ros pic

Ros Dunlop
clarinettist
The Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour

East Timor multimedia

Europe & Hong Kong, Jan-Feb 2003


bottom

mw-s pic

Martin
Wesley-Smith

composer

This tour - a great success! - has concluded. Here's a report by Martin Wesley-Smith:


We started in Manchester, where we gave master classes and did two concerts. The second concert included the premiere of a new piece which was incomplete before we left but which I managed to finish when we got there; called Tekee Tokee Tomak, for clarinet & CD-ROM, it mainly used images from our July 2002 trip to East Timor, including, in one section, several images by Kathryn Morgan and Alice Wesley-Smith. We subsequently included it on many of our programs, receiving, mostly, an excellent response. It was designed to present a more positive, even optimistic, slant on the East Timor situation than the other pieces (X and Welcome to the Hotel Turismo), which were necessarily somewhat bleak in comparison.

Concerts in Kent and Reading were followed by an impromptu concert in Liverpool at St Michael's Church, organised by a Jesuit priest, Father Arthur Fitzgerald. After this we spent several days at the University of Glasgow (concert, master classes etc), then drove south again for a concert at Trinity College, Oxford. This was also an impromptu event, organised by Jesuit priest Father Billy Hewitt and hosted by scholar Dr Peter Carey. The University of Kingston was next, followed by the University of York, then our main concert: St Cyprian's Church in London. Next day we flew to Hong Kong, where the Australian Consulate-General had agreed to sponsor our concert but only if we didn't include my "politically sensitive" East Timor pieces (needless to say, we didn't comply). Ros returned to Australia next day, but I stayed on to teach for a few days at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts.

For some of our concerts we were joined by Australian clarinettist Natascha Briger. Australian cellist Rachel Scott played Welcome to the Hotel Turismo on our London concert. In London we stayed for a couple of nights with Max Stahl, who gave us a lot of assistance with our London, Liverpool and Oxford concerts. In addition to performing, we were able to make valuable (we hope!) contacts with various people able to assist with future tours, CD distribution etc.

A few comments:

1. The audience at most concerts (in Music Departments, mainly) had at best a very sketchy knowledge of East Timor. But a comment we received at one was interesting: that the basic issues raised in our East Timor pieces could be applied to many similar situations elsewhere and that hence the pieces were relevant and timely even if the East Timor situation was not of pressing concern.

2. In contrast, the audiences at the impromptu concerts we gave in Liverpool and Oxford were attended by people who were generally politically aware and concerned. The current world situation gave a heightened sense of urgency to what we were doing.

3. We received financial assistance for the tour via a Pathways Grant from the Music Board of the Australia Council (the federal government's arts funding and advisory body, to which much gratitude), which meant that while we didn't make a lot of money at least we didn't lose a lot. The attempt by the Oz Consulate-General in Hong Kong to censor, in effect, our program was an example of the government's left hand not knowing what its right hand was doing. The consulate is currently running a "Celebrate Australia" promotion; it seems to me that there ain't a lot to celebrate if Australia tries to influence what its artists present overseas.

Finally, our thanks to all who assisted us on this venture!


Martin Wesley-Smith (PO Box 159 Kangaroo Valley NSW 2577 Australia; tel: +61 [0]2 44 651 299; e-mail; web).


note:
The rest of this web-site, which remains as it was before we left Australia, was used to provide information, schedule, program notes, photos, technical set-up etc etc for host organisations. It is included here for reference only.

Since this tour, we have completed a tour of the USA. For information, click here.



general blurb | concert repertoire | review | lecture/demo topics | pics | schedule
Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios | e-mail Dunlop | e-mail Wesley-Smith

click here to download complete program notes, technical requirements, photos and other information

optimised for Internet Explorer (yeah, we know ...)


Ros Dunlop is one of Australia's leading clarinettists, especially of contemporary repertoire. Martin Wesley-Smith is one of Australia's best-known composers and multimedia artists; many of his pieces have been heard (and seen) in many parts of the world. On May 20 2002, East Timor, a country and people ravaged by Indonesian occupying forces from 1975 to 1999, became the world's newest nation. These are the three main elements of The Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour.

