WEDNESDAY 8th September 2010
Times : 8pm
Tickets : £10 Ticket on the door only
Nord Rute is the first in a four part series of unconventional, ambisonic (surround sound) narratives by The Compass Series. Based on one of a cycle of poems by renowned Sámi artist, Nils Aslak Valkeapää, the poems focus on indigenous peoples around the world exploring their traditions, oral lore, spiritual and practical connections with nature.
Nord Rute is a collaboration between field recordist and sound artist Ross Adams, UK electronic music pioneers Plaid, Sámi poets Synnøve Persen, Ánde Sombi and Ántte Áilu Gaup, and is inspired by Valkeapää’s poem, ‘No.272’. The poem is about a reindeer herd on the move and takes the Sámi people as its central theme examining their vast dialect used to describe reindeer and sounds of the Arctic Tundra.
The Sámi are the only ethnic group in the European Union classified as an indigenous people. They are a minority that inhabit four countries – Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia –and have their own language and culture, which has thrived due to their ability to adapt to changing social environments over the centuries. Music and art have emerged as influential tools in the process of maintaining community and identity.
With specially commissioned music by Plaid, Nord Rute shifts between dreamtime, urban and arctic soundscapes with intertwined, recorded, spoken word, poetry and Joiking (a form of Sámi vocal expression) by Sombi, Persen and Gaup. Incorporated into the narrative is an account of a modern day reindeer migration made by the Sámi every year, 350 kilometres across the Arctic Tundra to the reindeers’ spring grazing and birthing pastures in northern Norway. Adams travelled with a group of herders and sonically documented it using location surround recording techniques.
Plaid and Ross Adams will perform a sonic evocation of the migration, poem and contemporary interpretation of the spiritual realm of the Sámi people, bringing otherworldly timbres, dextrous rhythms and raw field recordings to the urban setting of Café Oto. Warming up the night will be a DJ set by Ed Handley of Plaid and Ross Adams. Limited edition CD albums in handmade covers will be on sale.
About the artists on the night:
PLAID: Plaid is the duo Ed Handley and Andy Turner. Rising from the ashes of legendary Black Dog, the electronica stalwarts and Warp Records veterans have become highly regarded for their heart-melting melodies and über-crisp beats. They have remixed and collaborated with many artists, including Björk, Goldfrapp, Grandmaster Flash and The London Sinfonietta. In 2008 they created the soundtrack for the multi-award winning Japanese anime film Tekkon Kinkreet, directed by Michael Arias and composed the sound track for the feature film Heaven's Door. They have recently started exploring collaborations with live instrumentalists, including cellist Zoe Martlew and Javanese musician Ruhayu Supanggah & Southbank Gamelan Players. They are currently completing work on a new album, Scintilli, due for release in 2010.
ROSS ADAMS: Ross Adams is a field recordist, sound artist and creator of The Compass Series. His interest in surround sound, music and walking pervades much of his artistic output. After graduating from the National Film and Television School with a Master of Arts in Post Production Sound, he set up his own creative company, Tin Roof, specialising in location and post-production sound for the moving image, radio, music, and new media. He has worked as sound recordist and sound designer for BBC Radio, and with some of the finest international contemporary musicians such as John Cale and Matthew Herbert.
About The Compass Series:
The Compass Series promotes cultural awareness for a global audience through sound and music. Its overarching remit is to facilitate international collaborations between indigenous communities, musicians, artists and professional practitioners, interleaving oral and musical traditions and ecology with contemporary modes of expression through ambisonics.
LINKS
http://www.compass-series.org
http://www.pikene.no
http://www.plaid.co.uk
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