Bio
Xi-mali Kadeena-Guscoth (BA Hons, MMus) works in immersive sound and has been promoting performing arts in the community since his early teenage years at Haringey Shed, a local inclusive theatre company. From creating experimental sound performances that aim to affect people sonically, and explore the effects music has on the body. To large scale carnival performances across the UK and Europe which change a persons atmosphere into a communal and energetic party environment as a way to break boundaries between people.
He has worked with the Royal Court Theatre and LIFT to create performances local and inclusive to Tottenham, as well as returning to volunteer at Haringey Shed. Xi-mali specialises in Samba Fusion and holds a distinction in Music Performance from SOAS, University of London. There he combined – London’s Samba with Ceilidh, West African Drumming, and more – and has since brought this unique take on Samba to Hackney Carnival, the Hayward Gallery, the Royal Academy of Art, and workshops with young migrants and refugees.
Currently he is using technology to continue to create communities of music and musically immersive environments, especially now that outdoor community spaces are have stopped.
PAST PROJECTS
The Royal Court Theatre – Bunny Dance
Costumes, Dancers, Music, Masks, Parades, Poetry! As part of The Royal Court Theatre’s Tottenham Residency we brought the Lordship Recreation Ground to life in a spectacular event for the community to dress up and join in with. For this I was the musical director of the parading band.
Glasgow Sound Piece
An improvisatory sound art piece between myself James Wise. We collaborated with an assortment of contact mics, balloons, sound loops and hacked mixers to create a textual woven piece of sound which was the culmination of sound experiments together.
Homebeats
A video series for all ages and made during the heavy times of coronavirus. The aim is to make music at home with the objects around you in a playful manner which highlights the abundance of peoples lives with the objects around you. The main aim was to get people playing together and having fun at home while sharing a little bit of music history too.
Pumpkin Jigsaw – Figo Metal
An album composed between myself and my students over the first Coronavirus Lockdown. The album was created by taking recordings of my drums which I uploaded into a drum machine for our class to make samba compositions with an attempt to make it feel like a live performance. The name Figo Metal (Metal Fig) symbolises an object of natural beauty which has been made unnaturally.