olympics, paris, curious festival and more..

so the month of june was filled with rehearsals, writing and practicing for a silent movie performance and preparing my assessments for guildhall.. busy month! the silent film project was a fabulous one, directed by the great tim metherall from melbourne.. i'll be recording the music in the next month sometime, so i'll post it up as soon as it's done.

to end my first year at guildhall, the department had a festival at the 'people show' in london, during the first week of july. I was lucky enough to perform every night with a number of different groups, playing piano, vibraphone and singing even.. there's no photos from this just yet, but hopefully the powers that apparently be will send them through at some stage..

during that week, great friends of mine from minneapolis usa were visiting.. jared and julia.. jared miller, from the filter lab i met in 2006 whilst in residence at the banff centre in canada.. he's one of the best audio engineers i know on this planet (he didn't even pay me to say that)! i had the pleasure of working with him way back in 06, recording in the rolston recital hall, an improvised album with the composer/percussionist extraordinaire eugene skeef from south africa / uk.

for the first time in more than 6 years, jared, eugene and i were in the same room, nattering on as if no time had passed. and i'm pleased to say that our album (albeit overdue) is nearly ready! it's been remixed and mastered this year, using some images from the fabulous photographer brian goff, from tacoma washington, usa, also in residence in banff at the time. we spent much of the day reminiscing and putting the design together for its release. sunwrae fans will love this record!

here's jared and julia making there way home from world's end...
more news to come on the album 'heavy forest air'...

so with school over for the year, performances done, album organised, it was definitely rest time.. as well as catchup time on all the things i've put aside (hence my late blog post here!). and summer time! well, it's the wettest summer here in 90 years apparently, but occasionally the sun has shone through the clouds, with enough warmth to defrost my toes. finally!

managed to spare a couple of hours in the guildhall 'studio' (if that's what they call it!) to record a couple of tracks (including the original version of the machine, with vocals!) with italian singer nicoletta tiberini.. stay tuned to hear some of these sometime soon..

so at this stage, london was getting busier of course, with the lead up to the olympics. the local council here started putting up some quirky sculptures to make life a bit more enjoyable..

and the culture/entertainment kept on coming from the london cultural olympiad festival.. well, bt river of music festival was a hoot. i spent 21st/22nd july in greenwich at the oceania stage, the highlight being the wantok musik sing sing, directed by david bridie (not drowning waving, my friend the chocolate cake).. a fabulous collaborative performance by 24 (i think) artists, from different cultures in the australasian and oceanic region.. amazing! engineered by the master audio guru brett doig (who did the live sound for sunwrae's thornbury theatre show in '09), i was fortunate to get an artist pass and schmooze with the artists (thanks brett!). here's a couple of pics from the weekend:

 

phil wales on the left.. go phil!!

and here's brett hard at work..

on the sunday.. for the first time in, mmm, 5 years?! i saw natalia mann (the original harpist in sunwrae).. she was too far away on stage to get a clear pic with my phone, but the photo below is her performing harp with the maori/irish collaboration from new zealand (and a tap dancer, yay!). natalia has been living in turkey for some time and now spending time between there and new zealand..

and the artists afterparty.. wow jools holland was amazing! so many awesome players and guests on the stage, very memorable. and after the afterparty.. the sky was clear and i saw two stars!! the first time in london i've seen stars! yay!

then it's olympics time.. here, the cloudy old grey day was the opening day.. the view from my flat when the olympic flame travelled the thames to the olympic village...

ok. phew! it nearly takes me up to date.. except most recently (on the weekend) i decided to escape london and catch the eurostar to paris to soak up some days in the sun, sipping wine and tasting an array of their delicious foods.. no photos unfortunately (i was having too much fun!), but i'll be back there soon and will post some up... i did however see the wonderful national jazz orchestra performing for the paris jazz festival.. a tribute to astor piazolla.. fabulous arrangements!

over and out for now..

april news for rae and sunwrae...

phew! it's april already?! the story of my life at the moment.. it's going too fast! where did the time go? a month since my last post?! ok i'm over my outburst. i have had some adventures though..

