Deau Map Harth dates

Jim Carey and David Bacon as Deau Map Harth (Two Brave Boys) appearing at 'A Time Of Gifts', Eden Project, Cornwall

Friday 15th Dec 06

Friday 29th Dec 06

Friday 12th Jan 07

Friday 26th Jan 07

Friday 2nd Feb 07

Jim and David play their own arrangements of traditional tunes mostly from Cornwall and Brittany . Jim gives the old accordion an airing and plays percussion while David enchants with hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes made by his own fair hands.

Additional Deau Map Harth Dates:

Jacob's Ladder, Falmouth
Sunday 23rd December 2006 (Xmas Eve)

Cornwall and me

Interview feature published in Cornwall Today Magazine Jan 2007 issue.

SCOT JIM CAREY ARRIVED IN CORNWALL AGED 22 IN 1982 AND PUT DOWN ROOTS. NOW SETTLED IN FALMOUTH , JIM COMPOSES, DIRECTS, PRODUCES, RECORDS AND PERFORMS MUSIC FOR EVENTS, THEATRE, RADIO AND FILM. INSPIRED BY THE EDEN PROJECT'S EARLY DAYS, HIS COMPOSITION FIRST BREATH IS NOW AVAILABLE ON CD NATIONWIDE.

You trained in fine art in Glasgow and started out as a painter. Arriving in Cornwall in 1982, what drew you here and made you stay?

After art school I went travelling in Europe with a friend. We teamed up with another performer who told us he was involved with a theatre company just starting up in Cornwall . We developed a street act and, when the money and the beer ran out, we decided to try our luck in Cornwall . In Mevagissey we met up with the embryonic Kneehigh Theatre, and got stuck right in. The work was exciting and innovative and sort of took over our lives. Shortly after arriving in Cornwall I became a family man. I've been here ever since.

Tell us about your family

I have five children from two marriages. There is my wife Claire and Hector, 23, Harry, 22, Beth, 21, Anna, 20, and Seamas, 13.

When did you start to work with music? What took you in this direction?

My parents were great singers. Imagine trying to do your homework at the kitchen table while Janette McDonald and Nelson Eddie did the washing up. We used to go to a lot of rock concerts when we were teenagers. I had been playing and singing in bands since I was 16 and started writing songs at art school.

You're now composing music for Miracle Theatre Company shows and you've had a 10 year collaboration with Kneehigh Theatre as a performer and musical director. Tell us a bit about this work

The last tour I did with Kneehigh Theatre was The Riot in 2000. I also got involved with the company's Three Islands Project, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, in Malta in 2003 and Hayle in 2005, so I suppose it's more like 20 years. I have always been fascinated by music and song that tell stories. Creating sounds for theatre or film has set me off on some unusual and interesting musical journeys. I don't tour theatre any more but I still make music for theatre, mostly soundtracks for Miracle Theatre Company. I work closely with the director on style and concept. Again it's the diversity that makes it interesting.

What's in the pipeline?

One of my ongoing projects is Bombrassa (in Cornish, bombraza) which, roughly, means “a big wind.” This is a high-energy foot stomping band consisting of brass, reeds and percussion. There are 12 in the band drawn from a larger pool of musicians. It is the ideal outdoor events band and we hope to be playing festivals this spring and summer. I'm now working on ideas for Miracle Theatre's Taming of the Shrew which will tour this summer. There's also a feature film theme tune to be written. I have plans to create a body of new work from a more personal point of view and hope to collaborate with other writers and musicians.

Tell us about your link with the Eden Project ?

I've worked closely with Eden on various events as a musical director since the opening in 2000. I was commissioned by Eden to produce the 2004 winter season centrepiece event, which had a hugely successful three-month run. I've also directed the music for this year's, and last year's, Time of Gifts season.

What year did you move to Falmouth and what appeals to you about the town?

I moved to Falmouth in 1990. It has a wonderful bay and a good cross section of people. There is a great place called The Seven Stars.

Are there any particularly significant places in Cornwall where you go to find inspiration?

First Breath : The soundtrack to Eden

CD album out now on independent release.

Ambient world music taking you on an evocative and dynamic journey

First Breath is a passionate story told on a grand scale.
    Conceived and written during the early days of the Eden Project and first performed there, this remarkable work is rightly known as 'the soundtrack to Eden '. Combining traditional, contemporary and world influences, First Breath will touch your heart, capture your imagination and live on in your memory.
   “The music is influenced by many styles and traditions,” says composer Jim Carey. “Parts are intimate folk or gentle instrumental, other parts are almost epic in scale. But the themes that exist in the song titles and words are universal, dealing with the human condition; essentially First Breath is a story of hope”.

BOMBRASSA

BOMBRASSA MUSIC CLIPS:
Gori Gori | The Quest | Trevena Trip | Cuzco

BOMBRASSA is a high-energy, foot stomping band consisting of brass, reeds and percussion led by composers Jim Carey and Adrian Freedman. An essential part of any celebration our bold and brassy adventurers bring an exciting mix of new, hypnotic, evocative triumphant fanfares and world folk rhythmical magic.

The band can work as an outdoor processional band and as a concert band at indoor venues. The repertoire consists mostly of new compositions by Carey and Freedman from Cornwall , with world music influences ranging from celtic cultures to India.

We have up to 12 musicians playing sousaphone, tubas, saxophones, trombone, trumpets and percussion. These musicians are at the height of their profession. We are seeking funding and collaborations to develop the repertoire, pool of musicians and performing skills.

The Band was put together out of Eden's need for a musical score for a dramatic entertainment that could shift easily from one part of the Eden site to another without the need for static equipment such as microphones, amplification and music stands. Therefore Jim & Adrian devised a brass band with drums that could instantly turn up anywhere indoors or out in Cornish winter weather conditions; either to play a short concert repertoire, or to be the focus of a procession leading actors, puppets and audience to the final firework display. The band recruited some of Cornwall 's best brass players, many of whom are regular fixtures in other local concert bands and also teach for the County Music Service. Together, the musicians and composers filled Eden 's brief successfully and the members decided to continue playing together as a processional band under the name of “Bombrassa” which, (in Cornish, bombraza) roughly means “a big wind.”

Bombrassa's music draws from a number of sources: traditional Cornish tunes in the distinctive 5 measure, other Celtic influences, action movie soundtracks, Bolivia and Peru, and the folkloric music of Rajasthan, India via collaborations with the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band and musicians of the Barefoot College of Tillonia, (I'm not making this up!) The result is a clanging, crashing & honking adventure in style and rhythm that can manifest in almost any location. Drawing entirely on creative musical talent within Cornwall . Bombrassa are looking for performance opportunities and also partnerships with organisations that wish to develop new music for large wind ensembles. Bombrassa   featured at Golowan 2006 summer arts festival in Penzance and blew the pants off hundreds of happy festival goers.

Contact Bombrassa C/oJim Carey 07815048365 jim@jimcarey.fsnet.co.uk

BOMBRASSA MUSIC CLIPS:
Gori Gori
The Quest
Trevena Trip
Cuzco

"Jim Carey composes music that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck”
Tim Smit, creator of The Eden Project.

ORDER CD ONLINE NOW

Now you can order First Breath CD online - only £9.99 plus P&P.