DIY outsider music, from Aotearoa NZ and beyond
Film footage by my father, Alastair Edwards (1936-2010), in Nadi and around Viti Levu in 1976.
It’s from my parents’ honeymoon, a couple of years before I was born.
There was no sound, so I’ve added a soundtrack from Ruasagavulu, which Dr Emit Snake-Beings and I recorded in Suva decades later.
My Dad’s interest in film (then video) and photography was one of the key influences on my own travel and videomaking. He was doing this long before youtube or instagram!
I miss you Dad…
“So easy to get totally lost in this music, recommend for helping with your inner peace” – Andi Verse
Indo-Fijian inspired tropical devotional avant-garde instrumentals for keyboards, ukulele, dholak, duduk, harmonicas, DIY kitchen gamelan, and video.
This was one of the last in-person international collaborations from before the world ended.
The title ‘ruasagavulu’ means ‘twenty’ in Fijian, to kick off the new decade.
recorded in Suva, Fiji, 2nd November 2019
I played solo acoustic at the Fernside Gardens Open Day on Sunday 16th February, 11am.
At the end of the decade, and looking for a way to follow up the eclectic Asia-Pacific Odyssey of Other Islands: 2012-2018, I stripped things back down to the solo acoustic format of my early years with Live 2019.
The set, at Wairarapa TV in Masterton, New Zealand, was streamed live on the internet on 4th of May 2019.
For the past couple of years I’ve been living in a small town and don’t get to as many gigs as I used to… so here was an opportunity to use 21st century technology to play ‘virtually’ everywhere.
On the other hand musically this was closer to a traditional folk/singer-songwriter set than I’d done for quite a while. I eschewed dissonant improv, multitracking, live backing musicians, field recordings, or electronic trickery this time, and used just acoustic guitar, banjo, and harmonica (and a few seconds of wah pedal on ‘Eastern’).
The set was followed by an interview.
I also released a companion album to Live 2019 – its stroppier lo-fi postpunk ‘official bootleg’ predecesor Live 1999. This was recorded on cassette 20 years (or half my lifetime) ago, when I opened for Chris Knox at Bar Bodega in Wellington NZ last millennium:
I started and finished both live sets on the same two songs, to show continuity and evolution.
It’s been quite a journey in between!
My other 2019 works in progress included
* experiments with animated visuals and electric improvisations (the ‘yang’ flipside of the deliberately toned down ‘yin’ Live 2019)
* a duo with Emit Snake-Beings, for an as-yet-untitled sequel to Ngumbang, coming in 2020 (we had a recording session in Suva, Fiji, of all places);
* a couple of informal jam sessions with the Electricka Zoo (which has otherwise been on hold since last year); ( http://www.soundcloud.com/darrel-hannon/jamming-with-dave)
* and I continued to adapt the 19th century book ‘Poems & Lyrics by John Collie’, which I’d learned was written by my Scottish great-great-grandfather in 1856 before he came to NZ. Three of his poems featured on Live 2019, with more in the pipeline.
A playlist of music by myself and fellow travellers I’ve met along the way.
It includes the Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005, Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012, Other Islands: 2012-2018, and Live 2019 albums,
and tracks by Chris Knox, Peter Jefferies, Jeff Henderson, Orchestra of Spheres, Bond Street Bridge, Alastair Galbraith, Sticky Filth, Leila Adu, Jack Body, Gareth Farr, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, and many more.
Continue reading “Spotify playlist – fiffdimension / NZ underground”
“So easy to get totally lost in this music, recommend for helping with your inner peace” – Andi Verse
Meditative tropical avant-garde instrumentals for keyboards, ukulele, dholak, duduk, harmonicas, DIY kitchen gamelan, and video. This was one of the last in-person international collaborations from before the world ended.
This is currently a pre-order work in progress, as some of the mixes will be refined over the next few weeks.
The title ‘ruasagavulu’ means ‘twenty’ in Fijian, to kick off the new decade.
A new sound for 2020 perhaps?
In the meantime have a listen to the ‘Ngumbang‘ album we made together in 2015 – Continue reading “Ruasagavulu – with Snake Beings in Fiji”
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