march was crazy busy with projects.. first and foremost was the dance and music collaboration with choreographer chris scott and 8 dancers from the london contemporary dance school, along with jenni wright, a fabulous french horn player from the guildhall school of music & drama. i wrote the music and played piano & vibraphone.. my london debut performances!! it truly was a great project to be involved in. chris and i were on the same page from day 1 (that's pretty rare i think!) and so hopefully we'll create something more in the coming year or two.. maybe to tour?! that's be good too! we were the finale act ( i like to think that's a compliment! ) and i think the audience liked it too.. wish i could post it here, but i haven't got the dvd (hoping to soon tho). here's a pic tho from my practice sessions...

next up.. my orchestral work was premiered on march 18.. apparently it was great but i haven't heard the recording yet!! hopefully they'll send me a photo too.. i'll be back with more when i know..

then... i had two weeks break (from my masters classes), which consisted of writing essays, project proposals and funding applications (fun stuff eh?).. but also an easter trip to st ives, cornwall.. the beach! now it wasn't exactly beach weather, but it didn't stop the pomms from gearing up in wetsuits and surfing what looked like not even a foot of surf. i laughed out loud sipping coffee from the warm of the beach cafe out of the rain, but gave them points for the effort.

next stop.. denmark! the home of lego!! legoland was awesome.. it's an amusement park with rides for kids and adults!! and so many amazing lego sculptures..
here's a very short but hilarious video from our trip there...

and some pics... couldn't resist this one..

there's even an underwater world with real sharks, fish and all sorts!

crazy that they're all made from tiny lego block huh!

mmm. so not much else on the cards, oh but ah! that's right.. i've taken up a new hobby.. bouldering! couldn't resist taking a picture of my shoes with the view from my flat in the background too..  ha! not that i'm climbing buildings, just walls and boulders so far. it's indoor too here, but maybe the wild outdoors will call when i'm somewhere with good rocks ;-)

mmm. so next musical venture is a short gig for sunday in the apartment.. then onto a project with an illustrator, idris hussain, to make an animation film... stay tuned for updates!!!

til next time, r

London Contemporary Dance School and a new piano!

so! i'm back. it's been quite crazy at guildhall. this month we're running a project called 'dialogue' for the 'Barbican Weekender'. the theme is Urban Stories. it's a big project working with storytellers, community groups, family groups, choirs, primary and secondary schools in nearby bethnall green, and current & post students of the guildhall. my part is running workshops with the schools and supporting the secondary band & choir, creating small performances that all piece together one after the other, creating a larger roving sort of concert, throughout the barbican. that's my understanding of it anyway.. the rest i improvise (but don't tell them i said that).

at the same time (and the most exciting thing for me), is starting a project with the London Contemporary Dance School...

it was a last minute invite from the composition department at guildhall, to compose a work for a dance project, in collaboration with a choreographer, Chris Scott. he's finishing his course at LCDS. so, the project is to create a work together from scratch. it's a pretty new concept for me (but oh so exciting), coz until now, any specific dance projects i've been involved with have usually been entirely improvised, or the work is choreographed to one of my existing compositions. this time however, as we're both creating from scratch, we're influenced as much as each other right throughout the process.

there'll be more news to come as the work unfolds, but here's a sneak peak at what came out of the first rehearsal. i mostly improvised or played some existing compositions on the piano, to get chris and the dancers familiar with my style. on this below clip, i left out the music (sorry!) so i wouldn't be influenced by it when watching it at a later date. i'm sure they'd say it's a bit rough, but it was waay exciting for me...

