mo dafa 💭

MAY at @cafeotodalston is stacked, moving from bank holiday takeovers, large ensemble residencies and footwork royalty into South Asian improvisation, experimental electronics, new groupings and radical performance. The month opens with Dig That Treasure Festival: three nights across ecstatic Kurdish bouzouki, Somali pop, process-based experimental song, improvised group work, Eric Chenaux’s unmistakable guitar and voice, Harry Gorski-Brown’s warped folk/electronic language, and Ensemble Irsahm’s first performance outside Belgium. Alongside that, @cm.peace take over the bank holiday with a Japanese food, music and performance programme from Matthew Morishima and CJ Calderwood, running across Saturday afternoon and Monday afternoon into evening, with intimate performance and a secret line-up from 6-10pm on Monday. Residencies run through the month: Alexander Hawkins presents Willow Music, RP Boo returns for two nights, Mary Halvorson performs Canis Major, and Eddie Prévost’s trio close the arc with two nights of collective exploration. Elsewhere, أحمد [Ahmed] launch Play Monk, DEMO brings TATI AU MIEL, SUUTOO and NUNGUJA, diy x OTO host Rabit, Oxhy and TOR5Y/1127, and Suroor returns as an evolving South Asian improvised performance group with live sets from Poulomi Desai and more. Mid-month keeps shifting shape: From the Lips to the Moon launch their debut album with Akazib Records, złom bring a sonic scrap yard to OTO, SPACE returns with first-time collaborations and solo performance, and The Gate presents a huge collective line-up spanning music, poetry, visual art and freeform performance. The final run is just as packed: Mike Cooper, David Toop, Steve Beresford and John Butcher meet across sound and moving image; Jarboe with Joy Von Spain; Chinabot return with KASAI, NEO GEODESIA, ORIENTAL MELON and HWXXNG; Concepción Huerta joins DEBIT, two Mexican artists exploring the edges of experimental electronics; Joy Guidry is joined by poet-artist Chloe Filani; Dave Huismans presents In Transit live; Drew McDowall meets Dale Cornish; and Dialled In London closes the month with a Honiunhoni Records takeover. Full programme and tickets at cafeoto.co.uk/events

✦ JUST ANNOUNCED SHOWS ✦ Your calendar has been warned: a fresh batch of new shows are now on sale, with bank holiday takeovers, offsite projects, residencies, launches and several fairly serious reasons to leave the house. Members get early access and discounted (or free!) tickets. Not a member yet? Sign up - you’ll get these announcements straight to your inbox every Mon + Weds. 2 MAY - CM.PEACE (@cm.peace ) - BANK HOLIDAY TAKEOVER - 10AM-4PM. BREAKFAST / LUNCH. JAPANESE DINING + MUSIC HYBRID 4 MAY - CM.PEACE - BANK HOLIDAY TAKEOVER - 10AM-4PM + 6-10PM LUNCH + DINNER WITH INTIMATE PERFORMANCE, MUSIC + VERY SPECIAL GUESTS 👀 11 MAY - DIY X CAFE OTO PRESENTS: RABIT (LIVE) + OXHY (LIVE) + TOR5Y/1127 (LIVE) + XT1ANA (DJ) 18 MAY - THE GATE PRESENTS: NADEEM DIN-GABISI + RICHARD PHOENIX (DJ) + LABAKE SABBATH + DAN JOHNSON + MR AKA AMAZING + WAYNE’S DRONES + GATE_LOOPS + LOVE PERMANENT 5 JUNE - OFFSITE: ÁINE O’DWYER & RHODRI DAVIES (DUO) + ÁINE O’DWYER / RHODRI DAVIES / BEIBEI WANG (TRIO) 7 JUNE - LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL PRESENTS: ORCHESTRA379 (V7) 13 JUNE - THE87PRESS PRESENT MUSHAIRA: ISSAM ZINEH + ARIANNA AFSARI + FARGO NISSIM TBAKHI + TRACY FUAD + JAY BERNARD READS PAT PARKER 14 JUNE - ÁINE O’DWYER - ‘TRACKER ACTION MIMES’ 21 JUNE - OFFSITE: MATINEE: ÁINE O’DWYER - ‘SUN CHORD’ 21 JUNE - OFFSITE: ÁINE O’DWYER - ‘CHANNELED WIND’ 22 JUNE - JAZZ IN BRITAIN ALBUM & BOOK LAUNCH: THE DAY AFTER - EPIGRAM + CHRIS SEARLE - GLOBAL GROOVE 30 JUNE - 2 JULY - AILIE ORMSTON - THREE-NIGHT RESIDENCY 10-12 JULY - I-D.A PROJECTS PRESENTS: PAUL MCCARTHY / JOE POTTS / RICK POTTS / ALEX STEVENS 13 JULY - TOMEKA REID QUARTET 14 + 15 JULY - JAMES BRANDON LEWIS QUARTET - TWO-DAY RESIDENCY 26 JULY - JOHN BUTCHER / DOMINIC LASH / EMIL KARLSEN 18 + 19 AUGUST - DARIUS JONES & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE QUINTET - TWO-DAY RESIDENCY 9 SEPTEMBER - YUMI HARA’S GROOVE STUDY (YUMI HARA / CHRIS CUTLER / TOSHIAKI SUDOH) 26 SEPTEMBER - LA TÈNE + SOURDURENT 18 OCTOBER - SIMON FINN + TONY, CARO AND JOHN → Tickets & info via link in stories and cafeoto.co.uk

