The Fleet - Drifters (1929) Live + Seiners (premiere)
jasonsinghthing + Sarah Acton / Black Ven Poetry
Sound artist, nature beatboxer and composer Jason Singh performs his live soundtrack to John Grierson’s monumental silent documentary film ‘Drifters’.
Premiering alongside ‘Battleship Potemkin’ in 1929, ‘Drifters’ follows North Sea herring trawlermen through their dramatic daily routines as well as the industry’s struggles between tradition, modernity, and nature.
Originally commissioned by @britishfilminstitute , Jason’s critically acclaimed and totally unique solo score combines live vocal sound effects, beatboxing techniques and live sampling to create a thrilling cinematic experience.
“So powerful and so beautifully done.” - @kermodedodge , The Observer
Opening each performance, landscape writer, Sarah Acton presents a newly commissioned piece. Weaving ghostly fragments of the south west seine fishing heritage alongside atmospheric visuals by Common Ground, Sarah and local guest artists Emily Burridge - cello (Dorset), Julie Macara (Cornwall) and Becki Driscoll / RootNotes (Devon) premiere new poetic and musical work ‘Seiners’.
Tour dates and tickets: https://www.sounduk.net/events/fleet/
MARCH 2024 SOUTH WEST TOUR
14 Mar COMBEINTEIGNHEAD, Village Hall, Villages in Action
15 Mar PORTLAND, Royal Manor Theatre, Artsreach Dorset
16 Mar HYTHE, Hythe & Dibden Parish Hall, Arts Reach + Culture in Common
17 Mar LANGTON MATRAVERS, Village Hall, Arts Reach
21 Mar ISLES OF SCILLY, Old Town Inn
22 Mar NEWLYN, The Centre Newlyn, Carn to Cove
23 Mar BIDEFORD, Kingsley School Theatre, Beaford
24 Mar NEWQUAY, St Michael’s Church Hall, SproutSpoken
Tour produced by Sound UK. Funded by Arts Council England. Sound track originally commissioned by BFI.
Silverback productions commission to create a pre-show soundscape for the 2023 Earthshot prize awards in Singapore. I produced a series of spatialised soundscapes incorporating voice, electronics and field recordings
In July 2023 I curated a series of events over four days in the Secret Forest stage at WOMAD Festival. Events included “Moonscales” an immersive large-scale multichannel sound installation to accompany Luke Jerram’s ‘Museum of the Moon’ as well as talks, live performances, sound baths, spatialised album launches and DJ sets using a bespoke D&B Soundscape sound system.
2023 has seen the start of an incredible new adventure working creatively and technically with D&B Audiotechnik as their artist ambassador to develop large-scale spatialised projects using their object orientated sound environment, Soundscape. This will enable new explorations of sound across a wide range of future projects to help share my passion and commitment to creating unique listening experiences.
4/5 Songlines ‘Top of the World’
‘Travellers’ is a collection of 8 tracks I recorded and produced featuring a collective of master musicians and vocalists, most of them from the Manganiyar community of hereditary musicians based in Rajasthan, northwest India. The album embraces multiple genres, faiths and languages and pays homage to the natural environment of Rajasthan. 'Travellers' deeply inhales the landscape, stories, flora and fauna of this rich desert state, and exhales soul-searing songs of travel, love and longing.
Featuring traditional instruments such as the ancient khartal, morchang, bhapang, dholak kamaicha, harmonium and dholak, the album focuses on Sufi culture and the significant impact of climate change on that part of the world. 'Travellers' was recorded entirely on location at Anokhi Farm in Jaipur, Rajasthan with additional recordings made in London. It is interwoven with references to the natural environment, making the landscape of Rajasthan the crucial seventh member of the Banwasi Collective.
All the songs on Travellers are based on different ragas, the Indian music system of notes and moods, each evoking different seasons, times of day and references to nature. It is extraordinarily diverse - with references to Sufi poetry, Hindu mythology and Sassi Punnun, one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. Songs are in Hindi, Urdu, Marwari, Sindhi and Saraiki and take the listener on an immersive journey across religions, water and dry arid landscapes, between Bhakti and Sufi, mortal and divine.
Available now on LP, CD and DL via Hudson Records and all streaming services
A special commission by centre:mk in collaboration with IF: Milton Keynes International Festival between sound artist Jason Singh and visual artist Rebeeca Louise Law.
The Place Between was a vast natural installation – a place for contemplation and an opportunity to consider the beauty and fragility of our natural environment.
The spectacular garden of hanging flowers and plant materials was created in Middleton Hall, using Rebecca’s own collection of dried flowers as well as donations from the local community. Hundreds of people took part in daily flower-garland making sessions and these where incorporated into the final artwork.
The installation inspired a series of specially created immersive soundscapes by sound-artist Jason Singh. Using sensors attached to a wide range of plants and trees from across Milton Keynes, Jason captured biodata to reveal their inner songs.
IOU commissioned me to create a unique listening experience at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for their Sound Wave Collider installation. Over a 5 day residency at YSP I recorded the hidden sounds of sculptures, plants, underwater organisms and wildlife of the surrounding landscape to create a resonating sound journey, wholly unique to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
During its residency at the park the Sound Wave Collider featured a Family Rave where I played a 4 hour DJ set, through the sculpture’s metal structures, of ambient and global music inspired by nature, along with 2 sound walks where I invited audiences to slow down and listen to the sounds of the landscape through a guided experience.
The Hidden Music of Trees is my augmented reality outdoor installation where audiences can experience unique soundscapes generated entirely by trees through the interface of mobile phones and a free downloadable app called Artivive.
Each immersive soundscape is created by converting electrical activity from within the tree into music using a range of music technologies.
Please get in touch via my ‘contact’ page if you would like more information on availability and costings.
I conceptualised, produced and performed a live voice/beatboxing sound experience for the BBC Poms ‘Glass Handel’ performance created and co-produced by Grammy-award winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, Cath Brittan, Visionaire and the ENO in collaboration with Printworks London.
Glass Handel combined music by Handel and Philip Glass to create a wholly unique operatic experience featuring dance, live painting, fashion, film and soundscapes in one of the worlds largest ‘super clubs’
The creatives involved included:
Philip Glass who presented a world premiere of a new work, No More, You Petty Spirits;
Karen Kamensek who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra;
British Artist Glenn Brown, CBE.
Justin Peck, the Tony award-winning choreographer and Resident Choreographer with the New York City Ballet;
Fashion designer Raf Simons, who designed the costumes;
Opera music videos by James Ivory & Pix Talarico, Daniel Askill, Mark Romanek, Rupert Sanders; the duo behind Toiletpaper Magazine Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari; Tilda Swinton & Sandro Kopp; painter Mickalene Thomas; multi-disciplinary collective AES+F; James Kaliardos & Marisa Tomei; and a new video by artist Jacolby Satterwhite which accompanied the live recording of the Glass premiere.
Promotional ‘plant music’ advertisement for the BBC Green Planet series narrated by David Attenborough. Check it out here
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