The Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour


POSTPONED!

Due to circumstances beyond our control, this tour will now happen
next year (2009), not this. Our apologies to all.



clarinettist Ros Dunlop and composer Martin Wesley-Smith
at the Festival of Sedition, Huskisson, New South Wales, in 2006

a program of multimedia pieces
about Iraq, West Papua, East Timor etc

North America, Sept-Oct 2008

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general blurb | concert repertoire | lecture/demo topics | pics | schedule
Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios | e-mail Dunlop | e-mail Wesley-Smith

see reviews of our Feb 6 2003 London concert and responses to previous tours

** click here to download complete program notes, technical requirements, photos and other info **

Ros Dunlop is one of Australia's leading clarinettists, especially of contemporary repertoire. Martin Wesley-Smith is one of Australia's best-known composers and multimedia artists. Ros has played, and many of Martin's pieces have been heard (and seen), in many parts of the world. In February 2007, we both attended the Asia Pacific Festival in Wellington, where an advertised performance of Martin's piece Papua Merdeka was dropped from the program after pressure had been applied by the Indonesian Embassy (see this protest letter written by Maire Leadbetter of the Indonesia Human Rights Committee (NZ)). We subsequently put together a tour that allowed New Zealanders to see and hear, later in 2007, what had previously been denied them. We're now heading back to North America.

In 2002 we visited East Timor twice, giving concerts in Dili, Ermera, Hato Bulliko, Laga, Los Palos and Same. In 2003 we toured Great Britain, giving concerts in Manchester, Kent, Reading, Liverpool, Glasgow, Oxford, Kingston, York, London and, on the way home, Hong Kong. In September-October 2003 we gave concerts in the USA. In October-November 2005 we toured England, Holland, Ireland, Lithuania and Scotland, and Ros toured the USA. In 2007 we toured New Zealand. Our 2008 tour will focus on East Timor in addition to West Papua, our repertoire including Martin's multimedia pieces X (about Xanana Gusmão), for clarinet & computer, Welcome to the Hotel Turismo, for bass clarinet & computer, and Tekee Tokee Tomak, for clarinet & computer. Also: Merry-Go-Round, with images of Afghanistan by Australian artist George Gittoes, and Weapons of Mass Distortion, for clarinet & computer, about propaganda, doublespeak and lies, especially those that led to the invasion of Iraq. And, of course, Papua Merdeka, for bass clarinet & computer.

It seems that the current world situation has made our concerts more relevant - urgent, even - than ever. Our program asks, indirectly, fundamental questions about power, privilege and human rights.

American composer Bill Brooks, who teaches at the University of York in England, wrote in an e-mail (Feb 6 2003):

"a fine show, provocative and skilled ... there have been ongoing mutters amongst the postgrads about art, politics, propaganda, and The Whole Damn Thing ever since you left"

Although the schedule is filling up, there's room for more - contact Ros if you are interested. We will also be available for talks, lecture/demonstrations etc, either separately or together.

enquiries:
e-mail Ros Dunlop
tel: +61 (0)2 9810 2253; mob: +61 418 802 757
e-mail Martin Wesley-Smith
tel: +61 (0)2 44 651 299



an image from X for clarinet & CD-ROM: torture photo [click photo to enlarge]


concert repertoire | lecture/demo topics | Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios
schedule | e-mail Ros | e-mail Martin | London review 1 | London review 2

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 and has had many 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 (Domino, Don Banks - A Tribute, and X) 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 released a self-titled 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. On August 24 2005 she gave a solo recital at the International Clarinet Festival in Tokyo. She teaches clarinet at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

For more information, see her home page.

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!). A multimedia version of the "audio-visual music theatre" piece Quito - about schizophrenia and East Timor - has been performed many times in many countries by 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). For many years Director of the Electronic Music Studio at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Wesley-Smith is now a full-time composer and duck-keeper.