APRIL at @cafeotodalston is STACKED with artists who stretch form from inside out - across free improvisation, long-form minimalism, sound poetry, film, performance and so much more. The month opens in the wake of Mark Sanders’ residency, then moves through Palestinian musical royalty, with Kamilya Jubran performing her deeply honed duo practice with Werner Hasler. Here oud, trumpet, electronics, text and voice meet. The Necks then return for four sold out shows in three days - still one of the most singular groups in live music, building vast improvised worlds in real time. Elsewhere, the month keeps shifting register: queer performance and avant-pop on the fringes with I’VE SEEN THAT FACE BEFORE, bison’s Cowboy Builder bill, TROM, Stefan Wesołowski, Al Karpenter, and an excellent Infant Tree line-up with Ryu Hankil, Shakeeb Abu Hamdan and Absurd Cosmos Late Nite. EARTHBALL touch down twice in one weekend - first in their own wild, spontaneous form, then alongside the mighty trio of Orcutt Shelley Miller. Adam Bohman follows with a long overdue three-day residency spanning more than four decades of London experimental music history. Mid-month, Los Thuthanaka arrive for a sold out three-night residency. Founded by Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton, the group bridges the past, present and future of the Pakajaqui Nation through Andean rhythms, Aymara composition and psychedelic rock. The same week we’ll host Dagmar Zuniga, Eliana Glass and Mark Leckey for NTS15. Another Sky returns for its third edition from the 18th with music, film, workshops, discussion and a label market, centring work from across the SWANA region over three days and nights. The final run is just as strong: Sacrifice Zone’s heaving collaborative line-up, Robyn’s Rocket, Josh Berman Trio, Unpredictable Series, Atonal Kat’s Feldman-centred night of patterns and resonance, then Áine O’Dwyer, Willie Stewart and Natalia Beylis before S*an D. Henry-Smith closes the month with PACES THE CAGE - an improvised reading-performance for their new poetry collection with dove / Christine Kirubi, Tavish Timothy and more. A month only an April fool would miss! cafeoto.co.uk/events

