Ericailcane, DEM, Will Barras – Stay Away From Light (edit 2)
Here is the second short edit of the exclusive animation created by the trio of visual artists we invited to Bologna in June this year.
As we explained with the first video this animation was created by Ericailcane and DEM from Italy and Will Barras from the UK. The music was written by Om Unit (UK), Tatsuki (JP) and Tayone (IT). Together these six artists worked as part of the first Original Cultures event in Bologna, Italy in June 2009. The audio and animation were created separately, without the artists knowing what the others were doing, before being brought together for a live showcase.
This edit gives everyone who couldn’t make the show, as well as those who did, a chance to see part of what happened on the night – a truly unique coming together of artists and cultures.
Originally silent, these short edits of the animation have been synced with music from the live show. You can also view this Flickr album for more behind the scenes look at how the guys created the animation and the rest of the visual show they put together.
You can view the first edit here. Stream and download the second edit below.
In 2010 we’ll be unveiling three remixes/soundtracking of the animation by new artists from the UK, Italy and Japan. Till then enjoy!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ericailcane, DEM, Will Barras – Stay Away From Light (edit 1)
Finally we’re very proud to bring you the first (of two) short edit of the exclusive animation created by the trio of visual artists we invited to Bologna in June this year.
Together these three artists, namely Ericailcane and DEM from Italy and Will Barras from the UK, created an animation to accompany the music that was being written at the same time by the three musicians we’d also invited – Om Unit (UK), Tatsuki (JP) and Tayone (IT). Bear in mind that while these six artists worked in the same period of time (4 consecutive days) and in the same city, they didn’t work together as such and never saw the final result of each other’s work until the last day when everything was brought together for the final showcase. No one knew what it would look and sound like together until the show started.
Originally silent, we’ve made short edits of the animation synced with music from the live show to give everyone a chance to see some of the incredible stuff the guys came up with. You can also view this Flickr album for more behind the scenes look at how the guys created the animation and the rest of the visual show they put together.
You can stream and download it below.
This is the first of two edits, the next one will go online shortly. And in 2010 we’ll be unveiling three remixes/soundtracking of the animation by new artists from the UK, Italy and Japan. Till then enjoy!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures showcase @ Vibe Live, London
We return for another London showcase ahead of the Original Cultures London 2010 event. This time we take over the Vibe Live venue on Brick Lane with the help of our friends from Open Sauce.
On Sunday 29 November 2009, we’ll be showcasing live music and art (painting and more) from our artists and friends as well as showing movies, docus and live footage from previous events and more.
Artists will include 2tall/Om Unit (UK), Mistah Klevvah (UK), Mr Beatnick (UK), RUN (IT) and Will Barras (UK) alongside the Open Sauce DJs and The Reptiles, who will be doing a live show.
The event runs all day from 3pm until 11.30pm with food, comfy sofas and things to do, see and read. And best of all it’s FREE all day. So no excuses not to come and enjoy free art on a sunday, in one of the best parts of town – the Brick Lane market with its many food stalls and bargains is outside the door of the venue.
Full details below, flyer above and you can RSVP via our Facebook event page here.
Saucy Sundays – Open Sauce vs Original Cultures
Two collectives go head to head over the course of one afternoon with a selection of movies, docus, live footage, live art, DJs and live music. ALL FOR FREE!
Open Sauce presents…
The Reptiles – LIVE (Liquid Playthings)
DJs Man One and Don Grizzly
And a selection of footag…e ’sauced’ from previous eventsOriginal Cultures presents…
Om Unit – LIVE (All City/Terrorhythm)
Mistah Klevvah – LIVE (ex-Various Prod.)
DJs Kper (Original Cultures/Rhythm Inc) and Mr Beatnick (Shhhh)
Live painting, drawing and other visual fun from Will Barras (UK) and RUN (IT)
And a selection of live footage and visual art from previous eventsFREE ENTRY ALL DAY AND NIGHT w/ free popcorn, comfy sofas, things to read, see and do
Sunday 29th November at Vibe Live (above Vibe Bar), Brick Lane, London.
Original Cultures Radio – Live in Bologna 09
Finishing the podcasts from our first event is an exclusive mix featuring audio from the final showcase. On the evening of June 6th, 2009, Om Unit (UK), Tatsuki (JP) and Tayone (IT), together with special guest Bruno Briscik on cello bass, performed over an hour of music they’d created in the days prior to the show. This was the first time they’d all met and worked together, and the result ended up being beyond what most of us had imagined.
For more information on what happened during the workshops which took place before the showcase and listen to the entire audio documentary from which these podcasts are taken, check part 1 here and part 2 here.
Remember our RSS or iTunes feeds are the easiest to stay updated on all our podcasts and get them directly to your computer.
