a day in the life...

so it's been a busy few weeks here, hence no blog posts! i have a little cabin fever from the 3-week-12/14-hour-each-day studio time, but i think it's been worth it and i've been very productive! i've finished notating 7 piano solos (including some back from 2001), an eighth is on the way and i've made a good start on two works for string quintet, as well as (gulp!) an orchestral work. wowee huh? hopefully i'll be inspired to keep it up when i'm back keeping the home fires burning in australia....

it's great to be so productive here and also kind of ridiculous to realise that i've been 9 years behind in putting my works on paper. i've made a plan to keep in front from now on. the other composers at the centre are busily working, so it's not hard to hibernate for a few days, then emerge with some stories (and new manuscripts!) over a beer or two. i've met new swedish composers here almost daily in the past week (who are studying at the school, which is in the same building at VICC), each with fabulous stories about their work and various projects and who are genuinely interested in all things music (they also assure me that gotland genuinely has lots of sheep, not just concrete ones). it has inspired me to think about studying again (yikes, did i really say that?) to challenge myself a little. yesterday a few of us saw the gotland symphonia perform at the university library. beethoven, ives and a local composer were the flavour of the day. it's a little strange for me, because day by day i'm interested in listening to more & more orchestral work. it must be a sign.

mmm. so as well as music for sunwrae, i've been doing a little electronic work. a week or so ago jon cohrs (NY/berlin, who i work with in 'rabbits without spleens') visited me here in visby, to continue working on some tracks we started (has it really been four?) years ago.


coffee, whiskey, peanuts and chocolate kept us going into the early hours each night, editing, recording and mixing what will eventually be an album of wicked electronic work (recorded in banff canada, melbourne australia, new york usa, berlin germany and now visby sweden... where to next?!). i'm sure any sunwrae fan will enjoy this fine music. i can't wait for it to be complete!

i also hear in the pipeline that the latest sunwrae recording (live at the thornbury theatre) is just about complete! i'll have it in my hot little hands when i arrive back in oz in may. stay tuned to our website homepage sunwrae.com in the coming weeks for sales...

so there's not long to go now. i'll take a few more pics this week and put a few mp3s up here to give you a taste of what's coming..

A hop, skip and a jump to Sweden... what is it with islands?!

happy easter out there! so i've just landed in a new part of the world (for me). it's the island of gotland in the middle of the baltic sea. the air is freezing (the water probably is too), but the snow has just about gone and the spring flowers are starting to emerge.... so what is it with these islands i find myself on? firstly itaparica in bahia brazil, then park island, hong kong and now gotland in sweden. maybe my first set of compositions during my residency here will bear the answer... or maybe not. apparently to dream of an island means pleasant journeys and fortunate enterprises?! i'm happy to believe that. no more questions.

so after a few weeks catching up on long lost time with friends in hong kong, switzerland and germany (note to self: must go back to berlin soon!), already i feel the effects of a successful venture. just two days here in the medieval town, at the visby international centre for composers (and although i haven't written much yet), i can say that it's an inspiring place to be... it's trully amazing what you see on a daily basis walking around town (admittedly i didn't take all of these photos, but could have if i wanted)..

so, as a unesco world heritage site and built sometime around the 12th century, as you can see, the stone walls, churches and structures are pretty old~ already they've outlasted some of the houses in australia. who would have thunk? enough of history though, that's not what i'm here for. now. i'm not sure what their fascination is with sheep (i can imagine the visby folk would get along well with new zealanders)~ but there are statues of the critters all over town. hopefully when this easter holiday weekend is over and i've successfully collected and eaten all my well hidden easter eggs, i can buy some much needed ugg boots to help the local economy. apparently lamb is the flavour of the decade too, so i may just have to arrive for dinner at the local bar tonight and wash it down with Wisby Påsköl, visby's local easter beer. see? it's not all about history.

well, best be off to start hiding all my easter eggs. it won't take long. see you back here when something else exciting happens.... like music ;)

i'll leave you with a couple more colourful pics of visby, so you don't get the impression it's all grey, doom and gloom...

