The Merzbarn was Kurt Schwitters' last workplace, and was the site of the last of his monumental Merz works. The piece,assembled from cement and found objects. was built onto and into the wall of a barn on the Cylinders Estate at Elterwater, a few miles from Ambleside.
The Merzwall itself is
in the Hatton Gallery at Newcastle but under the stewardship of
Littoral's Ian Hunter and Celia Larner the barn and the land around
it continue to hum.
The site hosts a
variety of arts practice, regular conferences, symposia and
celebrations attracting artists, students, schools groups and
academics. On June 24th and 25th the Merzbarn
held a celebration of Schwitters' arrival in the Langdale valley, and
The Human Organs played after poet Jill Rock's reading of Anna Blume.
This is the first appearance of the Four Person line up, so left to right you'll see Neil Wade, Jo Wade, me, and Jamie McPhie..these two videos from Alex record two chunks of what may evolve into some sort of offgrid ritual trance thing, in which we were joined by Trombonist Carolyn Francis and the Lakeland Fiddlers, who played some great tunes outside the Merzbarn earlier in the day and at the church in the morning. . We've been wondering about wether / how to augment the organs, and this points a way or two.. there are some great moments here, thank you Carolyn and co, and thank you Ian and Celia..
https://vimeo.com/223425494 for the first number, and Carolyn's first intervention.
https://vimeo.com/223438261 with Carolyn and the Lakes Fiddlers.
https://vimeo.com/227594576 in the woods on the Cylinders Estate.
On the way up I was talking to my pal traditional musician Mike Willoughby about ritual / social music and how repetition is a key element in both the music and the cycle of movements made by the dancers, Mike pointed me at his Melodeon hero John Kirkpatrick and a piece he wrote called Medley Mania. Kirkpatrick makes the case against medleys of tunes. Dont fear repetition, he says...
"...Its traditional! In a longways set, for example, it used to be the custom to perform the dance until each couple had been in every position up and down the set and ended up where they started. And they only played one tune for all of that time, which must sometimes have been half an hour or more. If they knew the proper set tune, they would play that. If not, they'd have something else up their sleeves which would do perfectly well. But from Playford's time onwards country dances were published with just one tune, no question about it."
He goes further..
"In some societies less "sophisticated" than ours, a trance - like state is achieved after dancing for a long time to a constantly repetitive accompaniment. Dancers and musicians unite in building up the hypnotic effect to eventually transcend the usual limitations of the five senses. They don't plod around to endless medleys. They throw themselves into it as though their life depended on it. For them it is a profound spiritual experience. Their life probably does depend on it."
More of John Kirkpatrick and the Merzbarn here and here...
More of John Kirkpatrick and the Merzbarn here and here...
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