Artefact Presents... Eric Chenaux and Karolina Wegryzyn

Eric Chenaux is one of the great contemporary guitarists and experimental songsmiths. His work balances masterful improvisation and classic composition, at once giving nods to avant-garde noiseniks, folk songwriters and the great jazz singers. A former Wire Magazine cover star and described by The Guardian as having "one of the all-time great singing voices in popular music", Chenaux is a bonafide legend making a much anticipated visit to Birmingham on the back of 2024's extraordinary 'Delights Of My Life'.

“Where Chenaux really differs from any of them is in his lysergic tonal explorations, behind his honey-dipped vocals and baffling assortment of bent guitar notes, aquatic and forever morphing” The Quietus  

“A singer and songwriter possessed of angelic sweetness and clarity accompanying himself with largely improvised, visceral guitar textures that seem intent on undermining and obscuring his own songs. It’s the need to communicate tussling with the urge to obfuscate; lucidity versus opacity; form against chaos.” The Wire

Karolina Wegrzyn is an award-winning Polish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist from South-Eastern Poland, now based in West Midlands. She plays accordion, hammered dulcimer and frame drums. Raised in a family of traditional singers and dancers, she inherited many songs from her grandmother and uses archaic “scream singing” rooted in Eastern European village traditions. She received a Polish Ministry of Culture award in 2011 and placed 3rd at the 2021 Szczecin Traditional Musician’s Tournament. She performs at many UK events with her band, blending powerful upbeat Balkan folk with emotional North-Carpathian rawness to create a sense of shared cultural heritage.

The event will start at 7pm.