during my stay in valporaiso i was hosted by fernando godym and the tsonami collective - thank you all!, stayed with cynthia conrads - thank you cynthi! - and the workshop itself was hosted by the good people of balmaceda cultural centre - a special thanks to paola, plus sympathy as she lost her cat on my last day.
the city is a crazy, tumbledown place - very steep hills and obvious damage from earthquakes and housefires, but also a very welcoming place, with lots of good energy. it was much colder than i imagined it being, but not unbearable.
and the workshop itself went really well. the first day i ran the blindfolded walk and listening exercise, which caused some interesting discussions afterwards - everyone gets something very different from the experience, although always positive.
then fernando had a surprise radio interview for me to attend - thanks!! the presenter, ronald, was super nice though and made me feel very at ease, and had a good number of interesting questions.
thanks also to michel, one of the participants, who was visiting from santiago specifically to participate in the workshop. we had a walk around the city in the afternoon, round the docks and then up and around the hills back to cynthia's place.
the evening of the first workshop was my introduction to the local bars and nightlife - all work and no play, etc... so i got to try pisco, the national tipple of chile, which made for an interesting evening, leading us to end up at 'la mascara', a club that seems to play only music from the 80's from what i remember...
so things went a little more slowly for our second day of the workshop - i gave a demonstration of all the equipment i currently use to record sound, and then we took a walk to an old prison that has been converted into a cultural centre. it was a good place to record small sounds, as it is high in the hills above the city. we spent around an hour exploring the space and then headed back to balmaceda so everyone could play their 'favourite' recording of the day. some very nice sounds were captured by the team!
that afternoon i got to sample another chilean speciality, a dish called chorrillana - perfect for those days when you have been dragged to an 80's nightclub the night before...
the third day of the workshop i introduced the team to 'audacity' - a free composition program that is easy to use. i demonstrated the various editing techniques, some effects, and then let them get to work on thier own pieces. the results were very interesting, in that most of them were referential to the site and it's past.
we spent around an hour setting up the sound system for the concert in the evening and then took a trip over the mountains to a small beach town for a lunch of amazing seafood empanadas and then a nice walk on the beach where we bumped into ronald once again.
back to balmaceda, where i had a nice sized audience for what turned out to be a solo show - i was expecting fernando and a saxophonist to join me. we plunged the room into darkness and then i played a 4 channel piece that i am developing over the year. i also had a surprise up my sleeve - using a violin bow on an old metal pala (like a dustpan with a long handle), i moved around the audience, creating more sound movement and interacting with them and the space more.
i will thank previous collaborators john grzinich and jonathan coleclough, among many others, for leading my work in this direction...
the following day i took the bus with michel back to santiago, where i then met with musician paola lazo - we went for a coffee and chat and then i found that the concert i was to play there started at 6! i dragged all my luggage to the site of 'producta mutante', ervo perez's concert series. the events are run in a large room in a house, and the night was good and varied, with two guys playing droney stuff to begin with, then an improv trio, with me finishing up the night. once again i used a combination of recorded sound and objects, finding some small pieces of terracotta tile in a cup. i started to rattle some around in my hands, and then moved around the room with them - then gave some to audience members, motioning for them to continue to rattle them... i think i gave 6 people handfuls of tiles, all around the house, which sounded really nice and worked well in engaging the audience a little more.
rather than spend the night at ervo's sleeping in a room with two guys from cordoba, i ended up staying at paola's place. this was great as we hadn't had much time to chat and for me to hear her music.
many thanks once again to paola, and to ervo and his housemates for a brief but very nice visit to santiago.
on the monday i flew back to buenos aires to meet up with juan jose calarco for dinner - which ended up being the biggest piece of cow i think i have ever eaten! sorry for the vegetarians reading this, but it was incredible!
and yesterday i spent the day walking around the centro, trying to find replacement boots - my trusty magnums were falling to pieces! - and visit the auditorium that will host 'active crossover: buenos aires' on friday. a good sized space, although it seems i have to play from the stage, which i don't really like doing any more - we'll see what can be done about that... oh, and ended up walking to another city, avellaneda, through a mix-up with directions.
today i will revisit the city airport to reclaim my leatherman that i stupidly left in my backpack when flying to chile and make some preparations for the performance on friday using some sounds i recorded on the roof of the cia, where i'm staying.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Buenos Aires - Cordoba - Jujuy - Buenos Aires - Valparaiso...
ok, i'm going to try and keep this one as brief as possible, although it's been two weeks since the last update i think...