and the next thing... MY NEW PIANO!!!
today i experienced a most amazing and generous thing. someone donated a piano to me (edit: actually this didn't turn out in the end, but it made for a good story at the time!!!!). i've been needing to buy one for my flat (it's been driving me crazy to not have one at home believe me!) and i have been looking frantically for one that is suitable, affordable and course playable. i've had a number of trips to the countryside to play and bid on pianos. the train journeys have been great, but not so successful until today, yay! i initially put a hold on a very small second-hand yamaha upright from a shop, however had to call back, apologise and say no when i received a call following up my 'email of interest' from last week. a lovely lady and gentleman from orpington (countryside outside london), questioned me about my studies, wanting to know more and more. to cut a long story short, today i have walked away with an antique 'Dörner' upright piano, from stuttgart in germany. could be from the early 1900's.. it's quite old, but such a lovely open tone. the moving and shaking of course is yet to be done (my only costs are to move and tune it), but soon (hopefully next week?!), i'll have the piano in my flat. i'm hoping my neighbours won't mind.. i haven't even checked it with the official building peoples, but my flatmate likes the idea, so that's good enough for me until i get told off!


the best part about the story is that during our conversation over a lovely cup of english tea, i found out that the lady is the sister of a certain Isobel Rolston, who was the director at the banff centre in canada, whilst i was there in 2006 for my winter residency. what are the chances?! i gave them a gift of my cd 'never stops to wait'. it certainly doesn't balance the scales, but one day i'll thank them properly by inviting them to an amazing concert. it truly is a fabulous and generous gift.. and i am very grateful that it came at this time.. i can afford to eat for another couple of months now! yay!

ok (edit 29/02/2012): so the free one didn't work out.. they reneged! how's that?! offering then reneging. sheesh!! to cut a long story short: i called the piano shop back and mine was still there.. so it's being delivered today.. yay! just goes to show that it's waaay better just to pay someone to do the job, then you know it'll be done.

well, better run. work and sleep to be had.
back soon! :)

Happy new year...

happy new year to you all out there.. hope 2012 brings you all you may need and more..

so. once again, time has flown and it's already mid-january, mid winter (i think -1 degrees this morning here in london?!) and i'm almost mid way through the first year at guildhall. phew! since i last wrote i've been on a grand musical venture...

the gambia, west africa.

for two weeks during december, as part of a cross-arts and trans-cultural elective at guildhall, 8 of us (and rather an international bunch.. aussie of course, dutch, mexican, american and english) travelled to the gambia, west africa to learn about four very different west african musical traditions. we spent our time drumming rhythms, singing and dancing through the days, absorbing the cultures and music of Susu, Mandinka, Wollof and Fula. every few days there were different visiting artists who would teach us various things about their respective tradition and style. 

day 1 we were taken to a hotel in bakau, just outside the main city of banjul. quite the introduction really. the atmosphere of the beach and ocean breeze, the sun, the horizon of the deep-blue and man-made sailing boats, certainly made for a fresh slate, leaving the icy cold, stressful and bustling city-scape behind us.

day 2 we were soon shuffled off, piling into a rickety van, luggage precariously bumping around on the top, travelling to out next destination, our home for the next two weeks. 

it was a fabulous and intense couple of weeks, with temperatures in the mid-30s. we lived in huts, making up a small camp just outside a small village called berefet, with a crew of locals that cooked up delicious traditional food. we were right on the river gambia too, where we could swim every day, escaping the heat. there was a few hours of electricity in the evenings only, run by a generator. and if we were lucky and the sun was shining brightly, we'd have running water too! i've never loved a shower so much as when you're covered in red dirt from dancing all day, mud remnants from the river and layers upon layers of citronella mosquito spray to escape the malaria carrying pests.

we worked hard absorbing all we could..  and it felt like a holiday at the same time! here's a bunch of pics from the two weeks: our teachers and few of us as well!

our susu teachers...

 

here's liza teaching the balafon (the african wooden xylophone with gourds) master how to play violin...

and some village shots: washing day under the boabab tree... 

and some entertainment by the local village women and children... soon after these images, the whole village turned up pretty much, around 150 women and children, absolutely going crazy dancing and singing. what a memorable occasion it was!!

mandinka lessons....

i was very inspired by our teacher Jaliba (meaning 'great musician') Momodou Suso, from the mandinka tribe. his vocals are hard to hear in this video (this one is the only one i could upload for some reason.. more coming next time!), but his playing of the kora makes up for it.. what a beautiful instrument. i'll find another video for next time where you can hear his vocals too..

