Shiv'a - progress update!

Dearest Friends,

The recording was wonderful, and I'm so excited to see how this project will unfold!

Hopefully in January we will finish mixing the music and a release will be soon to follow...

Here are some pictures of us rehearsing the music at the Armory on Park with the Bw49B in operation.

In the pictures:
Ayelet Rose Gottlieb (composer)
ETHEL (strings)
Satoshi Takeishi (percussion)

behind Satoshi - the Blanket with 49 Bells, made by Michelle Jaffe.u

further updates are expected towards Jan 2012... 

photos by Jesse Winters

Here we go...

6 days before we head into the studio...

The charts are prepared... (some examples...)

 

Michelle completed the Blanket with 49 Bells (in the photos - Michelle at her studio with the Be49B)

The studio is ready...

 


Our indiegogo fund raiser is still up and running... to make an online tax-deductible donation, click here

More words to come...

Motor action...

I can't believe it's August...

The heat finally caught up with us here, in London, and aside from trying to catch some sun, I'm hard at work towards recording "Shiv'a" next month!

And I'm not the only one... it is fascinating to follow the process of sculptor Michelle Jaffe, as she's working on building the Blanket with 49 Bells - a new instrument that will be played throughout the "Shiv'a" by percussionist Satoshi Takeishi (see previous blogs to read more about this sound-sculpture)

Following our last Skype powwow, Michelle and I decided to change the backdrop fabric of the Bw49B. The previous one seemed too heavy, and the hem was showing... here are the old and new fabric:

 

To show me the size the instrument will be, Michelle took a photo of her wall of tools... The second photo shows the approximate layout of the bells, and the third shows the built "skeleton" of the instrument:

Michelle consulted with her father, Mr. Albert Jaffe, on how to make the blanket move "on command" in a ghost-like manner that is not apparent. Our initial thought was to do this with a fan - which we were surprised to discover, does nothing to move the blanket or the bells themselves... so Michelle and her father came up with a way to use small motors:

After a lot of hard work - the building of this sound-sculpture has come a long way!! Later today Michelle and I are meeting again online. I'm so thrilled to see the Bw49B for the first time!!
The job is not yet done, but we're definitely getting there!

On my end of things - I'm spending my days mostly reviewing the score of "Shiv'a", making some corrections, and re-writing one of the movements of the piece. I'm hoping to finish all of this by the end of August, and to mail the final score to ETHEL and Satoshi!

THANKS to all of you who have pledged your support of this project by either pre-ordering the CD, or making a tax deductible donation! We're just over 20% there! All of the money goes towards helping us cover the expenses of recording + the making this beautiful sound-sculpture!

IF YOU'D LIKE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OR MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION, you can do so through this website:

http://www.indiegogo.com/recording-shiva

Please feel free to forward this to (or buy a copy for) anyone you think would find this project interesting...

Much love, and more soon...
Ayelet

Dreams & Blankets & Bells, oh my...

HI Friends!

As you may know, I'm currently preparing towards recording my new composition "Shiv'a" in September! Part of this prep includes working with sculptor Michelle Jaffe on building a new musical instrument (a blanket with 49 bells), which is part of the musical line up of the piece. (check out this link or video below to see how you can contribute to this process!)

Many of you may be wondering what this blanket is all about... hopefully, this blog post will shed some light on the matter...

Dreams & Blankets
I started composing Shiv'a following the death of three of my close friends in 2007 (Eric, Take, Asher). The entire process of composing this piece has been emotional, turbulent and dream like... but there were certain peak moments, such as a certain morning in Wellington, New Zealand... I woke up with a thread from a dream - a foggy, dream-memory of a blanket with bells on it, that was moved by the wind. Its sound was magical. The visual was haunting. This image and sound kept following me as I was writing the music... so, I decided to find a way to bring this dream fragment into the composition and through it - into reality...

Bells
The bells from the dream made a lot of sense to me... Since bells were a big part of Take's sound (more on Take another time), and for me, this composition is in many ways a reaction to his death.

A friend told me that there is a Buddhist belief that the spirit lingers in the world for 49 days after the person's passing. This idea made lyrical, numerical and symbolic sense within "Shiv'a", and so the number of bells on the blanket became 49...

More on the bells and the process of collecting them- another time... for now, here's a picture of all the bells Michelle will be using:

Oh my...
Michelle Jaffe and I met in New York in 2009. Our collaboration began with Michelle's installation "Wappen Field". Michelle commissioned me to compose music scored for seven improvising vocalists. The music will be played within her installation. You can hear some sound samples of this composition on my website).

Working with Michelle - it became clear to me that she is the person to talk to about making this sound-sculpture that I needed for "Shiv'a", and so, she came on board...

Michelle is now in the process of figuring out the mechanics and dimensions of this wild new instrument... the parameters are: it needs to have presence on stage; it needs to be easy to fold up and light in weight, so it can travel with me and with the band wherever the piece may take us; it needs to be beautiful; It needs to move & make sound; sound (movement) must be controlled by operating musician; it needs to be easy to operate; so... a lot to consider...

