Monday, February 4, 2008

Or Maybe It's The Harpuba?

this doesn't have a whole hell of a lot to do with much of anything, but i thought i'd mention an instrument i invented in a dream last night called a "tubarpsichord" or something like that. there was a guy playing a four horned tuba which was tied to the frame of a harpsichord, and everytime air came out of the horns, it would vibrate the strings of the harpsichord. i don't think i ever got to hear what it sounded like, because the guy was having trouble pushing air through all the tubas horns. i think he was also trying to hold the entire thing aloft without any sort of pulleys or belts or anything.

i think the stuff in the dream came from watching a dvd that a friend here lent me of a live performance by a japanese jazz pianist named hiromi, who just released a live duet with chick corea. in the performance, she's reaching into the piano and plucking and slapping the strings, and generally whooping ass and being incredible, and it reminded me of a vitality i see in japanese art and performance that seems pretty rare in other parts of the world. my perspective is probably a little skewed, it's just that almost every time i've seen or heard a japanese performer, they put a little more into whatever they're doing than most people do, seem to believe in it more. there's an earnestness in the art coming from japan that just isn't quite as strong and consistant for me in art from other parts of the world.

yes, so, in my repose, japan brings me the "tubarpsichord".

1 comment:

Carly said...

I'm visiting in the Korea country now. Soon I will be in Japan!