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Midsummer 2006

by: A Tiny Window

Publication date: 2006-07-06

Usage: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Various lo-fi recordings of improvisational saz collaborations from the 2006 Sunrise Festival and the Avebury area a few days later.

Notes

Sunrise Festival site - photo by Phil Bull, from www.efestivals.co.uk
1 recorded in the "Woodhenge" post-circle, Sunrise Festival with Tim "Invisible" Hall, current Bard of Glastonbury (acoustic guitar) [18/06/06]

2 recorded with Suzi Steer (violin) after Stevie P's birthday meal/celebration, Sunrise Festival crew campsite. We'd just done some really interesting serial-music type jamming involving Sam on clarinet, but she had to leave to play on the main stage with Green Angels, at which point Suzi and I got this together [18/06/06]

3-7 recorded with Ale and Hugh from Bristol's improvisational Orchestra Cube (a.k.a. "The Cube Orchestra") on a little stage in the Triban Cafe of the Sunrise Festival craft area. We were struggling a bit with the sonic environment (it was quite close to the main stage). Ale - tablas, acoustic guitar; Hugh - electric bass guitar (played with various implements), transistor radio. [19/06/06]

Sunrise Festival - part of craft area

part of the craft area at Sunrise - photo by Phil Bull, from www.efestivals.co.uk
8-9 recorded a bit later the same afternoon with Ale and Hugh at the nearby Ogham Tree Cafe. Our set got cut short by a very loud grunge band kicking off on the main stage. [19/06/06]

10-11 recorded in an extraordinary grove of beech trees on Furze Hill, near the intersection of the Ridgeway and the Wansdyke, having cycled up to Avebury from the festival, and witnessed a beatiful solstice sunrise. [23/06/06]

view from Golden Ball Hill

Knapp Hill and Adam's Grave from Golden Ball Hill - photo by 'notjamesbond'
12-17 recorded on Knapp Hill. Skylarks, insects, etc. are audible in the background. Track 17 is just 45 seconds of this ambient sound. "Knapweed" and "The Midsummer Cushion" are new tunes I've been developing - these are just rough sketches which give the general idea. John Clare, a 19th Century writer Vicky's introduced me, to records that it was "a very old custom among villagers in summertime to stick a piece of greensward full of field flowers and place it as an ornament in their cottages which ornaments are called Midsummer Cushions". He published a collection of work as The Midsummer Cushion. Knapp Hill and Walkers Hill opposite were like vast midsummer cusions. [24/06/06]

The Alton Priors yew - photo by Thorgrim from The Megalithic Portal
18 recorded inside the amazing 1700-year-old yew tree in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Alton Priors (just down from Knapp Hill, Adam's Grave, etc.) It's a jam interpolating a tune of sorts I made up years ago called "King David's Harvest" [24/06/06]

The Freedome - photo by Phil Bull from www.efestivals.co.uk
19-23 recorded in the "Freedome" at the Sunrise Festival. This was part of the larger Orchestra Cube contingent's spontaneous "coup"...The dome had been largely dominated by what we felt to be somewhat tedious funk/rock jamming, so one by one we got up on stage and plugged in, gradually shifting the vibe in a more experimental direction. Me - saz; Ale - tablas, readings, acoustic guitar(?); Hugh - electric bass guitar; Simone - electric violin; Bel - trumpet; various unknown individuals - electric guitars, drums, stream-of-consciousness vocals. The entire "coup" lasted about 75 minutes, from which I've edited the more interesting sections. After we'd finished (the funksters having eased their way back onto the stage, us lot coming off one-by-one), I observed to Ale that a couple of the other players who'd stuck it out had somehow managed to keep the "funk" vibe going throughout our more challenging output. "Ah...you can't kill the funk," he replied. [17/06/06]

A Tiny Window
The Spring - 'audio blog' contact: mwatkins@maths.ex.ac.uk

Addeddate: 2006-07-06 20:05:37

External_metadata_update: 2019-04-13T00:47:09Z

Identifier: midsummer_2006

Run time: 130:55

Source: MiniDisc

Taped by: MRW

Year: 2006

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Reviewer: euchrid - - February 17, 2007
Subject: [wonderful folky jams]

The music here (and all the various related projects - Children of Drone, the Dongas Tribe and Ail Fionn) is of really exceptional quality. It all sounds highly professional, yet relaxed and informal.

This is some of the best psychedelic folk and folk jams I have come across - and I haven't even finished listening to it all yet!

Thank you for producing and sharing this fantastic body of work. I wish you every success and will be coming back to hear more.

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