Circumstances have left me a
bit uninspired to add posts to my blog.
Firstly I did not carry along my camera as often as I did before,
secondly and most importantly I could not get my head around writing the little
commentary to go with the pictures. This is the first attempt in a while. We’ll
see how it goes.
On a Monday night we went to
see Tim O’Dwyer’s Singapore sound painting debut. It was actually one of these nights that I
thought it would be nice to see something interesting, but I did not really
feel like bringing my camera.
Funnily enough, as we were sitting at Blu Jaz
café listening to, but maybe mostly watching the events on stage, I was getting
restless. Whatever was going on and around that stage too small to handle it
all, was highly entertaining and clearly begging to be captured on camera.
So
much so that I decided to go home and pick it up. So off I went towards what we
guessed was about the end of the first set, and thanks to the, always extended,
short breaks, I was back in time for the second set to start.
Dubbing themselves Erik Satay and The Kampong Arkestra the
band was formed out of an eclectic group of people, all adding their own color
to the canvas, with some providing a full palette.
Julius
Dance
Adam
Marple Theatrics
Bani
Haykal Bass
Teo
Boon Chye Saxophone
Sangeetha
Dorai more Theatrics
Natalie
Alexandra Guzheng
Dirk
Stromborg Strombophone
Darryl
Ervin Drums
Tim
O’Dwyer Conductor
For those who wonder what a
Strombophone is, I honestly do not know. It looks like a control for an xbox
and it appears that movement and the pushing of buttons create various
electronic sounds.
I guess, I do not have to
elaborate too much after explaining that I was crazy enough to race back and
forth in a cab to get my camera to capture the second part of this show. I want
to add though, it was unadulterated fun!
In all honesty most of the
time I did not seem to pay much attention to the music. I think for a large
part it was more subject to the visual.
Which probably is what sound painting, from the audience perspective
observing the director, is all about. The musicians, dancer and actors are
responding to the movements of the conductor, improvising on their
interpretation of what a particular motion or gesture is supposed to sound
like and what color they want to add to the overall picture.
How much improvisation was involved, well I think I have heard the Blu
Jaz menu read out in at least five different tones of emotion, from anger:
to heart breaking sadness:
to serene inner pleasure:
accompanied by facial expressions
that could make your eyes pop out
Within no time I shot my
memory card full. Here is only a rough impression of a performance to be proud
of:
A little omission: please add a keyboard player to the list of the performers. Thanks.
ReplyDelete