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‘TAPAS’
AN UNEXPECTED (AND TASTY) ALBUM FROM
THE AUSTRALIAN BRANDENBURG ORCHESTRA
Released March 5
“What happens when you take 17th century music into a smoky dance hall?” says Paul Dyer artistic director of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. “You get something a little daring, sexy, and delicious. You get Tapas!”
“It’s our 21st, so we thought we’d take the Baroque out for a spin. We took baroque dance beats and love songs, and then we improvised till we found a new sound to stir up new emotions.
“Its old music on old instruments, made new. It’s all those gorgeous Brandenburg flavours in a spicy mix – dueling violins, a haunting lirone, spanish guitar, a divine soprano, bells, castanets, harpsichord, there’s even an old school wind machine. It’s ecstatic and highly intoxicating!”
ABC Classics releases the Tapas CD on 5 March and special Tapas performances will take place in Sydney and Melbourne later this month in a rare live concert performance of a Brandenburg recording.
“Our last disc won our 4th ARIA Award and has received rave reviews internationally, including an Editor’s Choice in the prestigious Gramophone magazine. But Tapas is going to take audiences on a whole new journey.”
“Tapas is also a tribute to the music-making of my parents – Mum, a pianist with a gift for improvisation, and Dad, who played the drums. Their influences of classical, swing, jazz and pop have led us to the rhythms of Tapas.”
“We’ve taken 21 years of historically informed performance practice and thrown it into the 21st century. Ladies and Gentlemen, Tapas is served!”
TAPAS concerts (featuring vocalist Mina Kanaridis)
SYDNEY - City Recital Hall, Angel Place
Wednesday 17 March @ 7pm
BOOKINGS:
City Recital Hall Box Office (02) 8256 2222
Brandenburg Box Office (02) 9328 7581
MELBOURNE - Melbourne Recital Centre
Tuesday 23 & Wednesday 24 March @ 7.30pm
BOOKINGS:
Melbourne Recital Centre (03) 9699 3333
Brandenburg Box Office 1300 782 856
Watch and Listen to John Cale's Keynote Online
On February 15 underground rock royalty and founding member of the Velvet Underground, John Cale, cut the red ribbon for Modular and Sydney Festival's Circa 1979: Signal to Noise with a Keynote speech at the Seymour Centre.
Hipsters rubbed shoulders with electronic pioneers in a packed out York Theatre as Cale showed off a few snaps and described working with the likes of Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Happy Mondays, The Stooges and LCD Soundsystem before capping things off with a mind blowing rendition of "Heart Break Hotel."
If you missed the speech or want to listen/watch it again, ABC's Big Ideas are streaming it online.
January 28, 2010 at 10:23am in circa 1979: signal to noise
Fresh from loping in at #2 and #74 on triple j's Hottest 100, Sydney's ART vs SCIENCE have recently achieved Gold status in the ARIA Charts for their the eponymous debut EP (out through Green/MGM). The Hottest 100 result also effected the re-entry of the EP into the Top 5 on iTunes and back into the ARIA Top 40. It is currently sitting at no. 1 on the physical singles chart.
Released last May, the independently-released 5-track EP contains radio favourites Parlez-Vous Francais?, Hollywood, Flippers and Friend in the Field. Its performance in the charts was no doubt augmented by the three piece's scene-stealing live show, which has seen the band play at countless festivals and sold-out gigs around the country over the past 12 months.
ART vs SCIENCE have again teamed up with producer/engineer Berkfinger and are currently in the studio writing and recording their anticipated debut long-player. The album - to be released independently through Green/MGM, with label services assistance from Parallel Management - is due out in June 2010. Keep an ear out for the first single in April.
