blissful biog

Mostly, there’s two of us...

“Bliss’ed out world grooves & intuitive beats, formed with care and chaos.”

‘blissful virtuous’ is a truly original project, blessed and influenced by the past. It is a massive journey of sounds, sessions and searching. With its roots in Zimbabwe, recordings and mixes have happened worldwide from Borneo to the UK, Tanzania to the US, and Swaziland to Thailand.

Mark Bradshaw and Roo Pigott began ‘blissful virtuous’ as a Saturday night lock in at a downtown studio some twelve years ago in Sheffield, UK. Essentially studio based composers and sound manipulators caught in a collision of minds and music. Roo, running headlong - electribe under one arm & mac under the other, blissful with his delays, wires and weirdness - into Mark, arms full of instruments, head full of visions, and virtuous in his knowledge of this world’s music. 'A mutual lack of understanding of each others musical faith meant that we were captivated by each other’s talent. We were catalysts for each other'. If Mark played a riff on the mbira, Roo would catch it in some delays and work out beats and new patterns that worked for him. 'We'd each take turn in pulling apart then rebuilding what the other had done until we ended up with these amazing soundtracks'.

Roo and Mark have produced one critically received album called Mbira Post, and are well on the way to completing their follow up. They also write music for TV and Films around the world, and work on commissions like the Traditional Music Of Swaziland project where they recorded and documented the indigenous instruments of Swaziland for Alliance Francaisé.

Mbira and Electronica is at the heart of the BV sound and much of what you hear is written and performed by Roo and Mark, but they are joined by many different people for studio sessions and live work who are listed below.

We’re often joined by our many musical friends along the way, and thanks must go to them

Special mention has to go to Tim Bradshaw, who had a huge influence on Mbira Post and continues to write and play live with us with us and make us smile. Tim has been instrumental in the development of many bv tracks and we’ll be calling on him again before the completion of album 2. Tim played Slide guitar and was key in the programming and drums on Nhema, Nyamaropa Chipembere and No Radio (Tanzanian Jiti).

Huge thanks also go to:

Tegi Roberts for her inspired vocals on Out Of Your Sleep

Matt ‘the horn’ Goffee for trumpet and euphonium on Out Of Your Sleep, Nyamaropa Chipembere and Nhema Swing

Liz Hanks for cello on Out Of Your Sleep and Nyamaropa Chipembere

Tom Hamilton for double bass on Nyamaropa Chipembere, No Radio (Tanzanian Jiti) and At Tiri’s (Karimugomba - Proto - Karimugomba)

And to our latest incarnation of the live band:

Mbuso Vilikati playing guitar and bass

Phila Masuku playing bass and guitar

Mduduzi Matsenjwa playing drums and percussion.

With Guest instrumentalists:

Little Brother Eze playing saxophone

Casey Jones Jr. playing french horn