provisional
schedule:
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more details will be added as gigs are confirmed
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Sat Sept 20
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fly Sydney-Chicago
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Sun Sept 21
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hire car, drive to University of Western Illinois
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Mon Sept 22
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am: masterclass & workshop; 8pm: concert, University of Western Illinois
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Tues Sept 23
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am: drive to University of Northern Illinois, DeKalb; 7.30pm: concert
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Wed Sept 24
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am: drive to University of Wisconsin, Maddison; 6pm: concert
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Thurs Sept 25
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am: drive to Stephens Point; pm: clarinet masterclass & composers' workshop, University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point
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Fri Sept 26
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am: forum on music & politics, University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point; 8pm: concert
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Sat Sept 27
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drive to University of Southern Illinois
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Sun Sept 28
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Mon Sept 29
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am: forum: music & politics, Univeristy of Southern Illinois; 8pm: concert
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Tues Sept 30
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am: drive to St Louis, then fly to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; pm: concert, Dusquene University, Pittsburgh
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Wed Oct 01
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am: fly to East Lansing, Michigan; 7.30pm: concert, Michigan State University, East Lansing
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Thurs Oct 02
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am: fly to Toronto, Canada; pm: concert, University of Toronto
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Fri Oct 03
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am: flt to Louisville, Kentucky; 8pm: concert, University of Louisville, Kentucky
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Sat Oct 04
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am: fly to Greensboro, North Carolina; 8pm: concert, University of North Carolina
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Sun Oct 05
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Mon Oct 06
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am: fly to Montevello; pm: forum on music & politics, University of Montevello
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Tues Oct 07
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am: clarinet master class clarinet & composer workshop; 8pm: concert, University of Montevello
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Wed Oct 08
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fly to Sydney
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concert repertoire |
lecture/demo topics |
Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios |
pics |
top of page
e-mail Ros |
e-mail Martin |
Ros's home page |
Martin's home page
London review 1 |
London review 2 |
schedule
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TEKEE TOKEE TOMAK
Australian Multi-Media Works
February 6, 2003
St Cyprian's Church, London NW1
reviewed by David Morris in Clarinet & Saxophone, London, Spring 2003
My diary tells me that I had a clarinet lesson on Monday 20th May last year. Strangely, it neglects to mention that on that same day, the people of East Timor gained their independence, dollowing 24 years of Indonesian occupation. This British Music Information Centre-supported concert in St Cyprian's Church was part of a tour by Ros Dunlop and Martin Wesley-Smith (the Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour) to raise awareness of the struggle of East Timor to recover from its recent history of seemingly often brutal oppression.
In another world, the fine golden screen at St Cyprian's provided a vivid backdrop for this multi-media programme. Before it stood a large screen of a different kind flanked by speakers on tall stands, and a modest projection and mixing desk set between the two front rows of the audience.
The evening opened with Gerard Brophy's Iza, a short but vigorous and warming duet for bass clarinets, performed by Natascha Briger and Ros Dunlop. Both players immediately established their proficiency, though throughout the evening it was the legato lines that fared best and sometimes a little of the rhythmic punch was lost to the big acoustic.
Down to business, however, and next was X by Martin Wesley-Smith. This was the first of several of his multi-media works, comprising slides, tape and clarinet. Lest there be any confusion, the slide show was not of the 'Could we have the next one, please Geoff' school, but a compelling sequence of images fading into one another, colours and textures constantly on the move, all under the control of the composer and his Macintosh. The tape merged broadcast sound bites with choral passages and electronic effects, big noise with jaunty instrumental numbers, all synchronised with the visual images. Over the top was Ros Dunlop's live clarinet. "X" refers to the resistance leader Xanana Gusmão, imprisoned in 1999 while the Indonesian military withdrew from East Timor. The images were brutal. So was the music, though the screaming clarinet might have benefited from some amplification to match the volume of the tape and heighten the anguish in the climactic passages. However, in quieter parts, Ros Dunlop's melancholy lines were serene.