For more information, see his home page and blog.


from Dunlop and Wesley-Smith's concert tour of East Timor, March 2002 (click to enlarge):


rob with kids audience at ermera timorese kids
Rob Wesley-Smith
with kids in Gleno [72K]
audience in Ermera [58K]

photography (c) 2002 Martin Wesley-Smith

Timorese young people
near Hato Bullico [128K]

"I had complete strangers coming up, with tear-stained faces (saying) how powerful it was ..."


a letter from Maire Leadbeater of the Indonesia Human Rights Committee (NZ) in Auckland to His Excellency Amris Hassan, Ambassador for Indonesia:

12 February 2007

Dear Sirs,

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has been shocked to learn that composer Martin Wesley-Smith was pressured not to play his piece Papua Merdeka at the Asia Pacific Festival "Wired" last weekend.

We understand that Embassy representatives advised the organisers of their opposition to the item being included in the concert and that the organisers chose to seek the withdrawal of the item.

We believe this kind of artistic and political censorship is deplorable in a festival designed to celebrate the diversity of the peoples and the music of our region.

We doubt that either of you would deny that there has been a long-standing conflict in West Papua which has resulted in the loss tens of thousands of lives. At this time there are many well-documented reports that there is a humanitarian crisis in the Puncak Jaya region where thousands of people have fled from military conflict only to face new dangers from lack of food, shelter and medicine.

West Papuan community and religious representatives have been promoting a united call for a peaceful dialogue as a way to work towards a resolution of the conflict and the many health and environmental problems faced by the people. But if this dialogue is to take place it must be held in an atmosphere where fundamental human rights and freedoms are upheld including freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and freedom of association.

So it is especially disturbing to us that a music composition has been banned because the work 'freedom' or 'merdeka' is included in its title. 'Freedom' or 'merdeka' can be understood in many ways but at the core is surely a universal human aspiration to be in control of one's own destiny. This is therefore a most fitting theme for cultural expression in music.

We sincerely hope that the reaction to this unwarranted ban has caused the festival organisers and the Embassy to rethink their decisions with respect to Martin Wesley-Smith's composition.

Yours sincerely,

Maire Leadbeater

(for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee (NZ); Ms Leadbetter is the author of a new book - Negligent Neighbour - about East Timor; for information, click here)


concert repertoire

includes solo pieces, pieces for clarinet and/or bass clarinet & CD/electronics and multimedia pieces (about Afghanistan, East Timor, Iraq and West Papua)

East Timor multimedia

ET flag

Tekee Tokee Tomak

Using photographs by various photographers, including some we took ourselves in East Timor in 2002, this piece was premiered in Manchester on our 2003 tour of the UK and Hong Kong. David Morris described it, in Clarinet & Saxophone, Spring 2003, as a "portrayal of post-independence East Timor, full of smiling people and beautiful landscapes". Ros recently performed it in the presence of Dr. Mari Alkatiri, Chief Minister of East Timor.

Like all of Wesley-Smith's recent multimedia pieces, it requires a Macintosh computer (which we will bring with us), a data projector of some kind (readily available these days, but we will bring one of those, too), some sort of screen, and a stereo sound system.

cl & computer
[2002]

repertoire

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e-mail him

Martin Wesley-Smith

images by various photographers

"Tekee Tokee Tomak" means, in a rough translation from the Tetum, "Let's get together and enjoy ourselves". This is what the East Timorese people are now trying to do in order to re-build their shattered lives and country.

the future

photo by Ros Dunlop
click to see full-size (244K)

12'
Welcome to the Hotel Turismo

Hotel Turismo

... they went mad - they cried, and cheered (four times back to the stage, and I was beginning to get emotional too), and were spellbound. A couple of times - like in the cadenza, and right at the end before the 'Welcome to the Hotel T' comes back), it was SO quiet - it freaked me out ... I had complete strangers coming up, with tear-stained faces (saying) how powerful it was ...

