TebuSpace Originals
TebuSpace Sessions
Live music and creative encounters with artists from across cultures.
A day in a room, two traditions, and a performance at the end of it, with the conversation between them left audible.
- Future
- Live series
- Collaboration
- Documented
Status
Planned. A future series: the format is set out here, an excerpt is on this page, and the first sessions are still to be programmed.
Deep
Listen · 1:15
Tebu, The Unboxed Musician
TebuSpace Sessions is the live heart of the space: musicians from different traditions meeting on stage and in the studio, with the conversation between them left audible.
Each session is documented as both performance and encounter, what the artists brought, what they found in common, and what only happened because they were in the same room.
How a session works
Two or more artists from different musical backgrounds are invited in with no obligation to arrive at a finished arrangement. They spend the day finding out what their traditions have in common, and where the interesting friction is.
The performance happens at the end of that day, so the audience hears the result of a conversation rather than a rehearsed set. Sometimes it resolves beautifully; sometimes the friction is the most interesting thing in the room.
Documented, not just staged
Every session is filmed and recorded, and the talk around the music is captured alongside it, how a rhythm is counted in one tradition and felt in another, what a phrase is quoting, why a particular mode carries weight.
That material becomes the audio and visual archive of the space: a record of what happens when musical cultures actually meet, rather than a claim that they did.
Who plays
The invitation is open to artists working in African, diaspora, jazz, folk, classical and electronic traditions, and particularly to players whose work already sits between categories.
Sessions are hosted in Manchester and, with partners, further afield. Venues, festivals and promoters wanting to host one are welcome to ask.
Gallery
From the work
Photography and artwork from the project.
Finding the common ground, hours before the performance. 
Every session is documented as it happens.
Play a session, or host one
Artists interested in taking part, and venues, festivals and promoters interested in hosting, are both welcome to get in touch.
Or email info@tebuspace.com, replies within two working days.