Too many to mention! But here's an old vid of Drymbago, who I'm playing with at the moment:
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***************************Explanations of the pieces**************************
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Voicewind:
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I have based this Composition on the following piece of text by Sophocles (from ‘Oedipus at Colonus’). Which I believe is still as relevant to us today as when it was first written:
‘The Earth’s strength fades,
And manhood’s glory fades.
Faith dies,
And unfaith blossoms like a flower.
But who shall find,
In these open streets of men,
Or in the secret places of his own hearts love,
One wind blow true forever.’
In this piece I have tried to mirror the meaning and mood of the text, both in its context within the play it is from, and in the more general relevence it has to people of any generation. A gloomy truth pervades the first four lines, but the second half of the text offers hope in the enormity of time and the universe.
Also the material for the piece (which includes the text itself) relates to the Greek ideals of music, set down by Boethius: Musica Mundana, Musica Humana, and Musica Instrumentalis.
Within this piece I have carried on my interest in transforming from one recognisable sound to another, playing on human auditory perception and also using this to travel from the imaginary to the real and back again.
Voicewind was created in the electroacoustic music studios at Bangor in 1998. It won a prize in the EAR99 competition of Hungarian Radio in 1999.
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Joyce’s Vision:
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This piece is based on the the opening of chapter 11 of James Joyce’s Ulysses. I find the chosen text to have a particularly musical quality, which comes as no surprise as Joyce intended it to act as an overture to chapter 11, which is inspired by, and a tribute to, the art of music.
The entire material for the piece has been created solely from recordings of readings from the text. Through different sound transformation techniques I have created a wide range of sonic material which mirrors the literal meaning of the words. I have tried to create a musical structure, as well as providing word-painting, therefore exploiting the text’s innate musical quality. In order to respect the text, I felt it important to maintain coherence of the spoken word throughout the piece as well as using it to create supporting textures and gestures. The piece’s title reflects the way I have interpreted Joyce's words which, to me, evoke a vision-like quality.
The piece was composed for the First Otto Joachim Project Studio Residency Competition, Concordia, Montreal. It was a finalist in the ‘1st Electroacoustic Miniatures Competition’, Confluencias, Spain. It is available on the CD of the same name, published with funds from the Junta de Andalucia.
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Need Without Reason:
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This octaphonic work is from a multi media opera, on which I have been collaborating with artists Mick Brown and Jeni Farrell, as well as composers Pwyll ap Siôn, and Jeffery Lewis. The text for this piece was written by Tania ap Siôn.
The opera is based on the lives and writings of Abelard and Heloise. Two real life characters, whose tale echoes down from the 12th Century as one of the world’s great love stories. Abelard was a brilliant theologian who became a teacher at Notre-Dame. He was also tutor to Heloise, the exceptionally bright and learned 17 year old niece of Canon Fulbert, her guardian. They fell passionately in love, and secretly eloped.
At this point in the story, Abelard sleeps before he travels back to Paris, after fleeing to Britany where Heloise bore him a son, to confront her uncle Fulbert and ask for her hand in marriage. The piece reflects his thoughts and dreams as he prepares for the day ahead.
This piece is published on the CD ‘DISContact III!’, by PEP and CEC, with funds from the Canadian Arts Council.
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Postcards from the Summer:
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Work on Postcards from the Summer began in the Experimental Music Studio of Radio Bratislava in Slovakia during the summer of 1998.
The piece is inspired by the various soundscapes of the different places I visited in Europe during that summer. From a farm in North Wales and the sounds of Bangor, to the cities of London, Bratislava, Prague, and Münich.
In presenting these soundscapes, I have not consciously tried to conjure up the national flavour of the countries I visited (although some sounds inevitably do), but instead the piece represents snippets of my own personal experiences of these places. The aural images are not necessarily in chronological order, but instead weave a tapestry of different sonic landscapes.
Within this piece I have tried to continue my interest in transforming one recognisable sound to another, and using this technique to ‘travel’ from one place to another.
Postcards from the Summer was composed in the Experimental Music Studio in Radio Bratislava and the Electroacoustic Music Studios at Bangor between mid 1998 and early 1999.
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Here's a video of Radiance - An audio visual installation collaboration with Nick Cope
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Radiance
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Video production and projection: Nick Cope;
DVD design and authoring: Nick Cope;
Production assistant: Monika Goldschmidt;
This installation was commissioned by the arts organisation Create for the Scarborough Festival of Light 2002, with funds from Yorkshire Arts and Scarborough Borough Council. It was situated in the Crypt of St Martin’s-on-the-Hill, South Cliff, Scarborough, from the 19th – 21st December 2002.
The name of the installation comes from the words of Joseph Campbell: ‘The one radiance shines through all things’, which are used within the soundscape itself. In collaboration with Nick Cope, we sought to produce a piece of work which used the character of the location, whilst at the same time respecting its sanctity. Nick Cope states:
‘The combination of films seeks to celebrate light and investigate light in its manifest forms, from the distracting and mesmerising light of the city at night, computer graphics and fairgrounds, through the magnificence of light in nature to the meditative presence of the candle flame. The installation has been designed as a kind of maze through which the audience moves, encountering these different manifestations of light and being drawn in from the confusing and disorientating lights in the urban realm to a more calm and contemplative inner space.’
In the creation of the sound design, I tried to produce work which mirrored the video material in a literal way, as well as reflecting the individual mood of each film. The audience is taken on a journey from the hustle and bustle of the world outside, through to sounds of nature, and eventually into the last, more reflective space in which quotes from Joseph Campbell can be heard alongside the Western sounds of the choir and organ with the Eastern chants of Tibetan monks and prayer bells. This space contained a stereo soundscape which positioned the sounds of the organ and choir on the West and the sounds of the Tibetan monks chants and prayer bells on the East. These two sides are linked by similarities in pitch and texture to create a unified whole.
I used the natural acoustic properties of the space to produce a gradually evolving soundscape. With the use of interactive controllers (soundbeams and touch sensor), the audience themselves interacted with the environment as they passed through, to add another layer to the evolving soundscape.
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Thank you for your friendly comment. And also for this very creative contemporary approach of contemporary music. It is rare, original, highly interesting and I would very much like to stay in touch with you because your work touches me deeply. Amonc these pieces, Need without reason is one my favorites.
New : ALBUM VYNIL _ compositions_ pièces electro acoustiques / disponible : les potagers natures (french record label) _ web site >>> paste : lespotagersnatures.free.fr/
no problem for ur answer. I would like to meet U in barcelona but although i love this city and didn't think so there may be in Algarve Portugal area in 1996 for peacefull wind. Enjoying to discover the sound of african beats experience...this soundscape seems like etiopian music and deepsound rythm. The story about your expressive legend 'bout Abellard and héloise remind me my pupil study....lol in reality. Fine for all stuff...! hihihihi in french joke. :°)
Hey Nobbie!!! check ur hotmail mate sent you some band info...also have a look at drymbago myspace, tunes from album promo are up....can send you a few demos for peeps for promo purposes. Luke. x
happy new year 2009, love and peace, huge expressive meeting acousmaticmusic but i know U is an plenty art musician, fluting is so beuatiful ang bringing much soul spirit. Thank for your talent. cheers, barbaralee
More i'm listening your sound more i love that cause my ears are already used to listen but harmony even had this windy earth performance. best regards, barbaralee.
