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Gilli Smyth

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Genres
  
Spoken word

Name
  
Gilli Smyth

Role
  
Musician

Instruments
  
Vocals

Education
  
King's College London

Website
  
www.gillismyth.com


Gilli Smyth Gilli Smyth Flamedog Records

Born
  
1 June 1933 (
1933-06-01
)

Associated acts
  
Gong, Planet Gong, Mother Gong

Movies
  
Daevid Allen's University of Errors: Plays the Soft Machine, Acid Mothers Gong: Live at the Uncon 06

Albums
  
I Am Your Egg, Camembert Electrique, Flying Teapot, You, Angel's Egg

Occupation(s)
  
Poet, musician, writer

Gilli smyth taliesin


Gillian Mary Smyth (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong, and Planet Gong and released several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong. In Gong, she often performed under the name Shakti Yoni, contributing poems and "space whispers".

Contents

Gilli Smyth Gong daevid allen gilli smyth steve hillage planet

Smyth had three degrees from King's College London, (the liner notes for Voiceprint's 'Mother Gong' CD suggests 'London University') where she gained notoriety as the outspoken sub-editor of "Kings News", a college magazine. After a brief spell teaching at the Sorbonne (Paris) (where she became bilingual), she began doing performance poetry with well-known English jazz-rock group Soft Machine, founded by her partner and long-time collaborator, Daevid Allen, in 1968.

Gilli Smyth httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

She co-founded Gong with Allen, an outfit that included musicians such as Steve Hillage, Pierre Moerlen and Didier Malherbe. All of the songs on the albums Magick Brother and Continental Circus are listed as written or co-written by her. In her spoken-word poetry, especially within Gong's "Radio Gnome Invisible" Trilogy, she portrays a prostitute, a cat, a mother, a witch, and an old woman, and she has been known for wearing such costumes on stage. This became part of the cult mythology, which was written into sixteen albums that were produced. Gong developed into a family of bands, including Gongmaison and Mother Gong. Mother, her 1978 solo album, led to Smyth founding Mother Gong having left the original Gong band in 1975 to have children.

Gilli Smyth Gilli Smyth Performer Picture album DUDUKINET

Mother Gong toured internationally in 1979-81 and 1989–91, either headlining or supporting such artists as Bob Dylan and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Smyth appeared as a solo performer and lecturer at the Starwood Festival from 1992-93. She did voice-overs for commercials, taped children's books and other books and poetry, given workshops on voice projection and voice as a confidence raiser, and has performed for many women's groups.

Gilli smyth i am a tree


Death

She died in hospital in Byron Bay on 22 August 2016 at the age of 83 of pulmonary pneumonia.

References

Gilli Smyth Wikipedia