What we always look forward to doing with Arsenal of Sounds, our monthly event series exploring and presenting music and London-based musicians from all over the world, is to inspire and hearten its audience through wide-ranging notes, lyrics and rhythms.

…and we couldn’t possibly look for a more fitting line-up to inspire and hearten you just a few days before International Women’s Day than a double-bill featuring Olcay Bayir and Noga Ritter.

On Friday the 3rd of March, to move ahead with our round-the-world journey in sounds, we will reach the Middle East and Turkey and meet two musicians who are strengthening the diversity of the London music scene and also reinforcing its inclusivity messages. 

Both Olcay and Noga are thought-provoking singer and songwriters who have dedicated their careers to their roots (grounded in Turkey and Israel), but also felt the need to expand their artistic vision exploring and welcoming sounds and elements from traditions from around the world.

If Olcay Bayir’s compositions move from her Alevi and Kurdish origins, drawing in from the Anatolian songbook and reaching out to Pan-Mediterranean and Balkans sonorities from flamenco to rebetiko, Noga Ritter has laid down the foundations of her sound on Hebrew jazz and built on them with her passion and dedication to Pan-African grooves. What unites the two artists is a musical approach actively aiming at -empowering women and equality and affirmed through energetic and powerful vocals.

London and its music scene have given us the invaluable opportunity to savour and be enriched by the artistry of musicians like Olcay Bayir and Noga Ritter. On the 3rd of March you are offered an even more invaluable opportunity, to see them live together on the Woolwich Works stage. Don’t miss it!

- You can get your ticket/s for the event following THIS LINK -