Bex Burch

BEX BURCH

Percussion & Composition

VULA VIEL (Bandleader / Composer) 2013 – present. see www.vulaviel.com

Records: Good is Good 2015 · Do Not Be Afraid 2019 · What’s Not Enough About That 2020

Performed at: WOMAD · BBC6 Live session at Maida Vale · Cafe OTO · Total Refreshment Centre · Willisau Jazz Festival · Moers Festival · Bezau Beatz · Music Meeting (Artist in Focus) · Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall · Elgar Rooms, Royal Albert Hall · Ronnie Scott’s · Kings Place · Shambala Festival · Latitude Festival for BBC3 Late Junction · Bestival

Bex Burch is percussionist specialising in the Dagaare xylophone or Gyil. Following a series of chance encounters and a keen interest in groove based music / minimalism Burch was invited to be the apprentice to master Ghanaian xylophonist Thomas Segkura and lived in Dagaare Ghana making and playing Gyilli for 3 years. On passing out of the apprenticeship, she was given the name ‘Vula Viel’, meaning Good is Good and shared the name with her own group on returning to the UK where she continues to forge her own unique sound: Coining the phrase ‘Messy Minimalism’ to describe the creative world in which she works.

Forming Vula Viel in 2013, acclaimed releases ‘Good is Good’ 2015, ‘Do Not Be Afraid’ in 2019 and ‘What’s Not Enough About That’ in early 2020, Bex continues to build on that success with worldwide touring and a constant unique freshness: continuously stretching out the band’s sound, at times delicate and at others moving into raw post punk soundscapes.

Burch has performed on Gilles Peterson’s BBC6 Music show live and in London’s most revered alternative venues such as Café OTO, Total Refreshment Cenre and Vortex Jazz Club. Touring further afield includes WOMAD, Moers Festival, Bezau Beatz, Willisau Jazz Festival and Artist in Focus at Music Meeting.

“My journey with the gyil has been rooted in the Dagaare traditions and Thomas Sekgura’s teaching”, explains Burch, “but through playing live and developing my own sound and voice, I am pushing my own boundaries and drawing on all my influences to find out what it is about music, percussion and the gyil that truly resonates with me.” The result is an expansive, spacious album and live set which winds effortlessly from the reassuring pulse of ‘My Own Skin’ through to the gently soaring, textured ‘Bird In Kumasi’ and strident closer ‘Six Days In One’.

‘What’s Not Enough About That’ marked another major step in the evolution of Bex’s voice with Vula Viel. The album was recorded at London’s Fish Factory and was mixed by Dilip Harris (Sons Of Kemet, Joe Armon Jones).

Bex continues to develop her strong voice with collaborations in 2020 and beyond, including working with Hector Plimmer, and duo collaborations with Emanative, Tamar Osborn and Leafcutter John. She is also developing a solo project, focused around going deeper into her own improvised and compositional voice, called ‘Dawn Blessings’.