ST-19 (Day 10 - Vexations 1/2) (Last Day)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) ended with the presentation of Eric Satie's Vexations (1/2) at the King Concert Hall Lobby of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami), with over 25 pianists performing half hour each of Satie's longest piece for a total of fourteen hours.

ST-19 (Day 9 - FLUXUS DAY)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) is being held at the Studio Theater of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami)

11:00am - 2:30pm Fluxus On The Beach (Miami Beach):

For starters, a disclaimer: Degen's Piano, Inc. does not condone, support, endorse or encourage cruelty to pianos or any other musical instrument for that matter. The views and oppinions stated in this post are the sole responsibility of its writer.

That said, lets get down to business:

What do you get when you mix music, sun, sand, water and games? Fun! And that's that Fluxus day is all about: Getting together and having fun under the Subtropics atmosphere.

The first attraction of Fluxus Day was "The Piano Oddisey: A Trojan Horse" with Allison Knowels and Larry Miller. It started at the Art Center/South Florida, at 800 Lincoln Road and went all the way until its end on Miami Beach’s Eastern Shore.

But unlike the Oddisey, where Ulysses (or Odysseus, depending on the translation) endured all sorts of mishaps jut to get back home to Ithaca, or the Trojan Horse story, where the ultimate doom of a civilization was disguised as a present; this attraction was more of an epic journey where the hero of the story, the piano, refused to fade away into Hades, going instead in a blaze of glory, sword in hand, keeping its honor until its last moments.

Like every military campaign, the old piano begun its journey by stripping down, note by note, each one of the 88 pieces of clothing that Miller was wearing until he was properly attired for the perils to come.

Next, just like a warrior polishes its armor, the performers and participating public cleaned and polished our hero’s body, while it advanced to battle.

Well, the second piece played Was "Hi Red Center Cleaning Event", which was all about giving rags and oil to the public and asking them to help cleaning the piano while still moving it through the streets.

Screaming with all its keys, the piano proceeded to face the incoming darts of its attackers, crying at every hit it received on its soundboard. But undefeated, kept moving forward towards it final doom on the beach – respecting each and everyone of the traffic lights on the way), stopping only one last time to let the artist draw an heroic portrait.

When it finally arrived to the battle field, its nemesis, a record player, was waiting for it. In a fierce battle both contenders fought to death, right in front of the audience.

After the final chapter of the epic journey of the piano, there was still much to follow: The Fluxus Olympics.

Among other unconventional sports “Blow Soccer”, “Beach Badminton” (with six foot long rackets); the Zen Dash”; the “Shaving Cream, Long Tube Socks and Sandals Race”, and “the Inclined Lane Shoe Race” turned this already fun day into a blast.

2:30pm - 5:00pm Fluxus Fair (Carnival Center):

The fun didn’t end on the beach. A while later, back on Carnival Center’s Plaza of the Arts, the games continued. This time, most of the performances were meant to be made by the public, and they had everything they needed to do it.

A tennis ball thrower was used to launch balls to a gong, and then in a second event the balls were to be catched by a trombone. Bottles of different sizes filled with water hanging on a string were played as a xylophone and an almost useless piano was turned into a work of art, by hammering nails to its keys after its last performance of “Fluxation #2”.

One last concert, at 9:00pm called "The Fluxus Eve Concert" closed the day with Knowells and Miller performing works of various fluxus artists, including some of their own make, and together with guest performers reinvented the pieces to give the proper closure to an out of the ordinary day.

ST-19 (Day 8)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) is being held at the Studio Theater of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami)

FIU New Music Ensemble

Under the conduction of Orlando Jacinto García, the Florida International University's New Music Ensemble, performed five pieces of varied sorts, by composers Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, John Cage and Lou Harrison.

The enjoyable nigtht started with the first version of Brown's "Folio and 4 Systems" and Feldman's "4 Instruments", followed by "Primitive" for a prepared piano by ST-19's honoree, John Cage.

The piano was prepared by the performers by placing metal screws and bolts on the strings, giving it a guitar-like sound.

The evening ended with the second, third and fifth movements of Harrison's "Varied Trio" and a second version of "Folio and 4 Systems".

The FIU New Music Ensamble are: Eliot Rodriguez, clarinet; Michael Davies, viola; David Mendoza, Viola; Edward Shannon, viola; Rafael Galvan-Herrera, violin; Roxana Mendoza-Guevara, cello; Daniel Venegas, piano, Zack Elridge, percussion & Marta Milosevic, piano.

Indeterminacy Too:

The second act of the night was ST-19's own recopilation of oral stories and videos by people who personally knew John Cage, organized by the Interdisciplinary Sound and Art Workshop and Laura Kuhn, director of the John Cage Trust.

ST-19 (Day 7)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) is being held at the Studio Theater of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami)

1^st Performance:

Helena Bugallo: Triadic Memories

The 90 minute piece “Triadic Memories” by Morton Feldman opened the night. It is a long repetitive piece that didn’t quite captivate the audience, mostly because of its length. Though the performance was enjoyable, the idea of translating an Oriental rug into music needs a very specific kind of public that can sit through almost an hour and a half of “sewing patterns”.

A brief introduction by the pianist explained what it was all about. It helped make sense of what I was listening, and helped me picture the development of this musical tapestry while it was being played. But still, it gets a bit tiring.

2^nd Performance:

Jan Williams' "Williams Tells of Rights", "591 to HF" and "Pickup Sticks":

Perhaps the most fun so far, Williams’ performance could be represented as “Sounds from right to wrong”, because of the characteristics of the three pieces of this night.

Williams Tells of Rights: Composed for Williams by Gustavo Matamoros, the percussionist recited sentences in which the sound “right” was present, either because of the use of the word right, or any homophone word.

