Thanks: Sirene 1009 (Cork, 2017)

Sirene 1009: Caroline Pugh, Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders (Cork, 04-07-17). Copyright 2017 John Hough.
© 2017 John Hough.

Belated kudos—I’ve been stuck in a bit of behind-the-scenes scheming (more on that soon…)—to all involved in the recent series of performances (and workshop) in Cork…

Thanks to all the people and the partner organizations in helping us make music: to Paul O’Donnell and Kelly Boyle of FUAIM; to John Godfrey and Christine Dennehy at the UCC Music Department; to Franziska Schroeder and Simon Waters at SARC; and to the Arts Council for their generous support. Special thanks to Hugh McCarthy of CIT Cork School of Music for coming forward with a new venue help us patch a date, to Mike McGrath-Bryan and Ann Rea (at the Firkin Crane) who helped in that process, and to Jonathan Stock who supported the project right from its inception back in May 2016.

For the all their technical support and know-how, big thanks to David Bird (SARC), David Slevin (CSM), and John Hough (UCC). (Thanks also for the photography, John!) Thanks to Dave Whitla and Niall McGuinness for helping source a double bass for Dom. Thanks to Ros Steer, Kevin Terry and Megan Gallen for the essential FOH work. And a big thanks to Alex Fiennes for his sound creativity—always a pleasure!

As always the warmest thanks to everyone who came to listen.

Finally, thanks to all the performers: thanks to Dan Walsh (or CIMC) and Catherine Sikora for their faultless and unfaltering musicality, and to Dom, Mark and Caroline! As I said in an interview published in the Evening Echo the day before our last performance:

Here’s what the group sounds/looks like from where I sit on stage: Dom Lash’s confident and enthusiastic interjections in sound and line; Mark Sander’s unerring inventiveness—leaping any and all obstacles to musicality with gestures small and large; and Caroline Pugh’s pulling in-and-out of musical and linguistic spaces with her spontaneous conlangs.

Play again soon!

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

improvisation workshop with Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash, Han-earl Park and Caroline Pugh (Cork, 2017)

Caroline Pugh, Mark Sanders, Dominic Lash and Han-earl Park (copyright 2016 Jordan Hutchings, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, 2010 Seán Kelly, and 2014 Han-earl Park)
© 2016 Jordan Hutchings, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler, © 2010 Seán Kelly; and © 2014 Han-earl Park.

Friday, April 7, 2017, at 2:30pm (setup: 2:10pm): you are invited to a group improvisation workshop with drummer Mark Sanders, double bassist Dominic Lash, guitarist Han-earl Park, and vocalist and electronics performer Caroline Pugh. The workshop takes place at the Aula Maxima (University College Cork, Cork).

[Register for the workshop (€20)…]* SOLD OUT.

*Registration included free download/unlimited streaming of a track, Cliodynamics III, from the album Sirene 1009 (BAF000).

There are a small number of discount places for students at CIT Cork School of Music and UCC Department of Music. To claim your place, UCC Music students, please contact John Godfrey; CIT Music students, please contact Han-earl Park. SOLD OUT.

Places are strictly limited. It is the workshop attendees’ responsibility bring their own instruments, and any necessary amplification, etc. We ask that all attendees be on time as there is only a 20 minute setup time (2:10pm to 2:30pm).

Calling all ambitious, aspiring improvisers!

Are you a musician, artist, sound-maker or composer wanting to make music collectively? Are you an improviser in jazz, rock, folk or other tradition wishing to engage across traditions? Are you a performer finding it difficult to bridge the frameworks of idiom and the promise of open, free-play of improvisation? Are you an aspiring free improviser?

A practical, playful, hands-on masterclass, this workshop will offer a unique opportunity for performers to participate in musical interactions, and create spontaneous musical expressions. In addition to learning to realize the possibilities of improvisative play, the workshop will be an opportunity to meet and interact with local, national, and international practitioners of improvised musics.

