I popped down to the Fishermen’s Chapel in Old Leigh over the weekend to attend the Konsztrukting Soundz event. Four acts, two of which I want to make notes on. Here’s the full bill.
Started off exploratory, gentle, almost traditional, almost ASMR. Halfway through it was like Diamanda Galas shrieking down a pipe. Fascinating.
Her instrument is the Korean daegeum.
According to Korean folklore, the daegeum is said to have been invented when King Sinmun of Silla was informed by Park Suk Jung, his caretaker of the ocean in 681 that a small island was floating toward a Buddhist temple in the East Sea. The king ordered his caretaker of the sun to test whether this was good luck. The caretaker replied that a dead king who turned into a sea dragon, and two great warriors are giving a gift to protect Silla, and if the king would visit the sea, he would receive a priceless gift. The king soon sent a person to look for the gift. The person replied that a bamboo tree on the top of the island becomes two in the morning and one in the night. On the next day, the world shook and it rained and wind blew, and the world was thrown into darkness for a week. When the king went to the island himself, a dragon appeared and told him that if the bamboo on the top of the island was cut down, made into a flute, and blown, the country would be peaceful. The king cut down the tree, and the flute made from the bamboo was called manpasikjeok…
She told a version of this story during her performance. There was the sighing of trees in the breeze, and ten thousand waves, and then the storm. Actually riveting.
Eiko Yamada and Teresa Hackel.
I spoke to Teresa Hackel briefly afterwards because I wanted to know what instrument she started the piece off with – it looks like a huge chunk of doorframe converted into a musical device. Turned out it was called a Paetzold Recorder
You can see it partway through this video of them playing together a few years ago.
They were absolutely stunning.
I had to leave before buying the CDs I had my eye on, which I still regret. But I had a great time and learned a bunch of new things.