Dunja Botic
Dunja Botic is an acclaimed singer with roots in both Greece and Serbia who brings a unique intensity to the stage and her music, both as a soloist and as part of Don Kipper. As a professional singer she specialises in Eastern European, Mediterranean and Near Eastern European music. Drawing from her love of nature and the myriad connections she forms with people her music draws on many influences such as Jazz, Folk, Theatre, Film scoring and singing in the Makam style.
She specialises in teaching Balkan vocal techniques, traditional storytelling and choral and solo performance from the Mediterranean. Outside of her work with Don Kipper she regularly works in theatre, particularly with Royal Shakespeare Company touring nationally as lead vocalist with shows including ‘Timon of Athens’, ‘Tartuffe’, ‘Museum of Baghdad’, and ‘A Comedy of Errors’.
Josh Middleton
Josh is a multi-instrumentalist and composer specialising in Klezmer and East European Folk styles. He has been performing music professionally since the age of 14, graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies with a first class degree in Ethnomusicology, and has since been intensively a range of style including Klezmer and Bulgarian music, the latter at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv. Josh has worked with many Klezmer and Balkan music ensembles such as She’koyokh, The London Klezmer Quartet, Tatcho Dorm, Raka and Don Kipper, has shared a stage with Klezmorim such as Frank London and Merlin Shepherd, taught at Klezfest London alongside Klezmer scholars such as Alan Bern and Joel Rubin, and recorded for artists as diverse as DJ Vadim and Kadialy Kouyate.
Josh also works as a Marionettist and composer on the Puppet Theatre Barge, performing and writing music for puppet shows. He has extensive experience composing and performing music for the stage, writing and touring with puppet companies such as Movingstage, String Theatre, Mirth and Misery, Finger and Thumb Theatre, and the Bus King Theatre and theatre companies such as Footfall Theatre and Nick Cassenbaum Ltd. Recently, he has performed at the Menier Chocolate Factory as part of the cast for Rebecca Taichman’s production of Indecent, which was selected by the Guardian as the best piece of theatre in 2021.
He also loves the delicate counterpoint between two or even three clashing patterns on a person.
Tim Karp
To his disappointment on his 12th Birthday, Tim Karp received a black and white Squire Stratocaster instead of a scalectrix. Reluctantly he began to play and his natural talent soon became a passion. 20 years later and he has since travelled to many countries learning from locals and discovering music from across the world.
He is musician who teaches his art in schools and finds time to play in a multitude of bands and projects such as:
"The Embers Collective" - where he is Musical Director for a story telling collective
"Beringela" - an ensemble playing Brazilian music where he plays guitar, percussion and vocals
"Super Tenants" - guitarist and co-lead singer in a roaming pop and rock covers band who bring both joy and carnage to weddings and events around the world.
Daniel Gouly
Daniel is an clarinetist, educator, sound designer, composer and performer with an MA in Ethnomusicology from SOAS, University of London and a PhD from the Open University, supported by the AHRC. He specialises in performing musics from across Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, and has studied with, and played alongside, legendary Klezmer musicians such as Alan Bern, Frank London, Merlin Shepherd, Christian Dawid, and Joel Rubin.
Daniel also loves connecting music and theatre through his work across the UK, the US, and Europe with Bubble Schmeisis, Oily Cart’s Jamboree, Make A Scene’s Esther’s Journey and writing music for Puppetry. His most recent project, supported by Arts Council England, explores the intersection of electronic music and Chinese and Jewish folk music traditions alongside NYC-based sound artist, composer, and vocalist Lemon Guo. Their music brings together the sacred and the secular, the rural and the urban, the ancient and contemporary, in ways that create a profoundly new and vivid musical practice at the intersection of Ashkenazi Jewish and Chinese diaspora culture. Their work can also be heard in a number of recent commissions including original compositions and sound design for an installation at the 2021 Asian Art Biennial in Taiwan alongside award-winning artist Kunlin He and forthcoming scores for new films including Eris Qian’s, ‘Last Ship East’.
Twm Dylan
Twm is a multi-faceted bass player and composer. Arriving in London at the right time to contribute to the jazz scene as it exploded in popularity, he frequently collaborates with some of its biggest names such as Nubya Garcia, Rosie Turton and Nala Sinephro. In 2018, There Is A Place debuted on Brownswood Recordings garnering critical success following an explosive contribution on the influential We Out Here compilation under the name Maisha, led by Jake Long. Twm has also been sideman to some of Jazz’s living legends including tenor sax titan Billy Harper, and fusion pioneer Gary Bartz with whom the collaboration Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions was released in 2020. Twm’s own project Trons Tew is currently under development.
GIULIANO OSELLA
Giuliano was born in Cattolica (Italy) in 1988 and began playing the Drums at the age of 6. After a few years learning the rudiments with a local teacher, he started to study Jazz more seriously with Glauco Oleandri, until 2006 when he decided to continue his studies at Music Academy Europe in Bologna. Alongside his studies in Bologna, he learnt from a range of esteemed drummers during this time including Chris Coleman, Dom Famularo, Gergo Borlai, John Favicchia, Christian Meyer, and Bruno Farinelli.
In 2014 Giuliano moved to London, and has become highly sought after in a wide range of different styles playing with a myriad of ensembles including London Afrobeat Collective, Kadialy Kouyate, Abdoulaye Samb, Don Kipper, Noga Ritter, Go Go Megafon, and Al Maranca. Since his move he has an enjoyed a sprawling career, performing at festivals and events internationally including Wilderness, Sziget (Hungary), Shambala, and ImaginaFunk (Spain), and supporting an impressive cast of legendary musicians on tour including Femi Kuti, Fred Wesley, The Sugar Hill Gang, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jazzy Jeff and Gloria Gaynor.