The workshop is for:

  • Aspiring improvisers wanting to engage with a broader canvas of interactive strategies.
  • Performers and composers interested in alternative, collaborative music-making.
  • Performers seeking meaningful ways to deploy unorthodox or nonstandard sounds and gestures.
  • Those who want to meet, play and talk.

Who: workshop instructors

Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (copyright 2010 Seán Kelly, 2016 Bruce Coates, Andrew Putler, and 2016 Jordan Hutchings)
© 2010 Seán Kelly, © 2016 Bruce Coates, © Andrew Putler, and © 2016 Jordan Hutchings.

The quartet of improvisers who make up the ensemble Sirene 1009, represent many decades of professional experience in complementary fields. The artists have extensive experience as teachers and educators.

Mark Sanders has run music workshops in music schools from Cambridgeshire, England to Szeny, Poland, and at festivals such as the Poschiavo Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He has given masterclasses at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Trinity School of Music, Middlesex Polytechnic Music Department, and the Guildhall School of Music and the Music Therapy Department. He has been a tutor in Free Improvisation at The Royal Academy of Music, London for thirteen years.

Dominic Lash has been involved in leading improvisation workshops at Newcastle University (2006 and 2008), Oxford University (2008 and 2009), Falmouth University (2012 and 2013) and Trondheim Music Academy (2013).

He has given private bass lessons since 2001.

Han-earl Park taught improvisation at University College Cork (2006–2011). He founded and curated (2007–2011) Stet Lab, an alternatively pedagogical space in Cork.

He has lead, or co-lead, workshops at University of Hull: Scarborough Campus (2012), and the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast (2015). Park privately taught guitar and improvisation since 2004.

Caroline Pugh has 10 years of experience giving vocal workshops to children, students, mixed ability groups and adults in schools, universities (Queen’s University Belfast, Northumbria University, Saint Louis University, University of California at San Diego, Royal Scottish Conservatoire Scottish Music Youth Singing Project) and community centres.

She has 10 years of experience one-to-one vocals lessons; and 10 years of experience in working with people with learning difficulties and a variety of different assistive technologies, plus related training (University of Central Lancashire, Napier University, and Edinburgh College of Art).

She emphasizes collaborative workshops alongside other artforms, including dance, psychology, visual art and drama.

By Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh

Cover of ‘Sirene 1009’ (BAF000) with Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh (artwork copyright 2017, Han-earl Park)

Sirene 1009 (BAF000) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Sanders (drums) and Caroline Pugh (voice and tape recorder).

© + ℗ 2017 Han-earl Park.

updates

03-16-17: registration info for UCC/CIT music students.

reminder: Han-earl Park, Roslyn Steer and Dan Walsh, with Kevin Terry and John Godfrey at The Roundy, Cork

Poster copyright 2014 Han-earl Park. Click to view PDF…
Poster © 2014 Han-earl Park. Click to view PDF…

This coming Monday (20 October 2014), at 8:30pm (doors: 8:15pm): Han-earl Park (guitar), Roslyn Steer (bass) and Dan Walsh (drums), with Kevin Terry (guitar) and John Godfrey (guitar) perform Upstairs at The Roundy (Castle Street, Cork, Ireland) [map…]. Admission is one euro note of your choice (€5/10/20…) at the door.

performances: Han-earl Park, Roslyn Steer and Dan Walsh, with Tony O’Connor, Kevin Terry and John Godfrey at The Roundy, Cork

Poster copyright 2014 Han-earl Park. Click to view PDF…
Poster © 2014 Han-earl Park. Click to view PDF…

Sunday, September 28 and Monday, October 20, 2014, at 8:30pm (doors: 8:15pm): performances by Han-earl Park (guitar), Roslyn Steer (bass) and Dan Walsh (drums), plus guests including Caroline Pugh, Tony O’Connor, Kevin Terry and John Godfrey, take place Upstairs at The Roundy (Castle Street, Cork, Ireland) [map…]. Admission is one euro note of your choice (€5/10/20…) at the door.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [The Roundy page: Sep 28…] [Facebook event: Sep 28…] [Facebook event: Oct 20…]

updates

09–24–14: add Caroline Pugh to the September 28 lineup.

