalist, known for his cross-disciplinary musical skills as well as his work with a wide variety of projects and artists. An active member of

Knifeworld Knifeworld is a British-based psychedelic rock band led by Kavus Torabi. Originally a Torabi solo project, it became a full band in summer 2009. Knifeworld has connections with various English musical projects both inside and outside the ro ...

Mediaeval Baebes In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, My Tricksy Spirit and Tonochrome, Cawood has worked in

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

, pop,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

as well as

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and

Balinese music The Music of Bali, Bali is an Indonesian island that shares in the gamelan and other music of Indonesia, Indonesian musical styles. Bali, however, has its own techniques and styles, including kecak, a form of singing that imitates the sound of ...

and a variety of other forms. His first solo album, ''The Divine Abstract'', was released in 2017.

Biography

Background and influences

Cawood is a native Londoner who began playing guitar at the age of eleven and soon developed a strong interest in experimental rock music. Educated at

Loxford School of Science and Technology Loxford School (formerly Loxford School of Science and Technology) is a Mixed-sex education, mixed all-through school with Academy (English school), academy status located in the Ilford area of the London Borough of Redbridge, England. The schoo ...

and training with Redbridge Music Services, he took classical exams up to ABRSM Grade 8, also playing in the RMS guitar ensemble and the Redbridge Youth Jazz Orchestra (winning the Jack Petchey Achievement award as well as the guitar prize at the Stratford & East London Music Festival two years running). While still a teenager, Cawood became interested in the music of other cultures. Learning

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

at Escuela de Baile, he also branched out into studying the music of India, China and Bali via the Asian Music Circuit, learning the

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

under Mehboob Nadeem and the Chinese

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...

lute under Cheng Yu (leader of the UK Chinese Music Ensemble) during summer schools at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

).'Meet the Musicians: Charlie Cawood'
– interview at 'Nomad's Playlist', 14 May 2011Charlie Cawood tutor page
at London College of Creative Media homepage Cawood graduated from both the Guitar Institute and the

London Centre of Contemporary Music London College of Creative Media (LCCM) is a private college of higher education in South London offering undergraduate degrees in music, writing, and music management; a postgraduate degree in creative entrepreneurship; and shorter courses in mu ...

, gaining a Bachelor's degree in Popular Music Performance and Production. He went on to gain a Master's degree in Music Performance at

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, specialising in composition and in the music of

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

). Having continued to broaden his performance skills, Cawood currently plays around twenty different instruments. He regularly performs on guitar ( acoustic, electric and nylon-string classical), bass guitar,

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...

cuatro Cuatro is Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see Cuatro) and the other from Venezuela (see Cuatro) ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...

and lap harp as well as occasional keyboards and

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

instruments. Cawood also specialises in a variety of lutes – the Greek

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

and

tzouras The ''tzouras'' ( el, τζουράς), is a Greek stringed musical instrument related to the bouzouki. Its name comes from the Turkish cura. It is made in six-string and eight-string varieties. The six-string model has the same arrangement of ...

; the Arabian

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

; the Turkish

cümbüş The ''cümbüş'' (; ) is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş (1881–1947) as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble. The cümbüş is sh ...

and bağlama (or saz); the Chinese

liuqin The ''liuqin'' (Chinese: , pinyin: ) is a three, four or five -stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than the ''pipa'', and it has its own special place in Chinese music, whether in ...

and

ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...

(the latter in its tenor and bass ''

zhongruan The ''zhongruan'' (), is a Chinese plucked string instrument. The ''zhongruan'' has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard and 4 strings. It is usually played with a plectrum (guitar pick). It can also be played with fingers (index f ...

'' and ''daruan/moon lute'' variants); and the European

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

. He should not be confused with the other London-based musician called Charlie Cawood (who leads the

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

project Time Space Reality Band).

Career

Even before graduation, Cawood was heavily involved in both London's live music scene and in touring music. By the age of seventeen, he'd become a professional musician. In 2006, at the age of eighteen, he toured as a backup guitarist for Icelandic alt-folk singer Hafdis Huld, during which time he also made his debut radio broadcast on Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Music show. Between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one, Cawood played guitar and bass guitar in Achilla, a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band (also featuring future Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida) which got strong reviews from ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'' for their eponymous debut EP (plus an 8/10 live review). Cawood is currently the principal backing instrumentalist and co-arranger for

(for whom he plays up to eight different instruments on tour) and he plays bass guitar, electric guitar, sitar and tzouras for the "electronic gamelan" group My Tricksy Spirit. As an art-rock band member, Cawood is the bass guitarist for

and Lost Crowns, and a guitarist for art-pop group Tonochrome, heavy rock/prog band Khronicles and the

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

cover band Spiders of Destiny. Cawood has also contributed guitar/bass guitar/bağlama to "noir art-deco pop" project Spiritwo and has covered for guitarist Keith Moline in

Kev Hopper Kev Hopper (born 1961) is an English bass guitarist. Life and career Hopper is probably best known as the bass guitarist with Stump, an Anglo/Irish indie/experimental/rock group formed in London in 1983. Stump released two albums, the self rel ...