TOUR DATES
16 Feb 2010 ENMORE THEATRE supporting GOSSIP, Sydney - onstage 8.35pm
19 Feb 2010 ADELAIDE FRINGE FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT Adelaide
20 Feb 2010 GOOD VIBRATIONS @ PARKLANDS SHOWGROUNDS Gold Coast
21 Feb 2010 GOOD VIBRATIONS @ FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE Melbourne
11 Mar 2010 OFF THE RAILS @ PADDINGTON ALE HOUSE Perth
12 Mar 2010 OFF THE RAILS @ LIVE Adelaide
13 Mar 2010 OFF THE RAILS @ PADDY'S Albury
25 Mar 2010 BACARDI EXPRESS TOUR @ TIVOLI Queensland
26 Mar 2010 BACARDI EXPRESS TOUR @ CLUB COFFS Coffs Harbour
27 Mar 2010 BACARDI EXPRESS TOUR @ NEWCASTLE PANTHERS Newcastle
27 Mar 2010 BACARDI EXPRESS TOUR @ LUNA PARK Sydney
www.myspace.com/artvsscience
www.facebook.com/artvsscience
www.artvsscience.net
SPIRIT of INDIA presents
The Killing of Dushasana
Kathakali Dance Drama 9 (Melb) & 11 (Syd) March 2010The epic and elaborate tale of war and succession, blood and lust - The Killing of Dushasana, reveals all the beauty and brutality of India’s alluring and elaborate history and culture. Catch the enthralling dance-drama for one night only at Sydney’s Seymour Centre on Thursday 11 March (7pm) and Melbourne’s Town Hall Tuesday 9 March (7pm).
Rarely seen outside of Kerela, Southern India’s stunning coastal state; this very special performance tells the story of two families - the Kauravas and the Pandavas, in traditional Kathakali dance style - one of India’s most elaborate and ancient forms of dance.
Performed by the world-renowned Kerala Kalamandalam Dance Company, The Killing of Dushasana is a central episode of the famous Sanskrit epic The Mahabhrata, one of India’s most significant cultural and religious tales. And tells of the great civil war in the kingdom of the Kurus, where modern Delhi now sits. With one hundred thousand verses, the poem is the longest in existence and a cornerstone of Hindu mythology and philosophical thought; the other being The Ramayana.
Brought to Australia by the Nataraj Cultural Centre for the 32nd SPIRIT of INDIA cultural tour, the powerfully artistic dance-drama comes direct from Womadelaide, and comprises 17 dancers, singers, actors, drummers, and make-up artists. Akin to and around as old as Japan’s Kabuki Theatre tradition, Kathakali developed over centuries in Kerala, with elaborate costumes and make up that can take up to four hours to prepare. The performance delivers an artistic impact that needs to be experienced to be fully understood.
The Killing of Dushasana begins with a dice-game - the Pandavas are lured to gamble with their cousins the Kauravas for succession to the throne they are supposed to be sharing. The stakes are high - the Kingdom, and then as a last desperate bid, Draupadi, wife of the five Pandava brothers (married to them all to avoid jealousies), are the ultimate prize. When the game is lost Draupadi is publicly disrobed. Exile for 13 years is punishment for the brothers. But when the Pandavas return the Kauravas refuse to give up a share of the Kingdom.
The centre-piece is the famed Bhagavadgita, containing Lord Krishna’s sermon on selfless action delivered to Arjuna (a Pandava), to urge him to fight when he begins to lose nerve. Considered one of the most important texts in the history of literature and philosophy, it sets out the Indian concept of Dharma, often described as a concise guide to Hindu theology, also considered a practical, self-contained guide to life.
The sermon leads to a great bloody war at Kurukshetra, near Delhi which rages until the Pandava brothers and Lord Krishna are the only contenders left. This is represented in the final scene where the angry Bhima (a Pandava) rips open Dushasana’s body (a Kaurava), drinking his blood.
A phenomenal display of music, culture and dance the performance lasts for two hours, with an interval; and is an Indian feast for the eyes and ears rarely seen at this level of authenticity in Australia. There are two performances at the Womadelaide Festival (6 and 7 March); one at Melbourne’s Town Hall (09 March) and Sydney’s Seymour Centre (11 March) 2010.