performance diary 08-16-14 (Birmingham, Cork, London)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
September 28, 2014 The Roundy
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland
8:30pm (doors: 8:15pm) Han-earl Park (guitar), Roslyn Steer (bass) and Dan Walsh (drums), with Caroline Pugh (voice) and Tony O’Connor (bass).
Admission: One euro note (€5/10/20…).
[Details…] [The Roundy page…]
October 20, 2014 The Roundy
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland
8:30pm (doors: 8:15pm) Han-earl Park (guitar), Roslyn Steer (bass) and Dan Walsh (drums), with John Godfrey (guitar) and Kevin Terry (guitar).
Admission: One euro note (€5/10/20…).
[Details…]
October 28, 2014 The Lamp Tavern
Barford Street
Birmingham B5 6AH
England
8:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Mark Sanders (drums) presented by Fizzle. Also performing: A, B & C (Lee Allatson: drums; Stewart Brackley: bass and voice; and Bruce Coates: saxophones). Admission: £5 (£3).
[Details…] [Fizzle listings…]
October 30, 2014 Long White Cloud
151 Hackney Road
London E2 8JL
England
8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm) Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Mark Sanders (drums) presented by LUME. Also performing: Strikethrough Me & You (Sam Andreae and Rodrigo Constanzo). Admission: £5.
[Details…] [LUME page…]
2014– Europe I am based in Europe as of 2014, and I am seeking performance opportunities for, in particular, my Europe-based projects including Numbers (with Richard Barrett), Mathilde 253 (with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!
2015 UK Seeking performance opportunities for the quartet of Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet), Han-earl Park (guitar), Adam Hopkins (double bass) and Dominic Lash (double bass) in the UK, early/mid 2015. Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!

Continue reading “performance diary 08-16-14 (Birmingham, Cork, London)”

performance diary 04-20-14 (Cork, New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
May 3, 2014 St Anne’s Church
Shandon
Cork, Ireland
2:00pm Han-earl Park (guitar) performs as part of Sonic Vigil 8. Also performing: Natalia Beylis, Tore Boe, Andrea Bonino, Danny McCarthy, Cave, The Quiet Club, Massimo Davi, Áine O’Dwyer, Derek Foott, John Godfrey, Claire Guerin, Paul Hegarty, Iride Project, Anthony Kelly, Fergus Kelly, Vicky Langan, Tony Langlois, Iarla O Lionard, Laney Mannion, Monica Miuccio, MiXile, Irene Murphy, Olesya Zdorovetska, Robin Parmar, Karen Power, David Stalling, Queef, Nick Roth, Softday, Mick O’Shea, Antje Vowinckel and Jeffrey Weeter. Admission free.
[Details…]
May 18, 2014 Gulpd Café
Triskel Arts Centre
Tobin Street
Cork, Ireland
9:30pm Performance by Han-earl Park (guitar), Kevin Terry (guitar) and Dan Walsh (drums) as part of CIMC.
Admission free.
[Details…]
June 6, 2014 The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
55 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
3:00pm Performance by Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones) as part of ISIM: Cross-Cultural Improvisation III.
Conference fees from $25 (single event) to $200 (entire conference [more info and get tickets…]. [Details…]
June 8, 2014 Why Not Jazz Room
14 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014
7:30pm Performance by Han-earl Park (guitar) and Tom Rainey (drums) as part of Andrea Wolper’s Why Not Experiment? Series. Also performing: TransAtlantico (Lamy Istrefi: drums, percussion, sound efx; Lawrence Leathers: drums, sound efx; Brahim Fribgane: percussion, goumbri, oud, sound efx). Recommended donation: $10 per set.
[Details…]
2014– Europe I am based in Europe as of 2014, and I am seeking performance opportunities for, in particular, my Europe-based projects including Numbers (with Richard Barrett), Mathilde 253 (with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!
September–October 2014 Europe Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora) is seeking performance opportunities late-September and October 2014. Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!

