Tag: Festivals

This is mainly going to be music festivals, but it could be any kind of festival I suppose.

About The Ethometric Museum

Posted by on in Creative Process, Events, Exhibitions, Festivals, ListeningLeave a comment

I was at the Edinburgh festival at the end of August this year and saw a bunch of shows. Some good, some not so good, some amazing. The Ethometric museum fell into the last category without a doubt.

We arrived at the venue and waited for the start of the show. We didn’t know what to expect at all. Just before the show was about to start a woman in a tweed suit asked us if we were here to see the Ethometric museum. We went with her out of the venue and around to the back of the building. She explained that we would need to wear hard hats for the duration of the show.

We went into a cellar under the building that was dimly lit and filled will racks of strange looking old machines. They looked like something out of the 1950’s. The woman gave us a 5 minute talk about the Ethometric museum and then explained that we would need to be completely silent during the demonstration.

What followed was an incredible performance of noise makers and synths that I absolutely loved. It was a triumph of making and music. The instruments were so beautifully made and the sounds so unique, it was a superb experience.

If you’d like to know more about The Ethometric Museum you can find information at Ray Lee’s site.

Tall Tales from Beyond the Border

Posted by on in Festivals2 Comments

I was at the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival recently, which was great as it I had seriously thought it would never run again. The festival has had a few years off due to funding woes and for most festivals that normally means that they won’t be seen again. Not so for Beyond the Border. This year they were back just like there had been no break at all and I was very happy to be there.

It was a superb festival with lots of amazing music and stories from all over the world. Whenever I get to events like this I’m amazed at how riveting storytelling can be. How just listening to one person telling a story can captivate your imagination.

I’m so impressed at the immense cultural heritage that’s gathered in one place. It also reminds me of how easy it is to forget our own cultural heritage, and how in large cities we can forget our stories.

Stories are important, they help us to understand where we are in the world and make sense of things. Living in cities can disconnect us from our stories, and being at an event like Beyond the Border helps reestablish that connection, helps us remember our own stories and reminds us to continue to tell them.

It feels good that Beyond the Border is back. It should be on again in 2012, and I hope I’ll be there.

Walkway to the stories
The walk down to Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival