As well as being an inspirational teacher and facilitator of music workshops using the traditional method of learning to play by ear Cosmos Sheldrake is also an innovator. Drawing on numerous and disparate musical traditions from Mongolia to West Africa, blues to classical and folk to Balkan brass you never quite know what creation he will make next.
Cosmo is a composer and a producer and has written music for film and theatre. Based in London and Brighton, he runs vocal improv and beatboxing workshops, youth empowerment and wilderness camps. He teaches workshops in schools and runs a regular community choir in Brighton. He also sings and performs with his brother Merlin; both play with the Gentle Mystics, who released their debut album in 2011. In January 2013 he performed at TEDx Whitechapel.
Watch his latest video performing live in a pigsty!
Performing at TEDx Whitechapel
“In a landscape of ubiquitous folky bands making reasonably jovial sounds stands Cosmo, a man with ideas, creativity and vision. His music extends deep into the veins of old traditions, while tingling with the thrust of modernity. Cosmo is a musician, producer, thinker and artist who is redefining assumptions of how folk music can sound. Keep a close eye on him, and an even closer ear.” – Sam Lee, The Nest Collective
Cosmo mongers everything from hedgerow pastorals to high-grade, rusted thrump” Ernest Plimpsole