Continue reading “performance diary 04-20-14 (Cork, New York)”

performance: Sonic Vigil 8, Cork

Sonic Vigil 8 poster (copyright 2014 Mick O’Shea)
Poster © 2014 Mick O’Shea.

Saturday, May 3, 2014: Han-earl Park (guitar) performs as part of Sonic Vigil 8. Also performing are Natalia Beylis, Tore Boe, Andrea Bonino, Danny McCarthy, Cave, The Quiet Club, Massimo Davi, Áine O’Dwyer, Derek Foott, John Godfrey, Claire Guerin, Paul Hegarty, Iride Project, Anthony Kelly, Fergus Kelly, Vicky Langan, Tony Langlois, Iarla O Lionard, Laney Mannion, Monica Miuccio, MiXile, Irene Murphy, Olesya Zdorovetska, Robin Parmar, Karen Power, David Stalling, Queef, Nick Roth, Softday, Mick O’Shea, Antje Vowinckel and Jeffrey Weeter.

The event takes place between 2:00pm and 8:00pm, at St Anne’s Church (Shandon, Cork, Ireland). Admission is free.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

Stet Lab: audio recordings—the Big Scrub

Stet Lab logo
For those that don’t know, I founded Stet Lab, a space for improvised music based in Cork. I curated the Lab between 2007 and 2011, and during that time, also wrangled its online presence. In August, I will be removing some of the audio recordings of Stet Lab’s first year (prior to the November 2008 event) from its website. Read more to find out how to save your favorite recordings. [More…]

CD available: io 0.0.1 beta++

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) CD cover (copyright 2011, Han-earl Park)
io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) © 2011 Han-earl Park

Released as part of SLAM Productions’s August 2011 CD catalog: ‘io 0.0.1 beta++’ (SLAMCD 531) with Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder.

[Slam Productions catalog page…]
[www.io001b.com page…]
[Discography entry…]

description

We watch and listen carefully because we know we’re seeing a kind of manifesto in action. What is an automaton? A sketch, a material characterization of the ideas the inventor and the inventor’s culture have about some aspect of life, and how it could be. io and its kind are alternate beings born of ideas, decisions and choices. It is because io stands alone, an automaton, that the performance recorded on this CD not only is music, but is about music.

Sara Roberts (from the liner notes)

An extraordinary meeting between human and machine improvisers. Featuring the machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ with guitarist Han-earl Park (Mathilde 253, Wadada Leo Smith) and saxophonists Bruce Coates (Birmingham Improvisers’ Orchestra, Paul Dunmall) and Franziska Schroeder (FAINT, Evan Parker), the recording is part critique and part playful exploration, both a boundary-breaking demonstration of socio-musical technologies and an ironic sci-fi parody.

Constructed by Han-earl Park, io 0.0.1 beta++ is a modern-day musical automaton. It is not an instrument to be played but a non-human artificial musician that performs alongside its human counterparts. io 0.0.1 beta++ represents a personal-political investigation of technology, interaction, improvisation and musicality. It whimsically evokes a 1950s B-movie robot—seemingly jerry-rigged, constructed from ad-hoc components including plumbing, kitchenware, speakers and missile switches—celebrating the material and corporeal.

The performances with this artificial musician highlight society’s entanglement with technology, demonstrate alternative modes of interfacing the musical and the technological, and illuminate the creative and improvisative processes in music. The performance is a radical and playful engagement with powerful and problematic dreams (and nightmares) of the artificial; a dream as old as the anthropology of robots.

With liner notes by the California-based interactive media artist Sara Roberts.

io 0.0.1 beta++ was constructed by Han-earl Park with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, and with significant input and feedback from Bruce Coates, Franziska Schroeder, Murray Campbell, Sara Roberts and Phil Burk.

We would like to thank John Hough, Melanie L Marshall, Alex Fiennes, Kato Hideki, John Godfrey, Clair McSweeney, Riccardo Vallebella, Paul Everett, Mel Mercier, Kevin Terry and Stephanie Hough.