In 2002 Dunlop and Wesley-Smith visited East Timor twice, giving concerts in Dili, Ermera, Hato Bulliko, Laga, Los Palos and Same. In January and February 2003 they will be presenting concerts in Europe and Hong Kong that focus on East Timor, the repertoire to include Wesley-Smith's multimedia pieces X (about Xanana Gusmão), for clarinet & CD-ROM (1999), Welcome to the Hotel Turismo, for bass clarinet & CD-ROM (2000), and a brand-new piece called Tekee Tokee Tomak.

Live clarinet, computer sounds, and stunning images of East Timor, many taken during the carnage of the Indonesian occupation ...

While several concerts have been organised, there is room in the schedule for more. In addition, both Dunlop and Wesley-Smith will be available for talks, lecture/demonstrations etc, either separately or, better, together. Enquiries:
e-mail Martin Wesley-Smith (PO Box 159 Kangaroo Valley NSW 2577 Australia; tel: +61 (0)2 44 651 299).



an image from X for clarinet & CD-ROM: torture photo [click photo to enlarge]


concert repertoire | review | lecture/demo topics | Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios
schedule | e-mail Ros | e-mail Martin

Ros Dunlop has been a strong advocate for the cause of new music for the clarinet for most of her professional life. She has premiered many new compositions for clarinet and has had many written especially for her. She has performed throughout Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe and the USA, including a recital of Australian works at the International Clarinet Festival in New Orleans in August 2001. Her two solo CDs have received wide acclaim (her third - X - was released just last month). As a member of the chamber duo Charisma, she premiered five multimedia works at the 2002 Darwin International Guitar Festival and recently released a CD of works for clarinet and cello. She is also a member of the clarinet duo Touchbass, with whom she premiered a number of newly commissioned works at the 2002 Australian National Clarinet Festival. She teaches clarinet at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

For more information, see her home page

Martin Wesley-Smith is an eclectic composer at home in a diverse range of idioms. Two main themes dominate his music: the life, work and ideas of Lewis Carroll (e.g. the chamber piece Snark-Hunting, the choral piece Songs for Snark-Hunters, and the full-length choral music theatre piece Boojum!); and the plight of the people of East Timor (e.g. Kdadalak (For the Children of Timor) and VENCEREMOS!). A multimedia version of the "audio-visual music theatre" piece Quito - about schizophrenia and East Timor - has been performed many times in many countries by The Song Company. One of his pieces - For Marimba & Tape - is the most-performed piece of Australian so-called "serious art-music" (it exists in versions for other instruments, too, including For Clarinet & Tape). For many years Director of the Electronic Music Studio at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Wesley-Smith is now a full-time composer and duck-farmer.

For more information, see his home page


from Dunlop and Wesley-Smith's concert tour of East Timor, March 2002 (click to enlarge):


rob with kids audience at ermera timorese kids
Rob Wesley-Smith
with kids in Gleno [72K]
audience in Ermera [58K]

photography © 2002 Martin Wesley-Smith

Timorese young people
near Hato Bullico [128K]

"I had complete strangers coming up, with tear-stained faces (saying) how powerful it was ..."

concert repertoire includes
East Timor multimedia:
Tekee Tokee Tomak

Using photographs by various people, this brand new piece will be premiered on this tour. Like all of Wesley-Smith's recent multimedia pieces, it requires a Macintosh computer (which we will bring with us), an LCD or DLP data projector (readily available these days - we might be able to bring one of those, too), some sort of screen, and a stereo sound system.

cl & CD-ROM
[2003]
Martin Wesley-Smith

images by various photographers, including Kathryn Morgan & Alice Wesley-Smith

"Tekee Tokee Tomak" means, in a rough translation from the Tetum, "Let's get together and enjoy ourselves". This is what the East Timorese people are now trying to do in order to re-build their shattered lives and country.

12'
Welcome to the Hotel Turismo

Hotel Turismo

... they went mad - they cried, and cheered (four times back to the stage, and I was beginning to get emotional too), and were spellbound. A couple of times - like in the cadenza, and right at the end before the 'Welcome to the Hotel T' comes back), it was SO quiet - it freaked me out ... I had complete strangers coming up, with tear-stained faces (saying) how powerful it was ...

cellist Rachel Scott after her recent performance of Turismo in London

bass cl & CD-ROM
[2000]

review

Martin Wesley-Smith

images by various photographers

David Vance in The Sydney Morning Herald, August 13 1998, writing about Wesley-Smith's Timor piece Quito:
"(His) music has never been far removed from political or social comment, and his gift for pastiche has served him well in adopting familiar styles, often (but not always) drawn from popular music, to ironic or satiric purposes."

from a Timorese listener in Darwin to the ABC broadcast of Quito, May 6 1997:
"It is a masterpiece of music. I cried my eyes out until no tears were left. I felt the tragedy of East Timor perforating my bones as I never felt before. I'm going to buy the CD."