the last update was from buenos aires - i think i was there for one night before heading to cordoba on an overnight bus - possibly the best way to travel if your journey is 12 hours or so! so i actually slept pretty well and was met at the bus station by jorge castro, one of the organisers of the santo noise festival i was there to perform at. i was shown to the hostel i would be staying in (sharing a room with 5 20somethings who were all still in bed when i checked in at 11am!) and then taken to la cupula, the site of the festival. i met the group of yound musicians and artists who are now co-running the festival, going on a beer run with them and generally hanging out. i was also given a walking tour of part of the city by gustavo, which was nice - good to see a place rather than just a venue and lodgings!!
the show itself was good - a photo session (that i hope never sees the light of day...) and then 4 acts played - a guy playing guitar and electronics, juan castrillo and bianca (field recordings and nice visuals), axel pulgar (beats/dark electronica) and me. a really respectful and appreciative audience - it was a pleasure to be part of it!
i did actually manage to sleep in the hostel - i heard one roommate come in and go to bed around 3, but slept through all the others coming in - then had to wake up around 7:30 to go and meet juan jose calarco at the bus station. except he wasn't there. he'd got in early and gone straight to juan's place. i met them there and we spent a couple of days hanging out, listening to great music, planning our trip north.
so on 10th april we head to san salvador de jujuy, where juan's dad has a place we could stay. we spend an evening there and then head further north to yala, where juan's dad has another place we could stay. we tried to explore the termas de reyes - some hot springs nearby, but heavy rain stopped us going to far. that night we discovered the cooker wouldn't work, so had to build a barbecue/fire and cook pizza on it! by the time the pizzas were cooked i think we'd have eaten anything! pizza with a strong taste of woodsmoke and some hardly melted cheese on top is an experience you have to have once in your life!! after a second day of trying ot record around yala and getting rained on again, we decided to head even further north, this time to a hostel run by juan's uncle 'cookie'.
it was very beautiful at 'hosteria rural huasadurazno', which is set back off the main road quite a way, with the mountains rising up behind it, and we had the place to ourselves really. however, trekking up towards the mountains, the sky gets very dark and once again we get rain - this time a heavy downpour that doesn't last very long, although long enough to soak juan jose through once again (get a waterproof jacket!!), making his cold worse...
we explore the nearby village of uquia, which is a strange little ghost town that seems to be run by young children, and also spend a day in humahuaca, visiting the touristy places, the nearby hills (almost getting trapped on top of them), the market, many coffee shops and the hills once again.
on our last day in this most northern part of our journey we try to find a 'windmill' that has been spoken about for a few days. we visit a farm very close to uquia, where we climb the hills nearby once again, make some contact mic recordings, get tempted to record some beehives (me) and am advised not to (by juan and juan jose), and then try and record the animals and the farm's pond... which means entering a field that has all manner of animals, including two bulls and one young cow that has long horns and is apparently a little feisty.
so we are happily recording away, and then realise the farmer and his wife, who accompanied us into the field, have left us there. then the young cow decides to see what we're doing - sniffs around juan jose, who manages to escape the attention of it, meaning it then goes for juan. it actuallt started butting him with it's head, forcing him to climb out of the way up a tree! this sounds funny now, but at the time none of us wanted to mess with the cow, so i tried a couple of times to rescue juan's recording gear that was still on one side of the pond, but every time i went for it, the cow would show interest in me!
well, we managed to find the farmer and he got it to leave juan alone by chasing it off with a big stick - then we resumes our search for the windmill, which turned out to be a non-operational watermill. i had tripped while trying to save juan equipment, so my knee was killing me, juan jose was close to passing out with his sickness, so we decided to call an end to the trip and head back to san salvador, where we spent a night, and then juan jose and i got the bus back to buenos aires - a journey that took 22 hours...
back in buenos aires for 2 nights, getting a tattoo based on a design i had my friend alejandro calderon do for me while i was in residence at campos de gutierrez, and now i am in valparaiso to run listening and field recording workshops for the next three days. which means i now need to sign off and get some sleep!
the last update was from buenos aires - i think i was there for one night before heading to cordoba on an overnight bus - possibly the best way to travel if your journey is 12 hours or so! so i actually slept pretty well and was met at the bus station by jorge castro, one of the organisers of the santo noise festival i was there to perform at. i was shown to the hostel i would be staying in (sharing a room with 5 20somethings who were all still in bed when i checked in at 11am!) and then taken to la cupula, the site of the festival. i met the group of yound musicians and artists who are now co-running the festival, going on a beer run with them and generally hanging out. i was also given a walking tour of part of the city by gustavo, which was nice - good to see a place rather than just a venue and lodgings!!
the show itself was good - a photo session (that i hope never sees the light of day...) and then 4 acts played - a guy playing guitar and electronics, juan castrillo and bianca (field recordings and nice visuals), axel pulgar (beats/dark electronica) and me. a really respectful and appreciative audience - it was a pleasure to be part of it!
