LCMF
29 May: The Japanese Extreme
6pm [ACE Hotel pre-gig discussion]
An exploration of the extremes of the Japanese musical tradition. Udaka Tatsushige, Udaka Norishige and Diego Pellecchia discuss Noh. Kohei Gomi (Pain Jerk) and Russell Haswell talk Noise. Moderated by Robert Barry from the Quietus.
In association with Ace Hotel and the Quietus
8pm [Second Home Venue]
Noh play excerpts:
Shakkyō (The Stone Bridge)
Hagoromo (The Celestial Robe)
Funa-Benkei (Benkei and the Boat)
Karlheinz Stockhausen Himmels-Tür (Heaven’s Door) (2006)
Pain Jerk and Russell Haswell Live set
Performers
Udaka Tatsushige, Udaka Norishige, Diego Pellecchia actors, chorus
Akai Yosuke flute
Hayashi Yamato shoulder drum
Moriyama Yasuyuki hip drum
Maekawa Mitsunori stick drum
Pain Jerk electronics
Russell Haswell electronics
Serge Vuille percussion
In this night we investigate the extremes of the Japanese musical aesthetic, from 14th century Noh theatre to a new live set by Noise music pioneers Pain Jerk (Kohei Gomi) and Russell Haswell.
The music of Noh (hayashi) is played by four instruments (stick drum, hip drum, shoulder drum, flute) and by a chorus.
This performance (led by Udaka Tatsushige and Udaka Norishige, Kongo School) features excerpts from the plays Shakkyō (‘The Stone Bridge’), Hagoromo (‘The Robe of Feathers’) and Funa-Benkei (‘Benkei and the Boat’).
Bridging the two worlds will be Karlheinz Stockhausen’s epic Himmels-Tür, which is performed on a wooden door (pictured below). Stockhausen often referred to Noh as an important influence, and the ritualised theatre of Himmels-Tür, for percussionist (Serge Vuille) and little girl, provides ample evidence. The entry of metal percussion in the work’s final bars reaches out to the clangorous second half of the night.
This will see Pain Jerk (pictured below), a central figure in the development of Noise music in Japan since the 1980s, joined by regular collaborator and power electronics pioneer Russell Haswell. Pain Jerk has explained how he works within a tradition that seeks ‘sound that is so terribly loud as to abolish all meaning’.
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