Spike’s joyous celebration of the non-classical cello is back

Our horizons are finally widening. Music is spilling out on to the streets and it's just in time for this year's Spike Cello Festival. Now in its sixth year, this boutique event in Dublin is both a celebration and an exploration of non-classical cello, with world-class practitioners performing across multiple genres. So leave your preconceptions at the door. This is a festival for punters whose spirit of adventure is alive and well, with a raft of live performances, and others online.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson is an English cellist who has navigated the challenges of the pandemic with marked success. She's also a composer, singer and songwriter who runs her own label, Hill and Gully Records and her dance moves (with cello) are a joy to see. She's recently come off an extensive north American tour, a special guest of Andrea Bocelli, and has been juggling guest appearances with English world/jazz band, Nubiyan Twist with her solo work and a TV appearance with Nitin Sawhney on Later…with Jools Holland.

Having many strings to her bow is precisely what has allowed her to navigate a course through the pandemic at a time when so many artists have seen their careers upended.

“I think I’ve got this portfolio of a career,” she says, “which is really why I’ve weathered the Covid storm, because I’ve had other things to lean on during that time. It was the very thing that saved me. Online performances were quite taxing, because I was the sound engineer, the lighting engineer, the videographer, the editor and the artist: that was really intense for six months until I just got exhausted and decided to stop performing online.”

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Witter-Johnson is embracing the return to live performance with a vengeance now though. Warm and witty, she’s also philosophical about the experience that she and other artists have had to grapple with.

“I’m so thankful to be performing in front of a live audience,” she says. “It feels even more precious now than it did before. I think my shows have become more vulnerable in a way, and more intimate. I find it easier to just be honest and real with the audience, because we’ve all just been through a lot. And I’ve got a great capacity now to just go with the flow and be in the moment. I’m less critical of the performance experience and more thankful that it’s happening in the first place.”

Witter-Johnson straddles classical, R&B, hip hop and world music with equal parts grace and danger. Her songs are shot through with a raw honesty that’s both refreshing and challenging. Listening to one of her songs, Nothing Less, it seems that she’s got a strong sense of social justice coursing through her veins.

“I do care a lot about issues,” she agrees, “and they find their way into my music but I’m conscious of not preaching to audiences in terms of what you should or shouldn’t think. I just like to share what’s important to me and stories that impact me emotionally. So yes, there’s a lot to do with social justice and a basic fairness and human dignity; they are important to me. And my music does reflect not just my own emotional space but the times we’re in. Sometimes wider issues are more digestible through music. You may not always want to debate. You may want to enjoy some music that also makes you think a little bit, or consider another perspective, which is why music is so brilliant.”

Witter-Johnson’s powerful sense of herself shimmers in that song in particular.

“Actually that song emerged after I returned home from a festival in Cornwall,” she explains. “It was a festival I had gone to on my own and that was quite a big thing for me, because I had always had that feeling that you’ve got to have company or be with someone. And I just liberated myself and thought: you know what darling? You’re a citizen of the world and you’ll be fine. You don’t need to have someone hold your hand through every experience in life. I felt so empowered when I came back and felt the world’s my oyster. So that’s my personal empowerment song.”

Adrian Mantu, Romanian cellist and founder of the ConTempo Quartet, will bring his characteristically energised performances to Spike this year, with children's workshops and a concert, showcasing the many facets of the cello. Mantu is a world traveller who revels in the playfulness of improvisation and in collaboration. Based in Galway, where the ConTempo Quartet has been artist in residence since 2003, he is also a member of RTÉ's National Quartet.

“I was lucky in that I trained in classical music, but once I had done that it gave me the chance to try all these other crazy things which I always wanted to explore,” he says. “For me, it’s more important to be an artist, than to be a cellist or a musician. I love that this festival is not only dedicated to the cello, but to the other side of the cello, the one that’s not aimed at traditional classical audiences.”

Mantu is planning a children’s workshop titled ElecTríCeilí, showcasing the baroque, modern and electric cello and he promises to keep audiences on their toes at his Saturday night concert where his set will be titled CelloVision. His passion for all forms of musical expression is infectious.

"During Ceausescu's communist rule in Romania, he loved traditional music," Mantu recounts. "Unfortunately we ended up hating it, so for many years I didn't want to listen to any folk music, but when I came to Ireland it totally changed my perspective. I love now the freedom of this music. For me, I want people to be curious and be foolish and don't be afraid to make mistakes, because they breed success. Just try things and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself. It's just music. It's not war. Nobody's going to die if you make a mistake." Spike Cello Festival, February 11th-13th, spikecellofest.com