Cambridge Junction`s zine issue #4 autumn 2014 free

Transcription

Cambridge Junction`s zine issue #4 autumn 2014 free
Cambridge Junction’s zine
issue #4 autumn 2014 free
Welcome
Welcome to Autumn at Cambridge Junction. In Adjunct you’ll find a listing
of our arts programme and contributions by and about artists. Adjunct gives a
flavour of what’s on in the arts but also draws in ideas from across our music,
comedy, family and creative learning programmes. To find out more about all
of our work check us out online at junction.co.uk or come into the box office
and chat to our staff.
One reason I enjoy participating in and watching the arts is because artists
continually help me see the world through fresh eyes. This season is no
exception and we have three strands – ‘collecting Cambridge’, ‘classics retold’
and ‘around the world’ – which weave their ways through our season and
provide alternative views on our city, our lives and the world.
We are presenting two works – Museum of Water and Things of Cambridge:
A Pub Quiz – as part of Curating Cambridge an initiative of the University
of Cambridge Museums and the Festival of Ideas. Both of these projects are
presented in city sites and encourage Cambridge residents to take part and
think about our relationship to the city.
From the local to the global we take a world view with projects including
Women of the World, and Going Nowhere which both consider how we can
share ideas about the world through collaboration and dialogue.
In Adjunct, Dani Kolanis’ The Twelve Labours of Hercules provides the classic
myth with a cheeky reworking and a modern twist. Reinterpretation and
reinvention are at the heart of a number of performances this season including
Don Quijote, Blind Hamlet, and This Last Tempest.
We had such fantastic feedback from audiences about NIE’s Hansel and Gretel
(our Christmas show in 2011) we had to have them back. This year NIE invite
you to join them on the greatest adventure ever imagined... Around the World
in 80 Days. Based on Jules Verne’s famous novel and combining clowning,
live music, storytelling and an international ensemble, Around the World in 80
Days takes you on a high speed, mad-cap, transcontinental, race against the
clock and just 80 days to get back in time for Christmas!
Daniel Brine
Director, Cambridge Junction
3
Cambridge Junction
Autumn Arts Season Calendar
Season Launch
The Hand That Takes
CJ Mahony and
Georgie Grace
Thursday 4th September 7.30pm J2
Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th,
and Thursday 18th September
Limited capacity slots
at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm J3
September
Now a regular date on the Cambridge calendar, our
Season Launch Night is back to celebrate the start
of the Autumn season. The Season Launch consists
of tasters of events in our season including live
music and theatre, as well as talks from Cambridge
Junction staff about the upcoming programme.
Get a free drink when you donate a record or CD
(or cassette, 8-track, wax cylinder etc) to our second
hand store (junction.co.uk/about-us/support-us).
An immersive promenade performance using live
voice, recorded sound and darkness to set the stage
for a journey into loss, financial abstractions, and
the mysteries of the market. A visceral experience
of performance, space and sound. A test piece
supported by Escalator Performing Arts.
Be Here Now
TOOT
Don Quijote
Tom Frankland
and Keir Cooper
Be Here Now is an irreverently comic yet tender
look at how music seeps into and influences our
lives. TOOT will immerse you in a world of CDs,
cassettes and videotapes; rewinding, fast-forwarding
and pausing fantasies, memories, the rawness of love
and the music that defines it. Hit repeat and relive
together the scenes you play over and over in your
head, the moments you can’t change - all set to a
soundtrack of ‘90s classics.
Wednesday 10th September 7.30pm J2
Artificial Things
StopGap Dance Company
Slowly suffocating in each other’s company, a
group of individuals seek escape in a bash of
riotous rock-n-roll. However, their wild disorder
descends into playground politics and reveals some
uncomfortable truths. The UK’s leading dance
company that integrates exceptional disabled
and non-disabled dancers.
Tuesday 16th September 7.30pm J2
An exploration of Cervantes’ classic novel,
combining incredible visual imagery, anarchic
performance and original music. The title role will
be played by a secret guest performer, unique to each
date. Don Quijote is a playful study of someone who
follows their dreams without forethought or fear. It
is about standing up for what you believe, regardless
of recrimination from a cynical world.
Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th
September 7.30pm J3
October
Reduced Shakespeare
Company in The Complete
Works of William
Shakespeare (abridged)
[revised]
All 37 Plays in 97 Minutes! An irreverent, fast-paced
romp through the Bard’s plays. Join these madcap men
in tights as they weave their wicked way through all of
Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies in
one wild ride that will leave you breathless and helpless
with laughter.
Wednesday 1st October 7.30pm J2
4
Blind Hamlet by
Nassim Soleimanpour
actors touring company
Blind Hamlet transforms Shakespeare’s tragedy into
an interactive theatrical battle and reimagines the
bloody struggle for Hamlet’s Elsinore. The plots and
machinations of Shakespeare’s drama are played out
by the audiences themselves, each night creating
their own version of the most famous play in the
English language. What happens if Polonius doesn’t
die? Could Rosencrantz and Guildenstern succeed
in their mission? What if Hamlet kills Claudius?
An innovative piece of game-theatre, Blind Hamlet
will give audiences a chance to shape the course of
each performance.
Wednesday 8th October 7.30pm J2
Views From The ‘Bridge
A night of short Cambridge-based contemporary
performance made by you. Featuring any of theatre,
dance, comedy, live art, spoken word, circus.
Got a project on the go? We want to hear from you.
See website for application details.
Tuesday 14th October 7.30pm J2
Off
Company Kiaï
Darkly comic, fun and mischievous circus with a
very big trampoline! This new show from gifted
French ensemble Cie Kiaï explores the mysteries of
the mind and communicates a spectrum of emotions
using the physical skills of a contortionist, a hip-hop
dancer, a handstander, an acrobat, and a clown.
A feast for the eyes, Off is accompanied by hypnotic
electro music driven by original pulsing bass lines
and rhythmic beats.
Tuesday 21st October 7.30pm J2
L’aprÈs-midi d’un Foehn
Company Non Nova
Watch in wonder as ordinary plastic bags are
magically brought to life by a mysterious ballet
master. Borne aloft on currents of air, see them
transformed into heavenly dancers capable of
astonishing performances. Prepare to be enchanted
by a company of prima ballerinas... made entirely
from a handful of plastic bags! An experience
of true wonder guaranteed to charm the young
and the young-at-heart.
Thursday 23rd October
5.30pm and 7.30pm J2 and
Saturday 25th October
12.00pm and 2.30pm J2
WOW – Women of the World
Cambridge
The Southbank Centre’s Women of the World Festival
now comes to Cambridge! Join us for a packed day
of events that celebrate the incredible achievements
of women and girls as part of this year’s Cambridge
Festival of Ideas. Explore the most potent topics
for women today with fascinating talks, heated
debates, lively workshops and exciting activities
for all ages. Share your challenges, exchange ideas
and work out what it really means to be a woman,
in the inspirational company of some of our best
journalists, mums, daughters, scientists, artists,
campaigners and next door neighbours.
Sunday 26th October from 10.30am
throughout the venue
Women of Cambridge –
A Cabaret
Stay into the evening for an upbeat, cabaret-format
celebration of local women with something to say
and their performing talents. Expect a selection of
spoken word, comedy, dance, burlesque and more.
Compered by Fay Roberts and headlined by
Hannah Jane Walker.
Sunday 26th October 6.30pm J2
5
Cambridge Junction
Autumn Arts Season Calendar
Fiction
David Rosenberg
and Glen Neath
You are invited to a lecture. You know that the
subject is probably important and it would be useful
to hear what the speaker has to say but you can’t
keep your eyes open. You will fall asleep and you will
dream. Fiction is the second performance by Glen
Neath and David Rosenberg using binaural sound
and absolute darkness. It is an anxious journey
through the sprawling architecture of our dreams
and an exercise in empathy. Commissioned by
Cambridge Junction and Cambridge Festival
of Ideas.
Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th October
7.30pm J2
November
Museum of Water
Amy Sharrocks
Museum of Water is a collection of publicly donated
water and accompanying stories, an encouragement
to consider the many ways we access and enjoy water:
Do you swim in pools? Do you splash in puddles?
Do you drink from a tap? Accumulating over two
years in different sites worldwide, Museum of Water
is an invitation to ponder this precious liquid and
how we use it.
Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd November
9am-6pm & 11am-5pm Grand Arcade
Free walk-up event
Things of Cambridge:
A Pub Quiz
Tom Roden
Irreverent, intellectually stimulating and downright
stupid, here is a show that questions the usefulness of
knowledge and the values we give to things. Expect
stupid prizes and real artefacts from Cambridge’s
rich museums and city. Questions will range from
trivia to hypothetical, philosophical to personal.
Monday 3rd November Pub venue and times
to be announced at junction.co.uk
6
SONIC PI:
LIVE & CODING SUMMIT
This day-long summit will share the outcomes
of Sonic Pi: Live & Coding - a ground breaking
research project that is introducing live coding
and digital music into the classroom using
Raspberry Pi computers.
Tuesday 4 November 10.00am - 6.00pm
Park
Jasmin Vardimon Company
Park is an urban oasis, a place of refuge from
ordinary life where eight characters play, fight, fall
in love and learn to survive. In this playground
of relationships, young lovers wrestle in a historic
fountain, a graffiti artist sprays his story, a busker
finds his only appreciative audience in a bag lady and
a flag-waving bully rants worn out political beliefs.
A breathtaking collision of highly acute physical
theatre, text, athletic dance and funky music.
Thursday 6th November 7.30pm J2
games and peformance
masterclass
Blast Theory
Join Blast Theory for a two day masterclass exploring
performance and interactive art. Blast Theory are
one of the most adventurous artists’ groups using
interactive media, creating groundbreaking new
forms of performance and interactive art that mixes
audiences across the internet, live performance and
digital broadcasting.
Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th November
By application.
Islands (or how
to play dirty and
get away with it)
Caroline Horton
and Company
Islands is an illuminating, absurd and powerful new
show about tax havens, little empires, enormous
greed and the few who have it all. Hilarious and
unnerving, this ink black comedy with music
plunges you into a monstrous, secretive world where
it really seems that no-one has to pay... for anything.
Head off-shore and play with those who have it all
worked out, as they feed their addiction to wealth,
power and material stuff.
