Isa Lei, and the Yasawa islands, Fiji

This rearrangement of a traditional Fijian folk song was inspired by hearing the song sung there. In May I visited the Yasawa Islands, to the northwest of Nadi and the main Fijian island Viti Levu. The boat ride took 3 hours, and enjoyably scenic. Each of the many small islands we passed was different in … Continue reading Isa Lei, and the Yasawa islands, Fiji →

Other Islands: 2012-2018

fiffdimension vol3 (see also Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 and Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012) brings us into the current decade - with further wide-ranging experimentation and exploration sonically, temporally and geographically, in New Zealand, Western Australia, Indonesia, Okinawa (Japan), and Fiji. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTMQw7roXH0&list=PLtbrBpNjlOHOfvink1dJANU_UFOs6My4Y by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, ukulele, sanshin, saron, … Continue reading Other Islands: 2012-2018 →

Viti Levu, Fiji

https://youtu.be/UcjoLCkBDJ8 My first visit to a Pacific island country, apart from my own (though the term is ambiguous - I'm not counting Australia, Indonesia or Japan). I'd always wanted to visit Fiji, due to family connections... I may have even been conceived there. A week's visit to Viti Levu, the largest and most populated island, … Continue reading Viti Levu, Fiji →

Fringe Festival 2016: East to West

Here's my first major project for 2016, as part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA5UhgFsu_k The show is a big OE epic of video & music from the Tasman to the Atlantic, a decade in the making. It takes the audience on a journey half way around the world from New Zealand, across Australia, … Continue reading Fringe Festival 2016: East to West →

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtbrBpNjlOHMi_Mz-tTtkwn2ChtedbStJ Here's video from my two visits to Indonesia in 2014 - a fascinating new country that I'm only just beginning to explore, and can continue to do so through gamelan (like Indonesia itself it gets more complex & interesting the more you look). Partly because I've visited several countries in East Asia now, and lived … Continue reading Yogyakarta, Indonesia →

Bali, Indonesia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Se4U7pQWNg There's my first video from Bali, from footage taken on my earlier visit in August. Note the gamelan (bronze percussion) and rindik (bamboo percussion) soundtrack. I left my job in Perth and am on my way home to New Zealand, so I'm nervous about jobhunting & starting all over again (again). On the way … Continue reading Bali, Indonesia →

Nusa Penida, Indonesia

Nusa Penida is a smaller island between Bali and Lombok, about an hour by boat from Sanur in Bali. I spent a week as a volunteer with Friends of the National Parks Foundation. I helped with feeding the Bali starlings (critically endangered due to poachers - the population was down to 10 at one point … Continue reading Nusa Penida, Indonesia →

Singapore

If you've never been to Asia before, don't speak any Asian languages, and have only a day or two available, Singapore would be a great introduction. You can find tropical rainforest and the sea, traditional and modern architecture, and the cultures of China, India, the Middle East and the West all in one city.Most people speak … Continue reading Singapore →

Dave Black & Snake Beings: East to West

East to West brings together for the first time two of New Zealand's more unusual artist/musician/filmmaker/ethnomusicologists, taking the audience on an epic journey from one side of the Eurasian continent to another in the space of an hour. Audio Foundation - 8pm, Saturday 5th of April 2014 4 Poynton Terrace, Auckland $5 entry https://www.facebook.com/events/1488696708018183/ The … Continue reading Dave Black & Snake Beings: East to West →

First Time Around: East Asia

This is an album of sound recordings, made in six different countries, edited into sonic short stories and soundscapes - East Asia https://maps.app.goo.gl/UZm5kgceqFjuoNf76 following a year and a half living in South Korea 대한민국, we travelled to Japan 日本 China 中国 Thailand ประเทศไทย Vietnam Việt Nam Mongolia Монгол улс by Dave Black - field recordings, … Continue reading First Time Around: East Asia →