This exclusive mix features audio from Om Unit and Tatsuki’s solo showcases as well as the show they all performed together, and their encore. This is only a short edit of the whole thing, which lasted 2h30. A full version of the entire night will be made available as a high quality download pack later this year with videos, art and more. Stay tuned for info on that. For now though enjoy what was a truly unique moment!
Om Unit x Tatsuki x Tayone ft. Bruno Briscik – Live in Bologna 09
Tracklist:
Tatsuki – solo showcase
Om Unit – solo showcase
Om Unit x Tatsuki x Tayone ft Bruno Briscik – live showcase
Om Unit x Tatsuki x Tayone ft Bruno Briscik – encore
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures Radio – Bologna 09 workshop mix 2
Following on from yesterday’s podcast, we have the second of our music workshops mixes from the Original Cultures Bologna pilot now available for download. This time round the mix features audio from all 3 days of the workshops, edited into a continuous mix alongside extracts from the seminars, interviews and more. All the audio featured in this mix is at various stages of development, from rough demo ideas to versions nearing completion.
For more information on what happened during the workshops and hear the entire audio documentary from which these podcasts are taken, check here and here.
Remember our RSS or iTunes feeds are the easiest to stay updated on all our podcasts and get them directly to your computer.
The next podcast will be made available next week, an exclusive edit mix of the live showcase which took place on the last day of the event. And then following that we’ll have a two-part video documentary towards the end of the month.
For now enjoy a meeting of minds, cultures and musical influences.
Om Unit x Tatsuki x Tayone – Bologna music workshops mix 2
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures Radio – Bologna 09 workshop mix 1
Following on from our audio documentary, which can find here and here, we are podcasting the mixes from the audio documentary, which so far have been available as streams only.
First up is the artists mix from the music workshop sessions. This short mix was recorded on day 3 of the music workshops, and is essentially a short rehearsal of about half of the tracks the artists went on to perform at the final showcase a day later. All of the tracks you hear are still at a certain demo stage, though most of them were nearing completion and appeared in pretty close style in the final showcase.
So without further ado, here’s the first Bologna 09 workshop mix for your enjoyment. You can stream or download below, and if you don’t want to have to do it everytime we recommend you sign up to our RSS or iTunes feeds and get each new podcast downloaded to your computer automatically.
Next up is another workshop mix, tomorrow, then an exclusive edit mix of the live showcase next week, before the video documentary which will drop towards the end of the month.
Om Unit x Tatsuki x Tayone – Bologna music workshops mix
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures Bologna pilot – Audio documentary 2
Following from last week, here is part 2 of the audio documentary detailing the music workshops and live showcase that took place during the first Original Cultures event in Bologna in June 2009.
You can read a detailed explanation of this documentary and what it is documenting here.
Following this audio documentary we’ll have a video documentary to accompany it which will give more insight into the showcase and visual arts work done alongside the music during the week. This video documentary will be online by the end of september. You can see a full schedule below.
Original Cultures Bologna pilot: audio and video documentary schedule
- 26/08/09 – Audio documentary pt1 (streams)
- 02/09/09 – Audio documentary pt2 (streams)
- 03/09/09 – Audio documentary podcasts pt1
- 09/09/09 – Audio documentary podcasts pt2
- Late september – Video documentary pts 1 and 2 (stream and podcast)
The audio and video documentaries are the second part of our online documentation, with the first part consisting of short video edits, photos and blogs of what happened during the week. You can find a round up of all these below.
Original Cultures Bologna pilot – Audio documentary 1
In the first week of June 2009, Original Cultures held its first even in Bologna. Over the course of the week 6 artists from the UK, Italy and Japan, and the fields of music and visual arts, were brought together under one roof (well technically many roofs) to create art, exchange and learn via workshops, seminars and more. The idea was simple: to create and facilitate cultural exchange between Japan and Europe through the medium of modern performing arts.
The results of all this work were showcased in a final event on the evening of the last day. Over 2 hours the 3 musicians performed the music they’d spent the previous 3 days creating while the visual artists showcased the artwork they’d created to go alongside it, a combination of animation and a modern take on chinese shadows.
Everything that was done was documented, and finally after a few months wait we’re able to start divulging more of what happened, starting with an audio documentary of the music workshops and showcase.
This audio documentary will be in two parts, and you can see a full schedule of what you will get and when below. Following this audio documentary we’ll have a video documentary to accompany it which will give more insight into the showcase and visual arts work done during the week. This video documentary will be online by the end of september.
Original Cultures x Museo della Musica
From July 4th to 31st, Original Cultures will be holding an exhibition at the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna showcasing all the art created during the Original Cultures pilot, which was held from June 4 to 6, 2009.
