mutek 2010

very pleased to be included in eric mattson‘s curated performance series ectoplasmes 3 in MUTEK 11.  i will be performing on june 3 @ the venerable monument national on st laurent blvd in downtown montreal.  i will be performing with stéphane claude and phillippe-albert gauthier.

check the website for details and see you there!

so much!

well.

the peggy baker show went great.  6 channel mix.  no waiting.  and i got a raging fever right after opening night.  perfect.

many new projects in the mix, some of which i can’t talk about.  but one i can talk about is the fact that i posted new live excerpts from the shruti project on vimeo.  you can see excerpts from the show @ the music gallery in toronto on march 11.  thanks to jonny dovercourt (for inviting me to open for david caniell and tortoise’s douglas mccombs) and sandor ajzenstat (for fixing my framing on the video camera recording the proceedings).

musicworks‘ feature interview on my process creating the CDMC commission kailash will be coming out soon.  you can see a scan of it @ my press page and of course you can listen to the commission and a feature program (in spanish) from links on that page as well.

now it’s applications time, so there are lots of packages to be mailed and presenters to contact.  there are some exciting things on tap for 2010/11, so keep it locked to find out what’s what in the upcoming DEB.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/10221562]

arrivé / knuckleduster

well, they are here.  the new CD, Anudrutam, arrived today.

you can buy tracks or the whole CD here, and in Toronto they will be available @ Musideum.  There is a distribution deal in the offing…more details later.

the berlin trip was everything robert and i hoped it would be—we have a CD’s worth of music, easily.  we also now have a name (those of you in bands know this is no mean feat): knuckleduster.  we like it.  you can be our fan.

we’ll be working on the music over the winter and see what happens.  likely something good.

stay tuned….

berlin again/new site

i’ll be heading back to berlin at the end of january to continue recording with my good friend robert lippok (our previous session in november at the amazing former DDR Rundfunk studio buildings is detailed here —opens in a new window, or you can just scroll down the page).  we will be recording in east berlin at a beautiful small studio owned and run by bernd jestram, one half of the great duo tarwater (the other half is robert’s drummer brother, ronald).

i also have launched version 3.0 of the debsinha.com website.  part of the re launch is to officially “release” the multichannel video installation i made about the passing of my father, entitled he sat on the glittering precipice (many thanks to yvette tollar for the name).  please visit and let me know what you think.

expect more coffee and beer fueled comments from berlin at the end of january.  until then….

pics of DDR Rundfunk

well, i’m back.  still recovering and processing the whole trip.  robert and i recorded @ P4 studio, tracked by the very excellent human christian bader who runs planet roc in the same building.  we got some great music down and generally had a good musical time.  hope to be doing more of this soon.

in the meantime, here, in no particular order and most of them very fuzzy, are some pictures.  also check out the studio websites above—they have some great shots.

best for the holidays.  lots of upcoming things, including a feature in musicworks magazine and an artist talk hosted by vague terrain.

the long threatened CD is on its way as well…..stay tuned.

The Bell Garden / Berlin

my new solo live performance project, the bell garden, had its debut here in toronto tonight as part of musideum‘s live performance series, terrain.  the bell garden is a new series of performances using harmonium and percussion objects, along some of the archived field recordings with which i often work.  it is an extension of the shruti performances, more “musical” but still exploring a contemplative and personal sound world.

the first performance, rough edges and all, is available here for download.  i would suggest downloading the file for higher quality listening.

i am off to germany to visit family, and finally, finally record with my good friend and colleague robert lippok, in the former east berlin radio studios.  i am tremendously excited to be making music with robert, and even more excited to be doing it in a building so steeped in world history (and intrigue).  watch this space for news on the upcoming release.

happy holidays.

nuit blanche 2009

a time lapse film of the peggy baker dance project nuit blanche performance is up, thanks to filmmaker midi ondera, here.

many thanks to peggy, the dancers, meredith potter, ben grossman and phil strong for all their hard work.

incidentally, confluence, the triptych of works that i have spoken about earlier, will be premiered in toronto feb 24-28 2010.  the music is coming along nicely and the final show will be about an hour long.

hope to see you there.

belfast kommt

a few more sleeps until i go to ISEA 2009.  i will, as i have mentioned, be presenting a new video, the white dog, and will be performing my shruti audiovisual project on aug 27 around 9pm.  please drop by if you get a chance—coincidentally my friends from autorickshaw will be in belfast at the same time.  expect a big toronto reunion at the nearest pub afterwards—i haven’t seen any of them in over a year.

soon after returning, i will be doing the harmonium audiovisual project at the toronto portion of the international indian electronica festival.  september 4 is the date, and rolly’s garage is the place.  9pm start, cover tba (check the website).  i look forward to doing this project here in toronto.  some new surprises are in store for this performance, including the excellent reading of text i wrote, courtesy of berlin electronica star robert lippok, who incidentally has a great voice.

sept 19 has my visual work as part of the next bird project concert.  this ensemble of flutes, voice, piano, poetry, electroacoustic sound and video is still going strong, and we are well into our season.  unfortunately i won’t be there to do live visuals, as i will be on a plane to spain to present my new work kailash, the winner of the CDMC/Ars Sonora prize.  the piece will be premiered at the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Alicante, and i am really thrilled to be going there to present.

finally, peggy baker and i will be presenting the dance/audiovisual installation project move @ nuit blanche toronto on october 3rd (7pm to sunrise).  24 dancers and a great band—myself, ben grossman, and phil strong.

hope to see you there.  somewhere.

radio/CD

the spanish radio piece i spoke about in an earlier post is nearing completion.  my liason for the project is miguel alvarez fernandez, who translated the text i wrote into spanish and recorded the fantastic reading of it by radio clasicá personality gregorio parra.  things sound sooooo much better in spanish.

i am also in the happy position of having 2 options for releasing the new CD.  discussions are ongoing, but expect a late 2009 release as CD and on bandcamp.

i will be in residence as peggy baker’s accompanist this summer for various classes at the national ballet school, as well as for her yearly teacher’s seminar.  playing the drums will be nice—it always is with the inimitable ms. baker.

not to mention the little hurricane that is our daughter leena.

more international: spanish national radio

just found out i am the winner of the XVI radio creation works contest, administered by radio clasica (spanish national radio) and ars sonora.  this is a major prize, and i am really honoured and very flattered to have been chosen.  i will be creating  a new long form radio piece called “kailash”.  the work will be debuted at the international festival of contemporary music of alicante in late sept 2009.

thanks to the jury and to senor miguel alvarez-fernandez for awarding me such a high honour.