Now some of you will rather obviously know the answer to this question already, some of you won’t though and this page is for those who don’t yet know. We do this before Ceremony starts over in Peckham, South London in a couple of weeks. The question then is, who is Carmina Escobar?
The simple answer is Carmina Escobar is a very respected part of the ever evolving West Coast experimental music scene, she is widely admired yet rather unknown over here in the UK and what you need to know is that the rather prolific Mexican/American vocal artist will be performing in London late this November as part of Asclepeion, a new performance work and premiere from Ron Athey.
Here’s a piece from 2023: Improvisación Carmina Escobar, created and performed by Carmina Escobar within Canto de Todes, Movement II by Dorian Wood performed at Redcat. Los Angeles
“Carmina is a radical interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, writer, and director whose practice has evolved from an expansive investigation of the capacity of what the voice can do. Described as an extreme vocal artist, whether animal cry, atmospheric force, collective possession or physical contact. Her work encompasses sound, image, language, and ritual”
And this link will take you to the visual glory hole that is Pasiphae and a Carmina soundtrack to Ron Athey’s short film, co-directed with Hermes Pittakos.
And well here’s the full details in terms of Ceremony – ORGAN PREVIEW: Ceremony returns to London in November. The festival of performance art with Ron Athey, Hermes Pittakos, Carmina Escobar, Julia Bardsley and more will once again run in South London…
And this from the 2018…
“Endless Life is a two-day performative installation by Carmina Escobar in observance of Día de los Muertos. Through ritual that connects the metaphysical realm with the tangible world, the Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos combines aspects of ancient pre-Hispanic and European cultures. This performative installation is a call to our departed loved ones, and a space for us to remember our own existence and potential futures.
Endless Life will unfold over two days. On November 1, 2018, performers and community members will join together to build a communal altar. Objects of remembrance and offering will be added to the altar over the course of the evening.
The following day, Escobar will curate a series of performances throughout the Bowtie that will celebrate both the living and the dead. Performers include Maqueos Music Philharmonic Band, Oguri, Kozue Matsumoto, Carole Kim & friends, Sean Deyoe, Inobe, Micaela Tobin, Katheryn Schumann, Taylor Fitz-Gibbon, Georgia Bell, Joshua Gerowitz, Jason Brown, Erika Bell, Esther, Emily Lacy, Amar Ravva and Madeline Falcone.
Carmina Escobar is an experimental vocalist, performer, improviser, sound and intermedia artist from Mexico City. Her work focuses primarily on the voice, the body and their interrelations to physical, social and memory spaces. At the moment, she lives and breathes in Los Angeles, CA”.