i did actually manage to sleep in the hostel - i heard one roommate come in and go to bed around 3, but slept through all the others coming in - then had to wake up around 7:30 to go and meet juan jose calarco at the bus station. except he wasn't there. he'd got in early and gone straight to juan's place. i met them there and we spent a couple of days hanging out, listening to great music, planning our trip north.
so on 10th april we head to san salvador de jujuy, where juan's dad has a place we could stay. we spend an evening there and then head further north to yala, where juan's dad has another place we could stay. we tried to explore the termas de reyes - some hot springs nearby, but heavy rain stopped us going to far. that night we discovered the cooker wouldn't work, so had to build a barbecue/fire and cook pizza on it! by the time the pizzas were cooked i think we'd have eaten anything! pizza with a strong taste of woodsmoke and some hardly melted cheese on top is an experience you have to have once in your life!! after a second day of trying ot record around yala and getting rained on again, we decided to head even further north, this time to a hostel run by juan's uncle 'cookie'.
it was very beautiful at 'hosteria rural huasadurazno', which is set back off the main road quite a way, with the mountains rising up behind it, and we had the place to ourselves really. however, trekking up towards the mountains, the sky gets very dark and once again we get rain - this time a heavy downpour that doesn't last very long, although long enough to soak juan jose through once again (get a waterproof jacket!!), making his cold worse...
we explore the nearby village of uquia, which is a strange little ghost town that seems to be run by young children, and also spend a day in humahuaca, visiting the touristy places, the nearby hills (almost getting trapped on top of them), the market, many coffee shops and the hills once again.
on our last day in this most northern part of our journey we try to find a 'windmill' that has been spoken about for a few days. we visit a farm very close to uquia, where we climb the hills nearby once again, make some contact mic recordings, get tempted to record some beehives (me) and am advised not to (by juan and juan jose), and then try and record the animals and the farm's pond... which means entering a field that has all manner of animals, including two bulls and one young cow that has long horns and is apparently a little feisty.
so we are happily recording away, and then realise the farmer and his wife, who accompanied us into the field, have left us there. then the young cow decides to see what we're doing - sniffs around juan jose, who manages to escape the attention of it, meaning it then goes for juan. it actuallt started butting him with it's head, forcing him to climb out of the way up a tree! this sounds funny now, but at the time none of us wanted to mess with the cow, so i tried a couple of times to rescue juan's recording gear that was still on one side of the pond, but every time i went for it, the cow would show interest in me!
well, we managed to find the farmer and he got it to leave juan alone by chasing it off with a big stick - then we resumes our search for the windmill, which turned out to be a non-operational watermill. i had tripped while trying to save juan equipment, so my knee was killing me, juan jose was close to passing out with his sickness, so we decided to call an end to the trip and head back to san salvador, where we spent a night, and then juan jose and i got the bus back to buenos aires - a journey that took 22 hours...
back in buenos aires for 2 nights, getting a tattoo based on a design i had my friend alejandro calderon do for me while i was in residence at campos de gutierrez, and now i am in valparaiso to run listening and field recording workshops for the next three days. which means i now need to sign off and get some sleep!
Friday, 6 April 2012
Medellin - Cartagena - Buenos Aires
this post will be a little brief as i have around 30 minutes before i am taken to the bus station for yet another overnight bus trip - this time to cordoba...
the last few days in colombia were relatively uneventful really. the presentation went very well, although the audience was small. sound enthusiasts miguel isaza and his amigo alejo were present, as was felipe rodriguez whom i met at matik matik in bogota.
actually my spanish painter friend and i got a little worse for wear on the friday night (24th) and didn't end up back at the residency house until around 7am... ouch. saturday was spent just taking it easy as you can imagine - i think i continued to work on my website when i eventually woke up.
sunday mi amiga juliana collected me from campos de gutierrez and took me, along with her sister and friend, to an old family house her grandmother currently lives in which was around an hour's drive away from medellin. the house was absolutely lovely, as was the scenery, after lunch, juliana and i climbed the nearby hills to look out over the valley - breathtaking!
i spent the next few days trying to get a tattoo of a rose design alejandro has done for me, but the only tattooist who came recommended was busy until 9th april... so now i have to find a recommended tattooist here in buenos aires... if anyone reading this has any friends who have been tattooed in argentina and are happy with the results, please let me know!
i then took a trip to cartagena, on the invitation of juliana, who was working there for a few days, doing the make-up for a bikini shoot - i did offer to go earlier and help out but that never happened unfortunately... so we spent a couple of days lounging around in the very hot and humid city, the very hot (and for me dangerous as i got sunburned) beach and the rooftop pool of the building her uncle, juan, lives in.
so because of the sunburn, i did not go out in the sun too much after that but did enjoy the company of juliana and her family, an amazing beach resort i think called tierra bomba and generally just relaxing.
then on my return we ran around collecting my various bags of clothes and equipment, and then as i was checking in online for my flight to buenos aires i found i had inadvertentlybooked for may, not april! so i spent another day and a half in medellin, catching up with admin and again generally relaxing. and managed to rearrange the flight for a more acceptable time of day than 7am, for no extra charge, although it did mean three short flights through the night, so only 2 hours sleep before getting to buenos aires, where i thought i was going to be beaten up by everyone i met just for being british!! this hasn't happened of course, and is not the case - everyone is super friendly here and the city feels like one of the safest i have visited in south america!
i was met by alan courtis, who took me to the residency house i'm staying in while in buenos aires (centro de investigaciones artistas - or cia) and then we wandered around for me to get cash, then for us to get some lunch. i then had to sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon as it had all caught up with me. at 8pm alan, alma laprida and juan jose calarco came to cia and we chatted music, etc. then went for peruvian food, which was fantastic, then to a kind of cool bar with really awful music, followed by a terrible bar with slightly less awful music. it was fun though!
so now i prepare for my overnight trip to a festival where the three artists above are not going now because of various issues, but i go to because i feel a commitment to my agreement to go. a shame as juan jose and i were supposed to perform as a duo and i was really looking forward to that. however i agree with his reasons for not going.
from cordoba i will however be travelling with juan jose to jujuy, which looks stunning and should be a fantastic place to record.
ha ha! not so short after all... ok, more in a week and a half!
the last few days in colombia were relatively uneventful really. the presentation went very well, although the audience was small. sound enthusiasts miguel isaza and his amigo alejo were present, as was felipe rodriguez whom i met at matik matik in bogota.
actually my spanish painter friend and i got a little worse for wear on the friday night (24th) and didn't end up back at the residency house until around 7am... ouch. saturday was spent just taking it easy as you can imagine - i think i continued to work on my website when i eventually woke up.
sunday mi amiga juliana collected me from campos de gutierrez and took me, along with her sister and friend, to an old family house her grandmother currently lives in which was around an hour's drive away from medellin. the house was absolutely lovely, as was the scenery, after lunch, juliana and i climbed the nearby hills to look out over the valley - breathtaking!
i spent the next few days trying to get a tattoo of a rose design alejandro has done for me, but the only tattooist who came recommended was busy until 9th april... so now i have to find a recommended tattooist here in buenos aires... if anyone reading this has any friends who have been tattooed in argentina and are happy with the results, please let me know!
i then took a trip to cartagena, on the invitation of juliana, who was working there for a few days, doing the make-up for a bikini shoot - i did offer to go earlier and help out but that never happened unfortunately... so we spent a couple of days lounging around in the very hot and humid city, the very hot (and for me dangerous as i got sunburned) beach and the rooftop pool of the building her uncle, juan, lives in.
so because of the sunburn, i did not go out in the sun too much after that but did enjoy the company of juliana and her family, an amazing beach resort i think called tierra bomba and generally just relaxing.
then on my return we ran around collecting my various bags of clothes and equipment, and then as i was checking in online for my flight to buenos aires i found i had inadvertentlybooked for may, not april! so i spent another day and a half in medellin, catching up with admin and again generally relaxing. and managed to rearrange the flight for a more acceptable time of day than 7am, for no extra charge, although it did mean three short flights through the night, so only 2 hours sleep before getting to buenos aires, where i thought i was going to be beaten up by everyone i met just for being british!! this hasn't happened of course, and is not the case - everyone is super friendly here and the city feels like one of the safest i have visited in south america!
i was met by alan courtis, who took me to the residency house i'm staying in while in buenos aires (centro de investigaciones artistas - or cia) and then we wandered around for me to get cash, then for us to get some lunch. i then had to sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon as it had all caught up with me. at 8pm alan, alma laprida and juan jose calarco came to cia and we chatted music, etc. then went for peruvian food, which was fantastic, then to a kind of cool bar with really awful music, followed by a terrible bar with slightly less awful music. it was fun though!
so now i prepare for my overnight trip to a festival where the three artists above are not going now because of various issues, but i go to because i feel a commitment to my agreement to go. a shame as juan jose and i were supposed to perform as a duo and i was really looking forward to that. however i agree with his reasons for not going.
from cordoba i will however be travelling with juan jose to jujuy, which looks stunning and should be a fantastic place to record.
ha ha! not so short after all... ok, more in a week and a half!
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