This Last Tempest
Uninvited Guests
Part theatre, part gig, This Last Tempest is a sequel to
The Tempest and begins where Shakespeare left off.
Caliban and Ariel are left alone on the enchanted
island, watching Prospero’s ship sail over the horizon
and out of view. As the storms rage endlessly around
them they conjure-up their own brave new world,
with new rules for a new society - where spirits and
monsters are people and inanimate things are alive.
Wednesday 26th November 7.30pm J2
Wednesday 12th November 7.30pm J2
R.I.O.T.
PanicLab
A comic book come to life. Four performers playing
at superheroes are caught in a series of conflicts
which are both personal, and intricately political.
Spiced with comic book and action hero references,
their epic adventure unfolds through action-packed
choreography and projected illustrations, as they
question what a superhero might look like in today’s
complex and troubled world?
Thursday 20th November 7.30pm J2
Going Nowhere
Presented in partnership
with Arts House,
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
One event on two sides of the globe – in Melbourne,
Australia and in Cambridge – exploring how artists,
communities and audiences can sustainably generate
international creative experiences without getting
on a plane. Through four local/international arts
collaborations and a programmme of interactive
forums and workshops, Going Nowhere rehearses
possible futures and embraces the shared delights
of staying put and reaching out.
December
Around the World
in 80 Days
New International
Encounter (NIE)
Join Phileas Fogg and his faithful servant
Passepartout in their audacious plan to navigate the
globe in just 80 days. With only a bag full of money,
a pocket watch and a wager to win, Fogg sets out on
the most celebrated literary journey of all time.
Based on Jules Verne’s famous novel and
combining clowning, live music, storytelling
and an international ensemble, Around the World
in 80 Days takes you on a high speed, mad-cap,
transcontinental, race against the clock.
1 policeman, 2 comrades, 3 cab rides, 4 continents,
5 trains, 6 ships, 7 lords a’ leaping (well maybe not)
and just 80 days to get back in time for Christmas!
Monday 8th December – Sunday 4th January
Various times J2
Saturday 22nd November
7
JUNGLE
8
JUNGLE
Jungle
London based electro-funk collective Jungle
take to our J1 stage in October following
a hugely successful summer of airplay and
appearances at Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading
and Leeds festivals.
junglejunglejungle.com
Tuesday 28th October Doors 7.00pm J1
9
Museum of Water
Amy Sharrocks
I run a Museum of Water.
AMY SHARROCKS
Yes, you heard me, a Museum of Water.
Just like - and also a little bit different from - the Natural History
Museum, the Science Museum and the Design Museum.
A museum can be defined as a place where works of art, scientific
specimens, or other objects of permanent value are kept and
displayed. It seems strange that we have a Cartoon Museum, a War
Museum, a Pram Museum, hell we even have a Dog Collar Museum,
but we are quite happy to exist without giving a second thought to a
substance that is our most basic need and offers some of our greatest
joys. We have a Maritime Museum, to do with exploration and
endeavour at sea. Museum of London Docklands focuses beautifully
on life around the Capital’s river, and the Museum of Water & Steam
deals brilliantly with the history of our water usage, concentrating on
steam engines.
So, we drink (on a good day) two litres of water, use gallons of it daily
to wash ourselves and take our crap away. We bathe in it, swim in it,
water fight, play in fountains, rivers and seas. We take our metaphors
for thinking from noticing its movements, feeling our ideas flow,
meander and surge. We can be flooded or deluged with emotions,
and perhaps our worst fear is of ideas stagnating and drying up.
Do you catch my drift? We claim a connection with water every time
we use its language.
10
Photo: Ben Blossom
11
Museum of Water is a live artwork, which invites you (yes, you) to
bring water, and to come and talk about what water you chose, and
why. We are like an old married couple, water and us. We’ve been
around each other so long we have forgotten to notice each other any
more. I’m asking you to take another look, and to try to notice exactly
what it might be that you prize most about water: Is it the long cool
drink after running around a football pitch... Is it the water from your
bedside table, after a night full of dreams… the water from all the
water bombs you threw last Tuesday… the rain water you so carefully
hoard for your plants… perhaps the water fountain at the top of
Montmartre where you saw the finest view of the Eiffel Tower…
or the water which held in suspension the medicine that saved
your eyesight?
And what does a Museum of Water look like? Anything you like.
Really. It depends entirely on what you bring me.
AMY SHARROCKS
At the moment it looks like 541 bottles of a huge variety and shape,
filled to different heights with liquids of all kinds: we have tea, rain,
spit, piss, breath, steam, condensation, icicle, hail, an ice painting, a
melted snowman and a (still frozen) snowball. We have bath water,
shower water, fountains, drips and tears. We have a woman’s birth
waters and the last drop. We have water from the last ice age, and we
also have water from 129,000 years ago, from the warm period before
the last ice age. Imagine that.
And what are you going to put your water in? We have Bonne
Maman jars and Nutella pots, homeopathic remedies, test tubes
and an assortment of plastic water bottles. We have sports flasks,
pint glasses, beer bottles and kegs, face cream jars and exotic glass
containers. Sometimes the Museum is on a street corner, sometimes
in a grand palace… In Cambridge I will be bringing our front room
cabinets to the Grand Arcade Shopping Mall. We will put our best
things on display alongside all the shops, exploring an alternative
consumer culture there, posing questions of permanence and value.
