London, I'm back to give you some love! Since living here, I've taken my yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer - the iridescent instrument I've carried with me for twenty years) to Margate, San Francisco, and Brooklyn, and explored myriad creative horizons: traditional Chinese music, naturalistic improvisation, hyperpop covers, and heartfelt original songs, with sidequests in movement, comedy, and video art. I have returned to synthesize all of this into an extravaganza of storytelling and musical connection, just for you. For one special night, I'll be joined by the crooning troubadour, AJ Yi. What do you say… will you join us on this voyage to truth and joy?
I sure hope so!
xoxo
Mantawoman
p.s. if you like to sing, you're in luck ;)
Run time 65 minutes, £10 presale, £15 at the door.
Doors 7:30PM
Show 8PM
BIO
By day, Mantawoman is Reylon "Manta" Yount (they/them), a scholar, singer-songwriter, and one of the world's premier players of the yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer). Manta toured internationally with the Silkroad Ensemble, playing venues such as Lincoln Center and Tanglewood, and became the first yangqin player to feature on a GRAMMY-winning album (Sing Me Home, 2016). In 2017, after graduating from Harvard College, they won a Marshall Scholarship and moved to London, where they completed two graduate degrees in music. From 2019-2023, Manta co-founded and co-directed the groundbreaking contemporary music collective, Tangram. In 2023, Manta was awarded the inaugural Southbank Centre Studio Residency and Jerwood New Work Fund to support the development of this show.
As a genderfluid, multiracial Chinese American, Manta treats the yangqin as an interface for exploring and producing transcultural identity. Drawing inspiration from Daoist philosophy and marine ecosystems, Manta makes heartfelt songs in a style they call "hypnopop," with a sound reminiscent of Björk and Depeche Mode.
Manta's mission is to inspire people who feel alienated to practice courage, authentic expression and radical joy. Through creativity, they generate cohesion beyond categorization and "mantafest" a reality that is more welcoming of difference.
Learn more at mantawoman.com
AJ Yi (they/them) is an Olivier-nominated writer, sometimes performer and sapphic songwriter. Inspired by cocktail piano crooners and the songs sung by Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire, they aim to both put their own dykey twist on the classics whilst seducing the queers with nostalgia. A trans, half-Chinese soft boi from a former British colony; AJ's work for stage and screen often focusses on exploring the everyday impact of colonialism and capitalism, the politics of protest, and the political relationship between China and the West. AJ strives to write songs which are a balm to that harshness. A believer that laughing in community is a unifying, important and radical act, AJ welcomes you to gather round their piano and laugh together as they share their profound, philosophical, not-so-profound, weird little reflections on life.
ACCESS:
Sadly, The Divine is currently not fully accessible.
The cabaret and club space are in the basement of the venue. There are 17 wide steps with slip resistant treads down to the space with sturdy handrails either side. The toilets are in the basement and are not accessible for wheelchair
users.
If you need further information, please refer to The Divine ‘About’
page on the website. www.thedivine.co.uk