The divine right of way

MON 16 MARCH: THE IMPROVESISTANCE ENSEMBLE WITH DIRAR KALASH / CAIUS WILLIAMS / MOMOKO GILL / BARBIE MUKODA / JOHN MACEDO Dirar Kalash’s ever evolving IMPROVESISTANCE Ensemble emerges from urgency and solidarity. It demands, in sound and music, nothing less than what Palestine demands: the breaking of the siege, an end to starvation, and the pursuit of total freedom and justice. This marks the second editon of The IMPROVESISTANCE Ensemble at OTO. Dirar Kalash (Electronics + Piano), will be joined by Caius Williams (Bass), Barbie Mukodo (Winds), Momoko Gill (Drums + Voice), and John Macedo (Electronics). The ensemble centres electro-acoustic processing of sounds from Palestine - expanded instrumentally and electronically - forging a sonic force that does more than express or protest. It persists, resists, and amplifies in real time. This is not metaphorical. This is sound as a direct act of solidarity, disruption, and insistence. Dirar Kalash is a Palestinian musician and sound artist whose work spans a wide range of musical and sonic practices within a variety of instrumental, compositional and improvisational contexts. He is mostly known for his politically driven soundscape / electro-acoustic project “The Sonic Front”, and the compositions “we can’t breathe (for eric garner, george floyd, and frantz fanon)” and “by any means necessary (for Malcolm X)” Line-up: Caius Williams / Bass Momoko Gill / Drums + Voice Dirar Kalash / Electronics + Piano Barbie Mukoda / Winds John Macedo / Electronics 🎟️ £16 door / £14 advance / £10 members → Tickets via link in stories and cafeoto.co.uk → Doors 7:30pm

— EVENT POSTPONED — Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event will be rescheduled at a later date. On March 30th at the @devonojas Listening Room, @180.studios , @moprobs , programmer and artistic director at Cafe OTO, presents Signal / Shelter. This listening session explores sound as a social and spiritual practice, considering how certain musical traditions and spaces have functioned as infrastructures holding memory, grief, devotion, refusal and survival. Across diasporic, queer and spiritually grounded contexts, music has operated as a parallel architecture, where dominant logics of patriarchy, extraction and commodification are suspended, and where other relational modes can surface. This session will bring such spaces and histories to light and attend to their sonic structures: repetition as trance technology, harmony as emotional transport, bass as grounding force and voice as invocation. The dancefloor is one historical container for these practices, but here the emphasis is on listening as ritual presence and asking what becomes audible when we listen for relation. Framed by the histories of queer and diasporic listening spaces that functioned as alternatives to dominant social structures, this session will move through four movements: invocation, rupture, release and return.  #180Studios #180TheStrand #ListeningRoom #DevonOjas #DevonTurnbull

Been very busy which my new grey hairs can attest to…some very special things in the works. Come one come all: We made it through January. Now the year properly begins. February at @cafeotodalston kicks off tomorrow with Incantatory Disappearance - a sprawling sonic gathering with Fauzia, @bintmbareh , Agnes Cameron, Imi Oztas, Alfi Moss-White and more. A night of sonic storytelling, rogue pedagogies, handmade synths and market stalls. Elsewhere this month: we’re screening a rare 16mm print of Stan Brakhage’s late masterpiece 'Passage Through: A Ritual’ as part of a night with @the___hotel . Rian Treanor and Cara Tolmie are joined by Rai Tateishi and Max Ball for a tightly wound night of electronics and voice. Inner Space pay tribute to the music of Sun Ra. Our beloved Jackson’s birthday Double Bubble matinee brings together a dream-team of chaotic duo performances, debuts and improvising pairings. XT (Paul Abbott & Seymour Wright) perform from their razor-sharp new record released on @wejazzhelsinki in collaboration with Pat Thomas. Abdullah Miniawy makes a rare London appearance with his trio - blending brass, Sufi and Quranic vocal traditions with political poetics. Ornette Coleman’s bassist, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, returns for a packed multi-format residency. Apartment House perform new music from Japan. And the great Matana Roberts begins a three-night run with Neil Charles and Mark Sanders. Mihály Víg, the composer behind Béla Tarr’s films, performs in the UK for the first time ever (!!!). Regan Bowering curates a second edition of her series, SPACE. And noise-damaged maximalists Shit and Shine return to shake the room loose from its foundations. Post‑industrial visionaries Zoviet France, the enigmatic collective whose dense drones and textured soundscapes have been shaping experimental music since the early 80s, resurface for a one-off show. Accessibility legend @robynsrocket closes out the month with a great line up of Sarathy Korwar, Brigitte Aphrodite and MOMO. It’s an absolutely bustling month with many reasons to come down. Check out the events page and grab your tickets. Let’s just say this is the tip of the iceberg…! Cafeoto.co.uk/events