** to download and view a short Shockwave movie (2.6MB) of the last section of this piece, click here

16'
X

Commissioned by American clarinettist F. Gerard Errante, this piece has been performed, by him and by Ros, many times in the USA. It was composed in 1999 as the Indonesian military-promoted militia carnage was raging across East Timor. At the time, resistance leader Xanana Gusmão (the "X" of the title) was in Cipinang Prison, Jakarta.

see separate web page

cl & CD-ROM
[1999]

review

Martin Wesley-Smith

images by various photographers

An audio-only version of this piece will be included on Ros Dunlop's new CD, X, which will be released by the time she arrives in London. A web page about this CD is currently under construction.

12'
audio-only pieces:
25 Measures

elena pic

Written for Australian clarinettist Peter Jenkin, this piece is short, succinct, quirky and lighthearted.

cl solo
[1996]
Elena Kats-Chernin

was born in Tashkent, in the former USSR, in 1957. In 1975 she migrated with her family to Australia, where she studied at the NSW Conservatorium. After studying with Helmut Lachenmann in West Germany, she remained in Europe for over a decade, writing incidental music for State theatres in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg, and Bochum. She returned to Australia in 1994 and is now resident in Sydney where she is frequently commissioned and performed.

1'
Aurora

Margery Smith: "At the time this piece was created, I was in the middle of a Canadian winter. I wanted to create the feeling of huge space, the continual shift of focus suggesting the flickering lights of the Aurora Borealis."

bass cl & CD
[2001]
Margery Smith/Will Frasier

Margery is an accomplished clarinettist as well as composer. Her solo engagements have included appearances with the Sydney Symph as soloist on clarinet and saxophone. Her latest work, T(F)ree Radicals for 3 Bass Clarinets, was composed for Touchbass.

10' 30"
Bastard's Broth

commissioned by English saxophonist Kyle Horch, Steve arranged, in 2000, the saxophone part for bass clarinet; with the format of a jazz medley, the piece whizzes through many different styles very quickly with a zaniness reminiscent of Frank Zappa

bass cl & CD
[1993]
Steve Ingham

studied at the University of York with Bernard Rands, the University of Bloomington, Indiana, with Donald Erb, and, later, with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik, Freiburg. He now teaches at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales.

5' 34"
Cut to the Chase

the title refers to early vaudeville routines when the vaudeville artist, upon realising that the audience is not responding or something has gone wrong on stage, "cuts to the chase" when he or she is chased around to close the act ...

cl solo
[1996]
Richard Vella

Australian composer. At one time Professor of Music at the now-defunct Music Department at the University of Latrobe, Richard now lives in Queensland.

45"
Hauturu

This piece ("Where the Winds Rest") was written as a response in sound to a visit to the rugged island of Little Barrier (Hauturu), a bird sanctuary in the Hauraki gulf. John marvelled at the largely unspoilt grandeur of this fascinating environment with its extremely rough beeches, huge trees amid thick jungle, and the many varieties of indigenous birds.

bass cl & CD-ROM
[1992]
John Rimmer

John Rimmer recently retired from Auckland University where he held the position of Chair of the School of Music. One of New Zealand's leading composers, he now divides his time between composing and conducting.

9'
NRG

composed for Dutch bass-clarinettist Henri Bok and Bass Instincts; "Some time before I had composed Bisoux, a rather languid nocturne for cor anglais and bass clarinet. However I now wished to compose something a little more up-tempo. Another nacht-stucke, yes, but this time much more funky and dance-like, perhaps even carnal. Certainly not a piece to be performed before retiring!"

bass cl
[1996]
Gerard Brophy

Australian composer living in Queensland; frequently commissioned, broadcast and performed in Australia, Japan, the USA and Europe; his works have been selected many times for performance at ISCM World Music Days.