Every time the sound "right" appeared, Williams put a drum in his mouth, making it rattle the room.

The second act, “591 to HF” by LaMonte Young consisted on a series of hits to a gong. Long and repetitive piece that may have been the “neutral” part of the show.

And then, the art of the wrongs: “Pickup sticks”, by Gustavo Matamoros, which consisted in a highly amplified drum with a microphone that made electronic sounds come out every time the drum vibrated.

The game was simple: play Chinese Sticks on the drum without making any sound. Every mistake Williams made, made a sound… As Matamoros put it: If the first piece was about the Rights, this one is all about the wrongs, and it works because is impossible to play Chinese sticks without making mistakes.

ST-19 (Day 6 - Subtropics Marathon)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) is being held at the Studio Theater of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami)

SUBTROPICS MARATHON:

In 1988, a group of local composers and performers of experimental music and sound arts gathered together in Miami to give the world the chance to know their work. 19 years later, the tradition continues in the subtropics Marathon, the day when the Festival gets back to its roots and, in the informal and unconventional way it started.

This was the sixth day of ST 19. The first thing we see on the stage is the artistic director, Gustavo Matamoros, explaining to the audience what is about to take place: First of all, The program is just a guideline, it won’t be followed exactly as it is.

It was a varied night: Tapes, videos and performances of a very wide spectrum of tendencies.

The special guest for the night was flautist Margaret Lancaster who played music form Nicholas Brooke, James Tenney, Paul Reller & Eric Lyon.

Slovakian performer Juraj Kojs, made an interesting performance with two pieces: “Air”, combining two Fujaras (a virtual one and a virtual one); and “All Forgotten” played on piano… sliding his fingers trough the strings to produce the sounds.

“Reskinthesis”, by Armando Martinez; “Erebus”, by Juan Carlos Espinoza; “A 100 whats” by Gustavo Matamoros, and “Soft Rectangles” by Rene Barge, and a compilation of short videos, completed this night in a relaxed and joyful way.

ST-19 (Day 5)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) is being held at the Studio Theater of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami)

1^st Performance:

Joan LaBarbara: Singing Through Cage

The most impressive thing on this performance, I think, is the wide range of sounds that LaBarbara is able to make using nothing but her own voice, maybe this is why it was apparently the most concurred event so far in this Festival.

It was an interesting display of her interpretation of John Cage's works, ranging from 1942 to 1990, which the performer accomplished cleanly, for the audience's delight.

Although the show ran a bit longer than expected, which forced the organizers of the festival to cancel a discussion about experimental music where both performers and audiences could interact and exchange opinions, the reaction of the assisting public was very positive.

2^nd Performance:

Bugallo/Williams Piano Duo

In a superb piano performance, where it made almost no difference if they were using two pianos or both performers on the same, Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams floated through the keyboards with an impossible ease during these complicated pieces composed by Conlon Nancarrow, Morton Feldman and Salvatore Sciarrino.

Perhaps the most fun to watch so far, the concert presented about eleven pieces from these authors, evoquing feelings ranging from the strength and power, to the fun and relaxation.

ST-19 (Day 3)

The 19th Annual Subtropics Experimental Music & Sound Arts Festival (ST-19) is being held at the Studio Theater of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami)

1^st Performance:

John King

With a ballerina’s foot spinning in the background screen, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, sometimes in light, sometimes in shadows; King’s guitar gave a strange performance.

I felt that King’s performance was, apparently, disperse: just when you were about to start comprehending the sound, a change in the performance left you again trying to warp your mind around his music.

In the words of one of the attendants to the show: “It was as if he was building a sand castle on the beach, only that he was making it too close to the water, so when he was at the verge of creating something, the water came and washed it all away”.

In conclusion, the experience was more like an exploration on the sensation that “almost getting there” is. A journey through the building up of a sensation, without actually being able to grasp its real meaning.

2^nd Performance:

David Behrman

Composer David Behrman, accompanied by John King, combined violins, electric guitars, a piano and electronics to develop an “ordered chaos” through their performance.

My appreciation of the whole presentation brings me to think it was about separating from the mainstream without abandoning it completely: Every piece started as a combined sound of the instruments being used, as one single current. Then, slowly, each instrument takes “a life of its own”, gaining some independence, but still attached somehow to the rest.

You could almost see the parallelism with society, where each and everyone of us has a certain degree of independence, as long as we keep following the rules of our peers.

3^rd Performance:

I, IV, V of the music of John Cage by 5+1

“Spooky” is perhaps the best way to describe the performance of Robert Black (bass), Helena Bugallo (piano), Amy Williams (piano), Joan Labarbara (voice), Jan Williams (percussion) and Gustavo Matamoros (electronics - saw) whose approach to ST-19’s honoree, John Cage, and his works turned the showroom into a whole other world during the hour the concert lasted.

Perhaps the only piece that escaped from this concept, the “Furniture Music Etcetera”, performed by Amy Williams and Bugallo served more as a prelude to the show than as part of its unity.

The second piece, however, “Ryoanji”, submerged you into a world, where ghosts, and creatures of the night were almost palpable.

“One”, performed by Williams on the piano continued with an ambience of mistery and suspense that kept you wandering through the worlds of darkness, followed by a “Composed Improvisation” that combined the feeling of daily life with the sensation that a crime is just about to take place.

In “Four 6”, the sensation of being in the spectral world becomes present again. You can almost see the chain-dragging ghosts luring the cemetery, and the scared girl running away from the vampires.

Finally, you’re brought back, though not completely, while the stellar ensemble of ST-19 performed “Five”, using every instrument at-hand as a channel to “wake you up” slightly, to the world of the living again.