JON ROSE [Violin]
with field recordings
and new instruments

SUNDAY June 26th
at 7.30 p.m. [doors at 7]

News from the Desert
Jon Rose returns to Sydney from Alice Springs with two new projects

1. Spectacular video and audio recordings of a virtuoso Pied Butcherbird recorded at night last November accompanied by live violin.

Butcherbird music has been around for at least 12 million years, one of the most ancient avian musics on the planet. This ancient lineage reminds us that humans are new on the block with regard to the invention and perception of melody. The birds know when they have a good tune, as they repeat it; they also know how to show off their technique with counter-melodies and combinatorial variations. And as with all diligent musicians, pied butcherbirds practice - the aesthetics of improvement. But despite being resident musicians on this planet for millennia, the individual singers of the pied butcherbird species do not have access to a performing rights society, so Hollis Taylor and I support their musical work through contributions to Birdlife Australia. You could do this as well if you’re inclined.

2. Over recent months he has been busy building some new instruments including a 4 sided Aeolian Monolith (pictured in Tjoritja National Park, Mparntwe). Some of these recordings from the beginning of the year will be presented, also accompanied by live violin.

Since moving to Alice Springs in 2021, I've wanted to renew my acquaintance with good old Greek God Aeolus. Central Australia is windy, pushed by temperatures of plus 40C in summer. Our backyard is particularly gusty with variable wind direction, so I've built a 4 sided aeolian harp to try and accommodate this issue. I've named it The Monolith - suggestive of 2001: A Space Odyssey and certainly sounding very spacey as it consists of a long hollow box with 24 strings.
Two distinct kinds of aeolian effect have become obvious. The standard Von Kárán vortex street effect is evident when there is a sustained and even wind (the wind causes a vortex behind the string exciting the overtone series), but when the wind is extremely gusty, the alternating vortex effect does not get time to settle and other blown sonic phenomena are created. I'm not sure of the science behind this, but the results can be quite spectacular. The strings take a pounding. The Monolith can be incrementally rotated and thus bring into play adjacent strings to those already sounding. These discrete changes also reveal different particles in the overtone series. But as French academics sometimes say 'That's all very well in practice, but will it work in theory?'

ALL PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC EVENTS ARE FREE
WITH GENEROUS DONATIONS INVITED
AND ENCOURAGED

PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS A CASH-ONLY EVENT
SO PLEASE BRING ALONG
PLENTY OF THOSE QUAINT COLOURED RECTANGLES

PLEASE REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS A.S.A.P.
FOR FULL DETAILS
AND TO CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE

OUR EVENTS ARE B.Y.O.
please bring along any beverages you wish
but no food is allowed
PLEASE NOTE THAT JON HAS ASKED ALL GUESTS TO WEAR A MASK DURING THIS EVENT WHEN NOT DRINKING. THANKS.