Just had to tell you about this awesome video on Vimeo, it’s just superior work and deserves being spread around – ENJOY!
Happy In My Misery (remix) from GlennFrench on Vimeo.
Happy in My Misery!
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
10 Questions: An Interview with Naomi Crellin
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Today we chat with Naomi Crellin who sings Alto with the accomplished Australian jazz quartet, The Idea of North. Known as one of best jazz “a capella” vocal ensembles in Australia, they also enjoy serenading you with classical, folk, R&B, soul and gospel. They are on for three days performing five shows at the Higher Ground Theatre in Adelaide so let’s learn more about Naomi and this talented quartet of singers…
1. What inspired you to become a musician?
My parents and many other members of my extended family are professional musicians, although nearly all of them are within the classical genre. I was taught the piano from the age of two or three, and also had a go at oboe, cello and voice, as well as the seemingly compulsory recorder lessons. Despite all of this I was determined NOT to become a musician, as everyone in my family was so sure it would happen. Singing was just a hobby until I was studying classical piano at the Adelaide Conservatorium and hating it, and decided to switch to the jazz vocal degree. The rest, as they say…well, I’m now a full time a cappella singer, which I always thought was an oxymoron.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
This year we’re doing something a little different. Instead of writing a set list and planning a show, we’re letting the audience decide what we sing and when we sing it. They can also ask questions, be volunteers, sing with us…the show is called Up Close And Personal, and we’ve presented it around the country in the last six months but never in Adelaide. It’s often a hoot; people have surprised us greatly with questions and requests we really weren’t expecting! It’s like theatre sports for vocal music. We’re also presenting our Singin’ A Cappella Workshop for people to come along and learn about harmony, blend and vocal technique.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
The last festival we were involved in was the Amazing Voice Festival (scan down to read article) in Seoul in August last year. A promoter there came up with the idea to invite four professional a cappella groups from around the world to come together in South Korea and collaborate to form a kind of super group, as well as presenting each individual group’s material. The four chosen were The Real Group from Sweden, m-pact from the US, Rajaton from Finland and us. All together there were twenty one singers on stage, each with their own microphone! It could have been dangerous, but there were also four sound engineers at the biggest mixing console you’ve ever seen, jumping around and leaning over each other, mixing their own and each other’s groups. I think that may have been the most fun we’ve ever had on stage.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
We once got booed by a man during a performance in Renmark for singing a gospel song. At the end of the song he yelled out “I didn’t come here to go to church!” Needless to say, he wasn’t back for the second half.
Another time, also in South Australia (there must be something in the water down there), we had a concert in the middle of winter in an unheated Penfolds wine barrel room in the Coonawarra. The audience (all twenty seven of them) were in down jackets, woollen hats, UGG boots; you name it, while we were in our usual dresses (girls) and pants/shirts (boys). It would have been less than ten degrees in there, and by the third song our teeth were chattering so fiercely that our lyrics became unintelligible. Our bass singer stayed and told jokes while the other three of us raced back to the ‘dressing room’ (aka, the manager’s office) to grab ANYTHING we could find that would bring us some warmth. Both girls had fairly presentable jackets to wear over our dresses, but our tenor hadn’t brought a stitch of clothing other than what he was wearing. He ended up with one of our pashminas draped dignifiedly around his masculine shoulders, which provided no end of amusement to the frozen audience. The evening was topped off by him forgetting his words, both of us girls giggling helplessly with silent mirth while attempting to continue our backing vocals, and our soprano then falling through a gap in the stage just big enough for one of her high heels. Lucky there were only twenty seven people there to witness that particular catastrophe.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
The best advice: the audience can spot a lack of genuineness a mile off. The worst advice: do more pop music and wear shorter skirts; you’ll make more money that way (this is actually likely to be true, but it would go somewhat against the best advice!)
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
We’re very proud of having spent the last ten years doing a cappella as our full-time job within an industry and culture that doesn’t exactly embrace the arts with the fervour – it supports other things, like sports for example. Most people still think a cappella is an island chain near Stockholm.
We also had our first symphony orchestra performance last year with the TSO; one goal over the next year or two is to further this element of our craft while still keeping the pure a cappella-ness alive and well.
We have a couple of albums in the pipeline too, which will fulfill our long term wish to record with our soprano, Sally Cameron, who has been in the group for two years but is not yet on an album, poor lass! She joined just in time to launch the group’s live CD and DVD that featured our previous soprano, Trish Delaney-Brown, who left to have a baby in 2007, and fans have been requesting a ‘Sally’ CD for the last two years. We’re about to grant them their wish.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
I’ve always wanted to meet (and sing with) Take 6. Do I have to only choose three of them?! Maybe they could do shifts…I’d probably make a kangaroo dish, just to freak them out.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
One of my favourite authors is Michelle Magorian. She wrote ‘Goodnight, Mister Tom’, and a number of others that are now so well thumbed on my bookshelf that I’m starting to find pieces of cover on the floor! I’m also a Bill Bryson fan and have read ‘A Short History Of Nearly Everything’ three times. I can still only remember about 5% of it though.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
1. I was a huge fan of The Idea Of North before I became a member; so much so that I had their poster on my bedroom wall! I felt like Mark Wahlberg in ‘Rockstar’ when I joined.
2. I have perfect pitch and am known within the group as “The Pitch Nazi”.
3. I am half Manx and half Israeli (a quarter Polish and a quarter Russian before Israel was formed). So I have a Jewish nose and Irish skin. And no tail.
