Fri 28 & Sat 29 Aug to feature Aidan O'Rourke, Jason Singh & more
A free gig, followed by three daytime music workshops, are to be staged as part of Aberdeen Performing Arts’ year-long Connect arts initiative featuring APA’s associated artists Aidan O'Rourke and Jason Singh.
The event kicks off at The Lemon Tree on Friday 28 August, with a free gig featuring Aidan, Jason and some very special guests including Fiona Soe Paing, Clutch and Carnatic singer Rahul Ravindran sharing what they have been working on individually, collaboratively and with community members.
The next morning (Saturday 29 August), two free workshops will be held simultaneously – Jason will host the 10am to 12pm session in The Lemon Tree, exploring the wide capabilities of the human voice and introducing participants to vocal warm ups, listening exercises, beatboxing techniques, North and South Indian Vocal Percussion, vocal sound effects, using gesture and visualisation to create voice based compositions, Circle Jams, looping technology and music apps for iPhone/iPad and laptop.
Aidan O'Rourke hosts a music creating session from 10am to 12pm in the Music Hall, encouraging participants to take along their instrument and an idea related to the ‘Connect’ theme and make a new piece of music, learning skills related to performing, composing and improvising with other musicians.
In the afternoon, from 1pm to 3pm in the Music Hall, the two groups will come together in another workshop to explore how diametrically different musicians and composers can collaborate and create together.
All of the workshops are open to all and are free, but places need to be booked by emailing APA project manager Nicola Henderson on nicolacgsmith@hotmail.com by Friday 21 August.
As Connect’s artists in residence, Aidan and Jason have been working with APA this year, creating connections across musical genres, ages and experience, building towards a mini-fest in January across both The Lemon Tree and Music Hall.
The improvised material created during the initial sessions is being shared on a Soundcloud page at https://soundcloud.com/connectapa, making the files accessible to the public who can Connect with them, and therefore Aberdeen, from anywhere in the world.
The tracks are available to download and anyone can remix/add to them and connect back with Aidan, Jason and the public.
A dazzling fiddler, Aidan O’Rourke stands at the centre of the modern Scottish folk music revival and in February last year was named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. He is best known for his groundbreaking trio Lau, formed in 2005 with accordionist Martin Green and singer/guitarist Kris Drever.
Musician, composer, sound artist and workshop facilitator Jason Singh is known predominantly for his work as a vocal sculptor and beatboxer, and his sound and music output is generated through his ongoing exploration of the human voice and its application to art, music technology, education, nature and the environment.
Keep up-to-date with the project on the APA Associate Artists Facebook Page.
