Of the Earth

Of the Earth

This is really happening

WOMEX
‘My big dream is to some day open a world music retreat center. But that will come when the time is right.’ The words of Dmitri Vietze of world music publicity company Rock Paper Scissors, a contributor to ‘The New Label Architecture Emerges…’ conference at the Womex world music fair in Copehagen starting 28 October. Womex has a special ‘Nordic Club’ showcase this year, focusing on the music of Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. www.womex.com

Kaleidoscope
The violinist Cliodhna Ryan and the cellist Kate Ellis curate Kaleidoscope in Dublin, a monthly night of music which aims to ‘bring classical music out of the concert hall’. The music ranges from Baroque to contemporary composers, with an additional focus on improvised music, electronic music and collaboration with other art forms, such as dance and film. 6 October and the first Tuesday of every month thereafter; The Odessa Club, Dublin; www.kaleidoscopenight.com

Umbrellowhead
‘So many British acts have really upped their game… Every band I saw seemed to have added a new dimension to its live performance..,’ wrote Jon Boden in a recent blog after returning from the Cambridge Folk Festival. They may be following his band Bellowhead’s lead: this October, to coincide with their English tour, they release Umbrellowhead, a 14-track compilation of music from the eleven band-members’ other projects. www.bellowhead.co.uk

The Red Tree
‘If we are going to avoid the artistic cul-de-sac of endless variations of the same formulae… it is artists such as Niall and Caoimhín Valllely who will put up the signposts we need,’ wrote Niall Keegan in the last issue. Niall Vallely’s new composition, The Red Tree, is being performed as part of the Cork Folk Festival on 3 October. Commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm, it will be broadcast on Grace Notes in November. www.rte.ie/lyricfm/trad/

Ardee Baroque
‘When Handel travelled through Chester, on his way to Ireland, this year, 1741 … I very well remember seeing him smoke a pipe, over a dish of coffee, at the Exchange Coffee House; for being extremely curious to see so extraordinary a man, I watched him narrowly as long as he remained,’ wrote Charles Burney. Handel is back in Ireland – as part of the 6th Ardee Baroque Festival on 13-15 November in Co. Louth. www.createlouth.ie

L’anarquia del silenci
A special exhibition at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) is devoted to the work of John Cage, with a special focus on his ties to visual artists, such as Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauchenberg. 23 October – 10 January; MACBA, Barcelona; www.macba.cat

LIFEM
The inaugural London International Festival of Exploratory Music encompasses six themes: minimalist chamber music of the UK; Inuk snow songs, ice folk and throat singing; the meeting of Chinese, Middle-Eastern and Irish musics; electronic music from Brazil; Yiddish, Sephardic and Klezmer wedding music; and Japanese electronica. 4–7 November; Kings Place  London; www.lifem.org.uk

DENSITÉS
Barra Ó Séaghdha asks where Peter Brötzmann and John Tilbury fit within definitions of jazz (see page 28). Both are at Densités. 23–25 October; Pole Culturel, Fresnes-en-Woëvre; www.vudunoeuf.asso.fr

New Ireland?
Dublin’s Contemporary Music Centre presents New Music, New Ireland as part of London’s Out Hear festival. Music by eleven Irish composers  for violin and piano will be performed by Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea, and Ioana Petcu-Colan and Michael McHale, in two concerts respectively. 12 October and 16 November; Kings Place, London; www.cmc.ie

Artmusfair
Declaring to ‘stress the importance of permanent innovation in music as the enhancement of our musical cosmos’, ArtMusFair is a gathering of 500 composers, music publishers, record labels, musicians, promoters, managers and agents from across the EU. 29 October – 1 November, Glasgow; www.artmusfair.eu

Huddersfield Prayer
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival will open with Prayer, a multi-channel sound installation by James Webb, which features the prayers of various faiths as recorded in Huddersfield. 20–29 November; Huddersfield; www.hcmf.org.uk 

Yurodny
‘Regional idiosyncrasies that characterise a people and a place are being diluted by a Western tendency towards a standardised consumer and mass media-driven monoculture.’ So say the ten-piece Yurodny, who tour Ireland in October and November. 21 October – 6 November; Limerick, Navan, Cork, Dublin, Bray, Headford, Clonakilty, Manorhamilton; www.myspace.com/yurodny 

Roger Doyle at Sixty
Crash Ensemble is celebrating the composer Roger Doyle’s sixtieth birthday with a programme of his works, including The Room in the Tower, a new work. 25 October; Project Arts Centre, Dublin; www.crashensemble.com

A Tribute to Alan Lomax
T-Model Ford (see page 40)is one of many to give concerts as part of an exhibition that celebrates the work of the collector of folk music. The exhibition incorporates a photo exhibition and screenings of Lomax’s documentaries. 25 August – 27 October; Ancienne Belgique, Brussels; www.abconcerts.be

The Irish Hajj
Described as the Irish Hajj, Oireachtas na Gaeilge, the music and culture gathering of Irish speakers from all over the world, takes place over five days from 28 October in Letterkenny, Donegal. They’re looking for volunteers too, to help with the influx of 20,000 people. www.antoireachtas.ie 

Impakt
The Impakt Festival looks at our relationship to time: ‘The tyranny of clock time has given way to a complex web of diverging rhythms, cycles and tempos, which stimulate the temporal imagination as never before.’ 14–18 October; Various venues, Utrecht; www.impakt.nl

Marginalised
Gavin Bryars’ Jesus Blood Never Failed Me (featuring a recording of a homeless man) is performed at Marginalised, a festival raising money for London’s homeless. 19–24 October; Union Chapel, London; www.unionchapel.org.uk

Lausanne Underground
‘You must turn the volume up,’ says Ian Wilson about SunnO))) (see last issue). They play at the Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival. 14–18 October; Various venues, Lausanne; www.luff.ch

Published on 1 October 2009

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