home sweet home again...

so 2010 is here.. and i'm back home in victoria, australia. the last month in brasil went very quickly as i had imagined, but was the most memorable part of my adventure. i met a number of amazing musicians there during december and had the chance to play with some of them as you see below... it was a shame that i left when i did, as i was just starting to make my little mark, meet the right people, understand more portuguese and learn the things i wanted to. of course, this just means that i must go back and initiate another project! now that i have some perspective on the journey, i can easily say that it changed me. experiencing brazil with your own eyes is the only answer to any questions one may have.. and certainly this blog hardly even scratches the surface. i'm choosing not to write about so many things i experienced, because writing about them doesn't justify anything~ and when you're that close to the bone, there's nothing you can write in this space that explains who, what, when, where, why and how. all i know now, is that my eyes are wider and i'm definitely wiser for having been there. thankyou unesco for that opportunity...

so..... below is a band i saw in the pelourinho~ a hoot of a night out and about in salvador! crazy adventures meeting many musicians, singing in the streets with spontaneous bouts of body percussion... then 'the cortejo afro band', the singer pictured was crowned king of carnaval in salvador this year...
i also played a show at the museum of modern art (on udu/moringa!)... with a group of amazing jazz muso's. every saturday night for the past 10 years, ivan huol has lead this band, with many guests each week from around the world. it was a great experience and my first ever show on udu!
after this show... a small set-back... yikes! the large udu had a crack! ouch! so into the bahian wilderness i went again ~ to maragogipinho ~ to have another one made, just in time for my final show in itaparica. the ceramicist mended the old moringa too, which i gave to a fellow brazilian musician~ another reason to go back!

later in december, i met up with ronaldo borges (bass player with carlinhos brown, whom i met at the cortejo afro band show).. below is pic of us playing together on the steps of the famous bonfim church~ very funky bass played indeed!

and again, later that evening, another musician i met roque vinicius (just incredible voice), ronaldo and i played into the night at a bar near the church... very memorable evening... i had met roque at the museum of modern art gig.. and learned this night that he and ronaldo had known each other for 25 years! i think i must have been in the right place at the right time... and at the end of my residency, instituto sacatar had an open day, where all the artists showed their work in progress. what a day of amazing visual art, a few delightful christmas presents, delicious traditional food and many-a-caipirinha (drink made from cachaca, brazilian rum)! we played well into the evening once again...

so my journey home to australia was long (5 flights!).. my luggage was of course left in chile, but arrived a few days later... miraculously, my moringa (and bottles of brazilian rum) arrived in one piece! yay!

and now onto my next adventure... europe! i'll keep you posted of my plans in the coming weeks as they come to light... in the meantime~ happy new year and see you very soon!

Another day in paradise...

From the beginning I promised myself I'd write more often... but 2 weeks have passed quickly without me blinking! It's been a humorous and challenging journey all round and certainly one I won't forget. My sleeping patterns are the first challenge~ apart from the uncomfortable heat during the night, I'm even dreaming in Portuguese (!), so I repeatedly wake up confused and frustrated, wondering how to string together a comprehensive sentence. The early morning yoga looking out to sea always calms me however, so although I'm sleeping little, I'm well energised to absorb the culture. And what culture there has been!
An adventure into Salvador to see some jazz a week or so ago saw some trouble. Unfortunately missing the last ferry boat back to the Island, Aneli (the Romanian Artist here) and I had a spontaneous night on the town, staying in somewhat comfort (luckily) with a friend-of-a-friend in the city, after an hilarious tour of Saturday night drinking spots in Salvador. The following day feeling quite sorry without our sunglasses, we learned there had been 26 murders around Salvador that night. Wowee, a shock to the system and realilty check. Since then my ventures have been tamer, with a companion certainly at night, and without a camera... hence the lack of photos of late. Generally, what I've seen and experienced here however, simply cannot be captured in a photo anyway.
Salvador is an interesting city. The tourism is huge~ there's street stores lining every street, selling bikinis, hammocks, food, knick knacks, all sorts of souvenirs, everything you can think of, with the vendor noisily wanting everyone's attention as they walk by. The musicians above were camped in front of a stall at a market, playing and singing traditional Bahian folk songs at the top of their lungs. Nearby, the traffic is crazy.. the noise, wowee. It's enough to give a musician tinnitus! Amidst the hype of city, it's great to be able to escape the mayhem, retreat back to Itaparica for some quiet time and (sort of) blend in a little more to feel at home. Although these smaller villages and towns bring about their own troubles of poverty, somehow it feels easier and more welcoming to sit and watch the sunset over the ocean...

