Invisible Places

The Invisible Places conference was good, if a little overwhelming. There were so many talks and activities, and I'm afraid it's all a bit of a blur. Also, Mary arrived on the first day of the conference so I missed out on some papers I would have loved to hear that day because I was picking her up at the airport and getting her situated in Ribeira Grande. (Some papers that I especially liked were those by Stephen Roddy, Hugo Branco, Paul Tourle, Andy McGraw, Angeliki Diakrousi, and Hildegard Westerkamp's moving keynote talk, which you can watch here even though it is incorrectly titled.) I also had rehearsals with my musicians on the first two nights, so missed out on many of the evening social gatherings, which apparently went on until the wee hours. I was especially sorry to miss a surprise concert by Peter Cusack in the same small church where we heard Medeiros/Lucas a couple weeks ago. The resident artists all gave short talks on Saturday, and I spoke a bit about my project then.

L-R: Raquel Castro, Robin Parmar, SP, Yannick Guéguen, Jen Reimer, Max Stein, Cláudia Martinho. Photo: André Mestre/Invisible Places.

The performance of my piece was the final event of the entire conference. I was very pleased with how it turned out. The musicians I had been working with for the previous two weeks really formed into a solid group and did a fantastic job. It was a pleasure getting to know them and working together to build an ensemble and a new version of the piece, and to present it here in the Azores to the people for whom it was made. (You can listen to it here.) The audience was large and appreciative, and I got some very nice feedback from people who found it quite moving. The entire experience was incredibly gratifying, and certainly one of the most meaningful and significant events of my entire life. My deepest obrigado again to Raquel Castro, Diana Diegues, and all of the musicians for making it happen.

Now, who's gonna book that inter-islands tour?

Lagoa Do Fogo

Today was the first really gorgeous, sunny, rain-free day we've had since I arrived. Robin and I decided to rent a car so we could get out and about more easily, and it was absolutely worth it. First stop was Lagoa do Fogo (Lake of Fire), which I tried to visit the last time I was here but missed due to weather. As you can see, it's pretty stunning — a large lake in the bottom of an ancient volcano. It's about a 30-minute hike down a fairly steep trail to get to the water from the road, and we were definitely tired on the trip back up. But it was absolutely worth the effort.





This last photo shows a small concrete jetty on which I lay in the sun like a contended cat, listening to the gentle splashes and splooshes all around my head. I pretty much felt like I could have died right then and it would have been just fine.



This recording gives a pretty good idea of what it sounded like, although it's actually a composite of three separate recordings: one on each side of the jetty, and one with the recorder stuck down a hole in the concrete jetty, which you can just make out in the photo. That last part isn't entirely realistic, as I would have had to be laying with my ear in the hole to hear all those really low gurgling sounds. But the feeling is right. In the background you can also hear the many gulls and terns which nest here.

spnonseq · Lagoa Do Fogo

After we climbed back up we drove to the town of Vila Franca do Campo, which was the original capitol of São Miguel until 1522, when it was wiped out by an earthquake and mud slide that killed about 5000 people. It was due to this and some other earthquakes that followed that the previously-mentioned romeiros began their pilgrimages during Lent, walking counter clockwise around the island and visiting all of the churches to atone for whatever may have caused these disasters. This tradition is still carried on in the US. We've seen or heard at least one group of romeiros each day since we arrived, and I love hearing them sing/pray as they pass through the main street of town. Here's an excerpt of a recording made as they passed by our house at 5 AM. You can hear them slowly approaching over the sound of a neighbor's TV blaring from across the street.

spnonseq · Romeiros #4

Meet the Band

We had our first rehearsal last Monday night. It was a bit rough, but that's always to be expected the first time through. Afterwards, I went home and re-wrote the timeline/chart we are using as a score, translating it into Portuguese and adding notes for each section to clarify/solidify the ideas we discussed in rehearsal.

Last night was the second rehearsal, and with the new chart things went much better. The band members now have a clearer understanding of what happens in each section, so they can focus more on playing and less on trying to remember what they are supposed to do. I'm quite confident that with two more rehearsals they will have it all worked out.

The musicians are all really nice folks who are making a serious effort on this crazy piece. Some of them play jazz, but I don't think most are very experienced with this kind of improvisation, so it's maybe a bit of a stretch for some of them. But they are open-minded and enthusiastic, which counts for a lot. Also, the sections of the piece that refer to traditional Azorean music are working out great because they have that stuff in their blood. I really appreciate their willingness to make the time for this, rearrange their work schedules, stay out late on work nights, etc. – for the sake of the experience, and no pay. Yet another example of Azorean generosity!

BUSTED! L-R: José Medeiros (trombone), Gianna De Toni (bass), Carlos Miguel Mendes (tenor sax), Luís Senra (tenor sax), Carlos Medeiros Carlos (clarinet), Nuno Carreiro (trumpet)

In other good news, I was able to re-make the opening sequence of the piece. It starts out with the bubbling thermal mud pits at Furnas. But when I was there before it was in summer and very crowded, and I didn't get such good recordings because of all the human noise, so that section was shorter than I would like, felt like it ended before it really got going. But the other day we made a field trip and went to Furnas around 8 PM when there was almost nobody there, so I was able to make some new recordings and used those to make a longer opening sequence. It only adds about 40 seconds to the piece, but I think it's a stronger beginning, a bit more "primal."

Also on that field trip we visited a tea plantation where I encountered many goats, who love to walk between the rows of tea plants scratching their sides along the plants as they go. After all of our recording adventures we ate some fish in Porto Formoso, a very sweet little town on the beach.

Here's a video by my housemate/fellow resident artist Robin Parmar that gives a taste of that day's field trip.

Three Dances from Robin Parmar on Vimeo.

Arquipélago

Apparently, someone decided that what this little beach town of 4000 people really needed was a fancy contemporary art center, and so we have Arquipélago. When I was here in 2014 it was still under construction and not yet open. They converted an old industrial building that was once used to make alcohol, and before that to process tobacco, which was grown here. Now it is a very nice exhibition space for contemporary arts, with an excellent black box theater that I am working in.

I am especially jealous of the system of weighted pulleys that allows all of the lighting bars to be lowered and raised from the floor, without going up in a rickety lift. And they do have cat walks above in case you need to go up for some reason. I also like the fact that there have been two competent government employees helping me out with setting up sound and lights. The room has surprisingly good acoustics. When I heard "black box" I expected the usual dry acoustics, but this space has a lovely reverb that will allow us to perform without amplifying the instruments. And while the sound system may not be state of the art, it is perfectly adequate for what I am doing here. So far so good!

Ribeira Grande

On this trip I'm staying in the town of Ribeira Grande, which I visited only once previously for one evening so didn't know very well at all. Having been here for almost two weeks now, I can say that I like it very much. We are on the north coast of São Miguel, in the middle part of the island. It's the second largest city on the island, with a population of around 4000, so not as busy as the main city of Ponta Delgada, which is only a 20-minute drive away. We have plenty of most things one would need, and the town has a relaxed feeling that I really like. And yes, we do have a large river. There is also a very nice sand beach here, a bit of a rarity in these parts. And a radio station. And a fancy new contemporary arts center where I have been rehearsing and will be performing soon. I'll write about that in another post. For now, I'll just post a few pics taken along the main street that give a pretty good sense of the town.

Below is a picture of Nuno's house, where we are staying. The door in the center is his, and everything you see on the top floor. This was originally two houses that were later joined together.