Bristol New Music Festival was a feast to our senses, full of diversity, talented artists, creatives and professional performances.
After a 3-hour journey coming from Lincoln, I finally arrived in Bristol for the New Music Festival. The events happened in the last few days of the festival were packed with numerous talented artists around the city of Bristol. I tried not to miss any performance, running from Victoria Rooms to Arnolfini, from St. George’s Bristol to The Galleries.
Angel Bat Dawid
Angel Bat Dawid, Chicagoan composer, clarinettist, singer and spiritual jazz smoother sayer, took us on an extended journey. Starting with strong singing, Angel played multiple instruments in the performance, expressing life energy and reflecting on social-politico-historical issues. My words are too powerless to describe how creative and talented Angel is! She then invited an audience to come to the stage to read a quote out loud, arising echoes in our hearts. Her interactive and innovative performance left us with an impressive and enjoyable experience.
Hezarfen Ensemble: Makam/Wojciech Rusin
After Angel Bat Dawid’s impressive performance, I went to St. George Bristol to explore Hezarfen Ensemble’s performance. They have incorporated non-western instrumentation, electronics and wobbly 3D-printed pipe music. Utilising the projector, live décor and makam, the double bill pairing artists brought us to the sound world of much Turkish, Central Asian and North African world in a contemporary music context. It was fascinating to see how the artists score the 3D-printing video.
On Sunday morning, I grabbed a coffee to start another new journey of the Bristol New Festival. I entered the historic and magnificent Victoria Room to enjoy a showcase of creative and talented students at the University of Bristol. With the pieces from 15 composers, the performance explored the interaction between space and time, from Asian to western countries, from ancient Malaysian mountains to mysterious future space. After the performance, the organisers prepared an after-tea party which provided opportunities to talk with some really talented composers.
Polyphony
I never appreciate the voice of humans until I joined Polyphony in The Galleries. Stepping inside polyphony, I heard the weaving and splicing of conversations with people across the country. Different booths contained several voices, telling their feeling about their voice. Utilising the combination between voice and lights with a unique venue design, the workshop not only showed us the beauty of the human voice but also made us reflect and appreciate more our own voice. The voice of thinking, clearing our throat, questioning, surprising and telling stories, helped us to experience music in a different way. What a unique and wonderful experience to enjoy the music!
Bristol New Music Festival has been an enjoyable experience. I felt so lucky to see the talented performance from all over the world. The festival was full of diversity and innovation. I not only traveled through different times and spaces in Hezarfen Ensemble and Distance through Time but also reflected on my real life triggered by Polyphony and Angel Bat Dawid. Thanks for organising this wonderful event, Bristol.
Yongpian Cai
TEDx Speaker; Marketer; Dancer
