Dr Yumi Cawkwell

Dr Yumi Hara Cawkwell

Senior Lecturer in Music

Senior Lecturer

CPAD, Music Writing and Performance, Performing Arts

Department of Music, Writing & Performance , School Of Arts And Creative Industries

Yumi Hara Cawkwell is a composer and improviser (keyboard, harp, voice).

Areas Of Interest

  • Composition
  • Improvisation
  • Performance
Dr Yumi Cawkwell

OVERVIEW

Yumi Hara Cawkwell (piano, keys, vo, harp).

Her compositions have been performed by contemporary classical musicians such as the BBC Singers, PianoCircus, Michael Bonaventure and Jane Chapman, and was a finalist for the British Composer Awards 2006, but became increasingly known as an improviser/performer in avant/experimental rock/Canterbury/RIO since she released a CD album 'Dune' with Hugh Hopper (ex-Soft Machine) in 2008, subsequently formed bands and projects including The Artaud Beats (with Chris Cutler, John Greaves, Geoff Leigh, all from Henry Cow), you me & us (with Daevid Allen of Gong, Chris Cutler), Half the Sky/Lindsay Cooper Songbook (with Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Dagmar Krause, Chloe Herington, Mitsuru Nasuno), Jump for Joy! (with Jean-Hervé Péron, Zappi and Geraldine Swayne of faUSt, Chris Cutler, Geoff Leigh) and THE WATTS (with Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler).

Yumi is a member of:

  • The committee of The Ivors Composer Awards (British Composer Awards)
  • Ivors Academy (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors)
  • Performing Right Society (PRS for Music)
  • Musicians Union (MU)
  • 2018-2019: member of Judging panel, The Ivors Composer Awards (British Composer Awards), Ivors Academy (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors)
  • 2015-2017: member of the board of directors of JASMIM (The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation)

CURRENT RESEARCH

Media/Art Outputs

Discography

  • 2023/ CD album Groove Study by Yumi Hara (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • 2022/ ‘Sugar Frosted Charcoal Scene’ in LP vinyl album Pink Spirit Noir World by David Toop, (London: Form on a Wave) lead vocal featured, remastered from CD Pink Noir (1996)
  • 2020/ 'Slice' (written by Lindsay Cooper, performed by Yumi Hara on clavichord) in CD compilation album MINIATURES2020 (London: The 62nd Gramophone Company)
  • 2020/ 'Nota Bene' for jinashi shakuhachi and clavichord, performed by Kiku Day and Frank Denyer in CD album Wild Ways by Kiku Day (Copenhagen, Gateway)
  • 2019/ CD album Decoherence by THE WATTS (with Tim Hodgkinson, and Chris Cutler)
  • 2018/ CD album Nodutgang, Bodo 28.10.11 by The Artaud Beats (with Chris Cutler, Geoff Leigh, John Greaves) (London: Bonobo's Ark
  • 2018/ DVD Rain Check by you me & us (with Daevid Allen, Chris Cutler) (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • 2017/ CD album Schema*Sukima by Tim Hodgkinson & Yumi Hara (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • 2017/ CD album Keeping Score by Jump for Joy! (with Jean-Herve Peron, Zappi, Geraldine Swayne, Chis Cutler, Geoff Leigh) (London: ReR)
  • 2017/ DVD Rock in Opposition Japan 2014 compilation, with The Artaud Beats (Tokyo: DiskUnion)
  • 2016/ CD/LP album Bat Pullover by Jump for Joy! (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • Two tracks were played on Battiti, RAI Radio 3, Italy.
  • 2015/ CD album LOGOS by The Artaud Beats (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • 2015/ Digital album WHEELS within WHEELS by Yumi Hara & Guy Harries (London: Sombre Soniks)
  • 2014/ CD album Poesy at Play by you me & us (with Daevid Allen, Chris Cutler) (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • 2014/ LP & digital Sonic Rituals by Guy Harries & Yumi Hara (London: Migro)
  • 2013/ CD album Statement Heels by Yumi Hara, Japanese version (Tokyo: DiskUnion)
  • 2011/ CD album Statement Heels by Yumi Hara, (London: Bonobo's Ark)
  • 2010/ CD album Ride a White Rabbit by Yumi Hara & SATO Yukie (Tokyo: KOOTOWN)
  • 2010/ CD album Mitsugi by Mammal Machine (with Mitsuru Tabata, Rie Miyazaki, Yasuaki Watanabe) (Tokyo: Captain Trip Records)
  • 2009/ CD album Upstream by Geoff Leigh & Yumi Hara (New York: MOONJUNE)
  • 2008/ CD album Dune by Hugh Hopper & Yumi Hara (New York: MOONJUNE)
  • 2006/ 'Hibernal' (Organ) performed by Michael Bonaventure (Edinburgh: Delphian Records)
  • 2006/ 'Cool Down for Pole' (electronic version) in a pole dancing instruction DVD (London: Polepeople)
  • 2005/ 'Soran' in compilation album Shenanigans (Paris: La Mue 01, 12” vinyl) produced as DJ Anakonda
  • 2002/ 'Yume no Yo ni' in CD album Iyashi no Melody (Tokyo: jac. Music TCD-0103) recorded by Yoriko Sasaki (pf), Hiroaki Matsuno (Vn), Hirochika Chimoto (Vc)
  • 1996/ 'Sugar Frosted Charcoal Scene' in David Toop's CD Pink Noir (London: Virgin, AMBT18) lead vocal featured