cellist Rachel Scott after a 2002 performance of Turismo in London

bass cl & computer
[2000]

repertoire

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e-mail him

Martin Wesley-Smith

images by various photographers

David Vance in The Sydney Morning Herald, August 13 1998, writing about Wesley-Smith's Timor piece Quito:
"(His) music has never been far removed from political or social comment, and his gift for pastiche has served him well in adopting familiar styles, often (but not always) drawn from popular music, to ironic or satiric purposes."

from a Timorese listener in Darwin to the ABC broadcast of Quito, May 6 1997:
"It is a masterpiece of music. I cried my eyes out until no tears were left. I felt the tragedy of East Timor perforating my bones as I never felt before. I'm going to buy the CD."

16'
X

Commissioned by American clarinetist F. Gerard Errante, this piece has been performed, by him and by Ros, many times in the USA. It was composed in 1999 as the Indonesian military-promoted militia carnage was raging across East Timor. At the time, resistance leader Xanana Gusmão (the "X" of the title) was in Cipinang Prison, Jakarta.

see reviews of a performance of "X" in London, Feb 6 2003

see, also, separate web page

cl & computer
[1999]

repertoire

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e-mail him

Martin Wesley-Smith

images by various photographers

an audio-only version of this piece can be heard on Ros Dunlop's CD X:

X CD
12'
Afghanistan multimedia:

Afghan flag

Merry-Go-Round

with guest cellist or bass clarinetist
or in its solo version

about Afghanistan & Afghan refugees, commissioned by Charisma with financial support from the Music Board of the Australia Council

David Morris: "... the evening was brought to a close with Merry-Go-Round, (Wesley-Smith's) 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."

cl & computer
[2002]

this exists in a version for clarinet and/or one for clarinet and either bass clarinet or cello

repertoire

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Martin Wesley-Smith

photography by George Gittoes
and Alice Wesley-Smith

gg pic

George Gittoes is one of Australia's foremost figurative painters. He gives us a powerful, close-up response to conflicts best known to us from the nightly news: famine and peacekeeping in Somalia; civil wars in Cambodia, Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Kibeho massacre in Rwanda; sectarian violence in Northern Ireland; ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia; the elections in South Africa which brought Mandela to power; the effects of the "War on Terror" in Pakistan and Aghanistan; "shock and awe" in Iraq; and other eruptions to the peace process in the Middle East. Video footage he took in Iraq was used by Michael Moore in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

16'
Iraq multimedia:

Iraq flag

Weapons of Mass Distortion

about the Coalition of the Killing's 2003 invasion of Iraq

These days we are seeing more and more of what in 1946 George Orwell exposed (in "Politics and Language") as the deceits and devices of "doublespeak". For example: "collateral damage" really means the maiming and killing of innocent civilians; "removal with extreme prejudice" means assassination; "incontinent ordnance" are bombs which hit schools and hospitals by mistake; "active defense" is invasion; and an "energetic disassembly" is a nuclear explosion. During the Vietnam War, "limited duration protective reaction air strikes" meant bombing Vietnamese villages. In Australia, asylum-seekers, who have committed no offence, are dismissed as "illegals". As Melbourne barrister Julian Burnside points out: "(Language) can hide shocking truth, it can deceive a nation, it can hand electoral victory to the morally bankrupt."