For full details check our detailed event post.
Where: Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
When: July 4-31 (all day)
Contact details for museum: Tel. 051 2757711 • museomusica@comune.bologna.it
Launch: Saturday 4 July at 12,00
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 9.30 to 16.00 • Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays: 10.00 to 18.30 • closed Mondays
Original Cultures showcase @ LIFE, Old St, London
Original Cultures will be hosting the second room at the next Lostbahnhof party in London, on July 11th, with the support of the promoters and our good friends at Shook magazine.
The showcase will run from 9pm untill 11pm, with live music from 2tall aka Om Unit and Tatsuki. They will both perform the solo showcases they performed during the Original Cultures pilot as well as an improvised show together. Following this will be a small set showcasing audio from the pilot and then from 11pm until 2am DJ sets from the Original Cultures collective.
Throughout the night we will also be running visuals, videos and photos of the Bologna event.
For full details check the Facebook listing. See you there!
Where? LIFE, Old St, EC1V
When? July 11, 9pm-2am
How Much? 4 pounds
Original Cultures Bologna 09 – Day 4 video
And here we are, a video edit of Day 4 the last day of the Original Cultures pilot. Featuring work from all the artists during our live showcase which took place on the evening of Saturday June 6 at Si, in Bologna.
Edited by The Slow Breakfast. Available as a direct download in HD quality (quicktime format) optimised for iTunes and iPod viewing. Direct download link beneath the preview.
Look out for one more video edit of the Original Cultures pilot and then we will be working on a short documentary of the entire week which will be made available during the summer. For now though enjoy!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures – The Exhibition
From July 4th to 31st, Original Cultures will be holding an exhibition at the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna showcasing all the art created during the Original Cultures pilot, which was held from June 4 to 6, 2009.
The exhibition will be spread over two spaces inside the museum. In one space an installation will feature music and visual works created by the pilot’s six artists: visual artists Ericailcane (IT), DEM (IT) and Will Barras (UK), and musicians Tayone (IT), 2tall/Om Unit (UK), and Tatsuki (JP). More specifically the installation will recreate all the visual and musical elements of the pilot’s showcase, including the ingenious Chinese shadows based visuals, adapted for a smaller space.
In the second room the exhibition will showcase the video and photo documentation by The Slow Breakfast and Anna Marocco respectively.
Where: Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
When: July 4-31 (all day)
Contact details for museum: Tel. 051 2757711 • museomusica@comune.bologna.it
Launch: Saturday 4 July at 12,00
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 9.30 >16.00 • Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays: 10.00 >18.30 • closed Mondays
Organisers’ blog – Day 4
Whoa. That is the most direct and natural reaction to what happened last night, on the evening on day 4 at the closing of the Original Cultures pilot. Whoa. The live showcase, the crowning of the 4 days of work for the artists and the cherry on top of the pilot if you will, the event where the public gets to see everything that we’ve all worked on for so long, was a success – and as an organiser this isn’t a boast, it really, truly was.
We had a packed house, with over 300 people, we emptied the bar, the artists got a thunderous round of applause and demands for an encore, which they obliged leaving us with people in the venue until 2am, when we’d officially announced it would end at midnight. One of the members of the city’s council, who sits on the cultural board came at midnight, on a saturday, and personally shook the hand of the artists, thanking them for the show. One of the guys who runs the company which handles the space was dancing and smiling all night, telling us at midnight that we could have another 30mins of show if we wanted – so the 4 musicians, Tayone, 2tall, Tatsuki and Bruno Briscik, went back on stage and jammed for 20 mins. By 2am Will Barras, DEM and Ericailcane were still painting – which is all the more hilarious considering what happened earlier in the evening. Let me rewind for a sec…
We got to the venue around lunch – the musicians soundchecked in the PM while the visual artists put the finishing touches to their creations and masterminded how the visuals would play out throughout the night. Things were going well, with the necessary high level of running around involved when you put together an event. And then as we approached opening time, the decision was made to cancel the live painting aperitivo due to technical issues – partly true, but also due to the fact that the visual artists actually stopped working as people entered the venue. Having been at it for 5 days non stop, there was no way we would force anyone to do something just because it was originally written in the programme.
With this in mind we opened and hoped for the best. People came looking for the live painting and decided to maybe come back when they learnt it wasn’t happening. Others came in regardless, curiously looking around the venue, trying to understand what was going to happen 4 hours later. As I stood in the courtyard next to the bar, DJing, I kept thinking to myself that maybe even without the live painting we’d still manage to bring enough people in. You see the thing is, the whole live painting is quite popular here in Bologna, and the visual artists were definitely one of the main attractions of the project for people in the area, mainly because Ericailcane and DEM are local artists who everybody knows. Losing the live painting meant we might well lose a big amount of people. As I tried to not think about it too much, considering that we knew we still had something incredible prepared but that we couldn’t really tell people without giving the game away, I got on with trying to make people drink and enjoy themselves as the evening rolled on. And then I looked up, around 8 or so and Will was walking around with a tub of paint… and that’s when it all started going crazy.