Michelle and I have gone "fabric shopping" twice. but seems like third time is a charm... we discovered the latest fabric we bought is in fact too heavy (see pic below)... so Michelle will now venture on her own to buy the new (lighter) fabric. Other than the fabric, she has figured out a way to make the blanket and bells move, with the help of small motors (!) and found the right kind of poles to hold this whole structure together...

I'll keep updating you as things progress on the blanket front... for now, here are some pictures from my Skype session with Michelle yesterday, in which we are deciding on measurements and sizes (me in London, Michelle in NY... collaboration in the globalized era :-)

To hear fragments of the piece and learn more about how you can get involved or make a (tax deductible) donation:


Video by Yaniv Bendov

My upcoming project - Shiv'a

Dear friends and followers,

In the next couple of months I'll be posting a weekly blog towards the recording of my project "Shiv'a".

Featuring ETHEL Quartet and Satoshi Takeishi, Shiv'a is a musical meditation in seven parts, reflecting on the process of mourning.
I drew inspiration from Jewish and Buddhist rituals of mourning, and created a new instrument, being made by sculptor Michelle Jaffe- a Blanket with 49 Bells. More details to come. I promise!

I'm very excited about this project and the upcoming recording!
We are about to launch an indiegogo.com fund raiser to help fund this recording. I'll keep you posted on how you can pre-order the CD, be invited to a private pre-recording run-concert, and even get contributor credit in the CD itself! Stay tuned... More soon

May News

Hi Dear Friends & Music Lovers,

I hope this email finds you healthy, happy and in love, since it's finally spring!
I'm feeling the earth mooooove under my feet... (well... they taught me as a child that it IS actually moving... but also...) I'm moving. A lot. sharing fragments of life with many of you on different continents... living with a very limited sense of continuity of time and space... and inside all of that - making some music... here's an update on where/when you can hear me resonate sound waves in the near future... I hope to see you (here, there and everywhere), share sound with you, and stand with you for a moment...

Two Special "PANGAEA" Performances
with ANAT FORT (piano) and YAEL ZAMIR (oboe)


May 6, Friday, at "Muza"
Carmel Beach Cultural Center
Anat, Yael and I will be performing at the Cultural Center's Jazz series, curated by saxophonist Albert Beger. We will play music from my program "Pangaea". What is Pangaea, you ask? ... as a child I collected dolls from different countries. Now, I collect poetry, thoughts and songs by people of different cultures and countries in which I've lived or visited. I've named this collection "Pangaea", named after the great continent before it split into the fragmented ones we live on today.



May 26, 9pm, NOVARA JAZZ FESTIVAL, Italy

Anat, Yael and I will continue our Pangaea adventure at the Novara Jazz Festival! Novara is a small town in Italy between Milano and Switzerland. If you're in the area, come on by!


Highlights From New York:

A couple of weeks ago I returned from a very intense three-weeks-in-NY. A lot has happened in that short amount of time... some highlights:

I was commissioned by installation artist Michelle Jaffe to compose and produce music for seven improvising vocalists, which will be played within her installation "Wappen Field". This is still a work-in-progress, but some sound samples of this music are available on my website. updates to come...

Michelle is also participating in my project Shiv'a. Shiv'a (also a work-in-progress) is a musical meditation in seven parts on the process of mourning. I scored it for string-4tet, percussion and a Blanket of Bells (which Michelle is creating). The creation of the blanket is in its early stages, and a recording of this composition is planned for later this year... Much more on this in the near future... stay tuned...

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Another highlight in my recent NY stint, was a Mycale performance at the NYC Opera as part of John Zorn's Masada Marathon! other participants included:
Mike Patton, Marc Ribot, Dave Douglass, Joey Baron and many others...

Upcoming Mycale Concert in Berlin

May 4th, 8pm, Berlin Jewish Museum
Mycale will play a concert in Berlin, as part of the Radical Jewish Culture concert series, curated by legendary bassist Greg Cohen (plays with John Zorn, Ornette Coleman, Tom Waits, Woddy Allen and more...). We’re very very honored to have been invited by him to participate!
If you're in Berlin - come on by!


Compilation Vibration... Sasha Argov "Masa Asphalt"

A while back I told you about a project by 106fm (Tel Avivian radio station) called Masa Asphalt (Asphalt Journey) ... Two of the broadcasters, Tali Polak and Gil Ruvio, produced 27 new recordings to beloved songs by Israel's iconic songwriter, Sasha Argov. This compilation was available for download for a while, and due to it's surprising success, it was picked up by
High Fidelity Record Label, and is now available on a double
CD in stores and online! On it you can find my performance to the song Me'ever Talchelet (w. Udi Horev & Ora Boazson-Horev) as well as performances by Michael Gottlieb, Baleli, Nisim v'ha'Nifla'ot, Criminal Project, Yehu Yaron and more...

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before I say goodbye, I'd like to welcome Orian and Ido into the world! and to send loving, healing energies to Steph P. I'd also like to extend love and wishes of good reassembling to all people who are living through hurricanes, earthquakes and revolutions...

much love & rejuvenating spring!
Ayelet


www.ayeletrose.com