5'
Worldwhorls

Reflections, Os and Sinfin are works for woodwind and vibraphone reflecting aspects of the three great Rose windows of Chartres Cathedral. Worldwhorls, which completes the tetralogy, has its origins in the Labyrinth beneath the West Rose, which itself has strong connections with that window. The Labyrinth seems to me to be a metaphor for life itself. "Worldwhorls" bases its structure and wayward energy on the experience of walking the Labyrinth with this metaphor in mind.

bass cl
[2000]
Anthony Gilbert

English composer; recently retired as Head of Composition and Contemporary Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester; wide-ranging output; influence of Indian music in The Chakravaka-Bird, Towards Asavari, Vasanta with Dancing, Upstream River Rewa and other pieces; spends a lot of time in Australia

8'
in Europe only:
Iza

with clarinettist Natascha Briger

natascha

Natascha is an Australian clarinet/bass clarinet player with international orchestral and chamber experience; founder and director of the London-based contemporary group Bennelong Ensemble; performances in the Purcell Room and at Cheltenham and Aldeburgh Festivals; education workshops at schools and universities; live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3

two bass cls
[1995]
Gerard Brophy

Gerry's music has been performed and commissioned by some of the world's leading ensembles, including the Residentie Orkest, the St.Louis and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, ANUMADUTCHI, the Nash Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Elision, Het Trio, Ensemble Modern, Chicago Pro Musica, Bang on a Can, Da Capo, 145 East, the ASKO Ensemble, Ensemble l'Itineraire, Duo Contemporain, de Ereprijs and 2E2M.

8' 30"
Lament

with clarinettist Natascha Briger

"In this piece, which was written in response to the death of a friend, I wanted to spin a long line of wordless lamentation. I was aiming to explore what one could say within quite strict limitations. Spinning out a few notes at a time: twisting and turning, keeping up a sense of momentum and a sense of progression. Underneath, the bleak intervals of 4ths and 5ths at cadence points are used to underpin the line, but also to unsettle it with uneasy independent movement."

cl & bass cl
[2002]
Jennifer Fowler

Australian composer living in London, where she works as a free-lance composer. Her 50' song cycle Eat and Be Eaten was premiered by The Song Company in 2001. She writes: "My aim is to convey a sense of direction in music which is guided by an evolving logic such that one cannot foresee the next step, since there are many possibilities open, but which will have a sound of inevitability when it arrives. I like to build-in a bias which allows change while retaining inner consistency. One needs to stimulate the imagination, step off the known paths, see a vision. Then one can communicate a sense of excitement!"

9'
Merry-Go-Round

with bass-clarinettist Natascha Briger

about Afghanistan

multimedia:

cl, vlc & CD-ROM
[2002]

review

Martin Wesley-Smith

photography by George Gittoes
and Alice Wesley-Smith
(model: Hollie-Berrie)

16'
Mitchell's Principles Based on
Albanian Laws

with clarinettist Natascha Briger

First performed by Ian Mitchell and Colin Lawton at Goldsmiths College, this work explores musical styles derived from areas around Albania. Definitely "Klezmer" ...

two cls
[2000]
Dave Smith

Born in 1949, Dave Smith was a member of the Scratch Orchestra. He has since played in several composer/performer ensembles as well as with the English Gamelan Orchestra and Liria, specialising in Javanese classical music and Albanian folk music respectively. He has visited Albania many times and has written articles on the music as well as arranging Albanian compositions for performance.

4' 30"
Panama

with clarinettist Natascha Briger

The title refers to the 1930s jazz standard of the same name. The tape part has a strong rhythmic drive with a traditional jazz band rhythm section, computerised hi-hat and acoustic bass.

cl, bass cl &
electronics
[1991]
Steve Ingham

Panama was commissioned by Roger Heaton and Ronald Woodley with funds from Northern Arts UK in 1991.

6' 07"

a review of a Dunlop/Wesley-Smith concert (with cellist Julia Ryder):
Charisma
Leichhardt Town Hall, November 28 2002
reviewed by Harriet Cunningham

written for The Sydney Morning Herald, but for reasons of "space limitations" not published



In March and July this year, clarinettist Ros Dunlop gave concerts in East Timor. She was so concerned and inspired by what she saw that she set up a concert series, the 2002 Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour, to raise awareness and funds for the East Timorese cause. On the way, she roped in a number of other willing participants for a spirited and thought-provoking evening of words, music and pictures.