's "micro-riffing" art-rock quartet Prescott. He sometimes plays chamber folk with fellow Mediaeval Baebe Sophie Ramsay and currently performs hammer dulcimer with occasional

sea shanty A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ''shanty ...

band Admirals Hard (alongside Knifeworld/Lost Crowns bandmates Kavus Torabi and Richard Larcombe plus other London art rockers). He has worked with goth/

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

/industrial pop band Neurotic Mass Movement. As a classical musician, Cawood is best known for having performed the pipa part for the UK premiere of

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

' chamber opera '' Sound of a Voice'' but has also worked with the Chamber Music Company and the Temujin Ensemble. Cawood is also a noted player on the London world music scene. He has performed Chinese music (mostly on daruan) with Yin Yang Collective, Central Asian music (on oud, bağlama and pipa) with Uzbek singer Alla Seydalieva, and Turkish/Romani music with Opaz Ensemble. He was also part of the Anatolian folk-fusion group which later launched the career of Olcay Bayir.
Olcay Bayir - Neva / Harmony Olcay Bayir: ''Neva Harmony''] listing at discogs.com As a gamelan musician, he's worked with LSO Community Gamelan Group and Lila Cita. In addition to his work as a supporting player, Cawood composes his own instrumental music. His debut solo album, ''The Divine Abstract'' was released on the Bad Elephant Music label on 3 November 2017. Blending multiple aspects and influences from Cawood's career to date, the album featured twenty-one musicians drawn from his varied other bands and projects, including Mediaeval Baebes, Tonochrome, Knifeworld and assorted musicians associated with his SOAS alma mater. ''The Divine Abstract'' also featured forty-two different instruments drawn from European, Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern traditions – various guitars and lutes; assorted keyboards, woodwinds, reeds, brass and strings;

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...

, sitar, pipa, and a variety of percussion instruments from tuned Western orchestral to gamelan. ''The Divine Abstract'' received rave reviews, mostly from progressive rock magazines and websites. He has stated that although his music refers to and is influenced by avantgarde music, he doesn't aim to be avantgarde himself, preferring to produce "accessible" music.Charlie Cawood interview on 'Deep Cuts' podcast No. 159, broadcast 11 December 2017 His second solo album, ''Blurring Into Motion'', was released in 2019, featuring Marjana Semkina of

iamthemorning iamthemorning is a Russian progressive rock/ chamber pop duo formed in 2010, consisting of singer Marjana Semkina and pianist Gleb Kolyadin. Biography The duo formed at the start of the 2010. Their name was taken from the song "I Am the Mor ...

as a guest vocalist on two tracks. Cawood also works as an educator and writer. He teaches at the part-time guitar courses at the London Centre of Contemporary Music (part of the

London College of Creative Media London College of Creative Media (LCCM) is a private college of higher education in South London offering undergraduate degrees in music, writing, and music management; a postgraduate degree in creative entrepreneurship; and shorter courses in m ...

) and at All About the Band (a workshop for teenage musicians in the London borough of Southwark). He is a contributing writer for the folk and world music magazine ''

Songlines A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia which mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dr ...

''. As an acknowledged sufferer from depression, he's written about the topic and its specific impact on musicians in an article written for ''Echoes and Dust''.

Discography

as project leader

* ''The Divine Abstract'' (Bad Elephant Music, BEM052, 2017) * ''Blurring into Motion'' (Bad Elephant Music, 2019)

as group member

: ''Clairvoyant Fortnight'' EP (Believers Roast, BRR008, 2012) * Tonochrome: ''Tonochrome'' EP (Andres Razzini, AR001, 2012) * Tonochrome: ''Interference'' EP (Andres Razzini, AR002, 2013) * Spiritwo: ''Primitive Twinship'' (Renge Kyo Music, RKMCD002, 2013) * Knifeworld: ''Don't Land On Me'' download-only single (Believers Roast, 2014) * Knifeworld: ''The Unravelling'' (Inside Out Music, 2014) * Knifeworld: ''Home of the Newly Departed'' (Believers Roast, BR017/BR017LP, 2015) * Spiritwo: ''Mesumamim'' single (Renge Kyo Music, RKMCD003, 2015) * Knifeworld: ''Bottled Out Of Eden'' (Inside Out Music, IOMCD447/IOMLP 447, 2016) * My Tricksy Spirit: ''My Tricksy Spirit'' (Bad Elephant Music, BEM048, 2017)

as contributing musician

* Karin Fransson: ''Private Behaviour'' (Too Hip Records THR003CD, 2011) ''(sitar on 'Serious', electric guitar on 'Move On')'' * Matt Stevens: ''Lucid'' (Esoteric Antenna, EANTCD 1027, 2014) ''(bass guitar on 'Oxymoron', 'Unsettled', and 'The Bridge'; pipa on 'The Other Side')'' * Olcay Bayir: ''Neva/Harmony'' (Riverboat Records, TUGCD1088, 2014) ''(nylon-string classical guitar throughout)'' * Sinah: ''Sinah'' (Finaltune Records, FT 0601, 2015) ''(sitar and pipa on 'Loveless')'' * Nick Prol & The Proletarians: ''Loon Attic'' (self-released, 2017) ''(guitar and bass guitar on 'Carvings on the Wall')'' * Lucie Treacher: ''Wunderkabinett'' EP (self-released, 2017) ''(guitar and bass guitar on 'Cross Fire')''Lucie Treacher: ''Wunderkabinett''
listing at Discogs.com

References

External links

Official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawood, Charlie 1988 births 21st-century English bass guitarists 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century composers Art pop musicians Art rock musicians Bağlama players Bouzouki players English classical musicians English composers English experimental musicians English harpists English male composers English male guitarists English multi-instrumentalists English rock bass guitarists English rock guitarists Gamelan musicians Hammered dulcimer players Living people Lutenists Male bass guitarists Musicians from London Oud players Pipa players Progressive rock guitarists Progressive rock musicians Psychedelic rock musicians Sitar players Zither players Knifeworld members