The Traveller

In 1995, Byron made his first trip to South Africa. This led to recordings with Airto Moreira, Moses Mseleku and a host of world class musicians. The seed was sown for a life of musical exploration and travelling.

Gayan is yet another of Byron's projects which marries traditions – it focuses on Indonesia and East Africa and fuses them with the urban sounds of modern dance music and contemporary classical traditions.

Byron has travelled to these pillars of inspiration, working and studying with traditional musicians, and creating innovative new soundscapes and compositions. Some of the fruits of this research can be heard on Chantik which is a recording of traditional music from the heart of Java featuring Mr. Pa Jamadi on celempung and the celestial voice of his wife.

In 1998 Byron travelled through Uganda studying traditional horn and xylophone music. He made a film documenting his research, and the material he recorded provided inspiration for forthcoming solo albums as well as field recordings to be released on his own label Twilight Jaguar.

The album Nakibembe captures east Africa's pre-eminent xylophone group Embaire in full flight. Byron's documentary film Travelling chronicles his three-month stay in Uganda, with all its trials and tribulations, and is full of amazing music and dance footage.

Byron's love of traditional musics of the world has already taken him to Morocco where he performed and recorded with master Gnawa musician Maalem Si Mohamed Chaouqi, culminating in the brilliant Automatic Original release.

Byron also collaborated with Aladin Sani and the Arabian tabla master Rony Barrak in Kano, Nigeria for a special project launching the new British Council building in 2000.

Byron was a featured guest in the 2001 Harare Jazz festival in Zimbabwe. In 2002 he returned to South Africa to appear in the ARTS Alive Earth Summit Festival.

Byron has travelled to Belize where he studied and worked with traditional Garifuna musicians. This project, sponsored by the PRS Foundation for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in June 2002, was very personal to Byron as it was his first visit to his parents' homeland.