Composer Martin Wesley-Smith has been a staunch supporter of the East Timor cause for many years, and this event was an ideal forum for three of his compositions, inspired by recent world events. Welcome to the Hotel Turismo tells of Dili's main hotel, where journalists, soldiers and homeless Timorese sheltered during the violence following the 1999 independence vote. Like all Wesley-Smith's works presented here, the acoustic part was accompanied by images and sounds on CD-ROM ...

Generations of artists have struggled to find a language to give meaning to the senselessness of war. In X, a work for clarinet and CD-ROM dedicated to Xanana Gusmao, Wesley-Smith has taken up the challenge with every modern resource available to him, including extended techniques (brilliantly delivered by Ros Dunlop) and electronics. The result is genuinely confronting and moving: one cannot hope (or wish) to recreate the horror of East Timor in 1999, but this work is an important historical document. Perhaps not surprisingly, although the music is a fascinating patchwork of interwoven ideas, the most chilling moments are marked by silence.

Merry-Go-Round was commissioned by Ros Dunlop and Julia Ryder for cello, clarinet and CD-ROM. Its inspiration is photographer George Gittoes' collection of images from a recent trip to Afghanistan, including a series of poignant shots of kids playing on a crude wooden merry-go-round. The music is rich in tone colours and drones evoking the traditional music of Afghanistan. My one criticism here would be that the stunning images deserved more measured presentation. The impact of the multimedia ephemera in the two previous works was enhanced by slick digital magic, but the haunting music and images of Merry-Go-Round needed no such hi-tech packaging.


for more information about this concert, click here



lecture/demo topics include:
Musical Activism
Current Trends in Australian Music
New Australian Music for Clarinet
Carrollian Musical Processes

concert repertoire | review | lecture/demo topics | Dunlop & Wesley-Smith bios | pics | top of page

enquiries: e-mail Martin Wesley-Smith


schedule:
Tues Jan 14 SYD-LON
Thurs Jan 16 travel to Manchester; lunchhour concert, Royal Northern College of Music
Fri Jan 17 - Sun 19 concert (Fri night), master classes, workshops etc, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
Mon Jan 20 travel to London; rehearsals (with Natascha Briger)
Tues Jan 21 rehearsals
Wed Jan 22 meetings, rehearsals
Thurs Jan 23 concert at Sandwich Technology School, Kent (with Natascha Briger)
Fri Jan 24 concert at Oratory School, Reading (with Natascha Briger)
Sat Jan 25 meeting, drive to Liverpool
Sun Jan 26 concert at St Michael's Parish, Liverpool
Mon Jan 27 drive to Glasgow
Tues Jan 28-31 meetings, concert, seminars etc, University of Glasgow
Sat Feb 1 meetings, drive to Oxford via Edinburgh
Sun Feb 2 concert, Trinity College, Oxford
Mon Feb 3 concert, University of Kingston; drive to York
Tues Feb 4 - Wed 5 concert, master class at University of York; drive to London
Thurs Feb 6 concert for the British Music Information Centre, St Cyprian's Church, London NW1
Fri Feb 7-Sat Feb 8 LON-HKG
Sun Feb 9 rehearsals
Mon Feb 10 concert, lecture at University of Hong Kong
Tues Feb 11 Ros: HKG-SYD
Wed Feb 12-Fri 14 Martin: classes, lectures, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts


Ros Dunlop has recently performed X and Welcome to the Hotel Turismo at the Community College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, USA (Sept 28 2002), and the Academy of Music in Vilnius, Lithuania (Oct 1). She performed X, and Julia Ryder (cello) performed Welcome to the Hotel Turismo, on the 2002 Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour to Leichhardt, Mittagong and Kangaroo Valley (Australia). Together, Ros and Julia comprise the chamber duo Charisma; they have recently performed Merry-Go-Round, which they commissioned, in Berlin (Oct 7), Amsterdam (Oct 9), Gent (Oct 10), Darmstadt (Oct 13), and Weimar (Oct 14) as well as on the 2002 Tekee Tokee Tomak Tour.

Dunlop and Wesley-Smith are grateful to the Australia Council for assisting, financially, the current tour.


concert repertoire | review | lecture/demo topics | bios | pics | top of page | schedule

enquiries: e-mail Martin Wesley-Smith | Dunlop's home page | Wesley-Smith's home page

** for concert organisers: **

click here to download complete program notes, technical requirements, photos and other information


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