Later came Wesley-Smith's short epic Welcome to the Hotel Turismo, in a similar format, but now observing the occupation of East Timor from the viewpoint of the eponymous hotel, still standing after all these years. No winds, just a cello and CD-ROM of sound bites and song, with a catchy refrain to rival anything by Don Henley. Despite the subject, the work had an easy flow and structure and Rachel Scott discharged the simultaneous vocal and amplified cello parts with passion and to great effect.
The item between these two was another worry given Amnesty International's past features on Central America. But the programmers were merciful and Stephen Ingham's Panama turned out to be a take on an old jazz standard, for clarinet, bass clarinet and a CD-ROM that provided a virtual jazz rhythm section to get the audience tapping along, if occasionally on the wrong beat.
The second half started in bright style with Tekee Tokee Tomak for clarinet and CD-ROM, Martin Wesley-Smith's portrayal of post-independence East Timor, full of smiling people and beautiful landscapes. For the next piece, the positive mood grabbed an attractive ideal and the two danced shoulder to shoulder in Dave Smith's snappily-titled Mitchell Principles and Laws on Central Albania, for two clarinets. The Mitchell in question appeared to be Ian, past Clarinet and Saxophone Society Chairman, who had premiered it, but his Principles were not obvious in this alternately angular and glissando-ridden romp. However, Natascha Briger and Ros Dunlop communicated the mood well here.
With Ros Dunlop back on bass clarinet and Martin Wesley-Smith on the CD-ROM, the evening was brought to a close with Merry-Go-Round, his treatment of contemporary Afghanistan. More scenes passed rapidly before us, including children and men having naive fun aboard a small home-made merry-go-round. This, we were told, was an allegory for the repeated invasions suffered by the people of Afghanistan, but it worked most powerfully as a striking reinforcement of common humanity.
In a multi-media show, attention is necessarily shared amongst the components. Music communicates, but to achieve a message as strong and specific as this, the various media components were tightly harnessed in support of the central theme. The clarinet as political blunt instrument. Placing the solo players beside a large bright screen, further from the audience and beyond the mixing console, visually reinforced the supporting nature of their role. However, with occasional balance problems against the tape at the climaxes and a big acoustic to fill, perhaps the clarinet writing didn't always get the attention it deserved. It would certainly have been more interesting to hear the clarinet lines more amplified, and perhaps for the instrumentalists to have been further forward.
Overall, the apolitical works set the human rights issues in perhaps greater relief, and ensured there was plenty of variation in the programme. The subject matter was often hard-hitting and it is unlikely anyone left the church unmoved, though not necessarily for musical reasons. "Tekee Tokee Tomak" apparently means something like "Let's all get together", and it was a refreshing experience to see our instrument used in support of such worldly issues.
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TEKEE TOKEE TOMAK
February 6, 2003
St Cyprian's Church, London NW1
reviewed by Carmel Budiardjo
It was a pleasant surprise to hear that Martin Wesley-Smith was in town and
would be presenting a concert of his music much of which is dedicated to
East Timor.
The name rings bells. The Wesley-Smith family has such a long association
with East Timor. Rob is an old friend, an activist like myself who went the
long haul for East Timor from obscurity in the 1970s to stunning success
and international recognition more than two decades later. But I still had
to find out what his composer brother was all about, and here at last was
the opportunity.
The venue of the concert was a church in north London and the performers
were two clarinetists and a cellist, with Martin busily pressing buttons on
a video machine. An unusual combination, something quite new in artistic
presentation. It was good too to see quite a crowd of East Timorese in the
audience, for this novel experience.
The concert bore the name Tekee, Tokee, Tomak, a Tetum phrase meaning
'Let's all get together'. Yes, indeed!
Martin is a composer of considerable talent and versatility who has hit on
the idea of audio-visual presentation for many of his compositions. And
what could be a more suitable medium for his music than East Timor with so
many visual records of its tragic experience.