We have nothing to sell, and we are certainly hoping you will bring
a little something for us. We are giving a whole new meaning to the
term hawking your wares.
Museum of Water offers a look at water in the 21st Century, begun
in a year of critical flooding in the UK, and in a time of Climate
Change, with an eye on a drier future. It is left to us now to create
a space to think about it, to cherish it and treasure it, to pay it due
attention, instead of taking it for granted, turning on a tap and
12
just expecting it always to come gushing out. (Perhaps paying it due
attention is scary because it also carves a space for the possibility of water
not being there, and that is an idea so altogether terrifying, that it is
much easier to think about something else and turn on the kettle for a
nice, hot cup of tea). In Australia and South Africa the Museum might
look very different to how it will look in Denmark or here. I wonder
if I will get any Cam? I am hoping of course for some punting water
(a girl can dream, can’t she?)… I already have water under the bridge,
and exam water… But perhaps I am dealing in clichés because I don’t
know Cambridge so well… I wonder what other waters Cambridge
holds..?
AMY SHARROCKS
Go ahead and surprise me. I am very much looking forward to
finding out.
Cambridge Junction is proud to be a partner in Curating Cambridge: our city, our
stories, our stuff - five weeks of exhibitions, events, workshops, performances, talks,
trails and hand-on fun bringing together culture and creativity across the city.
Presented by the University of Cambridge Museums with the Festival of Ideas,
cultural partners and community organisations (20 October – 23 November).
Check out www.curatingcambridge.org.uk for details of all festival events.
Museum of Water
Amy Sharrocks
Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd November Grand Arcade
Things of Cambridge: A Pub Quiz
Tom Roden
Monday 3rd November Pub venue tbc
13
TIM KEY
14
15
TIM KEY
TIM KEY
16
17
TIM KEY
TIM KEY
18
TIM KEY
Follow the poetry of Tim Key at
instagram.com/timkeypoet.
Single White Slut
Tim Key
Saturday 27th September 7.00pm and 9.15pm J2
19
The Twelve Labours
of Hercules
Dani Kolanis
CLASSICS RETOLD
20
Hercules sat at the kitchen table,
his head buried in his arms. The
fluorescent lights were humming
with discontent. He heard footsteps
creep up behind him.
“My head” Hercules said, his head
cradled in his arms.
Hermes laughed, and slapped him
on the back. “You were epic last
night!”
“What happened?” Hercules
groaned, pulling his university
hoodie over his head.
“Initiation!”
Hercules gagged. The chirping from
the sparrows outside irked him.
“The legend. Hercules.” Hermes
continued. “Everyone will remember
your name. You took on the Red
Lion!”
“Oh God.” Hercules said. He could
smell the sticky beer on the table.
“Tanqueray gin, orange liqueur,
some orange and lemon juice,”
Hermes said. “And that was just the
beginning. On to Serpentine, I told
you to take a break but you wouldn’t
listen.”
“Why didn’t you stop me?” Hercules
said, rolling over to one side to face
his friend, the morning light stung
his eyes and he squinted.
“Serpentine. Heavy stuff man.”
“Sounds fancy.”
“Bit of rum and brandy. Some
lemon. And you had nine, mate.
Nine! Nine headed beast and you
destroyed it! And bam, straight
onto the third round. Deer hunter:
Jagermeister, vodka, beer, some
lemons.”
“Why so many lemons?”
“Keepin’ your citrus intake up, my
boy. Don’t want you getting scurvy.”
“I’m not getting scurvy.”
“Not yet. See in my years I’ve seen a
lot of crap. This one kid in my year
got rickets.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s when your bones start going all
weak from bad nutrition.”
“Is he alright?” Hercules asked,
sitting up. He could feel his head
whirring, like a snow globe, the dust
attempting to settle.
“And then you went straight onto
number four: Big Bull. Liver of the
Gods you’ve got. Who knows how
you could stomach tequila and coffee
liqueur.”
“I couldn’t” Hercules said eying up
the kitchen. It stank of beer and
burnt toast. His flatmate had bags
under his eyes. Hermes put his
hands into the pockets of his purple
dressing gown and smiled.
“Five: Royal Flush. Royal Canadian
Whisky, peach schnaps and …“
“Stop” Hercules cried, closing his
eyes trying to centre himself.
21
CLASSICS RETOLD
22
“Six: Bird bomb. You downed that
vodka like a monster!”
“I said stop!” Hercules said. He
rubbed his eyes and looked over at
the oven clock. 9:13am.
“You were a legend” Hermes said.
“Yeah great. Can you just- get me
some water. Please.”
Hermes gave a glass to Hercules.
Hercules looked at the cloudy water
for a second before sipping it slowly.
“What happened before?” Hercules
asked.
“Before Bird Bomb? Royal Flush. It
had some raspberry stuff too.”
“No before I got back. Meg. Where
is she?”
Hermes turned away and picked up
some empty beer cans.
“You should sleep. Got a lecture
today?”
Hercules stood.
“Where are you going?” Hermes
asked.
“Bed.”
“No, just - Meg’s a bit shaken up”
Hermes said.
“Why? What happened?”
