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Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion — ‘Let us stop this mad rush towards the end’, live at Ambika P3 (LCMF) (2019)

The five pianist/singer pairings were spread out across the space at Ambika P3

Event: Ragnar Kjartansson - An Die Musik, part of LCMF 2017 Date: 03 December 2017 Venue: Ambika P3, London Notes: Pairings of five pianists with five singers each performed Schubert’s short piece An Die Musik in their own tempo on repeat for seven hours. The five different versions being played at any one time flowed in and out of sync with each other and as a member of the audience you could walk around between the performers, shifting your personal listening experience towards one version or another. As the hours went by, this marathon show became less about the music and more a study of endurance and character - both of the performers but also of other audience members. A really special event which completely made me lose track of time. Seven hours well spent. Rating: 8.5/10

Read more about the event on LCMF’s website

This project has been in development for many years and has partially inspired my experiments with sitars (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMfUGpPWq8U) and influenced the artist-led space, Usurp Art, that I run in West Harrow, a neglected suburb of London. It is inspired by the rich and symbolic short stories by J.G. Ballard, that are imbued with sound, written and published over a number of years and in the anthology, “Vermillion Sands”. I am also researching Ballard’s manuscripts at the British Library and specifically his notes and marks on an abandoned manuscript for “Vermillion Sands”. I am also creating graphic scores for new compositions and performances. The first score is primarily inspired by the “Prima Belladonna” and “Venus Smiles” stories that conjure up singing plants, “choro-flora”, a glowing “mutant diva” and music that becomes optical. The first performance was at the London Contemporary Music Festival on 11th December 2015 at P3 Ambika, London. Being the creator and performer of the new instruments and sounds, that I am calling “senso-stamens”,  I am also seeking to resist the sometimes destructive, female archetypes. In 2016, I will be developing this project further in India, thanks to support by the Arts Council England and the British Council. I will post more notes and documentation as the project progresses. The photographs are of the new instruments, the “senso-stamens” and the live performance at the London Contemporary Music Festival. More to follow.

"Vermilion Sands has more than its full share of dreams and illusions, fears and fantasies, but the frame for them is less confining. I like to think, too, that it celebrates the neglected virtues of the glossy, lurid and bizarre." J.G. Ballard