WOMAD

Banco de Gaia

From United Kingdom

For the past three years, Banco de Gaia's set has been a highlight of the club nights at Rivermead. Not this time. For his 1997 show, Toby Marks moves to one of our main stages, and his show has been completely revamped. For the first time, he'll be playing with real musicians and not just a bank of keyboards.Toby's first singles were released on the Planet Dog label (an offshoot of Megadog, our club hosts this year). They were labelled "ambient" but there's more to the music than that: storming big beats are at its heart, with a wild array of global samples overlaid.His first two albums, 'Maya' (1994), and the double CD, 'Last Train To Lhasa' (1995), are both rhythm workouts embellished with top tunes, while last year's 'Live at Glastonbury' was a perfect example of how one man and his machines can make exciting, even soulful music. This year, however, Toby, a long-term Pink Floyd fan, enlisted sax player Dick Parry (the featured soloist on 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'Wish You Here') for a track on his new album, 'Big Men Cry', released on Planet Dog/Ultimate in July. From that move has flowed a change of approach. This year's live shows will now feature three percussionists and a flexible line-up of violin, flute and pipe players - not forgetting the sax man.It's a far cry from the best known image of Toby, almost hidden behind machines as he improvises over a DAT. But it's a development that excites him. Of his old show, he once said: "It's like being one member of a six-piece band - I can direct my part but I can't stop halfway through." This time round, he will be a member of a real six-piece.