Rumsfeld's word "deconfliction" meant invading Iraq - at the cost of thousands of lives, massive damage, and billions of dollars - to stop it using (apparently nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction and giving them to terrorists with whom it apparently had no links. This piece looks at the abuse of language, particularly the use of doublespeak in undermining the democracy in whose name we invaded Iraq.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

cl & computer
[2003]

repertoire

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Martin Wesley-Smith

photography by George Gittoes and others
cartoons by Steve Bell, Alan Moir, Peter Nicholson and others
some lyrics by Peter Wesley-Smith
choir: Canberra Choral Society
tenor soloist: David Hamilton
concept, music, programming, script etc:
Martin Wesley-Smith

Some might disagree with the viewpoint of this piece (in fact most who see it enthusiastically agree with it). But Iraq was invaded in order to bring democracy to the poor oppressed people of Iraq, who had been suffering under the yoke of Saddam Hussein's despotic rule. Our own democracy still allows (although it's under threat), free speech. If this piece provokes discussion of the issues involved, then well and good ...

see lecture by George Wolfe

some light reading:

Pitt: The Dog Ate My WMDs
Cory: If We Knew Where It Was, Why Don't We Know Where It Is?
Penn: Kilroy's Still Here
Weiner: Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into Fascism
Shezad: US Turns to the Taliban
Cassel: Libby's Lies: A Moment of Truth

Wesley-Smith has recently composed another piece - called doublespeak, for six voices and bucket - about propaganda, doublespeak etc. Read the script, by Peter Wesley-Smith, here. It was premiered by Australia's top vocal ensemble The Song Company in Kangaroo Valley Hall and the Sydney Opera House in June 2005. See reviews here.

13'

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West Papua multimedia:

WP flag

Papua Merdeka

The 1969 UN-sanctioned "Act of Free Choice" that handed the Dutch colony West Papua to Indonesia was a sham, an act of no choice for the West Papuan people. Since then, Indonesia has treated the territory as it did East Timor, with rampant human rights abuse as well as exploitation, in collusion with America and others, of West Papua's rich natural resources.

This piece is about the West Papuan people and their thirst for freedom. Almost all the sources I've used in creating it were begged, borrowed or stolen from others. They include Agence France Presse, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 2JJJ, Penny Beaumont, Sheila Draper, Don Bennetts, Gerry Errante, Steven Feld, Lynne Hamilton (of Prowling Tiger Press in Melbourne, who published "West Papua: Follow the Morning Star" by Ben Bohane, Jim Elmslie and Liz Thompson, an inspiring book of superb texts and photographs), David Kirkland, Jonny Lewis, Robert Lowry ("Shall We Gather at the River?"), Jonathon Mustard, SBS News, Edward Smith and Alice Wesley-Smith - my thanks to all these plus to all those whose names I don't know or contact addresses I can't find. Apologies to those whose names have been inadvertently omitted. Thanks, too, to David Bridie, Louise Byrne, Andrew Kilvert and Rob Wesley-Smith. Two other books provided valuable information: Jim Elmslie's "Irian Jaya Under the Gun" (Crawford House Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd) and Peter King's "West Papua Since Suharto" (University of New South Wales Press). I used the beautiful West Papuan anthem Hai Tanah Ku Papua. Flags, used with permission, came from http://www.theodora.com/flags. Most of the bird of paradise paintings were by Rowan Ellis (1848-1922). Finally, thanks to Ros Dunlop for commissioning the piece. And, for funding assistance, to the Music Board of the Australia Council, the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body.

ozco logo


for information about "West Papua: Follow the Morning Star", email Lynne Hamilton at prowling@bigpond.net.au

for other relevant publications, click here


from Father Claude Mostowik, Director, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart [Australian Province], Peace and Justice Centre, to Senator Robert Hill, Minister for Defence, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600, 31 October 2005:

"In the light of media reports, it is with deep concern that I write to you about the news that the Australian SAS and the Indonesian Special Forces, Kopassus, are resuming ties and cooperation ... The Centre, that represents some 250 Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Australia and Papua New Guinea, believes that the involvement of the Australian military in the training of Kopassus troops, who are always used in conflict areas, will result in great danger for the people of West Papua ... We urge you to reconsider involvement by the Australian military in cooperating with and training Indonesian military."

bcl & computer
[2005]

repertoire

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e-mail him

Martin Wesley-Smith

photography by many photographers far and wide, including some whom I haven't been able to contact

