From Irene McC Sent Thu, Mar 5th 1998, 10:39
From Irene McC Sent Thu, Mar 5th 1998, 10:39
Under the auspices of CAMA (the Contemporary African Music & Arts Archive), Brian Eno is currently in South Africa. He kicked off his visit in Cape Town where he hosted the first workshop session on Monday (which I was unable to attend) but I was privileged to participate in his final session on Tuesday night : a three-hour workshop held in the concert hall of a local theatre. Approx. 45 people were present, the invitation list drawn from musicians and artists. I was part of the 8 piece 'choir'; all in all there must have been about 20-25 active musicians involved (sound engineers' nightmare situation!) The structure was incredibly loose, but the essence of the group was to produce a 5.33 min soundtrack to accompany a video *which none of us had seen*. Eno's point being that _any_ soundtrack will work to abstract footage, and this he proved very well when in the final few minutes he ran the clip and we all 'did our thing' that had been conceptualised and rehearsed during the course of the evening. I shall post a more cohesive report-back when I get this stimulation overdrive a little under control :-) Tully (my husband) captured about 24 minutes worth on video and I should have 5 or 6 (low light) portraits on film - but it will take me a while to finish the spool :-) He is presently in Johannesburg hosting another workshop session and willl leave at the end of this week. A feeling of awe and of being deeply moved at having been in his persence prevails! I *