On 7 December 2022 BHS members Claire Chatelet, Isabel Del Rio and Iliyana Stoyanova attended the fifth edition of the Naviar Haiku Fest, an evening of music and poetry reading at Café Oto in London. The event featured performances by members and friends of Naviar, working in the fields of ambient, electronic, and contemporary classical music. Each set was introduced by a haiku written by poets of The British Haiku Society.

Iliyana Stoyanova gave a short introduction to haiku – history of the genre, composition, differences between haiku written in Japanese and Western languages, etc.; its main principles, and some important haiku techniques. Beforehand Iliyana and the organiser Marco Alessi have made a selection of haiku which were then paired with all the musical pieces performed on the night:

– Daniel Green – an artist, museum professional and high-impact arts educator with a deep passion for art and technology education

                           through the fields the dogs the humans the sky as birdsong
                           — Alan Summers, UK (BHS members’ anthology “Temple“, 2021)

– encym & George Crowley – Encym explores un-guitaristic territory by layering, collaging and shaping improvised loops; George Crowley is a saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and promoter

                                        standing stones –
                                        I breathe in
                                        the silence
               –Nick T, UK (BHS members’ anthology “Temple“, 2021)

– Leon Clowes – a transdisciplinary artist who uses autoethnography, self-compassion and Brechtian techniques

                                                      where silence becomes song a forest
                                          — Debbi Antebi, UK/Turkey (IHC anthology 2019)

– Audio Obscura – Since 2014 Neil Stringfellow has released music as Audio Obscura, covering a variety of musical themes that touch on ambient, electronics and more experimental soundscapes

                                  life out of balance
                                  the lullaby of lost languages
                                  in desert winds
                   — Iliyana Stoyanova, UK/Bulgaria (BHS Members’ Anthology “Planet Earth”, 2020)

– Simon McCorry – a cellist, composer & sound designer in theatre, film & contemporary dance for over 15 years

                                  last notes
                                  of the cricket’s song
                                  August dawn
                   — Iliyana Stoyanova, UK/Bulgaria (Blithe Spirit 32.4)

– Manja Ristić – Croatia based violinist, sound artist, published poet, curator and researcher

                                    vigil prayers
                                    a hummingbird disappears
                                    in the sunlight

                                    veglia di preghiere
                                    un colibrì scompare
                                    nella luce del sole
                  — Eufemia Griffo, Italy (BHS members’ anthology “Temple“, 2021)

The BHS is grateful to Marco Alessi (Naviar Records) for the invitation to take part in such an incredible event and the opportunity to promote haiku to a wider audience – both on the night and via social media.

Write-up Iliyana Stoyanova