Not far away, but long ago , not a lot , but with much of respect . Hidden in the concrete jungle there is a small music paradise....

I write music that's meant to touch and uplift smart and introspective people. Perhaps it is a music best suited for lighting fires on rainy autumn-winter days, or for napping under the blurry sunshine of a spring beach, or for falling in and out of love and daydreaming about one's life.

Web developer, writer. Former show host on George FM, Base FM, KFM. Co-founder of the Mukuna Gig Guide, covering Auckland & Wellington.

Plan's for the 2012 Tinderbox are now well advanced, please visit <a href="http://www.tinderboxfestival.co.uk" target="_blank"><font color="#FF9900"><b>Tinderbox Festival</b></font></a> for the latest information!

Red Square's Tinderbox Festival is a mini-micro festival of challenging music set in unchallenging, positively embracing surroundings, where the trees want to hug you as much as you want to hug them.
The thematic idea of Tinderbox is to present an eclectic range of musics which have improvisation as a core ingredient.
Last June we ran a trial one-day mini-festival-cum-birthday-party at a fantastic canal-side location at Cropredy. We installed a stage, a decent PA system and some engagingly twinkling lights. We dialled up a bit of sunshine, and then we invited a few improvising bands and musicians that we liked to come along and play.
The event proved such a success, with both bands and audience, that, by the next day, we had agreed to repeat the format again for this year.
One thing we found very interesting was the way that people who had never been exposed to this kind of music enjoyed both the music and the day itself. It seems that the setting of a small, outdoor festival creates a user-friendly context for improv and helps to overcome some of the suspicion that often greets experimental musics.
After all, if you're lying in a field in the sunshine with a glass of wine and a nice bun, whilst some crazee cats are busy circuit bending on stage, it's somehow all seems a little less threatening. We will certainly be keeping the relaxed, 'challenging music in a non-challenging environment' feel for this year.
We want Tinderbox to be a place where musicians can meet, hear what one another are up to and exchange ideas (and gigs), and where the audience can dip their toes in some pretty cutting-edge sounds whilst relaxing with a nice picnic and a bun.
All of the bands &amp; collectives represented here played at the 2011 Festival - to them; many thanks for an exceptional day of music.



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