Cafe Aman

Leader, singer and songwriter Martha Lewis is better known as one half of the comedy duo Donna and Kebab, but this is where her musical heart is, fronting Cafe Aman combining Greek rembetica with roots and jazz influences.

In 1997 Martha began to create her own style of composition. A classical urban mix, with colourful Eastern modes fusing the contemporary cosmopolitan influences of her upbringing in London, with Rembetika, the music of the Greek refugees from 1920s Asia Minor. Rembetika music – which Martha has a deep affinity to – is known as “music of the outsiders” and featured strongly in her parents’ lives when she was growing up.

Martha created a nine-piece band Cafe Aman to perform her compositions, in which she sings, plays guitar and percussion. Cafe Aman was the result of a commission from the London Arts Board in 1996 that premiered at the South Bank, London and received wide acclaim after a broadcast of the concert in March 1997 by BBC Radio 3. An Arts Council commission followed along with several commissions for meditation music and music for documentaries and TV short films.

In the current line up of Café Aman, Martha’s passionate vocals are matched by an energetic and powerful five-piece line up of some of the foremost players from London’s dance, club and world music scene (keys, bass, drums). The Pontiac lyra, the instrument of the Greek Islands, provides the trademark haunting melancholic instrumental top lines of Martha’s music.

Selected performances:

Cargo (London Jazz Festival) :: Jazz Cafe London :: Summer World Music Outdoor Festival, London :: Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf, London :: Purcell Room, London (London Jazz Festival) :: Chard Festival, Somerset :: Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London :: Brighton Festival :: City of London Festival :: Bristol Hope Centre :: Phoenix Theatre, Exeter :: Brighton Komedia :: Croydon World Music Festival

Reviews:

“Far from just another chunk of culture -hopping opportunism, Cafe Aman is a unique cultural crossover driven by a charismatic leader. Cafe Aman is Lewis’ first solo venture…[she] has a yearning upturn to her voice to go with its majestic and clamourous power. Cafe Aman is going places.” John Fordham, Guardian

“Martha Lewis’ Cafe Aman project marries the urban blues of the cafes of Athens in the 1920s with urban London. Martha grew up in London and Cyprus and her dance-friendly world music, takes in tango, classical music and Greek rhythms. The instrumentation of her band provide a nostalgic and lyrical background to her striking vocal lead.” Stephen Graham, Jazz Mag