Aranui vibes

Aranui Library has a great community vibe. On Wednesday I arrived there to find the doors open to the late afternoon sunshine and the sound of reggae floating out to the street. The library was full to capacity with students, Mums and babies, locals wandering in off the street and a smattering of people from the other side of town who’d come to join in.

An eight piece band called Imprint was performing in one corner. It was hard to believe they were Aranui High School students, I’d have picked them as professionals if one of them had not been in uniform. Someone whispered to me that they’d been jamming there all afternoon and that everyone was having a great time. The kids were doing a bit of dancing, the audience was moving to the music, clapping and calling out appreciation when something particularly impressed them. Imprint play a mix of soul, reggae, r+b, and the occasional re-worked hymn, all with Pasifika flavour, some in Pacific tongues.

The students were followed by Merchants of Flow, an impressive professional reggae band who had generously agreed to perform for library patrons at minimal cost. They play upbeat high energy classic New Zealand roots. Beautiful harmonies and love pour off the stage. Google them to see what I mean. They’re playing at The Bedford this evening (Fri 24 May).

By this time it was five o’clock, the sun was going down and people were starting to slip away to give their children their tea. I left with music ringing in my head, dancing a bit on the way back to the car. Nice.

 

Pop up music on Tuam Street: Picturing Canterbury

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Unknown Superiors: Erewhon Calling – Experimental Sound in New Zealand

Even to lifelong natives of one race or another, New Zealand is often summed up in one word: boring. The long white cloud of our original name seems in the 21st century to consist of ennui, repression, angst and mundane order coupled with rigid expectations and an ingrained fear of singularity.

Aside from technological advances, some loosening of morals and the allowance of more wiggle room in sexual politics, there is little difference between modern New Zealand and the country Bill Pearson was writing about sixty years ago when he argued that being different = trying to be superior.

So may the heavens smile upon the random eccentrics who buck the trend and spend their time fashioning flame-powered pipe organs, or learning how to press records with Frankenstein-ed washing machine parts, or utilising the power of the sun to make a robot play guitar. In Erewhon Calling – Experimental Sound in New Zealand, Bruce Russell has compiled a vibrant celebration of the “antipodean misfits and malcontents” who devote their hands, hearts and ears to staying as far away from the oeuvre of The Exponents as is humanly conceivable.

In an expected esoteric fashion, this collection derives its title from Samuel Butler’s satirical novel Erewhon, in which the eponymous fantasy land is, as Russell retells it, “defended…by stone sound sculptures which make such ‘hideous noises’ that…’however brave a man might be, he could never stand such a concert.’ ” An almost-reversal of “nowhere,” Butler’s novel allegedly satirises blandly-Victorian principles (I barely made it fifty pages in so I’m inclined to take the internet’s word for it), and by merging Butler’s title with that of The Clash’s classic album London Calling, Russell nails the spirit of these brilliant weirdoes.

Although perhaps brilliance is too light a term for these unknown superiors, such as Alastair Galbraith and his eight note fire organ that harnesses the power of bunsen burners to produce distinct notes. Also to be found within these pages is the ingenuity of Geraldine’s Peter King and his lathe cut approach to record pressing, for which he uses a home-made machine cobbled together from washing machine parts in a process so unique, it has attracted the attention of such far-flung artists as Beastie Boys and Pavement.

Even Christchurch City Libraries’ own Adam Willetts earns a spot for his experiments with solar-powered robots (or ‘solarbots’), which were given the ability to make music on an electric guitar in order to transform the live performer into the furniture itself.

So for those of you feel like celebrating New Zealand Music Month by leaning on the more intriguing side of things, Erewhon Calling should provide you with a great starting point (I’d also recommend Russell’s Left-handed Blows – Writing on Sound 1993-2009), plus be sure to join us at New Brighton Library on Saturday 25 May as Adam performs with his home-made modular synthesisers and takes us on a musical journey which promises to be anything but boring.

 

A bunch of New Zealand music books: Picturing Canterbury

           

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Aranui loves reggae

To celebrate Aranui Library’s entry onto the scene, Christchurch City Libraries have decided to fund a big music event in Aranui Library during New Zealand Music Month. It takes place on Wednesday 22 May 2013, 3:30 to 5:30pm.

