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Monday, 10 September 2012

SYDBERG BOUND

G-Man's new chap book, Protest Singer, is launching 21-3 Sept in Sydney.

Love you to come along if you can make it.

Gig #1 is +music;  $15

Gig #2 is +Poetry. Free

We're sounding amazing after 10,000 hours of practice!

Tickets and info available on line. To book, go to our website and while you're there, sign up to the mailing list. We don't really do those yooful music sites - this is between consenting adults in private.

The term chap book refers to a book of printed poetry. Comes from a time when poetry leapt from the tongue to the page. When printing became widespread and cheap enough to be within the reach of the poet and printing the words was faster and cheaper than rehearsing up a bunch of troubadours to perform it.

We're already rehearsed up (we are our own troubadours) and printing is so cheap now that your average poet can print a book for less than the price of a dinner and a show. Most poets never sell out their modest print run because it's not actually about the money.  The publication of a work of poetry is more like a record, as in music. It ties the lyric down and crystalises the poet's meaning. But like a recording of a piece of music, it can only give an impression of the complete work, which exists in a whole sonic space comprising words, voice and all the elements of music at work when one is speaking, chanting, singing, and playing.

Like some people meditate or jog, we do alchemy. We play these songs every day and burn the work into memory. The book is really an elaborate excuse to celebrate the culmination of the longterm work. After a year, we are ready to go a troubadouring - on the page, on stage - anywhere we can slow people down long enough to listen, whether transmitted on a soundwave, or imagined by the one your mind creates in your head as you read.

Love to play for you if you can  make it.  More info.

3 comments:

  1. "or imagined by the one your mind creates in your head as you read"

    This still fkn amazes me when I stop and take the time to think about it. Regardless of what the images are, its rather amazing t think, a given set of words, can not only evoke such emotion, but that each individual will have a different take on it as well.

    cheers
    H

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  2. PS..I would if I could...get up there that is.
    H

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  3. Nice to hear you chewing on the arts, boyo.

    ReplyDelete