KEY INFORMATION:
SYDNEY CONCERT 11 March 2010 7PM
VENUE Seymour Centre, Everest Theatre
PRICE $25-70
BOOKINGS www.seymour.usyd.edu.au
P: 02 9352 7940
MELBOURNE CONCERT 09 March 2010 7PM
VENUE Melbourne Town Hall
PRICE $25-$70
BOOKINGS TICKETMASTER
P: 1300 136 166
The Nataraj Cultural Centre
The Centre, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2010 was set up in 1980 and incorporated as a non profit-making society in 1983. The Centre owes its inspiration to the magnificent India International Centre, New Delhi.
It aims to promote the study and performance of the classical music of India in order to create stronger cultural ties between Australia and New Zealand; and India; and to look after the cultural needs of settlers from South Asia and of other interested Australians and New Zealanders.
The Centre provides facilities for the study of both Hindustani and Carnatic music, by way of short-term courses and workshops by eminent visiting musicians. The Centre’s main arts activity is the SPIRIT of INDIA concerts, which presents India's classical music annually in Australia and New Zealand.
Indian music
Indian music, Hindustani and Carnatac, has been an integral part of the religious and cultural life of India for over two thousand years, with an elaborate musical theory and literature. It is purely melodic – it neither needs nor implies harmony. Unlike Western music, Indian music retains its roots in pure melody and rhythm. Indian classical music is based on the concepts of Raga – the melodic basis of composition and improvisation, and Tala – the rhythmic framework.
The rhythmic texture of this music is highly intricate and ornamented with grace notes. It is lyrical and sensual and aims at creating a definite mood. Since Indian music is not written down, every performance is virtually a new composition, but the musician has to improvise within a well-defined traditional Raga. “Perhaps the most moving and exciting quality of Indian music is the innocence of its rapture. However sophisticated the means… complex the structure... nothing is lost of the child's freshness of wonder.” Yehudi Menuhin
Kerala Kalamandalam
A major centre for learning Indian performing arts, especially those that developed in the southern state of Kerala, Kerala Kalamandalam is situated in the village of Cheruthuruthy in Thrissur district on the banks of the Bharathapuzha. The institution, now a deemed university, was founded in 1930 by poet Vallathol Narayana Menon and Manakkulam Mukunda Raja. Kalamandalam imparts training in classical dance and theatre forms like Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Kudiyattam, Thullal, Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, and Nangiar Koothu, besides the traditional orchestra called Panchavadyam. Training is also given in various percussion instruments like chenda, maddalam and mizhavu.
Kalamandalam follows the gurukula sampradayam, the ancient Indian education system based on residential tutelage. The inception of Kalamandalam gave a second life to three major classical performing arts of Kerala, as Kathakali, Kudiyattam and Mohiniyattam were, by the turn of 20th century, facing the threat of extinction under various regulations of the colonial authorities. It was at this juncture, in 1927, that Vallathol Narayana Menon and Mukunda Raja came forward and formed a society called Kerala Kalamandalam.
They solicited donations from the public and conducted a lottery in order to raise funds for this society. Kerala Kalamandalam was inaugurated in November 1930 at Kunnamkulam, and was later shifted to the village of Cheruthuruthy, just south of Shoranur in 1933.The Maharaja of Cochin donated land and a building. Subsequently, a dance department was started to revive Mohiniyattom.
Kalamandalam was conceived to provide training to its students in the Gurukula Sampradaya, an ancient tradition of residential schooling where students stayed with the teachers, sharing the same atmosphere and learning from them the nuances of the arts. Eminent masters were brought to Kalamandalam.
AUSTRALIAN TOUR : MARCH 2010
New Zealand’s The Black Seeds have been well and truly spreading their unique brand of reggae around the globe in recentyears with numerous European festival tours, and the successful North American release of Solid Ground last year with top U.Slabel Easy Star Records, supported by a twelve-show tour.Catch this energetic eight-piece as they return to Australian shores during their first full Australian tour since 2008, when theyperformed at Golden Plains Festival and a string of other dates. Joining them as support for this tour will be Melbourne’s finestexponents of dub/reggae The Red Eyes (all dates except Byron Bay
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Quite a good deal of out and out fun from hostess with the mostess; I like to call her Dazzle, but really it's Daz Chandler doing her usual wonderful best interviewing a comedian notorious for being difficult to interview.
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TAPAS concerts (featuring vocalist Mina Kanaridis) 
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