DEM, Ericailcane and Will painted from 8 till 10, as they did people flocked to the venue, by the time I finished the DJ set in the courtyard, the venue was nearly full and I could barely believe it. The show started with the first hour split between Tatsuki and 2tall/Om Unit doing solo shows of about 30mins and the second hour with Tayone, Bruno and the two of them doing the live show they’d spent the last 3 days creating. As I stood there looking at Tatsuki on the stage playing to the audience a piece he’d finished writing 2 hours before it started to hit me just how special this all was.
The stage was set in the center of the room, so that people could stand all around the musicians. On the walls projections made by the visual artists played using Chinese shadow concepts. And on one side a giant screen played elements from an animation that they also created during the week. Tatsuki for his part ditched the entire 30 mins set he’d originally prepared and instead played a beautifully atmospheric 20 or so mins using sounds he’d recorded the day before and inspired by the visuals created by DEM, Will and Ericailcane: us talking, him speaking Italian, the ticks from the clock of one of the guys who runs the venue… it was incredible to hear all these sounds which I knew were ‘ours’ coming together while people stood around trying to understand what was happening. It was the perfect way to start.
2tall/Om Unit came up next, playing 20 or so minutes of new material and bringing the vibe and energy up a level, perfectly as if we’d masterminded the whole thing from start to finish. But we hadn’t, no one had heard the others’ bits, no one apart from the artists knew what would happen…
And then the final hour started and it continued to be incredible – the three of them played as if they’d known each other all their lives. The audience went crazy, the vibe was unbelievable. 10 mins before the end we were turning people away by the tens, and wondering how the hell it had all happened. Everywhere I looked people were smiling, dancing and enjoying themselves. The visual artists were more happy than I’ve seen them all week and so were the musicians.
Fast forward two hours, and we’re all sitting around coming down from the adrenaline rush and thinking back to various elements of the night. Everyone, from the artists to the organisers, the technical crew to the film crew was on a high. And everyone was responsible for the beautiful event that took place last night – everyone worked for nothing more than the want to do this, we came together as a whole in the most organic manner.
And to me, as the person who had this idea, who brought this idea to this town nearly 1 year ago to get some advice, to see the idea turn into reality like this (pretty much one year to the day since I first came up with it) is just simply incredible – tears came to me early on in the night and by the end I was just floating on a cloud, words unable to do justice to the feeling of seeing this idea birthed into reality. To know that every single person involved also felt the same is the best reward ever.
We’ve worked on this for 6 months solid, plus 6 months before of masterminding, and one week of just working non stop – and there has never been a point in all that time where someone argued or something went truly ‘wrong’. And that’s something I can’t even begin to comprehend. It gives me incredible faith that what we are building, is something that will continue to grow organically and that will hopefully be enjoyed by more and more people in the future.
For now, the best brunch in Bologna awaits me. HD video teasers of day 3 and 4 will be online by tomorrow. And full reports from the editors and artists too. And then stay tuned as we start to roll out the documentation of the project starting this month until the end of the summer.
To everyone who came last night, thank you. To everyone who took part in this, bless you.
Laurent
Videos:
Day by day HD teaser vids on Vimeo
Behind the scenes videos on Vimeo
Links:
See behind the scenes on our Tumblr – originalcultures.tumblr.com
Catch the daily blogs on our site – originalcultures.org/blogs
Catch us over at Shook Magazine on the daily too – shook.fm
Hear us tweet as we go – twitter.com/og_cultures
And don’t forget to check/add/friend/fan us on the Flickr, Facebook and Myspace.
Original Cultures Bologna 09 – Day 2 video
And again. Video edit of the day 2 music workshop proceedings during the Original Cultures pilot. Tayone, 2tall/Om Unit and Tatsuki tighten up the music for their showcase and prepare for a seminar and q&a session with the public.
Edited by The Slow Breakfast. Available as a direct download in HD quality (quicktime format) optimised for iTuns and iPod viewing. Direct download link beneath the preview.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Artist blog – 2tall day 2
Ok, so take one dangerously introspective bedroom based music producer who debates walking 5 minutes to sainsburys instead of taking the bus for 2 stops and drop him in Bologne and let him loose with other artists to create a selection of live material to be performed 5 days later.
We’ve been using our machines to work up something to play for Saturday’s show, not knowing how initially but gradually just allowing for it to take shape, learning each other’s capabilities and styles and pushing new ways of working so we can connect. The final product of which the reader will hear very soon.
The people here are so kind and welcoming it is overwhelming. It seems so natural for our hosts to be so kind and to keep giving so much that I find it difficult not to overthank them!
To quote Will Barras, everything here is just a level up. And it’s true, even the crisps taste better!
There are not many places i’ve seen that have such a laid back feel for a city, but also it seems that it’s been “lived in” so much that it seems that even the buildings have some kind of inherent wisdom to them, almost like they soaked up the experiences of those that lived and worked in them.
We are playing in a old theater that I believe was once a nunnery, it’s homely and even our rehearsal room is as welcoming as the people in the morning.
Anyway enough romantisising about painted plaster, I have to get some sleep, last day of tightening up the show tomorrow, where we expect Bruno Briscik and his cello to come and add some extra skill to our already colourful manifestation.
P.S: the ice cream is just incredible. not to mention the great simplicity of the wonderful home cooked food we are treated to every day by the magic “jesus feeds the five thousand”-esque talents of Lisa.
Bless!
2tall / Om Unit – dj2tall.com
Editors’ blog – Workshops day 2
We are sorry but this post is not yet available in English.
Da Giorgia Soncin.
Da oggi cambio di location, che si sposta dallo studio di Ericailcane agli spazi del Sì in via San Vitale 67 a Bologna, luogo deputato per l’evento conclusivo di sabato sera. E’ da oggi che le idee dei tre artisti prendono forma e interagiscono con lo spazio dandogli nuova vita.
Dopo gli interventi dei tre musicisti, che hanno permesso al pubblico di prendere parte alla gestazione del progetto, anche per quanto riguarda ERICAILCANE, DEM e WILL BARRAS, partono ufficialmente le prove in in loco che anche in questo caso dialogano con l’ambientazione scegliendo i linguaggi figurativi più diversi.
Altri elementi si aggiungono dunque alla composizione finale: L’interazione con lo spazio e la scelta di coniugare forme di espressione artisticha legate alla tradizione, che troppo spesso nell’arte contemporanea viene sottovalutata o messa da parte, con le tecnologie del video e dello screening.
Come giustamente ha detto Tayone, uno dei tre musicisti coinvolti nel progetto: “Non aspettatevi uno show come gli altri”. Né dal punto di vista musicale, né tantomeno da quello scenografico in cui gli artisti si riapproprieranno dell’ambiente rivoluzionando con esso l’intero spazio percettivo degli spettatori.
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Da Alarico Mantovani.
Sono arrivati i sub! E si sente…! Il Teatro San Leonardo rimbomba di bassi belli pieni e potenti mentre i Nostri sono all’opera sul materiale di ieri, per raffinarlo, ampliarlo e rielaborarlo al meglio. E’ già pronto un set di almeno una dozzina di pezzi, tutti preparati con impressionante rapidità, nell’arco di appena due giorni. Oggi pomeriggio, entrando in sala, pare evidente che il dialogo artistico stia decollando. La musica del trio assume un livello di fluidità palpabile, è rotonda e scorrevole ma incalzante… a tratti rivela qualche parentela con quei Glitch Mob su cui cadrà il discorso qualche ora più tardi…
Alle 18, come previsto, inizia il workshop dedicato alla sezione musicale di Original Cultures. Il pubblico si dispone nell’adiacente sala dello spazio Sì, dove si svolgerà lo show di sabato, ed assiste ad una dimostrazione in diretta video di Tay, 2Tall e Tatsuki, un assaggio del lavoro che stanno allestendo. Il live demo viene ripreso tramite una telecamera e proiettato su un grande schermo. Al termine del set gli artisti raggiungono i convenuti ed inizia una conversazione/interazione/intervista, gestita e moderata dal sottoscritto e da Laurent Fintoni. La discussione tocca diversi argomenti: in primo luogo la differenza tra l’attività musicale che comunemente svolge un producer e la peculiarità offerta invece da Original Cultures, quella di poter interagire giorno dopo giorno, gomito a gomito, in un’atmosfera di cameratismo creativo e spirito di condivisione di un’esperienza inusuale.
Il focus si sposta poi sulle modalità operative che si sono stabilite tra gli artisti: ne emerge in sostanza una sorta di intercambiabilità, casualità ed eterogeneità dei ruoli in fase di composizione. La chiacchierata scivola quindi sul ruolo del produttore e su quelle che sono le difficoltà di mettere in scena un live davvero efficace ed esauriente al giorno d’oggi. Non potevo non chiedere infine quali sono i loro preferiti al momento e tra i nomi escono Flying Lotus, Mark Pritchard e diversi esponenti della scena dubstep. Ottime scelte direi… Le chiacchiere e gli scambi di pareri proseguono in cortile. Fine della seconda giornata.