The recording preceded the performance at Blackrock Castle Observatory which was presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from Blackrock Castle Observatory, the Castle Bar and Trattoria and the UCC Department of Music.

personnel

io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone).

track listing

Pioneer: Variance (11:52); Pioneer: Dance (13:13); Ground-Based Telemetry (1:42); Discovery: Intermodulation (9:08); Discovery: Decay (5:08); 4G (0:59); Laplace: Perturbation (10:21); Laplace: Instability (3:08); Return Trajectory (8:24). Total duration: 63:57.

recording details

All music by Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder.

Tracks 1–5, 7 and 8 recorded May 25, and track 9 recorded May 26, 2010 at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, Cork. Track 6 recorded August 19 2010 at C-ALTO Labs, Cork.
Recorded and mixed by Han-earl Park.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.

© 2011 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.

about the performers

io 0.0.1 beta++ whimsically evokes a 1950s B-movie robot, constructed from ad-hoc components including plumbing, kitchenware and missile switches. Its celebrates the material and corporeal; embracing the localized and embodied aspects of sociality, performance and improvisation.

io 0.0.1 beta++ is an interactive, semiautonomous technological artifact that, in partnership with its human associates, performs a deliberately amplified staging of a socio-technical network—a network in which the primary protocol is improvisation. Together the cyborg ensemble explores the performance of identities, hybrids and relationships, and highlights the social agency of artifacts, and the social dimension of improvisation. Engineered by Han-earl Park, io 0.0.1 beta++ is a descendant, and significant re-construction, of his previous machine musicians, and it builds upon the work done with, and address some of the musical and practical problems of, these previous artifacts.

The construction of io 0.0.1 beta++ has been made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Ireland.

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park (박한얼) has been working within/from/around traditions of fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, mostly open improvised musics for over fifteen years, sometimes engineering theater, sometimes inventing ritual. He feels the gravitational pull of collaborative, multi-authored contexts, and has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces in Austria, Denmark, Germany, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA.

A constructor of low- and mid-tech electronic and software devices, and an occasional score-maker, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies, and, in some instances, objects that obscure the location of the author.

He is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, is involved in collaborations with Bruce Coates, Franziska Schroeder, Alex Fiennes and Murray Campbell. Recent performances include Mathilde 253 with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith; duo concerts with Paul Dunmall, and with Richard Barrett; trios with Matana Roberts and Mark Sanders, with Catherine Sikora and Ian Smith, and with Jin Sangtae and Jeffrey Weeter; as part of the Evan Parker-led 20-piece improvising ensemble; and the performance of Pauline Oliveros’ ‘Droniphonia’ alongside the composer. Park has also recently performed with Lol Coxhill, Pat Thomas, Corey Mwamba, Mark Trayle, Pedro Rebelo, Alexander Hawkins, Mike Hurley, Chick Lyall, Thomas Buckner and Kato Hideki. Festival appearances include Sonorities (Belfast), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), VAIN Live Art (Oxford), and the Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology Festival (California). His recordings have been released by labels including SLAM Productions and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park founded Stet Lab, a monthly improvised music space in Cork, Ireland, and taught improvisation at the UCC Department of Music.

Bruce Coates has been heavily involved with free jazz, free improvisation and experimental music for more than 15 years. He has collaborated and performed with a long list of some of the best-known names in these areas. He is cofounder of the Birmingham Improvisers’ Orchestra, has a long standing working relationship in many different guises with guitarist Jamie Smith, a regular trio with David Ryan and bassist John Edwards and runs the monthly Birmingham FrImp night.

