2OAK are Ant Ravenwood & Andy Johnson from Northamptonshire. They have been writing & performing music together for over 20years. Look out for more music here soon!

Inspiring you to dump the blocks you didn'trealise were holding you back, because changing the world is an inside job. #Author | #NLP Trainer | #Meditation Teacher | #Happiness Experimenter

A self-confessed eco-geek, a passionate advocate for sustainable living and a lover of life, slow, science and fantasy fiction. I was born in Solihull in 1960 and have been hard wired to computers for most of my working life.

Having shouldered immense technical responsibility and coded some rather clever bits of software, I ditched the stress and now embrace a downshifted lifestyle in Lyme Regis with my wife, fellow author, Tracey West.

My love of creativity, books and technical things is fully expressed as founder of Magic Oxygen Publishing and Swan Developments eco-friendly website development company. I maintain the importance of getting a good work/life balance by enjoying a short commute down the stairs to my home office and making some of my best decisions by the sea with coffee and a butterscotch Yum Yum.

Photographic artist - band promo, music, theatre, arts, film, events, etc  We design CD's & DVD's & posters too  :)

No - we don't do weddings or passports

How best to describe Ant's music - Alternative proggy-poppy weird, with a dose of theatrics and lucid imagination!

I am a musician, writer and performer based in Southern England. 

Biography
1982  -today - Songwriter & vocalist
1989 - Theatrica - the film
1992 - Ditch/Be my Angel - the vinyl single with The Cotton Dogs
1997 - Season with Northamptonshire G&S at Derngate Theatre, Northampton
1999 - Angel of Darkness - the musical Co-written & performed in Northamptonshire
2006 - 5 Days in April CD - with 2 of a Kind
2015 - The Breathing Wheel - book, live show & concept album

The perfect mix of these two stringed instruments is nothing new but when it is being played by two British born musicians who have more of a connection with West Wales than West Africa it is something most unique. 
But Josh Doughty and Tim Tyson Short did first meet in Mali, West Africa, under a tree in Segou on the banks of the river Niger. They had both travelled to the festival de Niger in 2007. Josh had been learning with Kora master Toumani Diabaté and Tim was there to study Manding guitar and accompany his daughter who was singing at the festival.
“It was a surprise to meet another family from Wales in such a remote place” says Tim Tyson “and although Josh was in Mali with his parents and I was there with my daughter it was great to discover  that we both loved the same music - it seemed so natural”. As with all chance encounters it ended with “We must catch up back home.”
And they did, over the years Tim and Josh have taken every opportunity to play together and have developed a set of tunes that acknowledges the traditions and history of Kora music but they have also developed their own sound with their own compositions and arrangements. “The Kora tradition is ancient” says Josh” but it is not really ours though, we have just been touched by it, there are plenty of African musicians far better than us. It is important to absorb and respect the tradition and then forge our own.” Josh has certainly done this and it is his Kora playing that can be heard on Sampha’s Mercury prize winning album “Process” He also runs Kora workshops across Europe, plays solo gigs in palaces and prisons and is in high demand as a session player.
“Out of all the music I play this is the one that I feel most for” says Tim Tyson “when we start it’s hard to stop, time takes a left turn and we carry on. There is so much to be done with this music whether its adapting our own songs or adding beats and singers we just keep developing.” Tim Tyson has spent a lot of time travelling and filming.  He is mostly known for his percussionis playing with bands and as a session artist.
Whenever the duo perform they leave a sense of deep satisfaction, thanks and joy.  At festivals, clubs, pubs or parties their music is always enervated with their simple joy of playing together, it spreads like good news, a sensation that you feel lucky to share.

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