Planet Origo ver. 0.10e
last updated 2008-12-14 20:01 CET
What happens when you take a bunch of quality musicians, isolate them in a remote location with a handful of fans, and inspire them with beautiful scenery and unlimited quantities of beer? This is an experiment Vic Rek has been performing since the year 2000, sharing the results with the world via the Ricochet Gathering recordings.
The next generation of Romanian EMers? (Spyra, Patrick Rek, Paul N in background.)
Night time atmophere (l-r Spyra, Paul N, Yarek, Wladek, Steve, Paul L).
The name comes from the fact that the events, inspired by a love of the music of Tangerine Dream, 'ricochet' around the western world. This year's event took place over the week commencing November 9th at Count Kalnoky's Estate in the village of Miklósvár in Transylvania, Romania. After a couple of unfortunate last-minute cancellations, the line up consisted of:
- Indra from Romania
- Spyra from Germany
- Steve Schroyder from Germany
- Paul Lawler from UK
- Paul Nagle from UK
- Bill Fox from Pennsylvania, USA
- Daniel Bloom (Physical Love) from Poland
- Wladyslaw Komendarek from Poland
- Yarek from Poland
- Conrad Gibbons from Ireland.
So - to return to my original question - what happened?
Miklósvár is truly remote - for us, after flying in from Madrid it was an afternoon's train ride from Bucharest (the nearest place I'd heard of before this event) to Brasov, followed by an hour's journey by road - so Sunday was taken up with travel for most people. Once we'd settled in we met up with old friends, and made some new ones, over a carafe of the local brandy. We then descended to the old wine cellar, warmed by an open log fire, for an excellent dinner. Afterwards a handful of us walked over to look at the outside of the 'castle' (actually somewhere between a small stately home and a large manor house) in the brilliant moonlight. Fortunately Vic had deliberately chosen the week of the full moon, ostensibly to increase the eeriness of the experience but with the added benefit of improving visibility - I say "fortunately" because we didn't have a torch between us!
Monday was set-up day. After a late and leisurely breakfast we headed once more for the castle. For most of us this was our first opportunity to investigate the interior of the building: it is currently in the process of being carefully restored to its original beauty and, while weather-tight, is distinctly lacking in facilities. This lack was compensated by the willingness of the estate's staff to provide everything possible to increase our comfort: a patio heater provided warmth, we had a kettle and unlimited supplies of all that was required to make a variety of hot drinks, and a picnic lunch was brought over from the main building. All that was missing was a port-a-loo, and believe me, with the weather being so cold, I really missed it! A few props and false architectural features left by the previous users (a film crew) - including a large cross that dominated the playing area - gave a somewhat surreal atmosphere that only added to the feeling that Vic was hoping to engender.
In the early days of the Gatherings, set-up seemed to take no time at all. Nowadays, with so many musicians, a full mixing desk with multi-track recording facilities, and a portable generator to supplement the electricity supply, it takes a little longer to get everything working and organised to everyone's satisfaction. Finally, at about 6:30 p.m., the music began. The first session before dinner at 8:00 p.m. was a free-for-all, with everybody 'setting out their stall'. At times it was a little chaotic, and often rather too 'dense' for my taste, with not enough space between the layers in which to pick out the various contributions. Given the nature of the event, however, this is hardly surprising: even the best musicians need a little time to get to know each others' styles and potentials and find the best way of working together. Mellowed and lubricated by the excellent Romanian wine served with dinner and the aforementioned unlimited supply of beer, playing went on until 3:00 a.m., when the gas supply for the heater ran out. As the external temperature was -17C, it's hardly surprising that no-one wanted to continue after that.
Tuesday was the designated Keep day, a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Michael Mann film's release and its Tangerine Dream soundtrack. We kicked off the afternoon by listening to music from the original, now available as The Keep Cues in a limited edition from Ricochet Dream. Vic then designated musicians tasked with forming a group to reproduce the mood of different sections of the piece. After some huddled discussion Spyra, Daniel and Indra broke the ice with a piece built around an ominous marching beat. This was followed by Steve, Conrad, Yarek and Wladek (Wladyslaw) with a pounding dance-oriented piece that evolved into something very like prog-rock. Finally, Paul Lawler called for a jam session: Paul Nagle, Steve and Bill were ready to oblige him in an improv based on a weird sequence in F minor, "mostly because that was a key otherwise woefully underused" as Paul N put it. It began as a slow, warm piece that grew in power as it drew in other musicians, acquiring rhythmic elements as it evolved into something very cold and scary, a complete volte-face. The afternoon finished with a mass session of (possibly ironic) jazz-funk. In the evening, with slight changes to the line-ups (lines-up?) the musicians showed off the pieces they'd been working on in the afternoon. As Paul Nagle wrote after the event "I think the discipline of working in small themed groups yielded dividends. I look forward to hearing the results of this as it seemed to be going very well indeed. Nice atmospherics and even some subtlety."
