Mike Edwards (musician) - Career

Career

Edwards joined the Electric Light Orchestra in 1972 and played with the band from their first live gig in Croydon until he departed, of his own choosing, in January 1975. Previously he had had little interest in non-classical music, though he had played on recording sessions for Barclay James Harvest.

Although his band-mates remembered him as a small, shy, broadly-smiling classicist in formal attire, his eccentric 'cello playing (fingering the strings with an orange or grapefruit) and bizarre costumes were a major ingredient of early ELO concerts: his 'cello solo spots, often The Dying Swan or Bach's Air, ended with his instrument exploding in pyrotechnics (actually Edwards mimed on a rigged instrument). He contributed to the albums ELO II, On the Third Day, The Night The Light Went On in Long Beach and Eldorado. He was replaced by Melvyn Gale.

He changed his name to Pramada on becoming a sannyasin of Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh): the name means "divine contentment". During the 80s he lived in the group's large Medina communes in Poona in India, Hamburg in Germany, Suffolk in UK and the US, and later in Vauxhall and Archway, north London. Subsequently he appeared for three years as a duo with dancer Avis von Herder. Their work and performances were based on improvisation and included the production of his composition Vampire Madonna at the Edinburgh Festival. In later years, his work involved stage plays, arrangements and cross-genre recordings such as the album "No goal but the path" by Terra Incognita.

He has always been considered as a "musician's musician", and after moving to Devon, he produced and composed music for "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibrain with words spoken by actor Tim Brophy. He also composed and recorded music for poems by William Blake. Edwards played cello and bass viol in groups of all musical genres and established a private cello and viol teaching practice. It was probably the freedom and joy that he experienced playing Baroque music that led to a workshop in Devon of the European String Teachers Association (of which he was SW region chairman) in 1999, which the violinist Margaret Faultless was invited to direct. As a result of this, the Devon Baroque orchestra was formed and Mike played in virtually every one of its 100 or so concerts in the ten years before his death.

In addition to his playing with Devon Baroque he was in demand from many folk and jazz as well as classical groups in the area, some of which he helped to form including Sicilienne, L'Ardito, Ashburton Cello ensemble, Devon Early Music Group, Compagnie Giulia, Daughters of Elvin, Ta Filia and Presence.