Original Cultures Bologna 09 – Day 1 video
Here it is, a short video edit of what happened during the first day of the Original Cultures Pilot at the music workshop. Featuring Tayone, 2tall/Om Unit and Tatsuki.
Edited by The Slow Breakfast. Available as a HD quality download (115mb) optimised for iTunes and iPod viewing. As usual it should work with all media players, as long as you have the latest codecs.
Click underneath the preview to download!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Organisers’ blog – Day 1
Whoa. I barely know where to start. Fourteen hours days combined with an unhealthy amount of coffee, cigarettes and sugar have left me a bit of a shivering wreck, and it’s only the beginning of the second (official) day. I’ve been for 3 days already, preparing everything and to be honest while I am a bit of a shivering wreck, I’m also incredibly hyper and I feel truly blessed to have witnessed what I have so far. More than that I feel blessed, as one of the organisers and the person with whom the idea for Original Cultures sort of originated, to know that our ideas, our discussions and our wishes are somehow turning to be true, and even better turning out way better than we’d expected.
I’ll keep this first blog post short as I’ve still got tons to do, but to balance the input from our team of writers and some of our artists (blogs from whom you can find here in Italian for the writers and here in Japanese for the artists) here’s an overview of the first official day, and some bits from the first few days.
The mood has been high since all the artists arrived on monday evening and tuesday morning. I think it’s fair to say that the (so far) beautiful weather, the incredible food (cooked by our resident badman chef/caterer Lisa) and the historical surroundings have a lot to do with helping to elevate the mood of all involved.
The music workshops, where Tayone (from Italy), 2tall/Om Unit (from England) and Tatsuki (from Japan) are working for 3 days creating music that will be used in the final showcase on Saturday June 6th, are taking place in the Teatro San Leonardo, a building that was first a nuns’ covent, some 400 years ago. And as we sat for dinner on the Tuesday evening in the courtyard of the Teatro it somehow felt very appropriate that we would be adding our bit of history to this beautiful place.
I’ve primarily been involved in overseeing the music workshops, as I know all 3 artists personally. They are first and foremost friends, and I am a fan of theirs as much as a friend, and so to see them come together and in the space of 8 or so hours put together an already lenghty amount of music and tracks has been incredible to say the least.
Our original thoughts, as organisers, was that on Saturday the showcase, which will last 2 hours, would be composed of roughly 4 movements, 3 x 30mins of solo (one for each artist) and one collective movement of 30mins. This went out the window by the end of the first day of workshops, with Tayone explaining that he felt much happier doing as much collectively as possible. Jim 2tall and Tatsuki both agreed, and so we decided to move forward with the first hour featuring 2tall and Tatsuki doing solos (being that they are the ‘real’ guests as Tayone lived in Bologna for years) and the second hour (or more) composed of a collective movement which the guys are creating as we speak. And truth be told, this is exactly I’d hoped for originally – the reality was that I know that asking artists to put together a 2h live show is demanding a lot, and rests on a lot of factors, especially people getting on and ‘gelling’ if you will. In the end, my hopes are turning reality it seems, as the guys are more than happy to do as much together as possible, and considering we’re about 1/3 of the way through the music workshops I’d say it’s even fair to think that we’ll have a lot more than one hour of music on our hands by the end.
And so day 2 starts. Today are more music workshops, as well as a seminar/meeting/q&a session between the musicians and music students in the late afternoon. While I sit here at home, coffee-ing it up and overseeing the content output of our event, the musicians have already started and I can’t wait to see what rested minds come up with today. Tiredness set in yesterday towards the end, and as Tayone put it “the more we do, the more we have, but also the more we come up with bits that aren’t as good”. Very true, but as 2tall countered “at the end the more we have, the more we can choose from to make sure it’s outstanding”. And that kinda sums it up for me.
I’ll leave you with a few choice quotes, as well as the amazing news that Bruno Briscik, a famed Italian multi instrumentalist with whom Tayone has collaborated on many occasions, will be joining the 3 artists for a couple of featurings on the evening of Saturday.
Oh and as for the visual art workshops, featuring the amazing talents of Ericailcane, DEM and Will Barras, well I’ve not had the time to see much yet, but you can read about it in our writers blog (Italian only for now) and know that what I have seen and spoken about with them leads me to believe that saturday will be special indeed. The 3 of them, from Italy and the UK, will essentially act as directors/choreographers for the showcase, orchestrating a full live, visual show for the music being made. And so far this show includes Chinese shadows, a black box and some very spooky figurines… Considering we’d originally hoped to have them paint walls during the day, something Ericailcane and DEM are known for, to know that they’ll now be doing something pretty much no one has ever seen them do makes me only feel even better. More pics and words soon come. Stay tuned.