4. I can’t STAND rocket or marzipan.
5. I unfortunately get quite travel sick, which in my chosen profession doesn’t come in very handy, except for the fact that I always score the front seat!
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
Up until this year my answer would have been to rid the White House of “George W”, but that one came true! Now I think I’d put everybody above the poverty line.
10 Questions: An Interview with Robyn Base
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Today we interview the immensely talented Australian artist, Robyn Base whose exhibition, Ice Ice is on at the Adelaide Fringe from the 27th February to the 20th March. Robyn explores the sculptured beauty of ice in the hands of mother nature. So let’s chat with Robin to learn more…
1. Tell us about your work and what impressions will the public take away with them?
The exhibition, ‘Ice, Ice’, consists of paintings influenced by a trip to Antarctica in 2006. I have always been fascinated by icebergs and their sheer beauty. Both dangerous and fragile, icebergs are like vast white mirrors, and appear to reflect society’s changing concerns. These works are part of an exploration into the physicality of their changing shapes as well as the evolution of their identity.
2. Where does your inspiration come from?
Travel has always been a great source of inspiration – I am fascinated with the world and its diversity – people, landscapes, colours, cultures and histories. In more reflective moments, I also find myself returning yet again to view the works of fundamental artists – Velasquez, Manet, Michelangelo, Hopper and Ramsay.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you exhibited your work at and what was it like?
This is my first Fringe Festival, however I participated in Mudfest 07, (the Melbourne University Diversity Festival) with a solo show in the old Creative Arts Building. It was a strange experience and rather oddly satisfying to be exhibiting in the space where I had completed my undergraduate degree (so many) years ago!
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences exhibiting your work?
My funniest AND worst experience was during a quietly restrained mounting of a group exhibition in a refined and monastic space. The hammer slipped from the top of the ladder and clattered noisily on the floor, shattering the contemplative silence. Not wanting to make a fuss, and ignoring a growing discomfort in my fingers, the offending hammer was deftly retrieved in order for work to quickly resume. However, turning back, I found the once pristine walls and floor violently and liberally splattered with crimson. Blood was everywhere, like some brutal massacre or crime scene. Looking down, I realized blood was flowing freely from a deeply split and belatedly throbbing thumb. Work was resumed at a later date.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
Best Advice No 1 : ‘Always try something new’. Best Advice No 2 : ‘You don’t regret the things you do, you regret the things you don’t do’. Best Advice No 3 : ‘Remember the sunscreen’. Within reason, I’ve found them all invaluable words of wisdom.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
I am most proud of my children’s growing sense of their abilities, their individuality and independence. I don’t really set personal goals as such, but I guess I’d like to have the freedom to keep painting/creating as long as I am able.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
An immediate ( and truthfully lazy) thought was to invite any one of Melbourne’s fabulous chefs (of which there are many), for a guaranteed culinary experience. However, if I’m cooking it would be a simple BBQ of marinated lamb, beans & fetta, with roasted pumpkin and garlic & rosemary potatoes. And plenty of good red wine. Guests - Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, and Germaine Greer….stories, insights, concepts, travel tales & anecdotes.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
I love reading so here are just a few of my favourites…‘The Poisonwood Bible’ (Barbara Kingsolver), ‘One Hundred Years Of Solitude’ (G.M.Marquez), ‘Narziss and Goldmund‘ (H. Hesse) ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (J.R.R.Tolkein), ‘The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’ (D. Adams), ‘Cloudstreet’ (T. Winton). ‘Gould’s Book of Fish’ (R. Flanagan). Great stories, involving empathy, fantasy and wit, and crafted by a clever wordsmith will always keep me enthralled.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
I was in a pop/funk band in the 80’s. I wore big shoulder pads and had orange and black hair….. As an adolescent, it was my aim was to read 2 books from every significant author. ( I even kept a list for nearly 20 years)….. I like science fiction movies….I was always drawing when I was young – I’d use up all the biros in the house…I like Australian rules footy (and can become quite vocal at football matches).
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
Perhaps a bit more compassion going around….that would be good.
_________________________
You can check out more of Robyn’s work here.
10 Questions: An Interview with Orsino Nation
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
Today we interview Yasmine Amber and Paul Hilton whose edgy show, Orsino Nation is on for three days at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe. This high-art-pop/electronic folk rock duo creates soundscapes that will transport you to the next dimension. So let’s chat and find out more about Yasmine and Paul…
1. What inspired you to become musicians?
Yas: Last year I spent four months in Sydney with Opera Australia, dancing flamenco in their production of Carmen. I just remember being on stage at the Opera House and being overwhelmed by this mass of voices, the sound was so strong and powerful. I was dancing around, shaking my tambourine, and whilst I had movement and joy in that, I realised that for so long I had had no voice on stage. In that moment I decided that I had to sing.’
That and Tori Amos. That woman is a genius!
Paul: The immense burning need to create. I just always wanted to be a musician. Music is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do, there’s never been any thought for me of ever doing anything else. I love music and there’s always been this drive in me to get as good at it as I can.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
Paul: Our music is largely about not being locked in on performing any specific type of music. The only thing I have as a limiting factor is that it has to be good, I have to love the music. We want to be free to draw from all the different genres that we are inspired by at any given time. Orsino Nation is about immense eclecticism, taking disparate sources and putting them all together. Also, I get bored easily, so having songs change every ten seconds avoids ennui. People should be aware that liking one song is no guarantee that they’ll like the next. There is everything from folk to electronica to thrash.
Yas: Orsino Nation is about creating unique music that pushes the boundaries, music that we want to listen to and that takes listeners on a journey. ‘Psychedelic Odyssey Rock’ I call it. The show will be a string of sonic tales and landscapes that people can get swept up in and carried away by.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
Yas: Adelaide Fringe 2007. I performed a show I wrote with my company Velada Flamenco called Museo del Grito. There are four of us – female flamenco dancers – who form the company and we had wonderful musicians on board, including Paul here, as well as actor and director, Alirio Zavarce. It was basically a dance theatre piece about these four women and how they have become entrapped by the stereotypes they and others have used to define themselves. In the end they break free from that stasis and decide to reconstruct themselves as individuals.
We aimed to create a moody, beautiful show the audience could really immerse themselves in; visually, musically and intellectually. It was great that Adelaide audiences responded so well, were really moved by it and really got involved in interpreting it for themselves. One reviewer described it as ‘a cross between Moulin Rouge, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Kate Bush’s Red Shoes, and a freak show’ which I thought was a great response.
Paul: The last show we did together was Museo which I really loved. It was an overall beautiful package. The music was beautiful, the set was fantastic, the choreography was striking, and the overall mood created was one of an eerie other world, where reality is defined by symbols rather than concrete perceptions.
Also last year I played piano in the Adelaide Fringe show Side by Side by Sondheim. It was really good fun and I got to test out my speed-learning skills on piano.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
Yas: In my experience the funniest and worst moments generally happen side of stage. An interesting performance I did was at minke bar. We were on quite late so, you know, I’d had quite a bit to drink by the time we actually got on stage. I was doing these crazy gypsy turns. I couldn’t hear the beat – which for a dancer is generally death. I think people thought I was a lunatic partaking in some primitive Dionysian ritual, in that ‘when-do-we-start-slaughtering-the-virgins’ kind of way. It was all very wild and exciting but not my finest moment. It’s good to have that element, but you kind of have to be in control of it too for it to be genuinely good art.
Paul: The funniest one was in El Frigo doing a pseudo-haka/percussion piece with pots and pans. There was lots of heavy stomping too that I was required to do and a bee had stung me on the foot literally that day.
I haven’t really had anything that disastrous happen to me on stage. The first half of Sondheim, they hadn’t turned the air-con on during the day so they left it on for the first half of the show and I had sheets of music flying everywhere. All that I had to do was just keep pushing the pages back.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
Paul: ‘In a rugby tackle if you go in really hard it’s more likely that you’ll hurt the other guy than yourself’…which is just wrong. I seemed to get hurt however I went in, and I’ve seen plenty of people getting hurt going in hard. I did follow this advice and I realised that it was 50/50 as to who got hurt…it appeared to be quite random. You still should go in hard, otherwise take up korfball, but the simple motto is ‘play rugby, get injured!’.
And the best advice: ‘Don’t drink broken glass.’ Of course. Who’d be stupid enough to drink broken glass.
Yas: My old flamenco teacher, Liana Vargas, told me once to always keep that part of myself that was abandoned to the music and the dance. I think a lot of people leave that behind as they get older and become more afraid of looking like a jackass, but that has never seemed to worry me. I think I realised quite early on that in doing flamenco almost nobody in the audience knows what you’re supposed to be doing. If you forget the choreography it really doesn’t matter, you can just make it up as you go. The important thing is that you try to be expressing that pure essence of your self through each moment.
The worst advice was probably, ‘You should study law’. Which I did…for five years. I started in a double-degree, a combination of Law and Arts, and gradually replaced the Law subjects for an entire Arts program over that period of time. And then obviously continued on in the Creative Arts field which I am still studying to this day. I’m currently doing my PhD in Creative Writing.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
Yas: The thing that makes me most proud are my two brothers. One makes the best skate videos. The other is a fantastic jeweller, who made me this Orsino Nation necklace I always wear. He made it for me for my birthday and I love it.
Also our song Eirawen, I’m very proud of that. I think it’s very unique; I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything else quite like it.
As for goals: I’d love to still be performing for a long time to come, to be touring and writing our music. Also to be able to play the piano would be my big dream. I’m thinking if I start learning now, maybe in seven years time I’ll be able to use that instrument as another form of artistic expression.
Paul: One of my main dreams is to have an entry in the Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians – I want a Groves entry. And to leave a body of work that people want to keep playing and hearing. And to write good, well-crafted music.
What I’m most proud of is definitely getting my Honours in Classical Piano Performance.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
Yas: Lemmy from Mötorhead, Eddie Izzard, Alain de Botton – he seems lovely. That hardly seems like a dinner party with only three, I probably wouldn’t even bother making burritos for three people. I’ll slip in Emma Thompson and Tori Amos, again, just to round the numbers out a bit.
I’d probably do my curried roast lamb with pilaf and roast veges. And cocktails! And scotch for Lemmy. And I’d want Lars from Metallica there, just so I could hear him say, ‘That roast tore my f**ckin’ head off!.’ As he would be bound to do at some stage during the course of the evening.
Paul: Lemmy… Can you invite dead people? Who’s really hot? Rachel Weisz. Oh yeah, and Patrick Stewart, no question. No, can Rachel Weisz, I think she’d be a pain in the ass, I think she’d bring the tone of the whole evening down. Too serious.
