Medina Bookshop in Cowes is delighted to welcome Russian-born musician and performer Anton Ripatti to the UK for the first time, for an evening of music, theatre and surreal performance this Saturday (12th September 2026).
Originally from the industrial city of Perm in the Ural Mountains and now based in Germany, Anton has spent the past decade touring his extraordinary live show across 32 countries. His visit to the Isle of Wight is particularly fitting, given that the Island’s original festivals played a pivotal role in his discovery of the music that would shape his life.
Discovering Hendrix in the Urals
Growing up in Perm, Anton had little access to the classic rock and jazz that would become familiar to generations of British music fans. His introduction to the Isle of Wight Festival came almost by chance.
Anton recalls,
“I found the guy somewhere in Poland who was selling pirate VHS concerts and he sent to me Hendrix Isle of Wight.
“I don’t think anyone in Perm besides me knew who Hendrix was at the time.”
The cassette bought for its cover
The tape also contained a recording of Miles Davis at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Anton had already discovered Hendrix through a music book and cassette he bought in St Petersburg, simply because its cover featured a man with an electric guitar. The cassette turned out to contain the music from Are You Experienced?
He says,
“That cassette probably had the biggest influence on my life.”
A tribute to the original festivals
Now, as a tribute to that formative discovery, the first half of Anton’s Medina Bookshop performance will celebrate the music of the original 1968, 1969 and 1970 Isle of Wight Festivals, with Anton performing his own wildly unpredictable interpretations of songs associated with those legendary events.
Into the world of Babakamusic
The second half will take audiences into the surreal world of Babakamusic – an eccentric and theatrical live performance combining music, visual storytelling, lighting and absurdist humour.
Drawing on jazz, experimental blues, psychedelic folk, dark cabaret and clownery, Babakamusic takes the audience on an emotional and humorous musical journey. Multilingual vocals, shadow play, theatrical performance and atmospheric lighting combine to create something somewhere between a concert, a cabaret and a piece of live theatre.
It promises to be a very different kind of musical evening – and a fittingly unconventional tribute to the extraordinary musical history of the Isle of Wight.
Where and when
Anton Ripatti performs at Medina Bookshop, Cowes, with ‘A Tribute to the Original IW Festivals’ and Babakamusic this Saturday 12th September at 7pm at Medina Bookshop, 50 High Street, Cowes.
Tickets are £15 in store, by phone (01983) 300044 or online from the Medina Bookshop Website
News shared by Paul on behalf of Medina Bookshop. Ed