I’ve been very busy. Big show announcements today - the last batch of the year and we’re going out with a bang. Multi-night residencies coming up in the next few months from KLEIN, THURSTON MOORE, RP BOO, JAMAALADEEN TACUMA and THE NECKS, as well as shows from Inner Space performing Sun Ra, Abdullah Miniawy Trio, Joy Guidry, Kiosk Radio - and many more still to be announced…💥 SUN 8 FEB INNER SPACE PLAYS THE MUSIC OF SUN RA Loz Speyer leads a 7-piece group through Sun Ra’s original piano scores, with arrangements taken directly from archival sources. With Xhosa Cole and Marcina Arnold, exploring the compositional language of Ra through focused ensemble playing. TUE 10 FEB ABDULLAH MINIAWY TRIO Shaped by a declamatory vocal approach that often draws on Classical Arabic poetry and the intensity of recital, the Egyptian poet and composer’s trio consists of Robinson Khoury (trombone) and Jules Boittin (drums), drawing on baroque counterpoint and expanded brass forms. SUN-MON 16-17 FEB JAMAALADEEN TACUMA - TWO NIGHTS Electric bassist and Ornette Coleman collaborator returns with two ensemble sets featuring Pat Thomas, King Noli, Tony Kofi, Michael Asukyle and others. MON-WED 9-11 MARCH THURSTON MOORE - THREE NIGHTS Three night residency from the Sonic Youth founder, with Akira Sakata, Evan Parker, Ståle Liavik Solberg, Pat Thomas, Carlos Giffoni, Maggie Nicols and more. THU-SAT 26-28 MARCH KLEIN - THREE NIGHTS A three-night takeover from the artist whose work moves between surveillance, gospel, theatre and urban myth. Each night offers a distinct frame: acoustic experiments, noise, and a singular reimagining of the talent show. THU-FRI 7-8 MAY RP BOO - TWO NIGHTS Chicago footwork originator returns. Night one: a live collaboration with XT (Paul Abbott & Seymour Wright). Night two: RP BOO extended DJ set. SUN 24 MAY JOY GUIDRY Houston-born bassoonist combines synths, ambient textures, praise breaks and disortion. Guidry creates sonic worlds that embrace vulnerability and ecstatic healing, weaving together bassoon, electronics, voice and spoken word to confront systems of control and carve space for Black trans liberation. Head to cafeoto.co.uk for tickets >>>

CAT’S OUT THE BAG! Cafe OTO’s 2026 billboard has landed - there’s a giant black cat now parked on the corner of Kingsland Road and Gillett Square, eyes glowing, tail wrapped around a whole year of music. Part festive greeting, part crystal ball, it’s our annual glimpse into the year ahead. This year we asked Chen Tiemei from the great Old Heaven Books in Shenzen, China to create something for us, and she delivered a purrrfect piece - mischievous, playful, and completely at home in Dalston’s winter light. The cat seems very pleased with itself too! If you’ve enjoyed shows with us this year and haven’t joined as a member yet, now’s the moment. Memberships keep OTO alive - helping us support new recordings, commissions, and the kind of programming that doesn’t quite fit anywhere else. Members get cheaper tickets, early booking, occasional members-only events and a direct role in what happens next. If you’re a member already, buying a gift membership as an Xmas present for a friend is another great way to support us. We also loved the design so much that we’ve turned it into a tea towel and a beautiful screenprinted poster which you can purchase in our online store. A small selection of what’s to come in 2026 (in no particular order): Infinity Knives RP Boo & XT Mary Halvorson Quartet Alexander von Schlippenbach Quartet Mihály Víg Charles Curtis Ailie Ormston Adam Bohman Akira Sakata Sunik Kim Klein Matana Roberts Los Thuthanaka Tyshawn Sorey Trio Xhosa Cole Okkyung Lee Neil Charles - Dark Days Thank you to Chen Tiemei for the incredible artwork - and to everyone who’s helped keep the cat fed this year! 🐈‍⬛

