GONGMAISON

Musicians are:

DAEVID ALLEN.
(Australian) Vocals, Lyrics, Guitar, Glissando. Founder member of THE SOFT MACHINE (67). Left GONG (74) to persue solo career. Worked in the U.S.A. (79 & 80) with NEW YORK GONG (aka cult band MATERIAL) and BILL LASWELL. Returned to Australia (81) to undertake seven years intensive study and self development programme. Returned to the U.K. (88) doing solo shows and to develop GONGMAISON.

DIDIER MALHERBE.
(French) Saxophones, Flutes, WX7. Original GONGster from '69, left in'78. Has developed a unique style and plays regularly with the top French jazzers, loves to dance, great sense of humour. Also does rap style poetry on stage. Played on the HARRY WILLIAMSON album 'TARKA' and is currently finishing collaboration L.P. with French acoustic guitar virtuoso PIERRE BENSUSAN.

HARRY WILLIAMSON.
(English/Australian) Keyboards, Vocals, Guitar,Production. Composer, ecoscientist, worked at the RAINBOW theatre (71), then with ANTHONY PHILLIPS (GENESIS) on joint compositions from which time 'TARKA' was composed, finally released in '88, headlining with a concert in May '90 at the Royal Albert Hall. Married to GILLI SMYTH (GONG/MOTHER GONG) and living in Australia. Recently been touring with GONGMAISON and MOTHER GONG in Europe and also produced new GONGMAISON, DAEVID ALLEN and MOTHERGONG albums.

GRAHAM CLARK.
(English) Violin. Plays with his own free jazz trio in England where he is well known and widely appreciated for his mature and well studied solo work. His playing is a perfect compliment to DAEVID ALLEN's new style of delivery.

SHAMAL MAITRA.
(Bengal) Tablas, Electric Drums and Percussion. Lives in Paris where he plays with DIDIER (QV) and does classical Tabla work with Indian Dance, as well as a great number of sessions. His conversation is suffused with surrealistic humour and he is a great storyteller. (A goldfish has nowhere to hide.)

WANDANA.
(Australian) Vocals, Dance, Harmonium. Originally a graphic artist. Since she met DAEVID ALLEN, in Australia, they have developed some of the essential elements of GONGMAISON. She toured with GONGMAISON in '89 and is on the LP / CD. However, she is now persuing her career in Glastonbury as a healer and artist.

ELLIET MACKRELL.
(English) Vocals, Didgeridoo, Violin, Keyboards. Met DAEVID ALLEN and HARRY WILLIAMSON in Australia and has now joined the band to replace WANDANA. She is into mime and theatre and is also a composer, as well as working with her own band. Just as Daevids first band, Soft Machine, went through many shapes and combinations, so to has the name Gong been a vehicle for a multitude of sins:

MAGIC BROTHER GONG. Franco '69.
NEW YORK GONG. '70-72.
VIRGIN TRILOGY GONG. '73-75.
PLANET (HERE AND NOW) GONG. '76-77.
MOTHER GONG.(Gilli Smyth and Harry Williamson) '79
PIERRE MOERLIN'S GONG.(Virgin Arista) '76-86.

After New York Gong, Daevid had not been involved with the Gong mystique until he met Didier to play together with the Invisible Opera Company in May '88 in France. Whereas he felt he had left Gong behind ten years before, Didier was quite convinced that they should work together again and inaugerate a new dispensation of the Gong energetic. From this was born Gongmaison. Maison, or house, alludes lightly to a sympathy with House/Jazz style, but also to the house where the musicians live together each in their own private eccentric world and from which come the ideas that focus to one clear purpose on the stage. Unlike the majority of current mechanically contrived hits, Gongmaison brings human warmth, virtuosity, humour and a realism to an increasingly dangerous and destableised modern world. It should also be made clear that each member has a variety of parallel performing vehicles:

1. Daevid - Invisible Opera Company. U.K. band drawn from everchanging pool of English musicians.

2. Daevid - Solo artist. Poetry, Ballads and backing tracks as theatrical performance art.

3. Mother Gong - Gilli Smyth and Harry Williamson jazz rock and poetry band from Australia.

4. Didier and Shamal - French jazz fusion.

5. Graham Clarke - London based free jazz three piece.

6. Elliet Mackerell - London based band Wise Monkeys