Two from India

I have Mark Kennedy to thank for the first and Warren Burt for the second. Both send my way today.

http://www.emusic.com/album/Pandit-Kamalesh-Maitra-The-World-s-Musical-Traditions-Vol-10-Tabla-Tar-MP3-Download/10865021.html

Dimi Mint Abba

Ooleya Mint Amartichitt

THE FIRST PUPPET IN A NEW LAND

Is anyone surprised that it would be Ned Kelly? Here he is, almost Kachina like, an outsider who preserves it at all cost.
For the last 10 years I have been making my own puppets for the Shadow Theatre of Anaphoria. My first was a fish. Almost all the human ones I have made have been based on traditional models in a desire to fully understand what goes on in every detail before undertaking the task myself. Even here choices have been made. Often I will survey as many variants of a puppet I could find, selecting what spoke to me most and what harmonized together. Traditional puppets are multilayered enigmas carrying an extensive history with past remnants hidden and informing the present ones. Often a stylistic code is used throughout all of them. They can consider the nature of flame, or the need to represent humans and gods where such images are not allowed. It does not say I haven’t kept ones eyes on more modern designs. Often one finds two common ones, the oversimplified puppets or realistic ones. These counterparts have often failed to hold me. What was missing? The director Eugenio Barba talks about how even a still actor on stage has to remain energized in their posture. In the case of a puppet this is even more necessary as one cannot rely on gesture or motion as easily. The puppet has to be ready and attentive at every moment. It is a new concern for puppet design and opens the door to furthering this art is general. So this puppet was a result of this direction.

As the opening invocation at the Stockhausen Day of Light

At the Sydney Con on Saturday they has an entire day of Stockhausen's music. Stop. Ylem. Hymnen. The 2nd act for Tuesday- Day of light. Ensemble Offspring doing a wonderful version of 'Set Sail for the Sun' as well as shimmering arrangements of his 12 pieces for the Zodiac. I was full by the time we left.
As we were traveling up from Wollongong we decided we would catch the entire 11 hours. So we arrived at 1 to hear what was supposedly was going to be a performance of some of the schools jazz musicians jamming on his work. We entered as Warren Summers was talking to the director of the festival as they had not shown up. I mentioned that i had played much of the '7 days' and Warren had also expressed an interest in doing something to him. So with an audience waiting he said. "Well go down there and play". So along with Terumi Narushima we did so without any discussion at all besides playing 6 hand piano as all that was available. I ventured out first but for the longest time no one joined. Finally Terumi joined in on the upper part of the keyboard and still some time later Warren came in with prerecorded sound that he had of his just intonation piano music. Warren I thought was a processing of what we were playing which gives you an idea of how well it fit. Internally i followed both the instructions for INTENSITY and COMMUNION plus the plus and minus signs from what i could remember of SPIRAL. We played for 50 minutes which seem less to me. A few people came up wanted to see the score. It was highly successful and was honored to 'channel' the spirit of Karlheinz in with Warren Summers and Terumi Narushima.

Wollongong show 5/6 7:30

For those in the local environs.......

Terumi and I will be playing at what promises to be an interesting art opening/happening. If in the Wollongong area, a good time to catch us.

Clocks and Clouds consist
of Terumi Narushima on Meta-Slendro reed organ and Kraig Grady on Meta-Slendro vibraphone.

Fri. 5/6 7:30 255 Keira St.
Wollongong

From Artaud to Partch

Quote from Artaud's 'The Theater and Its Double' (p.95 of my Evergreen book edition)

"MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: They will be treated as objects and as a part of the set.
Also, the need to act directly and profoundly upon the sensibility, through the organs invites research, from the point of view of sound, into qualities which present-day musical instruments do not possess and which require the revival of ancient and forgotten instruments or the invention of new ones. Research is also required , apart from music, into instruments and appliances which, based on special combinations or new alloys of metal, can attain a new range and compass, producing sounds or noises that are unbearably piercing."

Elsewhere Artaud talks about them being of human size and dimensions.
Partch must have found himself if pretty full agreement with this, except for the concentration on metal. Still many of his percussive instruments were more than capable of being piercing. If would have been interesting if the theater community would have picked up on his work before the music one. Probably the development would have been of little difference. In fact his work still exist as theater secondly even though he was on the forefront of those who took Artaud and ran with it. He still deserve more notice from this direction.