Sunday evening I went to events at both. First was the International Arts Festival's bell-related trilogy. They had organized cathedrals and other buildings in the CBD to ring their bells in song at 7pm. I was too far from the activity to hear, but others' accounts made it seem no different than the usual chimes.
The Federation Bells are computerized to play songs on their own several times each day, but for the weekend Strange Fruit, a performance group, climbed onto poles and manually played the bells at sunset. As it grew darker, silhouettes of swaying figures against the sunset became lit from a golden glow underneath. Men and women clad in bright red swayed in all directions to ring different bells, even bending almost upside-down to reach the lowest ones.
The first couple songs were similar and a little too slow to remain interesting through the end of the second composition. Drums were brought in for the third, which had a quicker pace and I felt better blended the various pitches into one work.
After the show at Federation Bells, my friends and I headed out for a quick meal and then to Alexandra Gardens for a performance by Transe Expresse. The group wove medieval theater, circus and music to create "Ringing
the Bells." It started by performers running with torches through the audience to platforms spread around the garden. From the platforms, the performers yelled in French accents at the surrounding viewers. After several minutes of this, they would run off to replace a performer on one of the other platforms. The costumes were stunning, yet peculiar, and gave off a creepy medieval aura. Below photo by Xhanatos
All of the performers then rushed to their instruments on the center stage, which was then raised into the air far above the audience. They stood on hoops and small platforms, playing music from the sky as the structure spun like a mobile. During the show, the tent-like structure appeared to bloom, raising and opening the petals that held each of the musicians. All the while, three women did tricks on trapezes and ropes suspended in the center.
My final venture of the evening was a show at Bar Open in Fitzroy. The concept of "Guitar Relay" interested me: fifteen guitars were set up for musicians to use in improvising a song. The idea was that one person would start playing, a second would join in, then a third, and so on. If you initiated this with a group of people who know each other well and have practiced, I imagine it could be good. This was not.
Six or seven men sat on the floor of the bar with guitars resting sideways on their laps. One stood, playing his electric guitar with a violin bow. The others struck one or two chords at a time, letting the reverb carry the sound and fizzle out before playing more. Behind the men was a projection of astral images overlapped by the bar scene being recorded and modified on the spot by a man moving the camcorder from side to side on a tripod. Every few minutes one of the players would start playing a riff that was actually enjoyable, but it never lasted long and the screeching noises would take over. I tried to stay for a while to see if guitarists would change or the music would start sounding like music, but after 40 minutes little had changed besides the room beginning to empty.
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