The working method established on Tuesday was repeated throughout the rest of the week. Those who were not visiting the sights - Bran Castle, bat caves in the Varghis Gorge (again without torches - practicality and musicianship don't appear to go together), the medieval centre of Brasov - would spend the morning resting or looking around the village and nearby countryside. In the afternoon, the musicians would prepare sequences or plan a group piece which would then be showcased in the evening. This would be followed by totally unplanned pieces from small designated groups (which frequently expanded as other musicians saw ways they could add something to the mix), usually rounded off by a complete free-for-all until either we ran out of heat or the security guy arrived to make sure everything was safely locked up. On Wednesday night we were treated to a typical piece: 'seeded' by Spyra with a sequence recycled from his recent High Phidelity release, players were coming and going as and when they felt like it - at one time we were down to three, then the others were drawn back to their seats as if by magnetism until all ten were playing layer on layer of wonderful sound: a total 75 minutes of glorious non-stop improvisation. If that one doesn't make it onto the eventual release I shall be extremely surprised.
One of the delights of the Ricochet Gatherings is the opportunity to spend time relaxing with musicians and to see them at play. It's interesting to see them casting a (frequently envious) eye over each other's equipment, and even trying it out. Thursday afternoon was a case in point, with Wladek testing out the organ tones on Indra's gear (very ecclesiastical) followed by what sounded like a love-song on Daniel's equipment. Daniel, in reply, gave us a blast of techno on Wladek's equipment. Indra tried out Bill's guitar, and Geo, the recording engineer, showed off his skills on Indra's gear. A fun time for all concerned, including onlookers, that will have to remain a memory since it was not recorded.
Right from the very first gathering, Vic has tried (with varying success) to make the work being done available to the local people. This year was no exception, and on Friday night the villagers were invited to join us at the castle and hear some of 'our' music. We were astonished and thrilled when roughly seventy people arrived, from grannies down to schoolchildren, and stayed for the whole evening! Afterwards, the musicians invited the kids to try out their instruments and listen to themselves on headphones. To quote Paul Nagle again: "how cool was *that*?!! To have villagers come up and shake our hands, obviously delighted to be there. Best of all, I think, was the look on those kids' faces. We did a good thing!! A day they'll remember."
Other happy memories:
- The problems Wladek had at customs with his beard (it's twisted into a single 'dread' with what looks like an animal's tail braided into it), when, thinking it was false, they insisted that he take it off! And the long brunette wig he bought on a trip to Bran castle and wore non-stop for the rest of the week.
- Watching Steve's face as he played - like an expert driver, his eyes never stop moving, catching a glance from each fellow musician (and giving the occasionally admonitory look), seeking and building consensus at all times.
- Aubergine salsa - for breakfast.
- Problems establishing tempo because we were having to use english as a lingua franca, and not everyone knew the numbers.
- The brandy decanter that magically reappeared, full, in the sitting room every day - wherever and in whatever state we had left it the night before.
- More problems establishing tempo because some people were were synced to the same MIDI clock and others were syncing manually.
- Spyra talking about making the latest release. Apparently Pete Namlook "got a baby" so they were unable to work together in the studio as they have done previously. Spyra recorded his parts and sent the files to Pete for his contribution and final mixing, which took some time. Having had a chance to listen to the end result, I don't think it's suffered from the change in working practices.
Over twenty-five hours of recordings were taken away from the event for mixing. The best of this will go to everyone who attended, and from that will be selected the material for an official release. I think the EM world is in for another treat!
Related articles:
Other Concert reports articles:
Copyright (c) 2007-2010, Planet Origo. All Rights Reserved
About Planet Origo | Terms of use | Privacy policy
About Planet Origo | Terms of use | Privacy policy
