tune in
This week’s edition of The Arts Show was a musical extravaganza. It’s the first time on the show’s history that music has featured as part of every guest’s interview and it’s not something we’ll be doing every week – there’s
Mikey Kirkpatrick
to much else going on in this fine city – but this one-off was a huge success. It was such a treat to have a one on one with Mikey Kirkpatrick, the flautist composer/producer whose control of several flutes (yes, at one point flutes plural, one each side of his mouth) was breath taking. He demonstrated techniques such as over breathing – the thing you’re not supposed to do during recorder lessons at school – and, to my surprise – this is a classically trained musician after all – used the recorder like a kazoo, singing into it, humming into it, playing the side of his face with his hand whilst producing nuanced and exciting music. The same is also true of his Native American pipe (no, not that kind); he explained that it’s possible to bend the sound by passing the fingers across the hole in the top – instead of a clean note you hear a phased one, and very beautiful it was too. The audio treats on pre-record were just as exciting and include a drum and flute combo that achieves things you’d never have thought possible. I’d urge you to give it a listen. Mikey himself was about as enthusiastic as they come; whilst his explanations and explorations of his craft are comprehensive and delivered with a gusto that could almost become overbearing, it keeps his passion in check and offers some of the most engrossing contextualisation of an instrument I’ve heard.
A very different sort of music forms one half of the partnership between choreographer Mel Simpson and guitarist Sean Bright of The Penny
Mel Simpson and Sean Bright
Serenade. Their partnership which has its roots in Mel performing with the band as tap dancing sheep – yes, you heard me right – is about bringing an old style of entertainment up to date. In the interview Sean wondered if there wasn’t some question over the artistry of entertainment, whether stuff that’s made to be fun has any artistic value. The debate is an interesting one. I’m glad to see that both Sean and Mel seem to be comfortable with their form and are engaging and funny when talking about it. On The Arts Show I get to see lots of partnerships in action and it’s clear to me that theirs is solid; like some of the musical techniques employed by The Penny Serenade, the 13 person line-up looks built to last.
Penny Pepper
The musical aspect of Penny Pepper’s act is an accompaniment, an extremely important one, perhaps even a fundamental one, but as Penny herself says, the words come first. Jo Cox’s cello sounded really good, but then I’ve always had a soft spot for the cello. There was also plenty of tambourine rattling and whooping adding dimensions to Penny’s performance. Formally, they seemed to sit somewhere between songs and performance poetry and I enjoyed the sardonic wit that kept resurfacing in Penny’s pieces as well as the naughtier sides and the twinkle in her voice. Can one have a twinkle in one’s voice? Listen to Penny’s work and you’ll be convinced that the answer is yes.
Then, in between the guests talking about music, playing music, extolling the
Jo Cox
sublime recollection. I’m a huge fan of Jack Hurd’s music – I’ve worked with him before, on performed works for which I’ve written and he’s composed, so the revelation of his CD Obvious – an album of great variety in the pop/rock mode of The Divine Comedy is, by turns, hilarious and poignant, angsty and brash and very much about the stuff that goes on in Jack’s head. The track that we played on the show was one of the slower paced, pensive, nostalgic tracks and also my favourite from the album and perhaps a good counter point to the drum thrashing and tambourine shaking elsewhere on the show. Once again, I had the opportunity to meet a diverse bunch of artists and talk to them about something close to their heart, for which privilege I remain grateful. If our broadcast hadn’t been delayed due to technical issues at the studio, we would have had, I think, complete harmony.
Tags: Jack Hurd, Jo Cox, Melanie Simpson, Mikey Kirkpatrick, Penny Pepper, Robin Holloway, Sean Bright, The Penny Serenade