amazing really, the importance of music and musicians in west africa. the stature that musicians have  traditionally in society, the respect for them, as well as the reverent messages behind the music that they create, is incredibly different to the western world. all music is taught aurally from generation to generation, they create and perform music to exchange messages, to resolve conflict, to influence political leaders with messages from the people. many of the songs we learned had a profound and respectful meaning behind them. 

we had a day off after our mandinka jaliba came to berefet.. we went on this boat... which was quite an experience!

to this island, kunta kinteh island, or james island...

which is an historical island.. i think actually a UNESCO world heritage site, that was used for the west african slave trade. it still has the ruins of administration buildings and cells on the island.. as well as some boabab trees (great fruit by the way..!). it was kind of eery, but certainly amazing to hear of its history. apparently it is now 1/6 of its original size due to erosion as well. 

ok, back to the music...

wollof music:

the wollof drumming was fantastic.. i bought a talking drum! yes i'm excited about it.. i'll dig out some more pics and videos this week too, as what i have here is very limited and i can't seem to upload any more videos today... crap internet!!!

then there was the fula musicians.. this is the only photo i found! more coming soon, i promise!! from the fula musicians, i bought a pair of lado lado's (i think they're called!), which are hand percussion shakers, make from sticks and cut out sections from a calabash.

and here's kat (our english gal, on the left), kabba (our local guide, who took a lot of convincing to come and dance), and maiike (one of our dutchys from the course) dancing with the musicians...

apologies for the lack of videos and music clips here.. i'll get the internet and videos sorted and will be back soon!!! thanks for reading.. any comments or questions welcome!

and coming next time also, are perhaps some photos form the guildhall.. who knows.. 

One more Sunwrae show for 2011..

Since the tour.. A theatre show, mixing some new DVD tracks, the packing up, the selling off (including my amazing grand piano) and the announcements of ONE MORE SUNWRAE ENSEMBLE EXTRAVAGANZA SHOW FOR 2011!!! 

The days and weeks have flown since the tour. After a quick break in Hong Kong in June, I came back to prepare and perform a live original score for a wonderful theatre show 'The Lost Girl' at St Martins Youth Arts Centre. It was a show devised and performed by a group of nine 13-17 year olds, developed through a series of workshops in improvisation, storytelling and physical theatre, from their own personal experiences. Loads of fun, inspiring and challenging all at the same time! There were 4 performances between July 7-9, including an Auslan and audio described performance. So great to work on a theatre show again and be challenged by creating all sorts of different music for the various scenes in the show.

Now it has come to a close, I have only one creative project left before my venture to the UK starts.. an orchestral piece! Phew, what a task! Before I rabbit on about that however, I am off for a few weeks to say ciao to friends and family interstate.

I've also begun the daunting task of packing up for the UK.. I've sold my van already! Sad to see it go, but it had to be done so I don't get stuck at the last minute with too many loose ends to tie! The pile of clothes and knick-knacks for the Salvation Army has grown to a mountain in the middle of my living room.. I've rummaged through piles of paperwork in my filing cabinet to be shredded... And the list of things-to-do on the whiteboard in my studio stares back at me every time I go past...

Last week in Melbourne we completed the mixing from the ABC Iwaki Auditorium final tour performance on June 9. Over the next few months, be prepared for some new audio and visual tracks up online!

AND.. in August, I'm happy to say that there will be one more Sunwrae Ensemble performance... an extravaganza! A performance of, at last count, 12 musicians from the past 7 or so years to see me off in style. It's a fundraiser for my studies, to make sure I really leave the country!!!

So, if you're in Melbourne on Thursday August 18th, please come to our show and support my departure into the unknown! It may well be the last big performance for two years in Australia... 8pm start, at Richmond Uniting Church, 310 Church Street in Richmond Victoria. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.trybooking.com/RWT

One more thing... I'm selling my amazing antique grand piano.. it's a English beauty, a Chappell. If there's anyone out there that's interested, let me know!!!!

I'll leave you with a few photos from our recent performance at ABC Iwaki Auditorium... Photos by Dean Jones.