We’re excited to welcome Mo Dafa as our new Programmer and Senior Producer at Cafe OTO. Mo brings over two decades of experience in independent music - from grassroots organising and radio to international festival work and venue programming, with a particular interest in the porous boundaries between music scenes, formats and communities. They’re committed to supporting underrepresented artists and building systems that redistribute access, share power, and make space for both risk and long-term artistic growth, with an approach to open up the programme - not only to new artists, but also to new publics. Mo brings a deep understanding of what makes OTO distinct, alongside a clear ambition to push the programme outward, opening up space for new ideas while staying grounded in our existing relationships. “OTO is a singular space with nowhere else like it. It’s held up and shaped not just by our community of artists and audiences, but by a team who care deeply about what happens here day in day out. As the space enters its 18th year, I feel lucky to be part of shaping its future. I want to keep asking what it can hold, who it’s for, and how we continue making room for risk, intimacy, and transformation.” Mo joins Cafe OTO at a pivotal time, bringing sharp direction and a clear sense of possibility. We’re looking forward to sharing more of their programme in the months ahead. Until then, please join us in welcoming Mo to the team! 📷 Guarionex Rodriguez Jr. @guarionex_jr

My first show as the programmer of Cafe OTO was a sold-out night in support of Gaza, led by Dirar Kalash with Shabaka Hutchings, Pat Thomas, Kwake Bass and John Edwards, raising funds for cancer patients under siege. The show has been reviewed in this month’s issue of The Wire by Gabriel Bristow, who traced the political intensity of the playing and the quartets refusal of easy form. The evening opened with Dirar quoting Fanon - “When we revolt, we revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.” - and what followed was a set rooted in that same urgency. The intention was clear from the outset, as Dirar framed it: “We demand, in sound and music, nothing less than what Palestine demands: the breaking of the siege, an end to starvation, and the pursuit of total freedom and justice.” The question, not just for the Ensemble but for all concerned, is what kind of social form this music can construct in the dark new world we live in. Free Palestine. No Justice NO peace.

An hour of music and poetry for @nts_radio bringing together contemporary and experimental artists from Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and beyond who belong to a musical tradition connecting poetry and performance with political life. This is a long continuum in a region where music serves as a critical tool for survival, memory, and resistance. I want to celebrate that. Archive in bio. Youmna Saba - Ahad Le Trio Joubran - No Time For Tomorrow Amal Murkus - Ya Oud Navid Afghah - Tombak Qow - Betehky F Eh Nessym - Nouakchott One Shot Farah Kaddour - Taraddud Sanam - Ya Nass El Khat - Commodore Lothan Habib Al-Deek - Traditional Sabreen - On Man Charbel Haber - We Dream in the Sun Mayssa Jallad - Markaz Azraq Qow - Fakerny Eh Shatr Collective - Refaat Brief notes: Youmna Saba explores the oud’s sonics and the Arabic language’s phonetic possibilities using electro-acoustic techniques. Le Trio Joubran transform the oud into a voice for Palestinian resistance in their intricate compositions. Amal Murkus is a renowned Palestinian vocalist who reinterprets traditional folk music. Navid Afghah’s tombak improvisations emphasise the rhythmic complexity of Iranian classical music. Qow reflect Cairo’s sonic landscape with fragmented vocals and field recordings. Nessym captures the spirit of Nouakchott with a one-shot recording. Farah Kaddour bridges Lebanese folk and improv through her masterful use of the buzuk. Beirut’s Sanam blend regional folk traditions with free jazz and noise. El Khat invert Yemeni folk music via lo-fi experiments, using homemade instruments such as the halgrum. Sabreen’s On Man adapts Mahmoud Darwish’s poem of a man unjustly imprisoned, amplifying his reflections on loss and highlighting the deep connections between Palestinian literary and musical traditions. Charbel Haber’s compositions reflect on landscape meditating on displacement and memory through sound. Shatr Collective ask what poetry can tell us in a time of catastrophe, exploring language, violence and the intertwined fates of Palestine and Lebanon. Refaat is a tribute to poet Refaat Alareer. “No settler was ever able to kill a poem/ Which is where Refaat now lives.”