Music for People & Thingamajigs Festival

The "Music for People & Thingamajigs Festival" is scheduled for Sept 22-25, 2011. This is the 14th year for the festival, and it is a celebration of unusual music made from unique (and found) instruments, by unique musicians.

Past participants include Carla Kihlstedt, Walter Kitundu, Peter Whitehead, Brenda Hutchinson, William Winant, Laetitia Sonami, and many others.

Call for Proposals for Festival 2011:

Thingamajigs offers a call for proposals from artists/composers for the 14th
Annual Music for People & Thingamajigs Festival, which will be held on
September 22nd through 25th, 2011 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Thingamajigs is an organization working to:
1) promote the creation of genre-crossing works which incorporate made/found
instruments and alternate tuning systems
2) showcase artists working in this medium, and give such artists a forum for
showing their work
3) expose the general public, and especially children, to new ways of
experiencing sound
Previous Music for People and Thingamajigs festivals have included work of (or
participation by) Pauline Oliveros, Lou Harrison, Laetitia Sonami, Walter
Kitundu, Mark Applebaum, Bart Hopkin, Carla Kihlstedt, Peter Whitehead, Willie
Winant, Lisa Moskow and many others.
See our website for more info on previous participants at
http://www.thingamajigs.org.
Proposals will be accepted until Jun 15, 2009, although accepted proposals that
are received by May 15, 2009 will be included in our grant proposals and will
have a greater chance of receiving outside funding. Proposals should include a
bio of the artist/performer/composer(s), a specific description of the work or
performance submitted, and documentation of the submitted work (CD or link to
a website). We prefer electronically submitted proposals, but will accept hard
copies at the address below. Composers must provide the performers for
proposed performances.
Please contact: people@thingamajigs.org with proposals or questions, or
send proposals to Thingamajigs.org, 5000 MarcArthur Blvd PMB 9826 Oakland,
CA, 94613,USA.

Unusual Instruments Trio in the Bay Area

The Unusual Instruments Trio is performing next week in the SF Bay Area. The group focuses on the artistry of Bart Hopkin and Jaron Lanier. Alan Tower joins them in this trio.

Bart Hopkin has been a influence of mine for many years, since he is known as one of the key instrument builders of the last 15-20 years. Bart was a key resource behind the Experimental Musical Instruments site.

Jaron is a multi-instrumentalist and a specialist in many unusual musical instruments, especially the wind and string instruments of Asia. He maintains one of the largest and most varied collections of actively played rare instruments in the world. Jaron’s musical talents and sonic explorations are vast, including pioneering the use of Virtual Reality in musical stage performance. His recent book, You are Not a Gadget (you gotta check out this book), makes an overall argument about digital experience that is spiritual, or metaphysical, in nature.

Alan composes for the Huaca, Hang and Sound Egg. His work is about reviving resonance as a way of life.

Two shows:

WHEN: Friday November 12th, 8:00 PM to 11:30 PM
WHERE: The Dance Palace Community Center in Point Richmond
PRICE: $12, $10 for seniors

More Info: http://www.dancepalace.org/calendar.html
Directions: http://www.dancepalace.org/directions.html

WHEN: Saturday November 13th, 7:30- 9:30 pm
WHERE: Kosin Loft Space, Besler Building, Oakland, CA
PRICE: $15 Presale, $20 at the door

Tickets: http://unusualtrio.eventbrite.com/


Additional Links:

• Green Music Network
• Bart Hopkin and Experimental Musical Instruments
• Jaron Lanier

Marranzano World Festival

I was just recommended this video of the Marranzano World Festival, held in November, 2009, in Catania. The video includes some excellent footage of a variety of world instruments.

Here's the link to the YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarranzanoWorldFest

Here's the link to the Marranzano Festival site: http://www.marranzanoworldfestival.it/

Samavesha Hang Gathering Concert, Richmond CA

WHAT: Hang Concert featuring Alan Tower, Gary Muszynski, Matt Venuti, Kim Riccelli, Daniel Tucker, Jessica Styler and other special guests.
WWHEN: Saturday, June 14, 2008
TIME: 7:30 PM

DETAILS:
Samavesha Space
6115 Bernhard Ave
Richmond, CA 94805 (10 minutes from Berkeley on I-80)
Doors open: 7pm
Show: 7:30pm
Suggested Donation: $15-$20
For reservations call 415.568.1393
Link: http://www.samavesha.com/projects/gathering/

Sonic SLOrk Sculptures

The all-new Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk) presents an afternoon of music and sonic installations performances, among the statues and under the canopy of the New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford University. This first-ever outdoor laptop orchestra concert features works by members of CCRMA/SLOrk, Scott Smallwood, Perry Cook, Dan Trueman, and SLOrk director Ge Wang.

WHEN: Saturday, April 26, 2008
WHERE: New Guinea Sculpture Garden, Stanford Campus, Palo Alto, CA
WHEN: 3pm
Admission: FREE

DETAILS:
New Guinea Sculpture Garden
450 Santa Teresa St
Stanford, CA 94305

For more info, a full updated concert calendar and a map please visit:
http://slork.stanford.edu/
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/concerts/c_schedule.html

Hangout UK 2008 announced

Hangout UK 2008, is a gathering of Hang enthusiasts in the UK

When: 19th - 21st September 2008
Where: Mellow Farm, Farnham, UK
Cost: 20 pounds (sorry, don't know how to get a british pound symbol on my computer...)


The event will include workshops and concerts.


Link: http://www.hangoutuk.co.uk/

The Vegetable Orchestra

Here's an a couple of awesome videos of the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra. They make all of their instruments out of vegetables before the concert. I especially love the sond of the cabbage head.

For more information: http://www.vegetableorchestra.org/

"This is organic music at its best" - Larry the Cucumber
"My cousin has been a featured performer several times" - Bob the Tomato