From Bologna, with love (and a hell of a lot of coffee).
Laurent
PS: for those interested, so far the music is ranging from slow beats to house to jazzy hip hop and abstract instrumentals. Will post audio soon as I can.
Quotes:
You try and do an event in Italy and not make it about food!
Me, in response to Mark from Skratchworx’s tweet that Original Cultures was basically just about food.
It’s a pleasure to leave the studio, go to a new country and work with new people. The inspiration is unbelievable!
Tatsuki, at the end of the first day of workshops. With some pistaccio cookies on the side.
It just keeps getting better and better!
Jim 2tall, not sure when he said that though!
Links:
See behind the scenes on our Tumblr – originalcultures.tumblr.com
Catch the daily blogs on our site – originalcultures.org/blogs
Catch us over at Shook Magazine on the daily too – shook.fm
Hear us tweet as we go – twitter.com/og_cultures
And don’t forget to check/add/friend/fan us on the Flickr, Facebook and Myspace.
Editors’ blog – Music day 1
We are sorry but this post is not available in English yet.
Da Alarico Mantovani.
Ai nastri di partenza il più in palla è Tatsuki: durante la conferenza stampa svoltasi al Museo della Musica dichiara di essere lieto ed orgoglioso di esibirsi qui a Bologna perché Hidetoshi Nakata (ve lo ricordate?), il più celebre calciatore proveniente dal Paese del Sol Levante, ha in passato vestito la casacca rossoblu. Risata generale.
Una volta giunti alla location destinata ad Original Cultures, i tre dj/producer si dispongono uno dinanzi all’altro su un ampio tavolo quadrato installato al centro del palco del teatro San Leonardo. Una sistemazione ideale per collaborare in progress e conoscersi: inizia così, dopo un lauto pranzo, la prima giornata di prove. Da questo momento cominciano ad edificare, beat dopo beat, scratch dopo scratch, il live set collettivo inedito che presenteranno sabato sera al pubblico. Tutti con i loro portatili, mixer ed i diversi controller che ciascuno ha scelto per l’evento. Tay e Tatsuki utilizzano principalmente i giradischi, con il nipponico circondato da apparecchiature della Korg, l’azienda per cui progetta ed esegue dimostrazioni di strumenti sempre più sofisticati, mentre 2Tall utilizza keyboards ed un drumkit minimale.
Si parte. Scaldano i motori, si annusano su ritmi un po’ sovraccarichi e Tay One propone di scendere su ritmiche un po’ più distese e sincopate: viene fuori una sorta di remix di “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” dei Daft Punk. I tre virano verso un abstract hip hop che poi si fa assolutamente convincente quando assume toni electro-hop su campioni di Kraftwerk e Run Dmc. Jim 2tall inserisce note eteree e traballanti che mi trasportano con la memoria alle atmosfere acquatiche dei Drexciya (Underground Resistance esclama 2tall!). L’amalgama e l’affiatamento sembra crescere sensibilmente con il passare del tempo. La jam successiva si concentra principalmente sulle percussioni, con ritmiche che si fanno piu incalzanti ed una maggior attitudine esplorativa, alla ricerca.
La confidenza tra i tre è ormai piu che buona, complice il gelato al pistacchio elogiato a gran voce da Tatsuki… Ora ci avviciniamo a forme innovative con beat possenti come alcune delle migliori produzioni degli ultimi tempi, vedi l’ultimo Dr. Who Dat?, ma al contempo cerebrali, alla Flying Lotus, con interessanti derive wonky beats, molto Harmonic 313 e Joker. Il livello di coinvolgimento empatico giunge al culmine e così anche la capacità espressiva. A questo punto Laurent Fintoni, durante una pausa, fa il punto della situazione: visti i buoni esiti che si stanno raggiungendo sembra opportuno allungare la durata del live set collettivo a scapito di quelli individuali. Su questo mi trovo perfettamente d’accordo. L’appuntamento è per la giornata successiva.
Original Cultures Pilot – Programme
What? Original Cultures Pilot
When? June 3 to 6
Where? Bologna, Italy
Final programme:
• Thursday 4 June @ Sì, via San Vitale 67
Time 18,00: seminar and meeting with musicians Tayone, 2Tall/Om Unit, Tatsuki
• Friday 5 June @ Libreria Modo Infoshop, via Mascarella 24/b
Time 19,00: seminar and presentation of the Original Cultures project with all artists and staff
• Saturday 6 June @ Sì, via San Vitale 67
Time 18,00/22,00: live aperitivo with live art from Ericailcane, Dem, Will Barras + DJs
Time 22,00/24,00: live showcase with music from Tayone, 2Tall/Om Unit, Tatsuki and art from Ericailcane, Dem, Will. Directed by the artists, one of a kind showcase!