Merchants of Flow is a successful and impressive local reggae band, with links to Aranui High School, so we roped them in.

And playing support will be Imprint, an energetic local group, which features current and ex members of Aranui High.

The gig will be broadcast on RDU 98.5FM  (you can listen to RDU98.5 FM or on the internet), and will feature interviews with the bands.

You’re all welcome to join us at this, or any of our NZ Music Month gigs.

It is free and it’s fun and we’d love to see you there.

 

The Bicycle Band: Picturing Canterbury

The Bicycle Band of 1898 claimed to be the only one of its type in the world. There was a brief recreation in 2010 at the Ellerslie Flower Show. In NZ Music Month why not check out some mighty Kiwi Brass bands from our libraries.

NZOnScreen reminds us how much brass bands and highland pipe bands provided the soundtrack to major civic events and  film reels in this great celebration of VE Day.

For the real live feel of a brass band get along to Hornby Library on Saturday May 11 at 10.45am to hear the New Zealand Army Band which is the creme de la creme of bands.

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We appreciate your appreciation! The Gladstone

Saturday night at the DB Gladstone – ah, those were the days. The dingy old pub with cracked stucco walls, peeling paint and the stench of beer seeping from its pores slouched next to its corporate neighbours on the corner of Peterborough and Durham Streets and sneered at their clean concrete exteriors. In the ’80s, the Gladstone was the venue for great gigs. I remember seeing legendary Kiwi bands such as The Wastrels, the Dance Exponents and Pop Mechanix there and The Gordons in all their edgy glory.

It was the place to go. Saturday nights, I’d put down my Victorian poetry texts, backcomb my black and purple hair, squeeze into my drainpipe jeans, strap on my winkle pickers and head to the Gladstone to scowl with friends in dark corners.

Many of us did our courting there, pogo-ing into the night as the bass thudded on and the singers’ voices became husky with the clouds of cigarette smoke that engulfed us all.

I hope with the rebuild that there will still be room in Christchurch for a bit of grunge. We need a few haunts in which we can lurk and not feel obliged to be perky and bright and have our teeth whitened to fit in with the crowd.

Keeps it real somehow.

 

Alan Broadbent – unsung New Zealand hero

The All Music Guide has called New Zealand born jazz musician Alan Broadbent:

An unsung hero of acoustic piano.

Broadbent has played with, and composed and arranged music for, some the greats of the jazz world – Woody Herman, Chet Baker, Natalie Cole and Scott Hamilton among them.

He has visited New Zealand a number of times and on one occasion I was privileged enough to hear him at the Christchurch Town Hall. Judging by this one performance I could only call him a virtuoso. The complexity and grace of his improvisations left me quite stunned. He does indeed deserve to be much better known.

Fortunately the library can provide you with a chance to get to know our hero’s work through both CDs and via our streamed music resource Music Online. On The Jazz Music Library (part of Music Online) his albums cover genres from Bop to Smooth Jazz, Fusion and Contemporary, while our CDs are mostly of his own trio or collaborations with artists like Mel Torme and Michael Feinstein.

Try Ballad Impromptu composed by Alan Broadbent and played by The Alan Broadbent Trio from the Album Personal Standards

• This album (and over 8000 more jazz albums) is available online for free from anywhere with your library card number and PIN.
• Listen to free online music from Music Online and the Source.

 

Balloon D’Essai and the Haemogoblins at the Gladstone, 1983: Picturing Canterbury

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Rockin’ at Central Library Tuam

Adam McGrath is really doing his bit for New Zealand Music Month at our libraries. He’s appearing at Aranui Library tomorrow (Friday 2pm)  and last night The Eastern opened Music Month at Central Library Tuam.

They were supported by two young singer-songwriters, Katie Thompson and Ivy Rossiter aka Luckless, both with strong and unique voices.

The Eastern has just returned from a tour of Australia – the last leg of 13 months of touring – and Adam’s voice was starting to show the strain. Not that it mattered in the least. Their high energy, foot tapping, let’s-get-up-and-dance music, combined with McGrath’s innate talent for engaging an audience, completely negated any vocal shortcomings.

None of this group stays still for more than about a second. As a result my photos were all either blurry or very blurry. The crowd of around 150 was equally energised and we all had a great night.

• Find out about more of our NZ Music Month events.