So, amongst my ventures of experiencing the culture and music, my actual purpose here is to start work on some new music. This has been quite the challenge, as I have not had the luxury of my usual musical instruments. I feel quite empty not being able to play as I would at home... although I haven't mastered the language, I am always certain to be able to express myself through writing and playing, either piano or vibraphone. This time however, that's not the case, so I went in search for another vehicle to express myself. If it's the rhythms that have to carry me, then another percussion instrument was the key, so last week I returned to a small village called Maragogipinho, to collect my two hand made ceramic udus. In the workshop (and oh how I wish I had my camera) there were 10 people hard at work, at the wheel, firing the kiln, waxing, painting and all sorts. My new udus are just stunning.... I've been playing for hours on end. They're not so easy to play, so I'm practicing hard in the hope I can play some decent rhythms upon my return to Australia. I just have to work out how to get them home!
Stay tuned for some mp3 clips shortly.. once you hear the sound, you too will be convinced that it'll inspire some new music..

Ok. Must be off... over and out for now.

An adventure to the mainland...

Pelourinho, Centro Historico... On Tuesday evening one of the fellows from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and I caught the 'launcher' (ferry) from Mar Grande across to Salvador to see a great exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art by Sophie Calle, as well as take a walk through the Pelourinho (central historical district in Salvador) to see some music. A fabulous percussion group from Salvador (and Maestro Ivan Santana) paraded the streets.. The rhythms were fantastic and tight, whilst their movements were very entertaining for the crowd.



Around every corner there was another music or percussion group... a few were Brazilian pop artists, others more traditional, like the sound of the Samba with Bahian rhythms.. I could walk around for hours...



And more street performances...
Ah, but of course. I must catch the last ferry back to Itaparica. A long and slow journey after such an energising evening of music! More to come this week... A festival no less!

My first week at Instituto Sacatar, Itaparica, Bahia, Brasil

Ola! Como vai?!

Baía de Todos os Santos... or All Saints Bay, where Itaparica is located, is just stunning. Beautiful calm waters surround the island, including a lovely beach right outside Instituto Sacatar. My studio looks out onto the pier above... For a tour around Instituto Sacatar please visit their website! http://www.sacatar.org

For those that don't know... I'm here in Brasil on an UNESCO Aschberg Bursary, to spend time researching Brasilian music and rhythms... and to see how they can inspire my music. There are 4 other artists~ 2 Portuguese, an Iranian and a Romanian~ all visual artists, who create some amazing work respectively. The conversation around the dinner table is as challanged and comical as you can imagine, however an interesting combination of english, portuguese and flamboyant body language saves the day every time!

This first week has been jam packed with amazing experiences and in amongst the sleepless nights getting over my jet lag I've been busy learning Portuguese so I can travel around a little easier!
We've spent some time touring the island in 'kombi' vans and on bicycles, checking out all the places to go in the next couple of months. Above are a few photos of mine so far... stay tuned for many more!

Best keep this one short... I can smell the amazing food coming from next door and must have a swim before I eat! Until next time.... sending some sunshine from South America!

My first day in Brasil...

(Photo to Taylor Van Horne, Instituto Sacatar)...

after an exhausting travel adventure, 5 flights and 36 hours later, i finally arrived! and the artist residence trully is as beautiful as the picture looks...

i'm in brasil, at instituto sacatar, an artist residence on an island off the state of bahia, near salvador.

more news shortly.... after i've eaten the incredible food that's awaiting me!