Arts writer
NEXT Tuesday a retro garage in Salt River will see a punk opera singer, a string quartet, a makhoyane bow player, a drummer and gang of motorbikers convene in what promises to be one of the most interesting collaborations this spring. This VOMO Motorcycle Orchestra gig will be at Detroit Vintage Garage at 10 Briar Street, Salt River from 8pm.
Vocalist Juliana Venter, famed co-founder of the 1990s cult group, The Mud Ensemble, returns to her hometown after an 11 year residency in Berlin to lead a formidable cast of performers and musicians through this hour-long performance. Armed with eerie electronics and a Kaoss Pad, she’ll share the stage with the Sh...Art Ensemble, a string quartet focused on new music and fresh off the back of their acclaimed Radiohead Reworked performance in August.
Cara Stacey contributes her contemporary makhoyane and umrhubhe bow compositions to the mix and Milan-born noise drummer Andrea Dicò, who specialises in ‘trash and toys’, accompanies the work. Amidst the calm and chaos of this ensemble, the fleet of motorcyclists will turn on their engines and take to the stage.
The piece is an exploration between voice and machine, between cult and clan. A homage to the passion that is exemplified in the biking community, it serenades the modern person’s obsession with speed, prestige, freedom, eroticism and engines – creating a space for people from different backgrounds to meet and share an unlikely experience.
Venter, having trained classically and worked extensively in the electronic and neue musik scene, is always looking to expose audiences to new experiences. “Much as I’ve felt a deep affinity with avant-garde music practice throughout my adult life, I’ve found the scene at times, as restrictive as the conventional worlds it attempts to challenge.”
With the involvement of motorcyclists the performers see a chance to connect with a community with which they are not typically associated.
“I find myself in a world disillusioned by fear – of the unknown and of one another. Music to me is an act of facing this fear. It is a ritual of vulnerability and exchange. With noise music in particular, both performer and audience must embrace the unknown and relinquish control of the emergence, allowing the possibility for catharsis.”
The VOMO performance will weave together compositions from several of the performers and some from other South African composers. Inspired by a poem by Rumi, the work finds points of commonality and contention in the divergent styles of its participants. Juliana reworks compositions from her soon to be released solo album.
Samro winner Matthijs van Dijk, who co-founded the Sh...Art ensemble with fellow string players Sarah Evans, Nicola du Toit and Galina Juritz, composed a work for VOMO amidst his co-ordination of the Shnit Film Composers Competition. Stacey’s compositions are featured on her album Things That Grow, which was released this year to critical acclaim. Galina Juritz, having collaborated in March on an audio-visual work Surface Passing at the Infecting the City Festival, Juritz and Switzerland-based sound designer Kurt Human debut a techno-inspired finale that features all the performers.
In 2011Venter released the album Sunflower Sutra with guitar composer Joseph Suchy, who has worked with the likes of Mouse on Mars and Jacki Liebezeit, under the name Spooky Attraction from a Distance released on Staubgold. Venter recently performed with saxophone player Rolf Erik Nystrom and singer Maja Ratkje at the Lillefestivalens in Norway and is currently completing her solo record. She is also currently working on a theatre production, The Congress of Dreams, by experimental theatre and opera director Susanne Ogland, which will premiere at the Blackbox on November 25 in Oslo.
Cara Stacey is a founding member of the Inclement Quartet and Pergola, and performs in a number of improvisatory ensembles. Her debut album Things that Grow is available on KIT records.
l www.thewire.co.uk/audio/ btr/below-the-radar-21/18, www.text ura.org/reviews/stacey_thingsthat grow.htm