Photo by Maarten Mooijman
THE EX + ENSEMBLE BEDNIERI
THURSDAY 21 MAY 2026
Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
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We’re very excited to welcome the ever-innovative underground experimentalists The Ex back to Birmingham. Emerging from Amsterdam’s political squats during the late 70s punk explosion, they quickly began pushing the limits of the genre, weaving in no-wave and noise influences before incorporating a wide array of ideas drawn from non-Western and non-rock sources. These include Hungarian and Turkish folk songs and, more recently, music from Ethiopia, Congo and Eritrea, while still maintaining the raw energy that motivated their formation.
Using guitars, bass, drums and voice as their starting point, The Ex have continued to musically explore undiscovered areas right up to the present day. After all these years, some 28 albums and more than 2000 concerts the band continues to work as they did in when they began, completely independent of record companies, managers or roadies. Because of this ‘do it yourself’ work ethic The Ex is still a great example for other forward-thinking bands and musicians.
“Staying a bird, staying independent, free if you will, for three decades, that takes skill and something else, something more like heart.” – Music journalist John Corbett on The Ex.
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Support comes from Georgian choir – Ensemble Bednieri!
Ensemble Bednieri is a Birmingham based choir singing polyphonic folk music from Georgia; a small country on the eastern edge of the Black Sea, nestled between the snowy Caucus mountains in the north the arid Turkish lands in the south. Spanning numerous regional styles and vocal techniques from across Georgia, we will share an uplifting and sonorous mix; from harvesting and feasting songs to pagan healing songs and medieval chants; from the lyrical lovers singing on the hillside of Adjara to the philosophical musings of a shepherd in the Tushetian mountains. Ensemble Bednieri is led by Eb Jordan, a musician dedicated to cultural appreciation and ethnographically informed practice. Eb has studied with a wide variety of Georgian folk specialist both in the UK and Georgia for over eight years and also takes inspiration from Frank Kane’s approach of vibrational sharing and voice placement within the work.
“The meaning of ‘Bednieri’ is fateful, joyful and happy. This sums up our vibe; it’s the feeling we get when we sing these ancient songs and share them with the world.”