Hermes brushed the cigarette
butts off the table. He looked up at
Hercules. “You hit her.”
“What?!”
“She’ll be alright.”
“No. Meg. Meg!”
“She’s not here.”
“Where is she?”
“A&E.”
“Oh my God, what did I do?”
“It’s okay.” Hermes said. “You drank
way too much.”
“Hera! That was Hera, she forced
me to.”
“She’s gonna be okay.” Hermes said.
“Where is she? I’m gonna kill her!”
“She’s with Hera.”
“That evil little-”
“Dude, she’s with your girlfriend!
Just be happy she’s alright.”
“No. Hera made me drink that like,
‘oh haha let’s watch the new guy get
drunk, let’s do that!’”
“It’s not her fault.”
“Yes it is.”
“You were the one drinking it.”
“You were the one cheering me on!”
“Cos you’re a bloody legend! Mate,
don’t be pissed she’s gonna be alright.
You did twelve drinks mate. Twelve!
That’s worth it. Not the hitting
but- you know Meg will forgive you.
She probably doesn’t remember it.
Twelve!”
Hercules smiled and Hermes gave
him a jovial punch on the arm.
“Yeah that’s right, crack a smile. You
had the Bloody Bull.” Hermes said.
“The bloody bull?”
“Number seven. Tomato juice and
vodka”. Hermes grinned.
“God. And a lemon I’m guessing.”
“Lime.”
“It was a good night though.”
“It was.”
“I think it was when I was downing
something with nutmeg taste-”
“Bay horse, I think. Yeah that was
number eight. With heavy cream.”
“Nah it was when I was between the
nutmeg and the kinda like sherry
taste.”
“Number nine, the Queen Bee”
Hermes added.
“Yeah I really felt part of it, part
of the team yeah. And we were all
Hermes had a sip of cloudy water.
“There’s this dude, last year, crazy
guy. He was a legend. He did like
twenty different cocktails.” Hermes
said.
“Twenty?”
“Yeah, crazy mofo.”
“Who?”
“Ryan, or Brian something. Can’t
remember. I think he did History or
Geography or something. Graduated
now.”
“Cool.”
“With liver damage though. Organs
that shows his battle scars. The true
hero. Brian.”
“Or Ryan.”
“Yeah.” Hermes said. He patted
Hercules on the back and sat down.
Hercules looked at the oven clock.
He thought of Meg. He thought of
the lads. He thought of the twelve
drinks. The twelve labours. He
smiled.
CLASSICS RETOLD
laughing and, and I think the lads
really got me in that moment, they
really accepted me.”
“Course they did. They were proper
proud of you. Fresher on number
nine!”
“Yeah I suppose. But it all went tits
up after that”. Hercules said taking
another slow sip of the water.
“Green Monster. That’s what tipped
it. Ten: Absolute monster. Vanilla
vodka and energy drinks.”
“Not a good mix.”
“Not a good mix at all. No wonder
you barely kept down the Golden
Apple and the finale number twelve,
Absolute Monster. But you made it.
You made it.”
“Great. So what do I get?”
“Eternal glory. They’ll never forget
you. Hercules: Liver of the Gods.
Forever known as Hercules. The
twelve drinks. The twelve- the twelve
labours of Hercules!”
“They were labours!” Hercules
laughed.
Dani Kolanis is a graduate of Menagerie’s Young Writers Workshop , which enables
young people to develop their talent by writing for theatre. Dani is a playwright/actor in
her final year studying Drama and Literature at the University of Essex. Her play Cadets
was presented as part of Hotbed Young Writers’ Showcase 2014.
This autumn join us at Cambridge Junction
to experience classic tales retold.
Don Quijote
Tom Frankland and Keir Cooper
Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th
September 7.30pm J2
L’apres midi d’un Foehn
Company Non Nova
Thursday 23rd & Saturday 25th
October various times J2
Reduced Shakespeare Company in
The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare (abridged) (revised)]
Wednesday 1st October 7.30pm J2
This Last Tempest
Uninvited Guests
Wednesday 26th November 7.30pm J2
Blind Hamlet
Nassim Soleimanpour
Wednesday 8th October 7.30pm J2
Around the World in 80 Days
New International Encounter (NIE)
Monday 8th December – Sunday 4th
January Various times J2
23
COMPANY NON NOVA
L’apres midi d’un Foehn
Company Non Nova
Watch in wonder as ordinary plastic bags
are magically brought to life by a mysterious
ballet master.
Thursday 23rd & Saturday 25th October
various times J2
24
COMPANY NON NOVA
Photo: Jean-Luc Beaujault
25
Travel with your Ears
Katerina Pavlakis
Katerina Pavlakis
Music has the peculiar nature of being a deeply personal as well as
a shared experience at the same time. Whether you are listening
alone on headphones, or find yourself in a posh concert hall or a
packed club, music has a way of conveying emotions and bringing up
memories, both for yourself and for the listener next to you. What’s
more, music can communicate all this without words, purely through
sound, through melody and rhythm, and that elusive something (the
presence of the performer?) that turns the sum of it all into more than
its parts.
The way most concert goers talk about their experience often reflects
that, as in this random selection of comments after five different
Making Tracks concerts, featuring artists from such diverse cultures
as Mali, Finland, India, Zimbabwe and Brazil:
Immediately warm and absorbing.
