Nisha Ramayya spoken word, text / John Pope double bass, small objects, electronics / John Garner violin, shakuhachi, small objects

A vibrant collaboration between three artists drawing on spiritual jazz, deep listening, mercurial poetry and spontaneous improvisation, New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds brings together the nimble violin-and-bass duo of John Garner and John Pope with the gracefully probing text of poet and author Nisha Ramayya.  

Exploring and celebrating the music of shared influences from Alice Coltrane and Fred Moten to Ahmad Jamal and Don Cherry, these three creators seek to bring their audience into a world charged with the thought-provoking, life-affirming potential of art and dreaming. Garner and Pope’s long-standing partnership, built on years of playing and improvising together, serves as a flexible and dynamic setting for Ramayya’s sensuous poetry, which she performs, de-constructs and re-examines in the eruptive moment of performance.  

Formed in 2024 to perform at Newcastle’s esteemed Masala Festival, New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds is an exuberant and timely celebration of connectedness, an artistic riposte of imperial narratives and a powerful hymn to love and resilience.