EMILY HENNESSEY – STORYTELLER
Emily is a playful and dynamic performance storyteller with a great love of Hindu mythology. She has travelled over 10,000 miles across India and Nepal by train, bus, rattling rickshaw and rickety bicycle. She has lived and worked with a yak-herding family on the Tibetan plateau, studied Kathakali dance-drama in Kerala and spent many months at the Kattaikkuttu School in Tamil Nadu, learning from the children who perform stories from the Mahabharata through music, dance and song from the age of 4.
BEN HAGGARTY – STORYTELLER
Having been trained in mime, and in theatre direction at East 15, and apprenticed with Welfare State, Ben is one of the UK’s most popular contemporary storytellers, renowned for his passionate and physical performances. He tours widely, has been a guest artist in over one hundred International Storytelling Festivals in 25 countries and was for 10 years the official storyteller with Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Ben is Honorary Professor of Storytelling at the Arts University of Berlin (UDK). His graphic novel series ‘MeZolith’ is published by Archaia.
STEPH BRITTAIN – STORYTELLER
Steph’s love for storytelling developed whilst studying Kathak dance in Paris and Delhi and it continued to grow during her MA in Drama and Movement therapy. She trained in performance at Acting International in Paris and Drama Centre London and has performed at Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, Arcola Theatre London and for the BBC. Steph trained in storytelling with Jo Blake, Ben Haggarty, Nick Hennessey and Nell Phoenix and has been performing recently in venues across the Isle of Wight. A new voice storyteller, Steph Brittain joined Pandvani108 in 2022 as part of our artist development programme.
MIKAEL OBERG – STORYTELLER
Mikael is a Swedish performance storyteller and member of the Fabula Storytelling Company in Stockholm. He tells folktales, myth and epic to a wide range of audiences in theatre venues, schools and festivals internationally. Mikael specialises in Norse mythology and Finnish epic, and creates experimental shows in collaboration with musicians and other artists. Besides storytelling, he performs with the physical theatre ensemble, Teater Sláva, and he is co-artistic director of Cistern.se, organising experimental sonic events and cross-arts festivals. Mikael is not part of the P108’s 2022 show, but hopefully he’ll be back performing with us in the future!
TUUP – STORYTELLER
TUUP is The Unorthodox, Unprecedented Preacher… Born in Guyana and raised in Acton, his style is one of total improvisation, unbounded charisma and alarming spontaneity. His fabulous capacity for mimicry and ear for a wild story is outstanding. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also the creative lyricist and vocalist of the highly influential dance music collective, Transglobal Underground. . TUUP has performed throughout the UK, Europe, Central Asia, Asia and North and South America. He is an occasional guest member of Pandvani108!
RAV NEIYYER – MUSICIAN
Rav started playing Tabla at the age of 6, the drums soon after, and his first Dhol was a present for his 11th birthday. Throughout his teens Rav played and trained with the Dhol Foundation, which led him to performs with the likes of Fun Da Mental, Transglobal Underground and the Bollywood Brass Band. He tours internationally and, in the UK, has played stages such as Glastonbury and Womad Festivals, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Shakespeare’s Globe. He appeared with the Dhol Foundation and Transglobal Underground supporting Robert Plant and Jimmy Paige on the Paige & Plant Tour. Rav is also a music technologist. Whilst currently focusing on his own projects, he still regularly tours with Transglobal Underground and the Bollywood Brass Band, and in 2022 he joined Pandvani108!
JONAH BRODY – MUSICIAN
Jonah is an international award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist, playing Bass, Guitar, Gamelan, Japanese Koto, and Harmonium. He trained at SOAS, winning the 2010 Darmasiswa music Scholarship. He was is a member of contemporary folk ensemble Sam Lee and Friends and heads Super Best Friends Club. Having studied the musical accompaniment of the Ramayana in Indonesia during his MA, he carries deep knowledge of improvised Eastern traditions, and is himself an accomplished improviser. Previous projects with the Crick Crack Club include being part of Pandvani 108, an epic storytelling collective inspired by a distinctive collaborative storytelling style from India. Jonah is not part of the P108’s 2022 show, but hopefully he’ll be back performing with us in the future!
RAOUL NEUMANN – MUSICIAN
Raoul grew up playing in rock bands, studying classical French horn, singing in church choirs, and eventually graduated from KCL with a first-class degree in music in 2013. Raoul is a member of London Contemporary Voices, Trans-Siberian March Band, Kickback function band, and also works as a freelancer. He has performed and recorded with artists such as Nitin Sawhney, Aled Jones, Andre Bocelli, Libera Boys Choir, Eivor, Charlotte Church, Hayley Westenra, Eska, Shlomo, Maya Youssef, and has enjoyed touring and performing all over the world. He appears on television and film (Songs of Praise, GMTV, Hannibal), writes video game soundtracks (Dreamworks Dragons, Jurassic World, Paw Patrol), and even yodelled for the Christmas Dominoes advert. He won a LIFA for ‘Best Orchestral Score’ in 2018.
SHEEMA MUKHERJEE – MUSICIAN
Sheema absorbed North Indian classical music and the western tradition side-by-side, studying sitar and Indian classical music under the tutelage of her uncle, the late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and then with the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Brought up between Britain and India, she has a rich background to draw on in her own compositions and collaborations. Today she is an established sitar player and composer; a regular in Transglobal Underground playing sitar and electric bass; a key member in The Imagined Village project; a formidable collaborator with internationally renowned artists from many genres, including Courtney Pine, Sir John Tavenor, Martin Carthy, Bobby Mcferrin, Boris Grebenshikov, Natacha Atlas, Noel Gallagher & Cornershop, Mercan Dede, the Bulgarian Folk singer Yanka Rupkina.