Selected Festival Performances

  • 2019/ THE WATTS, Rock in Opposition Festival, Bourgoin-Jallieu, France
  • 2018/ Lindsay Cooper Songbook, Zappanale, Bad Doberan, Germany
  • 2017/ Half the Sky: Music of Lindsay Cooper, Avantgarde Festival, Schiphorst, Germany
  • 2016/ Half the Sky: Music of Lindsay Cooper, Rock in Opposition Festival, Carmaux, France
  • 2016/ Jump for Joy!, Rock in Opposition Festival, Carmaux, France
  • 2016/ The Artaud Beats, Copenhagen Vinterjazz Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2015/ Jump for Joy!, Jazz Is Dangerous, Jazz Är Farligt, one-day jazz festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2014/ The Artaud Beats, Rock in Opposition Japan, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2014/ The Artaud Beats, Rock in Opposition Festival, Carmaux, France
  • 2014/ Jump for Joy!, Avantgarde Festival, Schiphorst, Germany
  • 2012/ Yumi Hara & Guy Harries, DruskoManija, Lithuania
  • 2011/ The Artaud Beats, Nodutgung Festival, Bodo, Norway
  • 2009/ The Artaud Beats, Avantgarde Festival, Schiphorst, Germany

Selected broadcast

  • 4 Feb 2019/ 'Fahrenheit' (from CD Decoherence by THE WATTS, with Chris Cutler & Tim Hodgkinson), RAI Radio 3, Italy Battiti
  • 3 March 2019/ 'LATIFUNDIA' (from CD Schema*Sukima by Tim Hodgkinson & Yumi Hara), BBC Radio 6 Stuart Marconie's Freak Zone
  • 4 Feb 2019/ 'The Revealed - The Hidden' (from CD Schema*Sukima by Tim Hodgkinson & Yumi Hara) BBC Radio 3 Late Junction
  • 14 Feb 2018/ Three pieces from Fortean Songs, BBC Radio 3 performed by The BBC Singers, live recorded at St Gabriel's Pimlico, on 6 October 2017
  • 16 Nov 2016/ 'Birds at the Dentist' (from CD BAT PULLOVER by Jump for Joy!), RAI Radio 3, Italy Battiti
  • 14 Nov 2016/ 'Put Put Epidemik' (from CD BAT PULLOVER by Jump for Joy!), RAI Radio 3, Italy Battiti
  • 24 April 2016/ 'Logos' (from CD LOGOS by The Artaud Beats), BBC Radio 6 Stuart Marconie's Freak Zone
  • 17 Sept 2015/ 'Prefab Wreckage' (from CD LOGOS by The Artaud Beats), RAI Radio 3, Italy Battiti
  • 16 Sept 2015/ 'Logos' (from CD LOGOS by The Artaud Beats), RAI Radio 3, Italy Battiti
  • 18 Aug 2015/ 'Power' (from CD LOGOS by The Artaud Beats), BBC Radio 3 Late Junction
  • 21 Sept 2015/ 'Madamme Zero' (from CD Poesy at Play by you me & us, with Daevid Allen, and Chris Cutler), NHK-FM, Japan Kyo wa Ichinichi Progre Zanmai
  • 24 June 2006/ 'Groove Study XL' (piano duet version), BBC Radio 3 Hear & Now Recorded at 'Many Hands', FuseLeeds06 on 7 May 2006, performed by Sarah Nichols & Daniel Becker

Conference papers

Conference papers

  • September 2017

Presentation at The First International Conference on Women's Work in Music, Bangor University, 'Half the Sky: Music of Lindsay Cooper'. Attendance was supported by the University of East London.

  • December 2014

Presentation at The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation, Kyoto Seika University, Japan. 'Sonic Rituals' with Guy Harries Attendance supported by School of Arts and Digital Industries, University of East London

  • November 2013

Chair of a panel discussion 'Similarity and Difference in Performing Improvisation and Existing Composed Material: What Texts Bring about and Not'
Members of the Panel: Chris Cutler, Akiko Ochi, Kazuya Ishigami, and Yasushi Sakai at The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation, Hiroshima University, Japan.

  • September 2011

Presentation at The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation, Kobe University, Japan. 'Setting Assessment task in Musical Improvisation in Education'

  • September 2010

Presentation at The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation, Kobe University, Japan. 'Crossing the Border within: Improvisation as a Meeting Point'.