I thought Richard Dawkins, but Lemmy would probably end up punching him out.
Yas: He’d probably end up punching you out.
Paul: He’d probably end up punching everybody out, and I’d still think he’s cool. I’d be, like: ‘I got punched out by Lemmy!’. Mary Carey, I’d invite her. She’s the porn star with big jugs and she ran up against Arnie for Govenor of California. I think she’d actually be a lot of fun and really cool. And I just think her and Lemy in a room together…drunk… with Patrick Stewart… I don’t know I just think it’d be a really fun party. Something spectacular would just have to happen. And I’d do a roast lamb and booze. Oo! Could I invite Dr. Dre as well? Man that’d be a party! And the Swedish Bikini Team! Freddie Mercury, although he’s probably rather pungent by now.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
Yas: I love all of Angela Carter’s work, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman being one of my favourites. She’s bawdy, evocative, fiercely intelligent and a bit of a rebel. I like revolutionary writing that pushes the boundaries. I get bored with what’s been done a million times before. So; Hélène Cixous’ Stigmata essays, Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion, Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle, Umberto Eco’s Six Walks In the Fictional Woods essays…too many to list really.
I’m currently reading Sexual Personae: Art and Decadance from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia and it is brilliant so far – absolutely filled with interesting ideas.
Paul: Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy is really excellent. Lord of the Rings cos I’m a big dork. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, a really good attempt at an explanation of quantum bullshit. Phaic Tan and Molvania, man that stuff is hilarious. Anything by Dr Karl, I saw one of his lecture nights, and he signed my book, calling me his new BFFE! Yay! Lorca’s Poet in New York is the most amazing thing ever put into print. If death metal ever discovers these poems they’ll never bother writing their own lyrics again. My big glossy art books – lots of pictures.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
Paul: I shot JFK, but I wasn’t on the grassy knoll…. I don’t like Shannon Noll. Gnolls are really just the poor man’s troll. The English language makes no sense. I am the Blair Witch.
Yas: My fave song to listen to loud is Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’. I prefer fruit to vegetables. I could live on fruit alone. If I could do any job other than writing and performing I’d be a canoe tour guide. When I get gelati I always choose pistachio, chocolate & lemon, in that order. Unless there’s some nougat/honey/macadamia combo. I have a phobia of sharks and crocodiles. I think a fear of these animals is perfectly rational, but I have to check behind me in swimming pools to make sure there’s not a rapidly gaining set of teeth. And even in bed I sometimes am not comfortable dangling a foot over the side, which I think crosses it over into the ridiculous.
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
Paul: I’d make people more intelligent. Being a total moron would be punishable by death, or German cooking (I’d take death). Using the statement “I’m just stating my opinion” to justify some completely idiotic and unreasonable argument in the face of obvious and irrefutable concrete evidence to the contrary would be grounds for a punch in the head, or in the case of women, being forced to run drinks for a country football club.
Yas: Abolish religion. Or override physical limitations and enable teleportation.
10 Questions: An Interview with Li Tsuei Sun
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Today we are interviewing Li Tsuei Sun, the founder of Shang Orientheatre who is performing Bardo Todel at The Garage International @ NACC venue at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe. Bardo Todel is more commonly known by its western title, “The Tibetan Book of the Dead” and explores the intermediate state of consciousness at death. This looks to be a most fascinating show so let’s chat with Li to learn more…
1. What inspired you to become a dancer and performer?
I was my dream!
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
My show “Bardo Todel” is about the art of transformation from our life, which we’ll play in the most acoustic way. One performer is going to interpret the most mystical path after physical death according to the concept of Tibetan Buddhism. This is achieved with long term intense training of Chinese Tai Chi Chun, Chi Gong and the occidental theatrical background to create a style of movement with profound silence. Three musicians will play together with Chinese and Tibetan musical instruments.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
The Avignon Fringe Festival. We had a very successful show, received TWO 5 STARS credits from festival journals, and had great feedback from the audiences.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
The first clown show I played at the theatre school in Paris in 1986 made audiences laugh a lot, and me myself. The worst show happened in Taipei, when I had to play for all the journalists during a press conference on 1994.
5. What’s your greatest achievements to-date? And, what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
To be able to understand oriental and occidental concepts in performing art and work more profoundly in this area – this has become my greatest achievement. I’d like to continue all the theatrical work I’ve developed and find more opportunity to show our work.
6. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
My best advise is : “do your own thing”. And the worst: “go to teach in the school.”
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what would you prepare for them to eat?
Dalai Lama, Hu Jing Tauo and Steven Chou are the guests I’d invite to dinner. Maybe they will help each other to understand something that they didn’t want to know by eating together.
I’ll prepare Chinese Turnip soup, steamed vegetarian soybean cod fish in ginger source, fried spinach, tomato and pine seeds, Chinese cabbage with wild mushroom, tofu in hot chilli, rice prepared with linseed oil , basil and peanuts, there will be Chinese water chestnuts, red dates and lotus seeds boiled in sugarcane juice as desert.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
“Red Chamber’s Dream” I’ve read more than 4 times and is still inspiring, it is so beautiful.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
I eat papaya, orange and banana with their skins together. I sleep on a wooden pillow. I do not wear soaks. I collect shoes. I do not use toothpaste to brush my teeth.
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
The education for children.
Happy in My Misery!
Thursday, March 5th, 200910 Questions: An Interview with Naomi Crellin
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009Today we chat with Naomi Crellin who sings Alto with the accomplished Australian jazz quartet, The Idea of North. Known as one of best jazz “a capella” vocal ensembles in Australia, they also enjoy serenading you with classical, folk, R&B, soul and gospel. They are on for three days performing five shows at the Higher Ground Theatre in Adelaide so let’s learn more about Naomi and this talented quartet of singers…
1. What inspired you to become a musician?
My parents and many other members of my extended family are professional musicians, although nearly all of them are within the classical genre. I was taught the piano from the age of two or three, and also had a go at oboe, cello and voice, as well as the seemingly compulsory recorder lessons. Despite all of this I was determined NOT to become a musician, as everyone in my family was so sure it would happen. Singing was just a hobby until I was studying classical piano at the Adelaide Conservatorium and hating it, and decided to switch to the jazz vocal degree. The rest, as they say…well, I’m now a full time a cappella singer, which I always thought was an oxymoron.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
This year we’re doing something a little different. Instead of writing a set list and planning a show, we’re letting the audience decide what we sing and when we sing it. They can also ask questions, be volunteers, sing with us…the show is called Up Close And Personal, and we’ve presented it around the country in the last six months but never in Adelaide. It’s often a hoot; people have surprised us greatly with questions and requests we really weren’t expecting! It’s like theatre sports for vocal music. We’re also presenting our Singin’ A Cappella Workshop for people to come along and learn about harmony, blend and vocal technique.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
The last festival we were involved in was the Amazing Voice Festival (scan down to read article) in Seoul in August last year. A promoter there came up with the idea to invite four professional a cappella groups from around the world to come together in South Korea and collaborate to form a kind of super group, as well as presenting each individual group’s material. The four chosen were The Real Group from Sweden, m-pact from the US, Rajaton from Finland and us. All together there were twenty one singers on stage, each with their own microphone! It could have been dangerous, but there were also four sound engineers at the biggest mixing console you’ve ever seen, jumping around and leaning over each other, mixing their own and each other’s groups. I think that may have been the most fun we’ve ever had on stage.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
We once got booed by a man during a performance in Renmark for singing a gospel song. At the end of the song he yelled out “I didn’t come here to go to church!” Needless to say, he wasn’t back for the second half.
Another time, also in South Australia (there must be something in the water down there), we had a concert in the middle of winter in an unheated Penfolds wine barrel room in the Coonawarra. The audience (all twenty seven of them) were in down jackets, woollen hats, UGG boots; you name it, while we were in our usual dresses (girls) and pants/shirts (boys). It would have been less than ten degrees in there, and by the third song our teeth were chattering so fiercely that our lyrics became unintelligible. Our bass singer stayed and told jokes while the other three of us raced back to the ‘dressing room’ (aka, the manager’s office) to grab ANYTHING we could find that would bring us some warmth. Both girls had fairly presentable jackets to wear over our dresses, but our tenor hadn’t brought a stitch of clothing other than what he was wearing. He ended up with one of our pashminas draped dignifiedly around his masculine shoulders, which provided no end of amusement to the frozen audience. The evening was topped off by him forgetting his words, both of us girls giggling helplessly with silent mirth while attempting to continue our backing vocals, and our soprano then falling through a gap in the stage just big enough for one of her high heels. Lucky there were only twenty seven people there to witness that particular catastrophe.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
The best advice: the audience can spot a lack of genuineness a mile off. The worst advice: do more pop music and wear shorter skirts; you’ll make more money that way (this is actually likely to be true, but it would go somewhat against the best advice!)
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
We’re very proud of having spent the last ten years doing a cappella as our full-time job within an industry and culture that doesn’t exactly embrace the arts with the fervour – it supports other things, like sports for example. Most people still think a cappella is an island chain near Stockholm.
We also had our first symphony orchestra performance last year with the TSO; one goal over the next year or two is to further this element of our craft while still keeping the pure a cappella-ness alive and well.
We have a couple of albums in the pipeline too, which will fulfill our long term wish to record with our soprano, Sally Cameron, who has been in the group for two years but is not yet on an album, poor lass! She joined just in time to launch the group’s live CD and DVD that featured our previous soprano, Trish Delaney-Brown, who left to have a baby in 2007, and fans have been requesting a ‘Sally’ CD for the last two years. We’re about to grant them their wish.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
I’ve always wanted to meet (and sing with) Take 6. Do I have to only choose three of them?! Maybe they could do shifts…I’d probably make a kangaroo dish, just to freak them out.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
One of my favourite authors is Michelle Magorian. She wrote ‘Goodnight, Mister Tom’, and a number of others that are now so well thumbed on my bookshelf that I’m starting to find pieces of cover on the floor! I’m also a Bill Bryson fan and have read ‘A Short History Of Nearly Everything’ three times. I can still only remember about 5% of it though.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
1. I was a huge fan of The Idea Of North before I became a member; so much so that I had their poster on my bedroom wall! I felt like Mark Wahlberg in ‘Rockstar’ when I joined.
2. I have perfect pitch and am known within the group as “The Pitch Nazi”.
3. I am half Manx and half Israeli (a quarter Polish and a quarter Russian before Israel was formed). So I have a Jewish nose and Irish skin. And no tail.
4. I can’t STAND rocket or marzipan.
5. I unfortunately get quite travel sick, which in my chosen profession doesn’t come in very handy, except for the fact that I always score the front seat!
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
Up until this year my answer would have been to rid the White House of “George W”, but that one came true! Now I think I’d put everybody above the poverty line.
10 Questions: An Interview with Robyn Base
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009Today we interview the immensely talented Australian artist, Robyn Base whose exhibition, Ice Ice is on at the Adelaide Fringe from the 27th February to the 20th March. Robyn explores the sculptured beauty of ice in the hands of mother nature. So let’s chat with Robin to learn more…
1. Tell us about your work and what impressions will the public take away with them?
The exhibition, ‘Ice, Ice’, consists of paintings influenced by a trip to Antarctica in 2006. I have always been fascinated by icebergs and their sheer beauty. Both dangerous and fragile, icebergs are like vast white mirrors, and appear to reflect society’s changing concerns. These works are part of an exploration into the physicality of their changing shapes as well as the evolution of their identity.
2. Where does your inspiration come from?
Travel has always been a great source of inspiration – I am fascinated with the world and its diversity – people, landscapes, colours, cultures and histories. In more reflective moments, I also find myself returning yet again to view the works of fundamental artists – Velasquez, Manet, Michelangelo, Hopper and Ramsay.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you exhibited your work at and what was it like?
This is my first Fringe Festival, however I participated in Mudfest 07, (the Melbourne University Diversity Festival) with a solo show in the old Creative Arts Building. It was a strange experience and rather oddly satisfying to be exhibiting in the space where I had completed my undergraduate degree (so many) years ago!
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences exhibiting your work?
My funniest AND worst experience was during a quietly restrained mounting of a group exhibition in a refined and monastic space. The hammer slipped from the top of the ladder and clattered noisily on the floor, shattering the contemplative silence. Not wanting to make a fuss, and ignoring a growing discomfort in my fingers, the offending hammer was deftly retrieved in order for work to quickly resume. However, turning back, I found the once pristine walls and floor violently and liberally splattered with crimson. Blood was everywhere, like some brutal massacre or crime scene. Looking down, I realized blood was flowing freely from a deeply split and belatedly throbbing thumb. Work was resumed at a later date.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
Best Advice No 1 : ‘Always try something new’. Best Advice No 2 : ‘You don’t regret the things you do, you regret the things you don’t do’. Best Advice No 3 : ‘Remember the sunscreen’. Within reason, I’ve found them all invaluable words of wisdom.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
I am most proud of my children’s growing sense of their abilities, their individuality and independence. I don’t really set personal goals as such, but I guess I’d like to have the freedom to keep painting/creating as long as I am able.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
An immediate ( and truthfully lazy) thought was to invite any one of Melbourne’s fabulous chefs (of which there are many), for a guaranteed culinary experience. However, if I’m cooking it would be a simple BBQ of marinated lamb, beans & fetta, with roasted pumpkin and garlic & rosemary potatoes. And plenty of good red wine. Guests - Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, and Germaine Greer….stories, insights, concepts, travel tales & anecdotes.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
I love reading so here are just a few of my favourites…‘The Poisonwood Bible’ (Barbara Kingsolver), ‘One Hundred Years Of Solitude’ (G.M.Marquez), ‘Narziss and Goldmund‘ (H. Hesse) ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (J.R.R.Tolkein), ‘The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’ (D. Adams), ‘Cloudstreet’ (T. Winton). ‘Gould’s Book of Fish’ (R. Flanagan). Great stories, involving empathy, fantasy and wit, and crafted by a clever wordsmith will always keep me enthralled.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
I was in a pop/funk band in the 80’s. I wore big shoulder pads and had orange and black hair….. As an adolescent, it was my aim was to read 2 books from every significant author. ( I even kept a list for nearly 20 years)….. I like science fiction movies….I was always drawing when I was young – I’d use up all the biros in the house…I like Australian rules footy (and can become quite vocal at football matches).
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
Perhaps a bit more compassion going around….that would be good.
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You can check out more of Robyn’s work here.
10 Questions: An Interview with Orsino Nation
Monday, March 2nd, 2009Today we interview Yasmine Amber and Paul Hilton whose edgy show, Orsino Nation is on for three days at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe. This high-art-pop/electronic folk rock duo creates soundscapes that will transport you to the next dimension. So let’s chat and find out more about Yasmine and Paul…
1. What inspired you to become musicians?
Yas: Last year I spent four months in Sydney with Opera Australia, dancing flamenco in their production of Carmen. I just remember being on stage at the Opera House and being overwhelmed by this mass of voices, the sound was so strong and powerful. I was dancing around, shaking my tambourine, and whilst I had movement and joy in that, I realised that for so long I had had no voice on stage. In that moment I decided that I had to sing.’
That and Tori Amos. That woman is a genius!
Paul: The immense burning need to create. I just always wanted to be a musician. Music is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do, there’s never been any thought for me of ever doing anything else. I love music and there’s always been this drive in me to get as good at it as I can.
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
Paul: Our music is largely about not being locked in on performing any specific type of music. The only thing I have as a limiting factor is that it has to be good, I have to love the music. We want to be free to draw from all the different genres that we are inspired by at any given time. Orsino Nation is about immense eclecticism, taking disparate sources and putting them all together. Also, I get bored easily, so having songs change every ten seconds avoids ennui. People should be aware that liking one song is no guarantee that they’ll like the next. There is everything from folk to electronica to thrash.
Yas: Orsino Nation is about creating unique music that pushes the boundaries, music that we want to listen to and that takes listeners on a journey. ‘Psychedelic Odyssey Rock’ I call it. The show will be a string of sonic tales and landscapes that people can get swept up in and carried away by.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
Yas: Adelaide Fringe 2007. I performed a show I wrote with my company Velada Flamenco called Museo del Grito. There are four of us – female flamenco dancers – who form the company and we had wonderful musicians on board, including Paul here, as well as actor and director, Alirio Zavarce. It was basically a dance theatre piece about these four women and how they have become entrapped by the stereotypes they and others have used to define themselves. In the end they break free from that stasis and decide to reconstruct themselves as individuals.
We aimed to create a moody, beautiful show the audience could really immerse themselves in; visually, musically and intellectually. It was great that Adelaide audiences responded so well, were really moved by it and really got involved in interpreting it for themselves. One reviewer described it as ‘a cross between Moulin Rouge, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Kate Bush’s Red Shoes, and a freak show’ which I thought was a great response.
Paul: The last show we did together was Museo which I really loved. It was an overall beautiful package. The music was beautiful, the set was fantastic, the choreography was striking, and the overall mood created was one of an eerie other world, where reality is defined by symbols rather than concrete perceptions.
Also last year I played piano in the Adelaide Fringe show Side by Side by Sondheim. It was really good fun and I got to test out my speed-learning skills on piano.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
Yas: In my experience the funniest and worst moments generally happen side of stage. An interesting performance I did was at minke bar. We were on quite late so, you know, I’d had quite a bit to drink by the time we actually got on stage. I was doing these crazy gypsy turns. I couldn’t hear the beat – which for a dancer is generally death. I think people thought I was a lunatic partaking in some primitive Dionysian ritual, in that ‘when-do-we-start-slaughtering-the-virgins’ kind of way. It was all very wild and exciting but not my finest moment. It’s good to have that element, but you kind of have to be in control of it too for it to be genuinely good art.
Paul: The funniest one was in El Frigo doing a pseudo-haka/percussion piece with pots and pans. There was lots of heavy stomping too that I was required to do and a bee had stung me on the foot literally that day.
I haven’t really had anything that disastrous happen to me on stage. The first half of Sondheim, they hadn’t turned the air-con on during the day so they left it on for the first half of the show and I had sheets of music flying everywhere. All that I had to do was just keep pushing the pages back.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
Paul: ‘In a rugby tackle if you go in really hard it’s more likely that you’ll hurt the other guy than yourself’…which is just wrong. I seemed to get hurt however I went in, and I’ve seen plenty of people getting hurt going in hard. I did follow this advice and I realised that it was 50/50 as to who got hurt…it appeared to be quite random. You still should go in hard, otherwise take up korfball, but the simple motto is ‘play rugby, get injured!’.
And the best advice: ‘Don’t drink broken glass.’ Of course. Who’d be stupid enough to drink broken glass.
Yas: My old flamenco teacher, Liana Vargas, told me once to always keep that part of myself that was abandoned to the music and the dance. I think a lot of people leave that behind as they get older and become more afraid of looking like a jackass, but that has never seemed to worry me. I think I realised quite early on that in doing flamenco almost nobody in the audience knows what you’re supposed to be doing. If you forget the choreography it really doesn’t matter, you can just make it up as you go. The important thing is that you try to be expressing that pure essence of your self through each moment.
The worst advice was probably, ‘You should study law’. Which I did…for five years. I started in a double-degree, a combination of Law and Arts, and gradually replaced the Law subjects for an entire Arts program over that period of time. And then obviously continued on in the Creative Arts field which I am still studying to this day. I’m currently doing my PhD in Creative Writing.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
Yas: The thing that makes me most proud are my two brothers. One makes the best skate videos. The other is a fantastic jeweller, who made me this Orsino Nation necklace I always wear. He made it for me for my birthday and I love it.
Also our song Eirawen, I’m very proud of that. I think it’s very unique; I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything else quite like it.
As for goals: I’d love to still be performing for a long time to come, to be touring and writing our music. Also to be able to play the piano would be my big dream. I’m thinking if I start learning now, maybe in seven years time I’ll be able to use that instrument as another form of artistic expression.
Paul: One of my main dreams is to have an entry in the Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians – I want a Groves entry. And to leave a body of work that people want to keep playing and hearing. And to write good, well-crafted music.
What I’m most proud of is definitely getting my Honours in Classical Piano Performance.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
Yas: Lemmy from Mötorhead, Eddie Izzard, Alain de Botton – he seems lovely. That hardly seems like a dinner party with only three, I probably wouldn’t even bother making burritos for three people. I’ll slip in Emma Thompson and Tori Amos, again, just to round the numbers out a bit.
I’d probably do my curried roast lamb with pilaf and roast veges. And cocktails! And scotch for Lemmy. And I’d want Lars from Metallica there, just so I could hear him say, ‘That roast tore my f**ckin’ head off!.’ As he would be bound to do at some stage during the course of the evening.
Paul: Lemmy… Can you invite dead people? Who’s really hot? Rachel Weisz. Oh yeah, and Patrick Stewart, no question. No, can Rachel Weisz, I think she’d be a pain in the ass, I think she’d bring the tone of the whole evening down. Too serious.
