g-string blues
BLUES FOR G STRING
Performer: Syd Kitchen
Instrument: G string of electric guitar
Instructions: Improvise the blues for 4min33sec
BLUES FOR G STRING is a performer-specific intervention that calls into question the notion of the “composer” in a period when recording sound technology has rendered the Western notational system obsolete. The piece is also a sly homage to John Cage whose 4′33″ is the watershed composition that puts into motion the gradual self-effacement of the “composer” into obsolescence. By strictly timing the improviser’s performance to 4min33sec, BLUES FOR G STRING effectively performs the Cage composition as well, in parallel sequence, as it were. The choice of Syd Kitchen as improviser for this piece is self-explanatory, he is South Africa’s non-pareil guitar virtuoso.
aryan kaganof
african noise foundation
February 24th, 2009 at 1:58 am
[…] Taking place on Saturday 28th March, the concert will feature works by local composers Jürgen Bräuninger, Guy Buttery, Andrew Cruickshank, Aryan Kaganof, Andile Khumalo, Clare Loveday and Ulrich Süsse, as well as a variety of international composers. […]
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
[…] And then there was Syd Kitchen performing Aryan Kaganof’s “Blues for G string”. What I found most ‘contrasting’ about this performance in particular was the musicians involvement with his instrument: a Mervyn Davis custom built wonder guitar with banjo-lyre-like influences that leant to the performance a uniqueness of style that lifted this manifestation into the extraordinary. Here, Kitchen enveloped a refreshing ‘oneness’ with his instrument which transmuted into an authentic link with ‘self’. The performer, thus so well grounded, confidently launches himself into the given framework (the composition) in virtually any direction and succeeds. The interplay of musical improvisation connects with intent and ease of open-minded interplay and the musician gains an energy that he imbibes back into his craftsmanship becoming that rare muscial magus one is indeed privileged to witness. However, the launchpad, so artfully provided by Kaganof (whose own commitment to the four minute event is evidenced by him flying up from Cape Town and spending the afternoon with Syd Kitchen in rehearsal/discussion) took absolute precedence within the integrity of sovereignty, while allowing the artist/performer the utmost freedom of expression: the bluesy tone, subtly framing Kaganof’s oeuvre of melancholy, a pensiveness, with a repeated note, echoing, founding…running through the sub terrain of Kitchen’s skilled foreplay. I was further struck by what has become for me an added insight into Kaganof’s work - whether directing a film, creating a painting, music, acting, organising the Kagablog - his absolute humanity tied in with an innate creative gift: to inspire nothing but the best from (himself and) his collaborators. […]