It has been a long and rocky road to the Fringe for Joanna Wallfisch and her musical show inspired by an 1,100-mile solo bike ride down the Pacific Coast of the USA.
Not long before she was due to set out for Scotland she sliced her right forefinger with a knife. Next came near-total voice loss due to a throat infection just days before the show opened.
Neither is a major problem under normal circumstances, but for a singer and musician in a one-woman show it’s make or break.
Wallfisch has overcome these trials and has had a successful first week, exploring the city and getting appreciative reviews for The Great Song Cycle Song Cycle, earning ★★★★ in The Herald which says: “Wallfisch is a very talented musician who brings it all together seamlessly… in a cool but involving storytelling style, creating lush harmonies and vocal backdrops with her loop pedal, baritone ukulele, an impressively groovy toy piano riff and an even more impressive kazoo solo”.
MeanwhileLondon Jazz Review calls it “an intense, focused and reflective collection of songs, images and evocation of moments in time”. It adds: “Joanna Wallfisch’s show is a reflective, haunting and sustained performance, a very personal take on the outdoors which brings an unexpectedly quirky part of California to the Edinburgh Fringe.”
The production is now moving from a lunchtime slot to one at 20:35 for the remainder of its run (20 to 25 August).
Wallfisch sees music as a source of adventure and of opportunity. Previously she has worked with the UK charity Songbound, which develops children’s choirs in India and creates employment opportunities for local musicians (see https://vimeo.com/193161694 and https://songbound.com).
The Pacific coat odyssey saw her set out on the road carrying little but a ukulele and a loop pedal (see trailer here).
Now she is creating an album (her fifth) and has written a book about the experience as well as sharing the music onstage.
She says: “Coming to Edinburgh has been a wonderful experience for me – and perhaps I’m relishing it all the more because of the challenges.
“There hasn’t been a day in the past two years that I have not spoken or sung about my cycle journey down the Pacific coast. It altered my perception and changed my life.
“Like the bike trip, it’s a one-woman show, where I accompany myself on instruments including baritone ukulele, toy piano, kazoo, melodica and percussion, at the same time creating atmospheric soundscapes with my loop pedal, telling tales and singing songs.”
Wallfisch has a fascinating family musical heritage. She was raised in London by her parents, the classical musicians Elizabeth and Raphael Wallfisch. Her grandmother Anita Lasker Wallfisch, now 93, was a German Jew who survived Auschwitz because she played the cello and was selected to join in the extermination camp’s orchestra.
The Great Song Cycle Song Cycle invites audiences to saddle up and enjoy Joanna Wallfisch’s epic tale of American adventure, which is told with vivid honesty, humour, and musicality.
There are surreal stories about a friendship with inanimate fairground statue named Rex The Travelling Dogand mesmerising murmurations as Joanna creates birdsong with her voice to depict a ballet of birds soaring over hills of California.
The show has been highly praised in the USA. Culture Quest LA says: “Wallfisch’s approach to performance is dynamic. She composes enticing, lush music with impeccable soundscapes … Her voice evokes depth and crystal clarity … her heart’s inner workings unfold in poetic verse.”
London Jazz News says Wallfisch “can just trust her presence, allow her light, focused voice to soar free …”. The Telegraphlauded her “Sublime voice,” while All About Jazz added: “Wallfisch produces a musical beauty of a many-colored sort that speaks to straight to the human condition.”
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Listings Details
- Venue:theSpace Triplex
- Dates: 20-25 August at 20:35
- Box office: 0131 510 2395 and [email protected] 226 0000 /www.edfringe.com
- Ticket prices: £8.50 / concessions £6.50 / children £4.50
Listen to some of Joanna’s third album Blood and Bonehereand see the trailer here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fqs9Qze8IlIitD6xI0kbiLFikTevzOdp/view
For media information contact Matthew Shelley at [email protected].
Photo by Colin Hattersley