West Papua Niugini/Irian Jaya Homepage:
www.converge.org.nz/wpapua/opm.html

Papua Press Agency:
www.westpapua.net/index.php

the assassination of Ondofolo Dortheys Hiyo Eluay, Hero of West Papua: www.westpapua.net/about/heroes/theys/

eluay

petition seeking justice for West Papua

from Joe Collins, Secretary, Australia West Papua Association, Sydney, October 2005 (see Islands Business):

"Since last year's Pacific Islands Forum meeting, human rights abuses have continued to occur in West Papua. One major example is the military operation undertaken by the Indonesian military in the Puncak Jaya district in West Papua's central highlands.

"During this military operation, a large number of villages were destroyed, including livestock and food gardens. More than 6000 people have fled to the bush in fear of their lives. The President of the West Papuan Baptist Church, Reverend Yoman, reported that twenty-three people have died of starvation, although he believes this figure could be higher as church and aid groups are prevented from moving freely in the area by the military and are therefore unable to make complete assessments. In May this year, two West Papuan men, Philep Karma and Yusak Pakage, received jail terms of 15 and 10 years respectively, for so-called "treason against the state". Their crime? Simply organising a peaceful demonstration where the West Papuan national flag, The Morning Star, was raised ..."

10'
pieces for clarinet & CD/electronics
include:

Aurora
Bastard's Broth
For Clarinet & Tape
Onomatopoeia
Trio
White Knight & Beaver
You Can Take It Anywhere
You Can Take It Anywhere

This was written for American clarinetist Gerard Errante on one of his visits to Australia.

Bailey:

"In this work, the juxtaposition of intervals creates a whole world of harmony for solo instrument. A lot of careful work went into the actual pitch of the notes which followed one another. It is 'careful' for reasons of ease to facilitate a linear harmonic structure. The performer uses this to be free with the way s/he takes it ..."

bass cl & delay
[1998/2001]

repertoire

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Judy Bailey

born in New Zealand; renowned jazz pianist, composer, arranger and music educator; lives in Sydney, performing throughout Australia and New Zealand; has taken part in many jazz festivals and composing women's festivals; has recorded two CDs for the ABC and has toured Australasia for Musica Viva; recipient of numerous prizes, including a "MO" award for Female Jazz Performer and an APRA award for Jazz Composition

bailey pic

2-10'
Trio

Trio is scored for bass clarinet, Moog synthesiser and Fender piano with a part for pre-recorded bass clarinet. Although I knew of the existence of this work, the score was difficult to track down: Banks' publisher Schott had sent all his manuscripts back to Don's widow Val in Canberra. It was only after considerable time and numerous phone calls that I was able to locate the manuscript in the achives of Australia's National Library.

Trio was written as a prelude to a much larger work, Benedictus, for which there is no written score. Don was fond of putting on spectacular events employing many different devices semi-improvised with a cast of thousands and a very basic score outline. Benedictus was such a work. Due to the precarious nature of Moog synthesisers from the seventies, I decided to pre-record the Moog and Fender piano parts, creating the current bass clarinet-and-CD version. The CD part was realised by Greg White.

Ros Dunlop

bcl & CD
[1976]

repertoire

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Don Banks

Don Banks (1923-1980) was one of the most important and distinctive Australian composers of his time. He composed a wide range of music, from chamber and symphonic works to music for film (e.g. for Hammer horror films: Hysteria, The Reptiles and Rasputin, The Mad Monk). He was an early exponent of electronic music, and for a time was a professional jazz pianist and trombonist. Active in music education in both Australia and England, he was also a great supporter of younger composers.

