In 1999 Warren Ellis watched Nina Simone play live at Meltdown. After the show ended he rushed on stage and carefully rescued her chewing gum in a towel from where she'd stuck it to her piano. His new book, sparked off by this incident, is about the alchemy that produces art, obsessiveness and memory
Vol.1 Brooklyn managing editor Tobias Carroll writes on geographical anxiety, the near-reality of the post-apocalyptic science fiction narrative and the contemporary relationship of distrust between man and nature. (Photograph by Carlos Gutierrez)
Georgian traditional folk singer and saz player Asiq Nargile is about to head on a European tour. Nargile speaks from Tbilisi with Tristan Bath about the ancient bardic tradition, the difficulties facing a female Asiq, and touring with Richard Dawson
A quartet of BBC radio producers and broadcasters have taken up the mantle of the Radiophonic Workshop and set about performing classic works of musique concrète. They tell Robert Barry how vintage equipment, Daphne Oram and an encounter with John Cage all played their role