Cafe Oto | Kammer Klang. BJ Cole (pedal steel guitar) + Poulomi Desai (prepared sitar)
Cafe Oto | Kammer Klang. BJ Cole (pedal steel guitar) + Poulomi Desai (prepared sitar) 8 July 2013.
BJ COLE: Whether co-writing with the Orb, re: interpreting Roy Orbison with Brian Eno or creating a context for the pedal Steel in Folk music with Martin Simpson, BJ COLE continues to prove himself the most essential and pioneering Pedal Steel Guitarist in the UK today. His uniquely eclectic style of Pedal Steel Guitar playing first made an impact on the British music scene in the early 1970’s with his performances on Elton John’s classic ‘Tiny Dancer’ and Joan Armatrading’s hit single ‘Down To Zero’. Throughout the ‘70’s and into the ‘80’s, BJ’s inimitable contributions to classic recordings by Marc Bolan, Scott Walker, The Stranglers, kd lang, Deacon Blue and Paul Young earned him considerable respect as both an innovative and exciting creative force. During the ‘90’s, BJ’s desire to pioneer the use of the Pedal Steel Guitar far beyond it’s traditional context in Country Music has ensured that he has continued to expand the instrument’s horizons into uncharted territory. www.bjcole.co.uk
POULOMI DESAI is a self taught multi-media artist, best known for her large-scale sound and photography installations that interrogate the politics of identity, listening and perception. Inspired by her post-punk theatre background, her tools are image-based, textual, performative and acoustic, traversing boundaries of physical location and structures of presentation. Her current pre-occupation investigates sacrilegious sound and vision through the machinations of her prepared, modified sitar, electronics and slide projections, performing on the noise and free improv scenes. Commissions and exhibitions include, The Serpentine Gallery, The Photographers Gallery, The Science Museum, INIVA, The Queens Museum (USA), The Oxford Gallery (India), Futuresonic UK and Souzouzukan 9001 Japan. She runs the Usurp Art Gallery and studios, an experimental tactical media artist-led space where she has curated over 80 exhibitions and events. “Her irreverent aim is to shatter the contours of these fixed notions of sexual, national, cultural, personal, political and diasporic identities” – Professor Stuart Hall “Different” Pub. Phaidon.
Other performances also on the night were:
THIERRY DE MEY : Musique de Tables (1987), one of Mey’s earliest compositions, was originally written for the first show from the choreographer, dancer and film director, Wim Vandekeybus, entitled ‘What the Body Does Not Remember’. It is scored for three percussionists, each creating a variety of sounds from striking a table. Performed by percussionists, Joe Richards, Elsa Bradley, Ana Gasco.
STEFAN PRINS: Stephan Prins – Piano Hero No.1 (2011) is an immersive cycle for midi-keyboard, grand piano, live-cameras, video and live-electronics. Referring to the video game ‘Guitar hero’ and it’s plastic guitar triggering pre-recorded sounds and images, the pianist in Piano Hero triggers with a midi keyboard video samples of an ‘open piano’ improvisation. Performed by pianist, Gwen Rouger.
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG – Fantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment op.47 (1949). Violin and piano duo Aisha Orazbayeva and Matthew Schellhorn have performed together for a number of years, and have recently recorded Ravel’s Violin and Piano Sonata featuring on Aisha’s Outside album. They are currently preparing for a live broadcast on France Musique and a series of concerts for the Radio France Montpellier Fetstival.
Omsonic 