For a full biography, courtesy of the Australian Music Centre, click here.

jb pic

7'
Bastard's Broth

commissioned by English saxophonist Kyle Horch, Steve arranged, in 2000, the saxophone part for bass clarinet; with the format of a jazz medley, the piece whizzes through many different styles very quickly with a zaniness reminiscent of Frank Zappa


In 2001 Steve was a guest composer at the fifth Forum for Contemporary Piano Music in Heilbronn, Germany; in 2002 he was a guest professor in composition at the Musikhogskolan in Piteå, Sweden.

bass cl & CD
[1993]

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Steve Ingham

studied at the University of York (England) with Bernard Rands, the University of Bloomington, Indiana, with Donald Erb, and, later, with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik, Freiburg. He now teaches at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales.

si pic

5' 34"
Aurora

Smith:

"At the time this piece was created, I was in the middle of a Canadian winter. I wanted to create the feeling of huge space, the continual shift of focus suggesting the flickering lights of the Aurora Borealis."

bass cl & CD
[2001]

repertoire

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Margery Smith/Will Frasier

Margery is an accomplished clarinetist as well as composer. Her solo engagements have included appearances with the Sydney Symph as soloist on clarinet and saxophone. Her latest work, T(F)ree Radicals for 3 Bass Clarinets, was composed for Touchbass.

ms pic

10' 30"
For Clarinet & Tape

This, and its version for marimba, is the most-performed piece of Australian chamber music of all time. CD recording by Peter Jenkin (A Day in the Life of a Clarinet, Tall Poppies TP086).

For Marimba & Tape has been recorded by Alison Eddington, Daniella Ganeva, Rebecca Lagos, Graeme Leak (order his new book on-line here), William Moersch and Tom O'Kelly.

cl & CD
[1983]

repertoire

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Martin Wesley-Smith

see discography

A recent commissioned work - doublethink, for six singers - was premiered on Sat June 11 2005 by The Song Company (click here to read the libretto by Peter Wesley-Smith). It develops further some of the themes of Weapons of Mass Distortion.

11'
White Knight & Beaver

one of Wesley-Smith's best-known Lewis Carroll pieces; it's as if a bass clarinet-playing Dodgson (Carroll's real self) shows Alice how interesting snippets of music result when you play a music-box backwards and upside-down - and how you can discover palindromes and doublet processes if you play through a musical encoding of the DNA of the beta globin sub-unit of the haemoglobin of Escherichia coli, a bacterium found in the stomach

alice

this piece was commissioned by Miles Anderson (trombone) and Erica Sharp (violin/viola)

bass cl & CD
[1985]

repertoire

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Martin Wesley-Smith

The latest recording of this piece, played by Charisma (Ros Dunlop, clarinet, and Julia Ryder, cello), is included on the CD Charisma (Greatwhitenoise GWN002)

for information about Wesley-Smith's major Carroll piece Boojum!, for choir, piano & percussion, click here

Boojum! CD
9'
Onomatopoeia

Westlake:

"(this piece) was written following an intensive study of the contemporary bass clarinet repertoire with Dutch exponent Harry Spaarnay; it represents a release from the rigours and discipline that surround much twentieth-century repertoire into a more relaxed improvisational style. A unique sound world is established by remaining for much of the piece in the little used upper register of the instrument and incorporating techniques such as circular breathing, multiphonics, slap tongue and flutter tongue."

"a breath of fresh air with its bright colours, lively rhythms & brilliant ideas" (The Australian)


This great piece, which Nigel himself used to play, has languished over the past few years because of the difficulty in obtaining a delay unit with the correct delay length. But Australian composer Jon Drummond has written a software delay unit in Max that does the job perfectly. If you want to find out more, e-mail him.

