2011 Gabriola Drum Day

For more information , visit: www.luluperformingarts.ca

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by Andreas Kahre and Dave McGrath

Three years ago, during Jam night, we were standing on the balcony at the Surf Lodge. It was one of those summer evenings when the music, the sunset and the atmosphere at the Surf made us think: ” We want more of this”. We had met during the SFU Percussion intensive a few years earlier, and we thought “Wouldn’t it be fun to have a day entirely devoted to drums, and drumming on Gabriola?

Well, here we are! We hope you will join us, at the Commons, on August 27th, in a spirit of fun and enthusiasm for percussion in its many forms. The day begins with Drum Yoga with Angelina McNamee and a Vocal Percussion Workshop led by Andreas Kahre, followed by Bongo Fury with Dave McGrath — an invitation to explore those instruments you have always had lying around the house and weren’t sure what to do with. After lunch, we move on to the BBQ Qonsort — A spontaneous percussion ensemble, hot off the grill—and the GIRO Gamelan for Kids. The afternoon is devoted to two types of percussion: West African style Djembe drumming and Drum Dancing wit Dave McGrath and Val Mermet, or Frame Drum and Clay Percussion, followed by the ‘Drumset Circle’, an experiment to create a kit drum ensemble, outdoors with Andreas. The evening show begins at 7:30 and features the Workshop Participants, our own Gabriola African Drum Ensemble Afriola, and Masamba with friends. The day ends with a drum circle starting at 10:30, all at the Commons, to which everyone is invited.

Gabriola Drum Day is entirely self-supporting (many thanks to the generosity of the Gabriola Commons, and to Lulu Performing Arts and Howie Stiff for co-producing the event.) We are still looking for a few kind volunteers to help us organize the day. Drum Day, we hope, might be an ongoing event, and we encourage you to let us know what we could add, change or improve as we go along. We also hope that the workshops are just the beginning, and that Drum Day will be a place for percussionists and other musicians to meet, share experiences and play together. Let us know if you would like to know more about Drum Day (send an e-mail to akahre@telus.net), or come by and join us!

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WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

9am – 10am, Drum Yoga
Angelina McNamee & Dave MCGrath

10 am – 11:30 Rhythm Talk
with Andreas Kahre
Vocal Percussion, Walking Rhythms, Basic Konakol

11:30 – 12:30 Bongo Fury
with Dave McGrath
Bring your Bongos, Shakers, Pots and Pans. Start at the Beginning

1:30pm – 2:30pm BBQ Qonsort
What does your BBQ really sound like? Bring an implement and find out

1:30pm – 2:30pm GIRO Gamelan for Kids
Bring your kids and see what happens when the they hit the fan, and the cookpots, and the muffler pipe….

2:30 – 4pm Djembe African Rhythm
with Dave McGrath

2:30 – 4pm  Frame and Clay Drumming
with Andreas Kahre

4:30pm – 6pm African Dance Workshop
with Val Mermet

4PM – 6pm Drumset Circle
with Andreas Kahre

EVENING SHOW

7:30 – 10pm Evening Show:

7:30-8pm Workshop Participants
8pm – 8:45pm Afriola + Friends
8:45 – 9:30 Masamba + Friends
9:30 – 10pm Everybody

10:30 – 11:30 Night Drum Circle

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ONE ISLAND, MANY DRUMMERS. JOIN US!

Lulu Performing Arts Society, the Vancouver New Music Society, Western Front New Music  and the Xenographic Society are pleased to present a ‘relay’ of twelve SOUND WALKS  across Vancouver between February 12 to 28, led by a group of sound artists, poets, theatre artists, writers and interdisciplinary artists. Each walk will last about an hour to an hour and a half and begin at a location posted here:

http://tinyurl.com/y9ypbgq. Please note that Tina Pearson’s Walk is on the 19th rather than the 21st

All sound walks are free. Wear comfortable footwear and warm clothing. If you are curious but have never heard of a sound walk, here is a link that offers a good introduction: http://cec.concordia.ca/eContact/Soundwalk/Soundwalking.htm

To find out more about the xenographic society, please visit www.xenography.org

The Paper Theatre version will be presented by Andreas kahre and David Garfinkle in English. For more information about the Paper Theatre Festival, please go to http://www.volkshochschule-preetz.de/pptt/index.htm

The Ukulele concert at midnight

7:52 am
The thief is in the airport washroom, trying on a black leather jacket, when the dead man enters the washroom

(interior monologue) It was hardly anything at all; a blur in the air, the way the droplets fell onto the floor beside the washbasin. I don’t know what made me look, but when I saw him, it was like looking in the mirror…”

11:21 am
the anthropologist changes money at the currrency exchange booth

over the airport noise the anthropologist speaks to the employee behind the counter “Hello, I’d like 400 Canadian dollars in EURO, please…”

12:04 am

the bomb, which is waiting in a garbage bin near the security checkpoint is discovered by the thief, who then returns to the washroom without telling anyone else about it

sounds of airport activity and quiet ticking noise. PA announcement ( barely audible: Water boils…Feces descends…Electricity costs money…

12:10 pm

The college of rabbis encounters the thief in the washroom

“…but Herschel, what if the multiplicity of the divine IS expressed in the topology of a multiverse…”

12:14 pm

The dead man listens to the college of rabbis as they make their way from the washroom to the security checkpoint

the discussion continues, now over the din of the airport

12:16 am
the cosmonaut enters the washroom and begins to shave

(sound of shaving) …‘Thinking ‘, Jean Piaget claims, can be described as the ability to deceive others. For example, If we are at the airport, looking through a sheet a glass that separates the security zone from the lounge where our lover is waiting for us, and if we purse our lips and throw her a kiss, we are strictly speaking, deceiving her insamuch as she is outside and we are inside, and, having checked in already, we would not be able to actually kiss her, even if we wanted to.

But as in fact, we often lose the desire to kiss someone else as soon as we see them, we have demonstrated by indicating to our lover that we would want to kiss her when in fact we do not, that we are capable of lying, and ergo that we are thinking.

(shaving noise continues)

However, since we would want to kiss our lover, if she truly was the person we loved, we have to conclude that the person we are blowing kisses to through the window is not our lover, and we are therefore not deceiving her. Which would mean that if we aren’t in love, we don’t think…

12:18 pm
The thief sees the cosmonaut shaving on his way to the washroom

aiport noise changes as someone walks into the acoustics of a washroom where only the sound of shaving is audible

12:19 pm
The anthropologist is lingering at the currency exchange booth

anthroplogist to exchange girl (suavely) I’d love to tell you more about it. Do you want have a coffee when when you get off your shift here?…

12:21 pm
The thief sees the dead man following the college of rabbis, and winks at him

(Sound:airport noise, rabbis disappearing in the distance)

12:51 pm
PA announcement to the effect that Flight 935 for which the rabbis are waiting, is delayed

1:04 pm
the anthropologist asks the currency exchange girl for her phone number

” …that’s too bad, but maybe I can call you when I get back on Wednesday…”

1:11pm
the cosmonaut arrives at the currency exchange booth to take his girlfriend who works there to lunch

“… and there was this guy who tried to chat me up by telling me about his work as an anthropologist…”

1:13 pm
The anthropologist realizes that his jacket has been stolen and is complaining to airport security over a telephone

…no, I WASN’T wearing it, what does it matter; I want to talk to a supervisor… (PA announcements in the background)

1:15 pm
The bomb explodes

…explosion…

1:19pm
The thief finds himself in the washroom, standing next to a man in a black leather jacket…

Da capo ad infinitum