A much needed injection of joy and light-hearted humour.
Seeing your show has refreshed my inspiration and made
me realise why I love music again.
The most amazing night… never seen so many happy
people in one room.
Beautiful, thrilling concert... a great spirit of communion.
It is likely that none of the commentators would have been familiar
with the music they were hearing, yet the music provoked, perhaps
surprisingly, familiar feelings. Although no one seems to be referring
to the ‘sound’ of the music as such, all speak of the emotions it
evoked, so fundamental for the human experience.
Music communicates across the barriers of our differences (of
language, culture, religion, but also of age, background, class etc).
Experiencing the other, the foreign, the strange, and finding that
you can relate to it can make us aware of just how similar we are as
humans, across all those borders and barriers. Discovering that all
26
Cigdem Aslan by Tahir Palali
27
these different cultures still express the same basic human emotions
in ways that can be somehow understood by everyone brings the
realisation that we have more similarities than differences.
Katerina Pavlakis
Istanbul-born singer Çigdem Aslan (finishing her Making Tracks
tour at Cambridge Junction on 7th October) took this insight as
a cue for her performance: On her award winning album Mortissa
she takes inspiration from a (sub)culture and music tradition that
is usually associated with Greece but actually came to life on both
sides of the Aegean: Rebetiko is a style of urban folk music that
emerged in the turbulent years of the early 20th century, fuelled by
a stream of immigrants & refugees settling in the newly booming
cities of Athens, Piraeus and Istanbul, becoming a new class of social
‘underdogs’. Singing poignant songs of hardship, loss, sorrow and
hope became their way of coping with their situation; songs that were
initially frowned upon and even banned by society at large in both
countries but eventually found their way into mainstream popular
music. A revival of interest in rebetiko today, not least in Istanbul,
is one way in which two famously divided peoples are rediscovering
their common history and culture - often in a side street bar over a
strong drink and singing along to distant yet not-forgotten lyrics.
By looking for the roots of some of these rebetiko songs, Aslan found
that many of the melodies existed in a Turkish version too; what
her grandmother had sung to her in Istanbul was the same tune she
discovered among the old rebetiko records she researched in Greece,
and once she started looking for those similarities she began to see
them everywhere in the repertoire. Looking through that prism of
similarities and uncovering the ties between these two, often seen as
antagonistic, yet closely connected cultures (and communities), has
allowed her to build a unique bridge between Greek and Turkish
music that feels as natural as it is creative.
Discovering new music is akin to journeying far from home: If you
travel with an open mind you will find yourself immersed in new,
often unexpected but all the more captivating experiences, which not
only give you some insight into a foreign culture and people different
from yourself, but also act as a mirror for discovering new sides to
yourself and your own culture too. Through that, you can begin to
understand yourself, your own world and your own culture as part of
the larger picture - not as the centre of the universe, but rather, as part
of it.
This is one of the reasons why we like to avoid describing (and thus
labelling) Making Tracks as a series of ‘world music’ concerts: Labels
like this narrow down our perception to something which we think
we ‘know’ (and hence ‘like’ or ‘dislike’) because we ‘know’ the label.
28
Rather than ‘world music’ it is music from around the world: We
promise each concert will be different, fresh and exciting, exploring
as many different places, angles and ‘faces’ of world-wide music as we
can possibly cram into the series.
Exploring music that is new to you is a bit like discovering and
savouring a new dish or cuisine. Sometimes it’s an instant hit,
sometimes it can be a bit of an acquired taste, or you may put it
down as an experience not to be repeated; but the reward for trying
something unfamiliar and finding it enjoyable is a widening of your
horizons - and a lot of fun too!
Making Tracks brings brand new music from the far-flung corners of the world
to you and your local music venue. From the almost classical to the hot and
groovy, from big and bold to small and intimate. www.makingtrackslive.org.uk
Katerina Pavlakis
Making Tracks invites people to come on a journey of discovery, to
expand their curiosity for the world through the shared experience of
listening to music. And you don’t have to go far to go on this journey:
you don’t have to get on a plane to Senegal, or even on a train to
London: Making Tracks brings the music to you, to your local venue.
All you have to do is bring along a bit of curiosity and an open mind,
and let the music do the rest.
This autumn we offer many ways
to travel the world. Join us at
Cambridge Junction for these
adventures with a global perspective.
Çigdem Aslan
Tuesday 7th October 8pm J2
Women of the World
Presented by Cambridge University
Festival of Ideas
Sunday 26th October all day
throughout Cambridge Junction
Islands
Caroline Horton and Company
Wednesday 12th November 7.30 pm J2
Going Nowhere
Saturday 22th November J2
Around the World in 80 Days
New International Encounter (NIE)
Monday 8th December – Sunday 4th January
various times J2
29
R.I.O.T.
PanicLab
Thursday 20th November
7.30pm J2
PANICLAB
30
PANICLAB
Dance this Autumn at Cambridge Junction:
Artificial Things
StopGap Dance Company
Tuesday 16th September 7.30pm J2
Off
Company Kiaï
Tuesday 21st October 7.30pm J2
L’apres midi d’un Foehn
Company Non Nova
Thursday 23rd & Saturday 25th
October various times J2
Park
Jasmin Vardimon Company
Thursday 6th November 7.30pm J2
31
SONIC PI: LIVE & CODING
Sonic Pi: Live & Coding is an exciting new digital research project run
by Cambridge Junction and key partners Cambridge University and
The Raspberry Pi Foundation.