bass cl & delay
[1984]

repertoire

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Nigel Westlake

Nigel Westlake's professional career as a clarinetist commenced in 1975 at the age of 17. He has played in fusion bands, soundtrack recording sessions, Australia's leading instrumental groups and as a soloist with orchestras and classical ensembles in Australia and in many cities of the world including London, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Washington, Moscow, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Beijing, New Delhi, Wellington and New York. His music studies include contemporary music performance, composition, screen composition, orchestration and conducting with leading practitioners in Australia and Europe. His film work includes the feature films Babe, Babe - Pig in the City, Children of the Revolution, A Little Bit of Soul, The Nugget and the Imax films Antarctica, Imagine, The Edge and Solarmax. His television credits include documentaries, telemovies, news themes and station idents. Several of his compositions were incorporated in feature international TV broadcasts during the Sydney Olympics 2000 ... (for more, click here)

7'
solo pieces include:

25 Measures
Chips Off the Ol' Block
Cut to the Chase
Frenzy and Folly, Fire and Joy
Hauturu
NRG
Off-Peak Single from Symi
Scream
Worldwhorls
NRG

Brophy:

I have always been excited by bass instruments and so I was delighted when Henri Bok approached me in regard to writing a piece for Bass Instincts. Some time before I had composed Bisoux, a rather languid nocturne for cor anglais and bass clarinet. In this instance, however, I wished to compose something a little more up-tempo. Another nacht-stucke, yes, but this time much more funky and dance-like, perhaps even carnal. Certainly a piece to be performed before retiring!

NRG, a solo bass clarinet "hybrid" of Iza, for bass oboe and bass clarinet, was commissioned by, and dedicated to, Bass Instincts with much admiration and affection.

bcl
[1996]

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Gerard Brophy

Born in Sydney in 1953, Gerard Brophy began his studies in the classical guitar at the age of 22. In 1976 he undertook four months of masterclasses with the Brazilian guitarist Turibio Santos and the next year he attended a composition seminar directed by Mauricio Kagel in Basle. He studied composition with Don Banks, Anthony Gilbert and Richard Toop at the NSW Conservatorium of Music and graduated as Student of the Year in 1982.

Gerard Brophy has been awarded numerous composition prizes including the inaugural NSW Premiers Composers Award, the 1985 Premio Casella, the 1988 Budapest Composers Award and the 1988 Barlow International Orchestral Award. His Linia for 12 instruments, Exu for amplified violin and orchestra, Orfeo for string orchestra and Shiver for mezzo-soprano and ensemble were selected for performance at the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) World Music Days of 1981, 1984, 1986 and 1991 respectively. His music has been performed at all the major festivals including the Asian Music Festival, Gaudeamus Music Week, Warsaw Autumn, Nuova Consonanza, Nuovi Spazi Musicali, Sonorities and the Zagreb Biennale ... (more, courtesy of the Australian Music Centre, here)

gb pic

3'
Frenzy and Folly, Fire and Joy

"All the uproarious pipes we played! Frenzy and folly, fire and joy!". The quote is from Australian poet John Shaw Neilson, whose poems have inspired several of the composer's works. This one is in 'ballad' form with nine 'verses'. The characteristic feature is that, despite a recurring 'rhyme-scheme' and unifying ideas from verse to verse, each one shakes a new narrative 'twist' out of its sleeve to produce something mid-way between strophic and 'through-composed' form, as well as mid-way between tonal and atonal styles.

cl solo
[1999]

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Graham Hair

Australian composer Graham Hair has been Professor of Music at Glasgow University since 1990. For ten years before that he was head of composition at the Sydney Conservatorium. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Monash University, and has been a Visiting Professor at Princeton and Composer in Residence at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. His works include many for women's voices (e.g. Serenissima, Songs of the Sibyls), pieces based on popular music, and a Choral Symphony, The Great Circle.

hair pic

9'
25 Measures

written for Australian clarinetist Peter Jenkin, this piece is short, succinct, quirky and lighthearted

cl solo
[1996]

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Elena Kats-Chernin

was born in Tashkent, in the former USSR, in 1957. In 1975 she migrated with her family to Australia, where she studied at the NSW Conservatorium. After studying with Helmut Lachenmann in West Germany, she remained in Europe for over a decade, writing incidental music for State theatres in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg, and Bochum. She returned to Australia in 1994 and is now resident in Sydney where she is frequently commissioned and performed.