Recent collaborations have included regular performances with the saxophonist Paul Dunmall, appearing alongside Dunmall on his DUNS label (the only saxophonist to do so); the Paris-based Blackberry Orchestra led by Peter Corser and involving some of France’s best known improvisers including Denis Charolles and Guillaume Roy; and a CD with the Amsterdam based Mount Fuji Doom Jazz Corporation released on the Ad Noiseam label in 2007. Current ensembles include SCHH with Chris Hobbs, Mike Hurley and Walt Shaw; Magtal with Mark Sanders and Jonny Marks; and the performance art oriented Mutt with Marks and Shaw. His ever-growing eclectic list of collaborators also includes Tony Oxley, Lol Coxhill, Christian Wolff (performing alongside the composer at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London), Hilary Jeffrey, Phil Gibbs, Paul Rogers, Trevor Lines, John Coxon, Misterlee, Bong Ra, Simon Picard, Tony Bianco, Han-earl Park, Tony and Miles Levin and Tony Marsh.

Franziska Schroeder is a saxophonist and theorist. She received her saxophone training in Berlin and Australia and later from Marie-Bernadette Charrier / Conservatoire Supérieure in Bordeaux.

With her trio FAINT Schroeder released a CD of improvised and electroacoustic music in 2007 with Pedro Rebelo (piano and instrumental parasites) and Steven Davis (drums), and a second CD, both on the creative source label. Schroeder has performed with many international musicians including Pauline Oliveros, Stelarc, the Avatar Orchestra, Chris Brown, John Kenny, Tom Arthurs, Nuno Rebelo and Evan Parker.

She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and has written for many international journals, including Leonardo, Organised Sound, Performance Research, Cambridge Publishing and Routledge. Her book “Re-situating Performance Within The Threshold: Performance practice understood through theories of embodiment” appeared in 2009. Schroeder also published a book on user-generated content for Cambridge Publishing Scholars in 2009.

Schroeder is on the development committee of NMSAT (Networked Music & SoundArt Timeline), and has been on the programming committee for the DRHA (Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts) conference since 2009. She was the Program Chair for the DRHA 2010. Schroeder has been an AHRC Research Fellow and is now a Lecturer/RCUK Fellow at the School of Music and Sonic Arts in Belfast, where she coaches 3rd year recitalists and MA performance students.

arts council logo

The construction of io 0.0.1 beta++ has been made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Ireland.

‘Mathilde 253’ (SLAMCD 528) CD cover (copyright 2010, Han-earl Park)

Also available from SLAM Productions: Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) [details…]

Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone).

© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.

Stet Lab: signing-out as curator

Stet Lab logo

Originally posted at Stet Lab [original article…]:

As previously announced, after thirty-two events over three and a quarter years, I’ve stepped down as curator of Stet Lab as of February 2011. The duties of running the Lab now are in the very capable hands of Veronica Tadman, Tony O’Connor, Athos Tsiopani with curatorial duties handled by Kevin Terry (Kevin and Tony performed at the very first Lab!). I’d like to thank all of them, Kevin, Veronica and Eoin Callery in particular, for their work keeping this no-budget, alternatively pedagogical space on track over the years. (And thanks for the whisky y’all!—sorry I was too taken to make a proper speech.)

My thanks also to all the guest artists who have shared the stage with us, generously contributing to, and transforming, this practice. There’s too many names to mention, but I’d like to thank, in particular, two club-runners, Bruce Coates (who with Sarah O’Halloran and I kicked-off Stet Lab in November ’07) and Mike Hurley for their advice, cautionary tales and encouragement; to Murray Campbell, Franziska Schroeder and John Godfrey who took time out of their busy schedules, and stepped-up when others would/could not; and to Corey Mwamba, Ian Smith, Justin Yang and Alex Hawkins for encouraging words, and an unwavering belief in grass-roots music organizations. Special thanks to Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders and Don Malone; heavy-hitters who believed in the Lab enough to participate with neophyte improvisers in what must be, by their standards, a low-key event.

Kudos to Jesse Ronneau for supporting improvised music, and the aims of the Lab in particular, during his time in Cork. I apologize for the many whose name I’ve not listed, but y’all have my warmest thanks, and my sincerest admiration for your contributions—we are a better space for it!

Of course, the biggest thanks go to everyone who participated as listener (and I am thinking in particular of the regulars who come every month!), and to those brave ones who jump-in the deep-end!

