A few weekends ago, as mentioned in my last post, CBC and I headed to Suffolk to Aldeburgh, meeting up with his brother WKWTTG (Who knows where the Tim goes* his once blog name) later on.
We arrived at our campsite at around 4pm and headed down to Aldeburgh to walk on the beach and eat some ice-cream, seen in the last post.
Returning to pick up WKWTTG, we were running late for our
concert and ordered pizzas from the pub but they forgot to cook mine which I
was not best pleased about and it was too late to wait.
We had three concerts booked at the Pumphouse, which is a
disused Victorian pumping house by the marshes. It was idyllic to lie in the
field eating pizza and listening to the music we were late for. They set up
a quirky marquee in front of the
pumphouse with hilarious décor- old sofas, mannequin body parts tastefully
displayed and lampshades.
The first concert which we were late for was a collaboration
between a Kora player and a double-bass/cello/Viol player which was an
interesting fusion of African rhythms and lyric bass.
In between, there was an hour between concerts, so we went
for a walk back to Aldeburgh and bought some chips from the chippy since I was
hungry having stolen slices of pizza from CBC and brother.
The second concert was a collaboration between a film and TV
composer (he composes music for Sherlock) and a cello player. They used
electronic sounds from his iPad combined with the acoustic instruments and were
very evocative and beautiful- they did an improvisation too which was beautiful
but short!
In the hour space this time, I stayed put on a comfy sofa
and read my Catherine Storr murder mystery book whilst CBC and WKWTTG sampled
the Pumphouse BBQ.
“This truly unique, multi-vocal troupe meld elements of art
pop, oompah and post-minimalism. The high energy performances are full of
exuberant choral harmonies, choreography and intricate grooves.
Whether leading jubilant parades, fully amplified stage
shows, or pop up street performances, Perhaps Contraption create an
unforgettable live experience.”
They had SO much energy, hilarious and very talented. They have done really well and won some
competitions in Europe.
This ended at midnight so we headed back to the campsite where I donned my best seaside-themed pajamas!
The next morning, we rose, showered at the very nice
campsite in Saxmunden and faced the arduous task of packing up the tents and
trying to fit us, the equipment and a bike into CBC’s car.
Heading into Aldeburgh, we went first to Thorpness, a beautifully
kitsch chocolate box village near Aldeburgh to The Kitchen for breakfast. This
was a GREAT place to eat. They had an
extensive outdoor area. Inside, there were sofas and tables to eat and a huge
menu. Plus, I’d left my coat and cardie in the car, so I appreciated the
blankets you could help.
We all opted for eggs on toast with tomatoes. I asked for sloppy egg which came beautifully made!
What was great was that it had an antiques and collectables centre inside, so I went for a wander whilst CBC and bro read the papers. There were so many fun articles inside!
I really contemplated that 1970's tiered rainbow maxi skirt, really, really liked it but resisted!
Afterwards, we headed onto Aldeburgh. I made a quick stop into Joules Kids to return this t-shirt. I hoped I would be able to fit into it as I LOVED it but whilst I can fit into aged 12 clothes, I was pushing it with with aged 10 t-shirt!
After perusing art galleries, we headed to the beach (typically in the rain) for another performance by Perhaps Contraption who were playing on the temporary bandstand.
It really did pour! We had come especially because they tantalised us last night saying that they were going to perform a version of John Adams'
Short ride in a fast machine, which is so cool (I played this with my gamelan group and posted about a couple of years ago). Luckily, before we headed off, we heard it.
The next stage was heading to Snape Maltings for the main festival building. We went first to hear a performance by school children from Suffolk performing their reactions to Benjamin Britten's
Prince of the Pagodas, his only full-length ballet which was a reaction to his visiting Bali and seeing the Gamelan.
The concert was really interesting, the teens and children had been working with choreographer Sarah Lewis
and beatboxers Testament and Jason Singh presented their own response to
the ballet in an event titled
Rebuilding Pagodas. They did brilliantly and I loved seeing the collaboration of different art forms and traditions.
In between, I ate a mountain of Eton mess and we went for a wander around the marshes. There are various artworks dotted around and we had a mess around trying to play our own 'gamelan-inspired' music on the sculpture above, to the amusement of people around.
Finally, we headed into the concert hall for the final concert of the festival: the Britten-Pears Orchestra, who are talented music students from around the world who performed
Prince of the Pagodas under the baton of Oliver Knussen. In addition to that, I was hideously excited for the first piece in the concert which was
Tabuh-Tabuhan by Colin McPhee
which was a piece showing his reactions to the 10 years he lived in Bali. I heard this piece as part of my elective module at university,
Indonesian Music Studies, and fell in love with it. I've never heard it live before as it is not performed very often and it was just as magical as I remembered from the recording.
The third piece in the programme was Gunther Schuller’s
Seven Stories on themes of Paul Klee. This was SUCH a witty and clever piece of music combining an eclectic mix of influences from Aarbic music, blues, Jazz, minimalism and yes, Gamelan! In addition, in a poignant tribute, the conductor, Knussen, talked to the audience about the composer, his friend and teacher, who had died earlier in the week.
It had been a fantastic weekend and I will definitely return to the Aldeburgh festival next year.
Interestingly, today, we are off to another festival, this time a folk festival called Village Green Festival in Chalkwell Park, Southend.