elena pic

1'
Hauturu

This piece ("Where the Winds Rest") was written as a response in sound to a visit to the rugged island of Little Barrier (Hauturu), a bird sanctuary in the Hauraki gulf. John marvelled at the largely unspoilt grandeur of this fascinating environment with its extremely rough beeches, huge trees amid thick jungle, and the many varieties of indigenous birds.

bass cl
[1992]

repertoire

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John Rimmer

recently retired from Auckland University where he held the position of Chair of the School of Music. One of New Zealand's leading composers, he now divides his time between composing and conducting.

9'
Cut to the Chase

the title refers to early vaudeville routines when the vaudeville artist, upon realising that the audience is not responding or something has gone wrong on stage, "cuts to the chase" when he or she is chased around to close the act ...

cl solo
[1996]

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Richard Vella

Australian composer. At one time Professor of Music at the now-defunct Music Department at the University of Latrobe, Richard now lives in Queensland.

rv pic

45"
Scream

a highly virtuosic work for bass clarinet, Scream explores both ends of the instrument's range, delivering at lightning speed; it was first performed in the USA by bass clarinetist Henri Bok at the International Clarinet Festival in Oklahoma

bass cl solo
[2000]

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Paul Witney

Born in 1973, Australian composer Paul Witney studied with Nigel Butterley. His works have been performed in the Ukraine, Canada, USA, Holland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

pw pic


lecture/demo topics include:
Music & Politics
Current Trends in Australian Music
New Australian Music for Clarinet
Carrollian Musical Processes

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

provisional
schedule:
more details will be added as gigs are confirmed
Sat Sept 20 fly Sydney-Chicago
Sun Sept 21 hire car, drive to University of Western Illinois
Mon Sept 22 am: masterclass & workshop; 8pm: concert, University of Western Illinois
Tues Sept 23 am: drive to University of Northern Illinois, DeKalb; 7.30pm: concert
Wed Sept 24 am: drive to University of Wisconsin, Maddison; 6pm: concert
Thurs Sept 25 am: drive to Stephens Point; pm: clarinet masterclass & composers' workshop, University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point
Fri Sept 26 am: forum on music & politics, University of Wisconsin, Stephens Point; 8pm: concert
Sat Sept 27 drive to University of Southern Illinois
Sun Sept 28
Mon Sept 29 am: forum: music & politics, Univeristy of Southern Illinois; 8pm: concert
Tues Sept 30 am: drive to St Louis, then fly to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; pm: concert, Dusquene University, Pittsburgh
Wed Oct 01 am: fly to East Lansing, Michigan; 7.30pm: concert, Michigan State University, East Lansing
Thurs Oct 02 am: fly to Toronto, Canada; pm: concert, University of Toronto
Fri Oct 03 am: flt to Louisville, Kentucky; 8pm: concert, University of Louisville, Kentucky
Sat Oct 04 am: fly to Greensboro, North Carolina; 8pm: concert, University of North Carolina
Sun Oct 05
Mon Oct 06 am: fly to Montevello; pm: forum on music & politics, University of Montevello
Tues Oct 07 am: clarinet master class clarinet & composer workshop; 8pm: concert, University of Montevello
Wed Oct 08 fly to Sydney

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

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.


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.

from e-mails received after previous tours:

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."

from the University of Northern Illinois:

"Thanks for the great program here. Several of my students talked to me about the concert very enthusiastically."

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."

from Bowling Green State University:

"Thanks so much for your visit ... I truly enjoyed your 'provocative' presentation."

from Cal State:

"had the audience spellbound"

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 ..."

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!"

from Bruce P. Mahin, composer, Radford, USA, Wed Oct 5 2005:

"Ros did a great concert last night"

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!"

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."

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"

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."


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


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Sept 06 2008