This Saturday marked the completion of five years since I moved to this country. Among the many joys this land has offered me over these years – and an important one for me, as a music lover – are the unending avenues for discovering independent musicians. And one such avenue has been the London International Arts Festival (LIAF) hosted by Dhruv Arts, a festival that I have invariably tried to attend every year since 2014. 2018 edition of the fest wrapped up yesterday afternoon at Hackney, and while I missed most of the gigs this time, one artist I managed to watch was Piers Faccini – and this one discovery, to me, more than made up for the gigs I could not attend!
The English-Italian singer-songwriter’s performance was hosted by LIAF in association with Tuned In London, at St. Mary’s Church in Rotherhithe, London. The ancient shrine was a perfect setting for the set list Faccini had at his disposal – mostly mellow tunes of longing that drew inspiration from Mediterranean folk music, delivered in an achingly earnest voice, and transferred the audience to another time, for nearly two hours. Adding to the songs’ ethereal tone was Faccini’s accompanist, the wonderful Malik Ziad who handled two exotic instruments – mandole and guembri. I got to know later that a few of the tunes came from Faccini’s new album I Dreamed An Island. I shall be sure to check out that album in the near future, and be on the lookout for the next gig by Tuned In London. And here’s discovering many more musicians via future seasons of LIAF.
You can listen to some snippets from the concert here.