  • September 2009

Chair of panel discussion 'Evaluation of Musical Improvisation in Education' at The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation, Kobe University, Japan.

  • September 2008

Speaker at The Japanese Association for the Study of Musical Improvisation, Kobe University, Japan. ' Teaching Musical Improvisation at HE level'. Attendance supported by the University of East London.

  • March 2007

Presentation at 'Music of Japan Today 2007'
UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Baltimore, USA
'Japanese Composers in the multicultural UK: identity tactics and self-exoticism'

  • July 2004

Presentation at 'Orality & Improvisation in East Asian Music'
9th International CHIME (European Society of Chinese Music) Meeting, University of Sorbonne, Paris
'The Oral Tradition of Japanese Blind Mediums, considering their calling of dead spirits as Musical Improvisation'
Attendance was supported by City University and Open University

  • April 2003

Presentation at 'Music of Japan Today 2003'
UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Baltimore, USA
'Childminder of Takeda'
Attendance supported by City University

  • September 2001

Presentation at 'Music and Meaning in China and East Asia'
CHIME (European Society of Chinese Music), Venice, Italy' Lullaby as Worksong, Popular Song and Protest Song'
Attendance funded by AHRB

FUNDING

  • 2023/ CD album Groove Study launch event at Cafe OTO, LONDON Funded by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

 

  • 2020/ Sustain my Practice: research & development project to stabilise, think and plan my future practice

Funded by Arts Council England

 

  • 2019/ Lindsay Cooper Songbook (with Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Chloe Herington, Mitsuru Nasuno, and Atsuko Kamura). Research, transcription, arrangement, direction and performance of compositions by Lindsay Cooper (1951-2013) to celebrate International Women's Day 2019 in London, Canterbury, Bonn and Münster

Funded by Arts Council England

 

  • 2018/ Lindsay Cooper Songbook (with Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Chloe Herington, John Greaves, Dagmar Krause). Arrangement, direction and performance of compositions by Lindsay Cooper at Café OTO, London

Funded by Arts Council England

 

  • 2017/ Half the Sky: Music of Lindsay Cooper (with Chris Cutler, Chloe Herington, Dagmar Krause, Mitsuru Nasuno, Wataru Ohkuma, Miwazow), at Café OTO, London

Funded by Arts Council England

 

  • 2016/ Half the Sky: Music of Lindsay Cooper (with Chris Cutler, Chloe Herington, Dagmar Krause, Mitsuru Nasuno, Wataru Ohkuma, Miwazow), three performances in Tokyo and a performance at Rock in Opposition Festival, Carmaux, France

Funded by Arts Council Tokyo

 

 

  • 2011/ Japan Tour with The Artaud Beats (with Chris Cutler, John Greaves, Geoff Leigh) 

Supported by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

 

  • 2009/ 'Kaikoku Live' with Akira Sakata, Tatsuya Yoshida and Yoshihide Otomo, supported by Hikone City Council, Japan

 

  • 2008/ Japan tour, supported by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

 

  • 2008/ Six Flowers for clarinet and piano, commissioned by Christopher Bush & Carol Minor, 

Funded by Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, Glens Falls, NY, USA

 

  • 2007/ Nota Bene for jinashi shakuhachi and clavichord, commissioned by Kiku Day

Funded by Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust and PRS Foundation/Bliss Trust 

 

  • 2006/ Luminous for prepared piano and clavichord, commissioned by Jane Chapman & Kate Ryder

Funded by The Gen Foundation 

 

  • 2006/ Fortean Songs for mixed choir, commissioned by Chantage

Funded by the PRS Foundation/spnm/MakingMusic

 

  • 2006/ That is So a Good Look for 2 pianos, commissioned by Kate Ryder & David Appleton

Funded by the PRS Foundation

 

  • 2005/ Cool Down for Pole for Guitar, Violin, Cello and Piano, travel grant for rehearsal and first performance in Japan supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

TEACHING

BA (Hons) Music Performance and Production

Amplify your talent with a Music Performance degree at the University of East London. Explore contemporary courses for a career in music performance and production.

Read more about this course

BA (Hons) Music Technology and Production

Study music technology and production, develop your practice portfolio and initiate and present innovative ideas in modern and engaging ways.

Learn more about this course

MODULES

  • PA4018 Music Performance & Production Technique 1: Establish (Module Leader)
  • PA4013 Collaboration 2 (Music Performance & Production, Performance Skills 1) (Project Leader)
  • PA5013 Public Project 2 (Music Performance & Production, Performance Skills 2)
  • PA6303 Performance Skills 3: Live Electronics
  • PA6022 Final Project Research & Development
  • PA6023 Final Project Implementation

PORTFOLIO

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Publications

The last four years of publications can be viewed below. 

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository