After our sojourn in Worcestershire, M and I have now relocated to Durham, north-east England. Still early days but I am slowly finding venues and event listings. The end of June saw us at Hill Island Microbrewery's mini festival at Alington House - fruit beers!! Shades of Ottawa, especially the raspberry.... The last week, along with summer (yay!) saw the opening Streets of Brass from this year's Brass: Durham International Festival. Walking in along Framwellgate Bridge on Saturday 6th we were greeted by the enthusiastic and entertaining performers from Brassy B, whom we could hear down in Fowlers Yard. Fowlers Yard had a 10th anniversary festival/open day; we tried the delights of Leonard's for lunch, plus a swift drink from the Hill Island folk. Our brief Brass experience continued with Oompah Brass in the Market Place. Fantastic playing and also very, very funny; treats included covers of Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart', plus 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' from Queen.
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| Stillaphone |
On the experimental side, yesterday I headed off to Durham Cathedral for two of the Brass: Pitch events. First up was John Kefala Kerr's Book of Bells in the Monks' Dormitory Library. This meditative piece mixed digitally manipulated brass, bell and choral recordings with audience interaction. The effect was something like a minimal, occasionally discordant soundscape - entirely different to my perception of the original material as somewhat more 'traditional'. The addition of the interactive element - a book quiz with ringing of small bells - provided an immediate, random aspect to the piece, which had a distance to it. Really interesting and peaceful - recommended!
After a stroll around the Cathedral, I then headed to The Music School next door for louie+jesse's project, Stillaphone. Simple brass household items - pans, kettles and so on - into which randomly timed water droplets fell. Simple but effective.
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