This ground-breaking project focuses on the low cost (£25), highly
accessible, credit-card sized Raspberry Pi computer which was
created to encourage children and young people all over the world to
learn computer programming. Sonic Pi: Live & Coding explores the
computer’s use in education, particularly the creative potential of live
coding to provide new routes for young people into digital music.
The project works with Sonic Pi Live software, which uses code
to turn a Raspberry Pi computer into a fully customisable musical
instrument. Young people have been working closely with artists
Juneau Projects, teachers and musicians, and Dr Sam Aaron the
creator of Sonic Pi Live.
The project has included two six-week trials in two secondary schools,
giving young digital musicians the chance to produce and perform
their own live coding compositions and a five-day Sonic Pi Live
summer school at Cambridge Junction extended the project beyond
the classroom.
Sonic Pi: Live & Coding culminates with a summit on Tuesday
4th November, when a free online toolkit will be launched.
There will also be a chance to see live coding in action, view ten
specially commissioned Pop-Pi videos and find out the results of
the project’s research.
Sonic Pi: Live & Coding Summit
Tuesday 4th November. Full details available online.
Throughout Cambridge Junction
32
Sonic controllers by Freman College
students and Juneau Projects.
33
Casting our code-spells
Sam Aaron
SONIC PI: LIVE & CODING
One of the things that truly excites me is the creative potential
of code. It’s not only a wonderful medium for exploring and
exchanging ideas at lighting rates through beautifully rich and
detailed conversations. It’s also a medium for making those ideas and
thoughts real. This is something I’d love for everyone to experience
which is why I think it’s so amazing to see so many people starting
to get excited about coding. The floodgates are really opening and
it’s inspiring to see so many people diving in to learning to code and
start working on their own programming projects. However, this is
really only the beginning. I personally want people to start to look
beyond using code to build apps and websites and to see the bigger
picture - that code is a new way for us to express ourselves. Code
offers us amazing new potential for being creative allowing us to
dream up new ideas and then to program them into reality. It’s the
closest we’ve managed to get to being wizards - casting our codespells to make computers do wonderful new things. I use code to
make music, conjuring up new sounds, bringing in beats, melodies,
textures and then manipulating things all with some special text.
This special text is code that the computer understands and knows
how to turn into sounds. By learning the special text, I’m essentially
learning how to commmunicate with the computer like a conductor
might communicate with an orchestra, except I’m also the performer,
the composer and the instrument all at once. All with code. It’s truly
magical and wonderful and I’m so excited to share these ideas and
skills with everyone. When you learn to code you’re also learning a
new powerful way to express yourself. The key is knowing that code
is the means by which we get control and we get to tell the computer
exactly what to do. Think about it - when we use apps, we’re limited
by the features of the app. Yet, when we use code, we’re limited by our
imaginations alone.
Sam Aaron is the creator of Sonic Pi Live and a member of live coding duo
Meta-eX. Meta-eX will perform at the Cambridge Junction Season Launch.
Season Launch
Thursday 4th September 7.30pm J2
Free event and get a free drink when you
donate a record or CD to our second hand store
(www.junction.co.uk/about-us/support-us).
34
35
Defiant, robust, political,
northern, poetical folk music
for the times we live in
O’Hooley & Tidow
O’Hooley & Tidow
We are Yorkshire folk duo O’Hooley & Tidow, (Belinda and Heidi).
We’ve been singing and writing songs together for about 5 years now
on the contemporary folk scene after Belinda left Rachel Unthank
& The Winterset in 2008. Our latest album The Hum, released
in February this year, was described by one reviewer as ‘Everything
David Cameron hates in one album’. Whether this is true or not,
we felt it was important to write about the world we live in and
this resulted in ten songs covering all sorts of topics from suicide
bombers to adoption, the decline of the bee population to the real
ale revolution! Folk music is such a broad genre, and we love the
history of story telling through music, and that it is the music of
ordinary folk, and also that there is a protest element to it – Billy
Bragg, Woody Guthrie, Peggy Seeger, The Dubliners and so many
others that spread messages through music.
We wouldn’t describe ourselves as protest singers, as such, sometimes
our songs are intensely personal, other times they are socially
conscious, but not preachy hopefully. We like to let the listener
make up their own minds. The Independent review of our album
said it is ‘defiant, robust, political, northern, poetical folk music for the
times we live in.’ And at this time with the austerity measures, the
dismantling of public services and the NHS, the perpetual blaming
of economic issues on the poor and vulnerable, it felt like we had to
make an album that reflects these times.
This is our third release on the Northern Cooperative label No
Masters, whose members also include the wonderful a cappella trio,
Coope Boyes and Simpson, anarcho-pop band Chumbawamba and
the late Lal and Mike Waterson.
36
37
O’Hooley & Tidow
Our neighbor; Mrs Peace provided the initial inspiration for the title
track The Hum. She told us how the sale of a nearby house had fallen
through due to the buyers noticing the humming noise of the local
factory. Her response was; ‘the sound of the factory gives me comfort,
as it’s the sound of people working.’ The humming of this factory and
the buzzing of the local bees connect a fragile eco-system, of both
community and wildlife.
O’Hooley & Tidow
The Hum took us about two years from start to finish, and once we’d
recorded the piano and vocals, the arrangements were developed
further by the vivid imagination of Mercury nominated producer
and sonic architect Gerry Diver. Like the pneumatic drill percussion
loop in Ewan MacColl’s ode to the navvy; ‘Just a Note’, to the defiant,
punky, feminist stance of Pussy Riot’s infamous protest against Putin
in ‘Coil & Spring’ (co-written with Boff Whalley of Chumbawamba),
each song thereafter explores a different aspect of the powerful hum
of life, the hum of the people.
Gerry and us share an Irish immigrant background, with economic
migration being one of the recurring themes in our music. Learned
from the singing of Lal Waterson,‘Just a Note’ gives a glimpse into
the lives of the navvies who built the M1, and the hardship of being
away from their families. While self-penned ‘Come Down From The
Moor’ is a stark look at how Ireland’s history of struggle and poverty
continues, and how this connects with the music of its people.
Our ballad ‘Two Mothers’, partly inspired by the film ‘Oranges and
Sunshine’ (Jim Loach) was initially written for Jackie Oates’s Lullabies
tour, and tells the story of a woman, who as a baby was sent away
from England to Australia as part of Britain’s controversial child
migration scheme.
You might think on first listen, that ‘Summats Brewin’ (recently
crowned ‘The Huddersfield Beer Anthem’) sounds like a joyful
celebration of the craft of real ale-making in our hometown of
Huddersfield, referencing the traditional refrain of ‘Oh good ale, thou
art my darling’. However, further listens betray the obsessive real ale
anorak as a revolutionary, offering flavourful alternatives, stirring up,
and bringing together communities to stand up against corporate
domination and the destruction of the local British pub.
38
We’re really looking forward to returning to the beautiful Cambridge
Junction in November, and this will follow on from our performance
at the 50th Cambridge Folk Festival in July. We played the festival
as a showcase in the Club Tent in 2012, and little did we know a
Guardian journalist was in the audience, and said in their review that
we were the best act of the whole weekend. This time we play Stage
2, and we’re really excited as Cambridge Folk Festival always has a
special atmosphere. We also played the Leftfield Stage at Glastonbury
this summer, after activist and singer-songwriter Billy Bragg listened
to The Hum and invited us to perform at his Radical Roundup. That
was an incredible experience, and it was great to see how many people
came to support the Leftfield stage, showing that many people are
politically engaged and want to hear music and art that has a message.
O’Hooley & Tidow
The natural world has always been central to our songwriting; always
running in parallel is the interaction of humans with animals and the
environment; the contrasts, the connections. ‘Peculiar Brood ’ looks
at suicide bombing, but from the mother’s perspective, using bird
imagery, in part inspired by Hany Abu-Assadis’s 2005 film ‘Paradise
Now’. This leads into the anti-war ‘Like Horses’, a compassionate
Michael Morpurgo-style rumination on fear, gender and capitalism,
with a plea for humans to be both gentle and strong, like horses.
The album’s finale ‘Kitsune’ is a multi-layered portrayal of forbidden
love. Initially inspired by Japanese folklore of the Kitsune; a fox who
transforms into a human woman, with echoes of Jeanette Winterson’s
unflinching Northern honesty, and references to the ongoing
ostracising of foxes and asylum seekers.
The Hum is a factory, is a mine, is a playground, is a hive, is a garden,
is a school, is a village, is a choir, is a forest, is a town, is a person, is a
group, is a heart, is a mind, is a voice, is the hum.
From the local to the global we consider
how we can share ideas and the world
through collaboration and dialogue.
WOW - Women of the World Cambridge
Sunday 26th October from 10.30am
Going Nowhere
Saturday 22nd November
O’Hooley & Tidow
Thursday 13th November 8pm J2
39
Once in a Blue Moon
Wriggle Dance Theatre
Sunday 21st September 11:30am and 2:30pm J2
FAMILY
40
FAMILY
Family this autumn
at Cambridge Junction
Traditional tales of Hansel and Gretel to books you’ve read
from Tall Stories, have a dance or get dressed up – there’s
something for everyone. Highlights this season include
the world premier of mechanical wonder The Assembly of
Animals and international hit L’apres-midi d’un Foehn – a
beautiful ballet performed by plastic bags! Look up the
Family programme online or pick up a copy of the flyer in
our foyer.
41
Around the World in 80 Days
New International Encounter (NIE)
Follow Phileas Fogg and his friends on
a festive family adventure this Christmas!
Monday 8th December – Sunday 4th January
Various times J2
42
book online at
junction.co.uk
Front cover:
Amy Sharrocks,
Museum of Water.
Inside cover:
Company Kiaï, Off.
Photo by Daniel Michelon.
cambridge Junction
Clifton way
Cambridge
CB1 7GX
box office 01223 511 511
@cambjunction
Company Reg. No. 2328810
Charity Reg. No. 801637
VAT Reg No. 700 1228 06