Signing-off as curator: Thanks, thanks, thanks and thanks to y’all!

BTW, some of my observations about running this space around the half-way point of my tenure as curator are at ‘Lab report 2007-2009: how to run an improvised music club’.

Please note that Stet Lab’s site has moved to stetlab.wordpress.com. Please update your bookmarks for the site and the corresponding web feeds. busterandfriends.com/stet will remain as an archive of Lab activities between November 2007 and April 2011.

Also, there is now an index of Lab reports written between June 2008 and April 2011 by fourteen author-practitioners documented over nineteen events from the POV of the stage.

thanks: Mathilde 253 with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (Cork and Dublin, 2011)

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Han-earl Park, Charles Hayward and Ian Smith (photos copyright 2011 Julia Healy)
Photos © 2011 Julia Healy

Thanks to Catherine Kirby and everyone at the National Concert Hall for able and professional assistance, to John Godfrey, Juniper Hill and Melanie L. Marshall, the then coordinators of the UCC Music Research Seminar Series, who strongly supported Wadada’s visit, and to Mary Hickson, Chris Gaughan, Peter Crudge, Eoin Winning and everyone at the Cork Opera House. Kudos to Tony O’Connor and Athos Tsiopani for the behind-the-scenes help, and to John Hough for the videography and the technical support. Thanks also to Carmel Daly and Mel Mercier of UCC School of Music; Gary Sheehan of Note Productions; Jeffrey Weeter, Paul O’Donnell and, formerly, Jesse Ronneau of the UCC Concerts Committee; and Andreas W. Ziemons, Niamh Ryan and Louise Walsh at Music Network. Thanks to David Leikam of the Arts Noticed, Linda Plover of Blue Monkey PR, Eoin Brady and Bernard Clarke of Nova, and Sandra Quinn at the Evening Echo for their support.

A big thank to the best sound engineer in the world, Alex Fiennes, for amplifying the Cork event, and making the performance sound its best! and to Melanie for the conversations and unofficial roadie duties. Kudos to Marian Murray for jumping into the deep end, a special note of thanks Paul G. Smyth for stepping-up to support this project, and to Dennis Cassidy, Fergus Cullen and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly who came to the rescue when our drum-hire situation briefly went into tail-spin.

And of course a big, big, big thanks to Charles Hayward, Ian Smith and Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith for letting me share in their skill, craft, intelligence, musicality, generosity and sense of play (and their patience with this first-time tour manager): I’ll treasure Charles’ rhythmic travels to the outer reaches of an alternative-universe Caribbean; Ian’s brave counterpoint; and the spiraling, expert stacatto precision of Wadada’s trumpet.

Last but not least, thanks to all who came to listen and witness creative music in real-time!

  • Arts Council Ireland logo
  • Music Network logo

Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from UCC School of Music, Note Productions, the National Concert Hall and the Cork Opera House.

performance diary 12-29-10 (Cork, Dublin, London)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
January 4, 2011 The Roundy
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland
9:00pm
(doors: 8:45pm)
First Stet Lab of 2011 featuring Murray Campbell (violin) John Godfrey (guitar).
Admission: €10/5.
[Details…]
January 24, 2011 The Roundy
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland
9:00pm
(doors: 8:45pm)
Performance by Jin Sangtae (electronics) with Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums).
Admission: €10/5.
Details to follow…
February 7, 2011 The Roundy
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland
9:00pm
(doors: 8:45pm)
Stet Lab featuring Steve Davis (drums).
Admission: €10/5.
[Details…]
February 19, 2011 Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14, England
TBC Performance by Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn)) with special guest TBC.
Details to follow…
March 2011 The Netherlands I’m looking for performance opportunities in The Netherlands mid-March 2011. Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!
March 30, 2011 Venue TBC
Dublin, Ireland
TBC Performances by Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) with Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn)). Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award. Details to follow…
March 31, 2011 Venue TBC
Cork, Ireland
TBC Performances by Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) with Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn)). Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award and support from the UCC School of Music. Details to follow…

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