Most of the music performed was programme music, telling a story that is
helped by the visual presentation. But I have to say that when I first
heard his composition, Welcome to the Hotel Turismo, some months earlier
without the visual presentation, performed by the first class cellist,
Rachel Scott, I was immediately taken by its shape, its changing moods and
colour. A sombre and serious piece, like his other work, X, celebrating the
outstanding role of the East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao. Tekee, Tokee,
Tomak is a much happier piece, in which one feels the joy and high spirits
of the East Timorese, at last savouring their independence.
Included in the programme was a composition by Dave Smith, called Mitchell's Principles Based on Albanian Laws, a piece full of dance-like melodies. I happened to be sitting next to an Albanian woman who showed her delight at the composition. with themes so familiar to her. The Klezmer-like character of this piece had a particular appeal to me and provided a good balance to the programme.
The clarinetists Ros Dunlop and Natascha Briger performed superbly well and the combination of sound and visuals worked extremely well in helping to give the compositions greater depth and to appeal to a very mixed audience.
The group are to be congratulated for bringing together this event which was both artistically rewarding and a powerful tribute to the courageous people of East Timor.
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from e-mails received after previous tours:
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from Radford, Virginia:
"What an experience! It was interesting and thought-provoking and so well performed. The audience was small, but I think very appreciative and attentive and absorbed in the whole experience. Thanks for arranging such an extraordinary program."
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from the University of Northern Illinois:
"Thanks for the great program here. Several of my students talked to me about the concert very enthusiastically."
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from the University of Santa Clara:
"The performance yesterday was absolutely stunning - powerful and substantial, and beautifully crafted - if I had my way, I would require all of our students to see it since so much echoed essential principles of our University.
"Again on behalf of our faculty staff and students, thank you for reminding us that the performing arts are among the most effective tools we have for the promotion of justice in the world."
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from Bowling Green State University:
"Thanks so much for your visit ... I truly enjoyed your 'provocative' presentation."
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from Cal State:
"had the audience spellbound"
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from composer Jane Brockman, Mon Oct 3 2005:
"Last night was truly memorable - you deliver a high-powered program! Thanks too for the marvellous performance of my piece ... your playing and you are amazing, and Martin's work has a lasting impact ..."
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a satisfied audience member, writing to the School of Music, University of Kentucky, Louisville, USA, Tues Oct 4:
"I want to thank you for having the rare combination of musical perspicacity and intellectual courage to bring Ros Dunlop to Louisville. I have no doubt that you and the School of Music will be called to defend the poignant and explicit political critique that informs her choice of works ... I personally believe that it is always more important that music and its ancillary media be more substantially true to ardent conviction than tethered to superficial conventions of either form or content. Kudos to Ms. Dunlop, you and U of L!"
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from Bruce P. Mahin, composer, Radford, USA, Wed Oct 5 2005:
"Ros did a great concert last night"
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from Nancy May, Encinitas, Wed Oct 5 2005:
"Thanks for your performance the other night. I though it was teriffic. I would have like to have just sat and watched the whole thing but work prevailed. Your playing was really spectactular!"
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from Benjamin Hopkinson, Newcastle, UK, Wed Oct 12 2005:
"Thank you, more than I can say, for coming to Newcastle and for the concert you gave. It was thought-provoking, moving, knowledge-building, heart-rending and beautiful; in other words it was a truly artistic and memorable evening ... The music was fascinating in itself, and your playing was tremendous, but the way you worked the music and images together was really marvellous. The images were so good, too, with such very high quality, beautifully composed photography."
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from Lidia Tindle, Secretary, Tyneside East Timor Solidarity, Newcastle, UK, Thurs Oct 13 2005:
"Music and film images very thought-provoking, including Papua Merdeka, Martin's most recent work ... A special thanks to Ros and Martin for coming to Newcastle, sharing their music and ideas with us"
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from Marc Satterwhite, University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, Tues Nov 1 2005:
"There's still a certain buzz about your concert. I am so glad we were finally able to make this happen, and perhaps we can again sometime."
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concert repertoire |
lecture/demo topics |
Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios |
pics |
top of page
enquiries: e-mail Ros |
e-mail Martin |
Ros's home page
|
Martin's home page
schedule |
London review 1 |
London review 2
**
for concert organisers:
**
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Sept 06 2008