I thought Richard Dawkins, but Lemmy would probably end up punching him out.
Yas: He’d probably end up punching you out.
Paul: He’d probably end up punching everybody out, and I’d still think he’s cool. I’d be, like: ‘I got punched out by Lemmy!’. Mary Carey, I’d invite her. She’s the porn star with big jugs and she ran up against Arnie for Govenor of California. I think she’d actually be a lot of fun and really cool. And I just think her and Lemy in a room together…drunk… with Patrick Stewart… I don’t know I just think it’d be a really fun party. Something spectacular would just have to happen. And I’d do a roast lamb and booze. Oo! Could I invite Dr. Dre as well? Man that’d be a party! And the Swedish Bikini Team! Freddie Mercury, although he’s probably rather pungent by now.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
Yas: I love all of Angela Carter’s work, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman being one of my favourites. She’s bawdy, evocative, fiercely intelligent and a bit of a rebel. I like revolutionary writing that pushes the boundaries. I get bored with what’s been done a million times before. So; Hélène Cixous’ Stigmata essays, Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion, Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle, Umberto Eco’s Six Walks In the Fictional Woods essays…too many to list really.
I’m currently reading Sexual Personae: Art and Decadance from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia and it is brilliant so far – absolutely filled with interesting ideas.
Paul: Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy is really excellent. Lord of the Rings cos I’m a big dork. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, a really good attempt at an explanation of quantum bullshit. Phaic Tan and Molvania, man that stuff is hilarious. Anything by Dr Karl, I saw one of his lecture nights, and he signed my book, calling me his new BFFE! Yay! Lorca’s Poet in New York is the most amazing thing ever put into print. If death metal ever discovers these poems they’ll never bother writing their own lyrics again. My big glossy art books – lots of pictures.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
Paul: I shot JFK, but I wasn’t on the grassy knoll…. I don’t like Shannon Noll. Gnolls are really just the poor man’s troll. The English language makes no sense. I am the Blair Witch.
Yas: My fave song to listen to loud is Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’. I prefer fruit to vegetables. I could live on fruit alone. If I could do any job other than writing and performing I’d be a canoe tour guide. When I get gelati I always choose pistachio, chocolate & lemon, in that order. Unless there’s some nougat/honey/macadamia combo. I have a phobia of sharks and crocodiles. I think a fear of these animals is perfectly rational, but I have to check behind me in swimming pools to make sure there’s not a rapidly gaining set of teeth. And even in bed I sometimes am not comfortable dangling a foot over the side, which I think crosses it over into the ridiculous.
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
Paul: I’d make people more intelligent. Being a total moron would be punishable by death, or German cooking (I’d take death). Using the statement “I’m just stating my opinion” to justify some completely idiotic and unreasonable argument in the face of obvious and irrefutable concrete evidence to the contrary would be grounds for a punch in the head, or in the case of women, being forced to run drinks for a country football club.
Yas: Abolish religion. Or override physical limitations and enable teleportation.
10 Questions: An Interview with Li Tsuei Sun
Sunday, March 1st, 2009Today we are interviewing Li Tsuei Sun, the founder of Shang Orientheatre who is performing Bardo Todel at The Garage International @ NACC venue at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe. Bardo Todel is more commonly known by its western title, “The Tibetan Book of the Dead” and explores the intermediate state of consciousness at death. This looks to be a most fascinating show so let’s chat with Li to learn more…
1. What inspired you to become a dancer and performer?
I was my dream!
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Adelaide Fringe?
My show “Bardo Todel” is about the art of transformation from our life, which we’ll play in the most acoustic way. One performer is going to interpret the most mystical path after physical death according to the concept of Tibetan Buddhism. This is achieved with long term intense training of Chinese Tai Chi Chun, Chi Gong and the occidental theatrical background to create a style of movement with profound silence. Three musicians will play together with Chinese and Tibetan musical instruments.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
The Avignon Fringe Festival. We had a very successful show, received TWO 5 STARS credits from festival journals, and had great feedback from the audiences.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
The first clown show I played at the theatre school in Paris in 1986 made audiences laugh a lot, and me myself. The worst show happened in Taipei, when I had to play for all the journalists during a press conference on 1994.
5. What’s your greatest achievements to-date? And, what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
To be able to understand oriental and occidental concepts in performing art and work more profoundly in this area – this has become my greatest achievement. I’d like to continue all the theatrical work I’ve developed and find more opportunity to show our work.
6. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
My best advise is : “do your own thing”. And the worst: “go to teach in the school.”
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what would you prepare for them to eat?
Dalai Lama, Hu Jing Tauo and Steven Chou are the guests I’d invite to dinner. Maybe they will help each other to understand something that they didn’t want to know by eating together.
I’ll prepare Chinese Turnip soup, steamed vegetarian soybean cod fish in ginger source, fried spinach, tomato and pine seeds, Chinese cabbage with wild mushroom, tofu in hot chilli, rice prepared with linseed oil , basil and peanuts, there will be Chinese water chestnuts, red dates and lotus seeds boiled in sugarcane juice as desert.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
“Red Chamber’s Dream” I’ve read more than 4 times and is still inspiring, it is so beautiful.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
I eat papaya, orange and banana with their skins together. I sleep on a wooden pillow. I do not wear soaks. I collect shoes. I do not use toothpaste to brush my teeth.
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
The education for children.