Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Presented across three nights of super-sonic audio dynamism, The Book of Daughters is a large-scale sonic media performance collection, comprising ten shows jam-packed with 38 maverick sound artists and musicians.  

Featuring leading international sound makers including Yoshimio (aka Yoshimi P-We of the Boredoms and OOIOO) and Japanese shamisen master Rumiko Tadano, alongside a stellar Australian line up including acclaimed experimental vocalist Carolyn Connors and celebrated poet berni.m.janssen, The Book of Daughters is a stampede of sonic explorations.

Each night begins with Sonic Flock, an experiential aural exhibit with a decidedly intimate twist – a free-form, immersive art experiment with a rotating roster of local and international performers collected from the The Book of Daughters artist line-up.  Housed within a two person teepee, the brief sonic performance unfolds with a work solely for one audience member delivered by one of the artists.  With eight teepees populating the foyer, this collectively devised work personifies and embraces the spirit of community.

Opening the performance schedule is Shamisen Resonance a sumptuous and mostly solo performance by shamisen (Japanese banjo) and vocal artist Noriko Tadano with a guest appearance by the Duckworth Hullick Duo playing Jonathan Duckworth’s hypnotic RESONANCE Table.

Artistically Directed by Belinda Woods, the second performance of the evening, wind spoken, features members of the virtuoso chamber ensemble BOLT Ensemble and the text of performance poetry wunderkind, berni.m.janssen, whose musings articulate the threads between landscape, women and sonic utterance.  

A new solo show from trailblazing vocalist Carolyn Connors, Vocaline, promises to be an exhilarating, unpredictable end to the opening night.  In the words of the artist: “My work will include inhalations, exhalations, articulations and resonances. Objects and instruments other than me may be involved. I may or may not yell at the audience quite as much as at recent gigs. Extended vocal techniques are guaranteed.”

In the second night opening offering, Cacophony Wolves, the ensemble of rising sound artists known as Noise Scavengers, present a musical interpretation of a deep and frank dialogue with young feminist and postgraduate psychology student Sarah Smith. Sarah’s vocalised portrayal provides insights into a young woman who has helped the young men of the Scavengers comprehend female/ male politics through the furnace of art. The physical push that is Cacophony Wolves has been created in collaboration with Dave Brown — one of Australia’s recalcitrant and celebrated guitarists — and includes sound artist James Hullick as a member of the Noise Scavengers.

In Tone Being, Coral Speak, awarding winning Perth-based percussionist Louise Devenish performs new works by Cat Hope and Kate Moore, composers at the forefront of international sonic creation.  The program presented for The Book of Daughters features two work from Devenish’s third instalment of her critically acclaimed Experimental Music for One Percussionist series. Celebrating living Australian composers, this edition of Experimental Music for One Percussionist was also recently presented for Tura Music’s Scale Variable Series.

Australian audiences can now experience a truly mesmerising trio in Harp Banjo Shamisen Voice, which premiered at JOLT’s Tokyo Festival 2015. Yumiko Tanaka, one of Japan’s most revered shamisen and voice masters, shares the stage with Canadian sound artist Cal Lyall on prepared-banjo and Australia’s own harp master Mary Doumany.

The final evening begins with delicate delights in ambient percussion, text and electronic soundscapes, from the women of The Amplified Elephants - Sarah Ellis, Liz Hofbauer, Megan Hunter, Robyn McGrath, Kathryn Sutherland, who have created SHHHH.  They are joined by inspiring guest Elephants, percussionist/sound artist Nat Grant and sound artist/poet Esther Tuddenham.

The Melbourne premiere of Slow Riven Whirl features text created from the perspective of a father wishing to understand the challenges his young daughters will face as they grow into adulthood.  Written by James Hullick for his daughters, the text rotates around the contemplation of remarkable women felled by misguided communities. The performance is centred around BOLT’s female members with legendary Australian poet berni.m.janssen serving as orator and dramaturg of text.

Drum Drum Solo, a force of nature solo show for drum kit, vocal and electronics by one of Japan’s most visceral sonic adventurers, Yoshimio is a fitting finale.    In other incarnations Yoshimio is a member of culture-defining bands — the Boredoms, OOIOO, Free Kittens — and has recorded with the Flaming Lips.  A rare opportunity to witness one of the world’s truly great contemporary sonic creators. 

Thursday 10 Nov 7:30pm     
SONIC FLOCK                             30 min      Everyone performing that night + guests 
SHAMISEN RESONANCE           30 min      Noriko Tadano/Duckworth Hullick Duo
WINDSPOKEN                             25 min      Berni Janssen/BOLT Ensemble 
VOCALINE                                    25 min     Carolyn Connors 
 
Friday 11 Nov 7:30pm    
SONIC FLOCK                              30 min     Everyone performing that night + guests 
CACOPHONY WOLVES               25 min     Noise Scavengers/Smith/Brown/Hullick
TONE BEING, CORAL SPEAK    35 min     Devenish/Hope/Moore 
HARP BANJO SHAMISEN VOICE 25 min   Yumiko Tanaka (JAP)/Mary Doumany/Lyall (CAN)
 
Saturday 12 Nov 7:30pm  
SONIC FLOCK                              30 min      Everyone performing that night + guests 
SHHHH                                          20 min      Amplified Elephants/Grant 
SLOW RIVEN WHIRL                   35 min      BOLT/Janssen/Hullick  
DRUM DRUM SOLO                     30 min      Yoshimio (JAP) 

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website

Featured artists

• Performance/sound art by Carolyn Connors
• Performance/sound art by James Hullick
• Performance/sound art by BOLT Ensemble
• Performance/sound art by Noise Scavengers
• Performance/sound art by Dave Brown
• Performance/sound art by Louise Devenish
• Music of Cat Hope
• Music of Kate Moore
• Performance/sound art by Mary Doumany
• Performance/sound art by Amplified Elephants
• Music of James Hullick