The Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour
presented by Ros Dunlop & Martin Wesley-Smith USA, Europe, Lithuania, Sept-Oct 2005 |
contents:
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In March 2002, Australian clarinettist Ros Dunlop and composer Martin Wesley-Smith were invited to present a concert at the Northern Territory University in Darwin. Being so close to East Timor, a tiny half-island virtually destroyed by departing Indonesian troops in September 1999, they decided to go there to present two of Martin's audio-visual pieces about the country and the plight of its people. With Martin's brother, Darwin activist Rob Wesley-Smith, they presented six concerts, met many local people, and saw for themselves not only the devastation of the land but also the generosity and spirit, despite incredible adversity, of the people. In July, after East Timor had become independent, they went back, travelling further afield and presenting more concerts.
In 2003 they made two international tours, presenting multimedia pieces about East Timor to a wide variety of audiences. Many of the concerts on the current tour feature the two works - X and Welcome to the Hotel Turismo - that they presented in East Timor, plus a third - Tekee Tokee Tomak - composed since then, which uses some of the images captured on those visits. Martin's piece about Afghanistan - Merry-Go-Round - was also played there, attracting much interest (here was a situation that most people knew little about but which they could see was similar, in many ways, to their own). Weapons of Mass Distortion, Martin's 2003 piece about official propaganda, doublespeak, lies etc, especially those that led to the invasion of Iraq, is - unfortunately - even more relevant and urgent now. His latest piece - Papua Merdeka - looks at another people under the heel of the Indonesian army boot.
East Timor has been a cause celèbre for many Australian activists since 1975, when Indonesia invaded with tacit support from America, Australia and Great Britain. Most people saw the issue as uncontestable: Indonesia had no right to be there. What's more, its army, the TNI, treated the people with disdain, raping and killing with impunity. Now, after independence, it's a very different struggle - against poverty, corruption, environmental destruction, local ignorance of democratic processes, the machinations of powerful neighbours, and so on - as East Timor attempts to build a new society.
"Tekee tokee tomak" means, in Tetum, something like "Let's all get together", which we believe the East Timorese need to do, not only with each other but with people in other countries who are eager to help. After the initial enthusiasm that accompanied East Timor's independence celebrations, on May 20 last year, harsh reality, including recent riots in Dili, has set in. There's a tough road ahead, but if they employ the resilience they showed during the twenty-four-year Indonesian occupation, and if they receive the help they have been promised, success will be theirs.
For more information, see http://www.greatwhitenoise.net/rosdunlop/
Martin studied for a DPhil at the University of York, under Richard Orton, between 1971 and 1974. It was here that his interest in audio-visual composition started to materialise. Back in Australia, as Lecturer in Electronic Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, he became a pioneer of this art form, firstly with multiple computer-controlled slide projectors and then with computer-fed LCD projectors. In 1986, he established the first computer music studio in the People's Republic of China (at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing). In 1994 and 1995 he taught at the University of Hong Kong. He now lives in a rainforest south of Sydney as a full-time composer, duck keeper and, increasingly, musical activist.
For more information, see http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~mwsmith
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for concert organisers:
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technical requirements
download Dunlop photo [224k]
download Wesley-Smith photos: 1 [84k]; 2 [more recent, 128K]
more photos available from our main page
download the following photos (click on thumbnail for larger version):
the above three photographs
Dunlop's home phone number: +61 2 9810 2253; mobile (in Australia): +61 0418 80 2757
site updated Aug 30 2005
introduction
bios (Dunlop & Wesley-Smith)
index to composer bios and notes on pieces
technical requirements, photographs
contact details
(feel free to edit where appropriate)
introduction
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introduction |
main bios |
index to composer bios and notes on pieces |
photographs |
contacts |
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biographical notes
Ros Dunlop has been a strong advocate for the cause of new music for the clarinet for most of her professional life. She has premiered many new compositions for clarinet, many of them having been written especially for her. She has performed throughout Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe and the USA, including a recital of Australian works at the International Clarinet Festival in New Orleans in August 2001. Her three solo CDs have received wide acclaim. As a member of the chamber duo "Charisma", she premiered five multimedia works at the 2002 Darwin International Guitar Festival and recently released a CD of works for clarinet and cello. She is also a member of the clarinet duo "Touchbass", with whom she premiered a number of newly commissioned works at the 2002 Australian National Clarinet Festival. She teaches clarinet at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Martin Wesley-Smith is an eclectic composer at home in a diverse range of idioms. Two main themes dominate his music: the life, work and ideas of Lewis Carroll (e.g. the chamber piece "Snark-Hunting", the choral piece "Songs for Snark-Hunters", and the full-length choral music theatre piece "Boojum!"); and the plight of the people of East Timor (e.g. "Kdadalak (For the Children of Timor)" and "VENCEREMOS!"). His collaborator on many projects is his brother, librettist/lyricist Peter Wesley-Smith. A multimedia version of their "audio-visual music theatre" piece "Quito" - about schizophrenia and East Timor - has been performed many times in many countries by Australian vocal group The Song Company. One of his pieces - "For Marimba & Tape" - is the most-performed piece of Australian so-called "serious art-music" (it exists in versions for other instruments, too, including "For Clarinet & Tape").
top |
introduction |
main bios |
index to composer bios and notes on pieces |
photographs |
contacts |
bottom
top |
introduction |
main bios |
index to composer bios and notes on pieces |
photographs |
contacts |
bottom
an image from X for clarinet & CD-ROM:
from Dunlop and Wesley-Smith's concert tour of East Timor, March 2002:
Rob Wesley-Smith
with kids in Gleno [72K]
audience in Ermera [58K]
© 2002 Martin Wesley-Smith
Timorese young people
near Hato Bullico [128K]
e-mail Ros Dunlop | e-mail Martin Wesley-Smith
Dunlop's home page |
Wesley-Smith's home page
Wesley-Smith's home phone number: +61 2 44 651 299