The assotor drum
A hit to start and the soft pitter-patter of the roll slows,
stops, jumps into speed, changes in pitch, ends in
sliding moaning sounds. A moan slides
into a roll. Another roll
breaks into suddenly revealed rhythm,
rolls rise, fall, slow into slow rhythm,
gaps punctuated by flap sounds.
Then the softness of the moth’s wings in flight
Tapping against a lampshade. Then the
rise and fall of waves, gusts of wind,
fall of rain, animals running.
Echoes of talking drums: plosive tones,
slide forwards, backwards, as the fingers
vary the tension of the skin.
The rolling rhythm of the Ibo Roulé
accelerating, the beats so close together
and quiet, they fade into silence.
Fluidity of motion and virtuosic ease.
Three bright-eyed children delicately dancing
to the flow of the Yenvalou, Nago, Mahi,
clapping hands with the furious Pétro dance,
the drum becoming an orchestra of sound.
From outside, car horns briefly interject,
the buzz of the market crowds underlines
the light magical hopping of the Ibo rhythm.
Next the contredanse: complex, yet galant,
courteous, with sudden gaps to
catch out the dancers.
‘Knights take your ladies…
Look your lady in the eyes…
In your places…
Prepare to take your lady’s hand…’
Michel clearly enunciates the calls
for his miniature dancers,
the wooden carving in bas-relief
gracefully dancing round the powerful
assotor drum, which he has
been playing so effortlessly.
____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Torrent, and Whirl:
New art from CLR.
17/10/20
A hit to start and the soft pitter-patter of the roll slows,
stops, jumps into speed, changes in pitch, ends in
sliding moaning sounds. A moan slides
into a roll. Another roll
breaks into suddenly revealed rhythm,
rolls rise, fall, slow into slow rhythm,
gaps punctuated by flap sounds.
Then the softness of the moth’s wings in flight
Tapping against a lampshade. Then the
rise and fall of waves, gusts of wind,
fall of rain, animals running.
Echoes of talking drums: plosive tones,
slide forwards, backwards, as the fingers
vary the tension of the skin.
The rolling rhythm of the Ibo Roulé
accelerating, the beats so close together
and quiet, they fade into silence.
Fluidity of motion and virtuosic ease.
Three bright-eyed children delicately dancing
to the flow of the Yenvalou, Nago, Mahi,
clapping hands with the furious Pétro dance,
the drum becoming an orchestra of sound.
From outside, car horns briefly interject,
the buzz of the market crowds underlines
the light magical hopping of the Ibo rhythm.
Next the contredanse: complex, yet galant,
courteous, with sudden gaps to
catch out the dancers.
‘Knights take your ladies…
Look your lady in the eyes…
In your places…
Prepare to take your lady’s hand…’
Michel clearly enunciates the calls
for his miniature dancers,
the wooden carving in bas-relief
gracefully dancing round the powerful
assotor drum, which he has
been playing so effortlessly.
____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Torrent, and Whirl:
New art from CLR.
17/10/20
And also, from RR:
https://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/event/i-see-it-differently/
https://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/event/i-see-it-differently/
Exhausted shopping bag (new art from CLR)
Oserake and The River That Walks
At last! Oserake and The River That Walks is available on my Robert Ocatillo Channel on YouTube!
Oserake is the First Nation name for the winter quarters which were set up by the river, the origin of the city of Montréal.
My music/film shows what happens to Montréal in winter, when the wilderness takes over.
Overwhelming forces try to return the modern city to the time before today’s streets and blocks existed, and phantoms invade the empty white streets.
Massive snowdrifts, huge icicles and icefalls appear.
Everything is transformed beneath layers of snow,
and we glimpse what was seen by those who founded the original settlement,
by this great river they called ‘the river that walks’, swept with ice.
At last! Oserake and The River That Walks is available on my Robert Ocatillo Channel on YouTube!
Oserake is the First Nation name for the winter quarters which were set up by the river, the origin of the city of Montréal.
My music/film shows what happens to Montréal in winter, when the wilderness takes over.
Overwhelming forces try to return the modern city to the time before today’s streets and blocks existed, and phantoms invade the empty white streets.
Massive snowdrifts, huge icicles and icefalls appear.
Everything is transformed beneath layers of snow,
and we glimpse what was seen by those who founded the original settlement,
by this great river they called ‘the river that walks’, swept with ice.
