In the second Wind and Bamboo podcast, Stephen Blackmore and Kimho Ip share memories of park life in China and Hong Kong where people traditionally gather to sing, dance and make music not as a performance but for the pleasure of doing it. This experience – threatened in the rapidly changing China – is what Kimho set out to recreate and celebrate in the Botanics on a Scottish summer night.
To listen to the podcast, click here (m4a).
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The Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo podcast series is produced by Inner Ear LTD
July 16th, 2008
Administrator
By popular demand, the two installations Natural Progression and Three Pieces have been extended for a further two weeks and will be on display until Sunday 13 July. You have plenty more time to get down to the Botanics and enjoy them.
(more…)
June 27th, 2008
Tommy
“People just gather with their musical instruments to sing and dance by the lake. The first time I saw it I couldn’t believe it. We just don’t do something like that here.” Stephen Blackmore, talking about Kunming
Or, maybe we do. On Saturday night, despite truly awful Scottish weather, the audience in the Botanics caught a glimpse of that spontaneous Chinese culture which Stephen Blackmore sees when he visits Kunming. (more…)
June 24th, 2008
fay
Here is the first Wind and Bamboo podcast, featuring extracts from a fascinating discussion between Stephen Blackmore, Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and Kimho Ip, composer and director of Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo. (more…)
June 20th, 2008
Administrator
1pm Sunday. Tommy and I set off well prepared for the community bookbinding event – we’ve got newly printed programme notes for the booklets, lovely brown paper for the cover, and spools of yellow, red and orange thread to bind them all together. But we are not really prepared for the welcome we get when we turn left up an Edinburgh side street and find ourselves in Hong Kong. (more…)
June 19th, 2008
fay
This is where it begins, in the Temperate Palm House, though it wasn’t framed by blossom back in February when Ziggy Campbell and Simon Kirby met Glasshouse Curator David Mitchell on a cold spring morning. A cheeky robin hops, head on one side, between plants as musician, academic and horticulturist peer beneath stone benches and behind tall palms exploring the best location for a sound installation which has yet to be invented. (more…)
June 17th, 2008
fay
Behind the scenes, Susie Brown has been working with 600 pieces of black bamboo which arrived on her doorstep after a long journey from China. Some pieces are more than two metres, too big to manhandle along corridors and up stairs to her studio. So, as she describes in her blog, “Natural Progression is being constructed in the shared drying green out the back of my little flat.” (more…)
June 12th, 2008
fay
The Naxi Ancient Orchestra performing in Lijiang a mountain community in Yunnan which is now a biodiversity ‘hot spot’ .
“Nowadays musicians are so specialised they often focus on one thing so they see only one piece of the jigsaw. We need to bring many different voices, many art forms to work together, to find the bigger picture,” says Kimho Ip. (more…)
June 9th, 2008
fay
風與竹之對話 － 中國竹書工藝坊
Bamboo Bookbinding Day
Now we need your help. We are preparing to print our programme notes for the live music and multi-media production in the Botanics on 21 June. But even this practical task is part of the creative performance so director Kimho invites you to join us for a Bamboo bookbinding day on Sunday 15 June. As you help us produce our programme booklet you can chat with members of local Chinese community and artists, and enjoy some Chinese food as well! Click more to find out where and when. (more…)
May 29th, 2008
fay
Workshops are filling up fast as Kimho receives requests from schools every day. Some music, dance and calligraphy workshops are now sold out. But there are still some spaces left and time to apply before the deadline of 30 May. Here’s a quick reminder of what’s on offer in workshops running from 3-19 June. (more…)
May 19th, 2008
fay
Dear Teachers of art, music, and drama
Here we are, surrounded by letters, envelopes and address labels for
schools across Scotland. With the help of Rosie Lewis, events
co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, we are just about
to post your invitation to take part in very unusual workshops offered
through Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo. (more…)
May 2nd, 2008
fay
It sounded a bit like traditional jazz, a bit like Chinese folk music, a bit like film music, but actually didn’t really sound like anything else. I loved it!
Lynn Sampsell explains why she is helping to bring the sound of 1930s Shanghai to the Botanics.
(more…)
April 17th, 2008
lynn
Picture the scene: Ziggy, Susie, Kimho, Jacqui and Jake, look to the future.
Monday afternoon and some of the team meet in the Botanics: it’s cold on the Chinese Hillside but we are trying to picture the scene on Midsummer Night. We imagine a dancer on the bridge above and maybe sounds of a cello drifting up from the pond below. (more…)
March 19th, 2008
fay
“Amazing sounds created by touching more than 100 strings on the yangchin with bare hands…” Kimho describes how he creates atmosphere for Spirit.
Sometimes it’s dark and spooky, at other times it’s light and evocative. It always sparks a new way of listening. As you walk through the Chinese lantern display in the glasshouses, the mood is constantly changing. The lighting is spectacular but an essential part of Spirit is the music composed specially by Kimho Ip. Here Kimho explains how he interpreted the commission from NVA’s artistic director Angus Farquhar who wanted to explore unconventional sounds of the yangchin, the Chinese dulcimer. It gives you an idea of what lies in store for Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo… (more…)
March 7th, 2008
fay
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Welcome to Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo. This is the story of a journey exploring themes inspired by the connection between plants and people. In this case the plant is bamboo, a very versatile member of the grass family, which can be slim as a wisp or sturdy as a scaffolding pole. More
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