August was quite a hectic month. Not only did I move house at the end of July, but there were so many creative things going on.
Firstly, The Danger Ensemble's production 'Let Men Tremble', for which I was invited to do some composition and sound design.
It was a fantastic and groundbreaking piece of theatre: an antithesis to its inspiration of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel 'Scarlet Letter', where the show dismantled the suppression of stories and voices of women, queer, and non-binary people.
Doing theatre sound was something I had been wanting to do for a while, and this was a great first foray into that world. It was a real struggle trying to balance personal life, disabled life, and work life, what with the demands of theatre (10 hour days, high demand and short production times). And so I probably won't be entering that land for a while (unless it's just licensing already created music).
(recording mountain dulcimer with e-bow)
Here are a couple of tracks from 'Let Men Tremble'
The first being a little waltz of harp, strings and bass balalaika
And a 25 minute ambient electronic exploration 'Omni'
After that came a huge weekend where I performed at Globe Alley as part of White Night with June Jones & Geryon, and the next day played for 6 hours all up in Fed Square for Blakheart Festival.
Blakheart Festival was an amazing celebration of Blak Talent taking over Federation Square with live music, art, and design on full display. I was playing down in the Atrium with no signage a bit away from the main section.
Playing for six hours is a gruelling process, and one that I had not prepared for correctly. Luckily I got a break in the middle and went to go see a vocal rendition of Julius Eastman's 'Joan Of Arc' for Supersense Festival.
Julius Eastman is one of my favourite composers. He came from a well-off academic background, but ended up dying starving and poor on the streets of New York. He was constantly self sabotaging in a world that struggled to understand his Blackness, or his Queerness. He was brash and in your face, and wrote pieces like 'Evil Nigger' and 'Gay Guerilla', which I suggest you listen to:
What next, I hear you ask?
I'm excited to be performing on a grand piano this coming Friday Sep 6 at Tempo Rubato, Brunswick. It's completely free entry with two sets starting at 7pm.
The set includes 'In A Landscape' by John Cage plus an excerpt of my developmental piece 'Djun Djeranga'.
Facebook event
Tempo Rubato listing
Some more exciting news is that I've been accepted to play at Meredith Music Festival this December! I'll be playing first thing on the Sunday, so will make sure to bring loads of welcoming sonorous tones.
Also working on my next music releases, including a single and upcoming EP all about apocalypse and climate change.
And until next time,
Diimpa
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