Gentlemen, soundart and miniskirts

march 25, 2007.

[ podcast :: rpc 34 ... ]

On friday march 16th, 2007, FPCM and I drove from Amsterdam to Zwolle (the capital of the province of Overijssel, in the east of the Netherlands), where that afternoon we were the guests of Jan Turkenburg and his weekly Vreemde Geluiden ('Strange Sounds') broadcast on Radio Zwolle.

Regular viewers may know Jan (aka Splogman) as a contributor to 365 Days, his 1987 grand tour and the 52 weeks project (2004). Radio maker, musician and obsessive collector of auddities (audio oddities) of all sorts and in all styles, ('Meneer') Jan is also a committed teacher, who with an enthusiasm that doesn't seem to know any limits, teaches music at primary schools ... I bet you all would've loved to have been taught music by Meneer Jan! ... And it therefore also hardly came as a surprise that upon arrival in Zwolle we found ourselves steering through a residential area where apartment buildings were baptized 'Symfonie', and streets carried names like Vivaldistraat, Beethovenlaan, Bachplein, Andantenpad, Telemannstraat ...
At Jan's we got a warm welcome. From two dogs. And two cats. And of course from Jan and Wilma, who served us a hot cup of coffee and sandwiches to build up some new strength, after which Jan took us up to his study, where we had a look at his vinyl collection. And a great set of acoustic instruments, all hand-built by his father, Cor Turkenburg.

We then drove to the studio of Omroep Zwolle, in an industrial area on the other side of town, for the live broadcast of Vreemde Geluiden. This week's edition was called Heren, Klankkunst en Minirokjes, that is Gentlemen, Soundart and Miniskirts. This is a title that did not fail to inspire us, and it must at least be part of the reason why the afternoon became such a memorable one.

With the occasional strange sounds drifting in from behind the microphones, we talked with Jan about pop fictions, found tapes, field recording and tape montages, ookoi, 1024, and many other things beside, while listening to a great many sound examples. Remco Takken came along with breaking news: there seemed to be still some tickets left for the Dolly Parton concert, that sunday march 18th in the IJsselhallen in Zwolle; after which it was time for the weekly 'symfo-corner', which this time exclusively was filled live by ookoi, with a little help from Meneer Jan ...

You may listen to the recording of ookoi's symfo-corner as part of the 34th Raudio Podcast . The complete recording of the two hour broadcast can be downloaded from the Vreemde Geluiden Archive; Jan is planning to make the recording permanently available at archive.org

[ added nov. 30th, 2007 : When we drove back in Jan's car from the studio to his house, on the corner of the Marsweg and the Geerenweg I spotted a tape ... blowing in the wind ... Of course I urged Jan to stop the car, which he did. I jumped out and went after it, while Jan took some pictures. It is #437 in the Found Tapes Exhibition, and part of the exhibitions's 79th acquisition.

It is some sort of a fact of experience actually, that 'a tape seldom comes alone' ... Very, very often, when I pick up one tape, not far and not long after, I pick up a second - and different! - one. Happened again that day in Zwolle. For when we got back into Jan's car, and drove on along the Marsweg, just a couple of hundred meters further I spotted another one, firmly mixed up in thorny shrubbery. Again I made Jan stop the car ... that was #438 ... ]

notes __ ::
(*) To subscribe to the Raudio Podcasts, get the feed's URI by clicking the green podcast button in the sidebar ...

Vicky, Killers and Avatars

march 24, 2007.

Killer TV is a series of HD internet broadcasts by De Waag Society in Amsterdam. On wednesday march 14th, 2007, ookoi was on Killer TV, as part of a broadcast featuring interviews and discussions with net researcher and artist John Hopkins and choreographer André Gingras.

The live broadcast took place in the Waag Society lounge, on the fifth floor of pakhuis de Zwijger, where ookoi appeared to be present, and performed.

Something between then and when.
Somewhere between here and there.

The evening started at 19h, with a premiere of ookoi's kibibyte, 1024. Then, shortly after 21h, there was another premiere of sorts, when ookoi joined AOM, the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, live in Second Life, for a performance - the thirteenth - of Vicky's Mosquitos.
This event was hosted by the Pomodoro Bolzano group, at the Art.Think.Box Netherbeck.
Doing a Vicky's Mosquitos in SecondLife was an initiative of Miulew Takahe, aka Björn Eriksson, who - as you may recall - in september of last year organized another great Vicky event, in real life, in an old oil cistern on Svanö, an island in the swedish river of Ångermanälven.

One of the challenges in doing Vicky's Mosquitos in SecondLife, was (except for Vicky's voice) to use sounds found in and taken from the virtual world, and for the avatar orchestra to play the sounds inside the SecondLife space. For this to be possible, Miulew compiled a collection of sounds, and Bingo Onomatopeia of the Pomodoro Bolzano group created an instrument to play them: the aviophone (see the picture). By clicking on the pointed end one selects one in a list of 18 sounds, that than can be played by hitting the other end.
Miulew came up with a score for the performance. The orchestra players were divided into three groups: there were A-, B, and C-players, each having their own order of the aviophone-sounds to be played and to be changed every minute. Apart from playing, Miulew also directed the orchestra, indicating time and dynamics, and streamed parts of Vicky's reading from his home in Sweden; one at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end.
Vit Latynina, also of Pomodoro Bolzano, proposed a sketch for a choreography for the performance (see picture). Moreover all orchestra players came in uni-form ... in ookoi tails ...

Between then and when ...
Between here and there ...

Arguably, VM13 has been the most thoroughly rehearsed Vicky performance to date, with the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse meeting several evenings in the weeks before the performance, to do run-through's and discuss the event. Through its having been part of the Killer TV broadcast, it certainly is the best documented one to date... Also because of the series of podcasts that Miulew devoted to VM13, and which enable you to listen - in full - to three of the rehearsals [ 27.02.2007 - 12.03.2007 - 13.03.2007 ] as well as to the actual performance on the 14th of March.

[ YouTube: screen shot footage of ookoi@KillerTV and of VM13 by AOM. Earlier related SB-entry: VM12 :: picture book ]

Not Diktat

march 23, 2007.

[ podcast :: sbpc 13 ... ]

For the evening of saturday march 3rd, 2007, evening of a total lunar eclipse, at La Comète 347 ("nouveau lieu dédié à la culture non marchande, qui vient d'ouvir en plein Paris") we had planned a concert of Diktat with Raphael Raccuia of Blinde Kinder completing the trio of Rébus, Bordé and myself.

But then Jean had the misfortune one night of the week before the concert to stumble down the stone staircase relaying the two levels of the street where he lives, and waking up the next morning in the hospital. With a concussion. Fortunately not too much damage seemed to be done, but of course it made sense to be prudent, and not too overdo things for some days.

So Jean couldn't play. And the Eclipse@La Comète, as Rébus baptized the event, was 'not Diktat'.

La Comète 347 is a great place to perform. With us playing on what resembles the bottom of an empty swimming pool, and the audience gathering on the brim looking down upon the performers, it felt somewhat like a roman theatre.

For the two half hour sets at La Comète our 'not Diktat' trio was completed into a quintet. We had the pleasure of being joined by Michael Ghent, le maître des lieux, who played his self-built 'metal machines', and by Cécile Zylberajch (Mme. Z.), mezzo-soprano, who added real-life vocals.

For an impression, do listen to this soundblog edition's podcast , which is a recording of the last seven to eight minutes of our first set.
There is also a short video sequence to be found at YouTube ...