• 1/31 July @ Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
Installation and exhibition of all the work produced during the Original Cultures pilot + extra work commisioned for the occasion
For more information on the artists please visit our Artists section. For full details of each activity please visit our Events section.
See you there!
2tall aka Om Unit – Original Cultures Radio
Our first show on Samurai FM is now available for download. The Original Cultures Radio shows go out monthly on Samurai FM and will be archived and podcasted right here a month or so after each goes live on Samurai. Keep up to date via our Samurai FM page or on this here site via our RSS feed and iTunes feed.
For the first show 2tall aka Om Unit put together over an hour of the music that he has been feeling recently including a couple of Om Unit forthcoming tracks. Download details and tracklist are below.
Each month Original Cultures Radio will showcase music from the project’s artists as well as audio recorded exclusively during our events. The next mix will go live on Samurai FM next week courtesy of Tayone.
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Dorian Concept – The Fucking Formula
Debruit – pointy
Erik L – Cerebral Vortex (instrumental)
Illum Sphere – Murky (you know)
Ras G – Come Down (2 earth)
Little Dragon – After The Rain (floating points remix)
Om Unit – The Corridor
Om Unit – Beings Of Light
Moderat – No. 22
Phase One – Phase One
Kode 9 – 2 far gone
Skream – Rimz
The Lazarus Project – LFO (dubstep remix)
Seven – Siren
Lorn – Of Hearts
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures Bologna 09 – Trailer 2
The second trailer video for the Original Cultures pilot is now live. This time we’re shining a bit more of a light on the 3 musicians who will take part in the pilot: 2tall aka Om Unit, Tatsuski and Tayone who represent the UK, Japan and Italy respectively.
The Original Cultures pilot will culminate on June 6 with an evening event featuring live painting, music, art and more. The whole evening will be orchestrated and directed by the artists following 3 days of workshops where they will work together to create art specifically for use in the event. For full details on this and all other pilot events visit our Events section, or go straight to the Live Showcase details.
You can download the podcast directly from our RSS feed (and while you’re there why not subscribe?), or below. You can also view it on our Youtube and Vimeo pages, and it will shortly be available on our iTunes feed.
Once more the video was edited by The Slow Breakfast.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Original Cultures radio presents 2tall / Om Unit
The first Original Cultures radio show is now online over at Samurai FM. Put together and mixed by Jim Coles aka 2tall / Om Unit, it’s a 40 minute ride into his current musical favourites and own productions.
You can find the show on the Samurai home page as well as on the Original Cultures page on the site. You can stream it as many times as you want, and we will make the mix available as a podcast by the end of the month.
Every month Original Cultures radio will showcase an exclusive mix from one of the artists involved in the project, as well as exclusive audio from the events. All shows will be made available for download afterwards on the site and on our feed.
Massive thanks go to Samurai FM, one of our media partners and a close affiliate of the project. If you’re not familiar with them yet than we suggest you check their site for some excellent mixes and regular shows from across the board, representing music from both Europe and Japan.
Original Cultures ‘09 – Musicians
Original Cultures focuses on two specific strands of modern performing arts: music and visual arts. Within these two strands Original Cultures works with both established and upcoming artists from the UK, Italy and Japan.
The 3 artists chosen to represent the music strand for the first year of Original Cultures activities (2009) are:
- 2tall / Om Unit (UK) – click to view bio and discog
- Tatsuki (JP) – click to view bio and discog
- Tayone (IT) – click to view bio and discog
Together these 3 artists will take part in events in the UK, Italy and Japan throughout 2009 and 2010: Original Cultures Bologna 09 (June 2009), Original Cultures London ‘10 (March 2010) and Original Cultures Tokyo ‘10 (TBC).
During each event the artists will work together to create collaborative works inspired by the cultural exchange and interaction fostered by Original Cultures. This work will take place mainly during private workshops where the artists are given a brief to create new art, or in some cases given a free hand to come up with their own brief. The resulting works are then used as part of various activities such as public workshops, seminars, showcases and exhibitions.
All 3 artists come from a similar background, having had a hand in the development and evolution of the turntablist scene in their respective countries, and have followed similar evolutions, moving away from the world of scratching towards music production and live shows.
You can listen to examples of the music created by the 3 during Original Cultures Bologna 09 on our Soundcloud page and our documentaries page. You can also view footage from the workshops on our Vimeo channel.
