NOVEMBER 12, 2017

My Musical Ventures page does not seem to be popping up in the bar at the top so for listening to what I have been working on follow THIS LINK:

Musical Ventures

First Gesture

NOVEMBER 11, 2017

The Ocean is Restless Here

The residency of Sura Medura begins in Nirigama, a locality of Hikkaduwa, one of Sri Lankas’ best known surf breaks. Our accommodation, the Sunbeach Hotel, stands sandwiched between the Jungle and the Indian Ocean. A thin line of concrete between two natural forces of equally impressive beauty.

Hotels are not my usual port of call when travelling and thus it still feels slightly odd two weeks in. The basic feeling of the building is western and it therefore provides a somewhat more collectively foreign experience when in juxtaposition with the surrounding jungle and ways of life. However, the concrete structure has no way of escaping the persistence of heavy rain for ever.

The Sunbeach hotel front, flooded

The closeness of the ocean provides comfort of a different sort, one of known raw energy and eternity, understood the world over.

The jungle stands behind, a mix of paddy fields, papaya, jackfruit, mango, cinnamon, rubber and countless other species. The wildlife is massively varied and waiting is not required to witness a whole range of species, from peacocks to kingfishers – birdlife being the most prevalent – insects and monitor lizards. (Sounds to follow on this front). When walking through the trees in the first week we have already been welcomed into family homes and hosted with open hearts. I don’t see any signs of the Sri Lankan hospitality abating either…..

Instruments of construction and deconstruction

Dholki Drum

Already the rhythm of the coming weeks has begun. After finding a percussion shop in the first two days I have acquired a Dholki, the Sri Lankan equivalent of the Indian Tabla. The learning of this instrument is proving a difficult but rewarding experience and regular practice has once again become part of my daily life. The shift from open hand and stick drumming to finger techniques is altering my practice back towards a younger self, one struggling to use my arms in differing rhythms.

Finding new sounds has been of incredible ease in such a new environment. The ever present trunk road traffic of Galle road has also given me an education on horn sounds… Over the coming weeks I aim to create at least one musical piece per week and have succeeded thus far. I will upload to the worldwideweb the sounds of my travels for your own exploration here: Musical Ventures

Malibu dreams

Ideas float between the artistic residents of the Sunbeach during the meetings of the day, out and about in Hikkaduwa, the jungle, beach or Galle, but mainly over the excellent cuisine of Rice and Curry and variations thereof at lunch and dinner. Each of us dealing with the wholly new surroundings in their own way.

Already some collaborations are taking place across audio and physical works and I look forward to many more in the next few weeks. In my next letter to the world I will tell tale of the exploits of the residents of Sura Medura and their forays into the wide world, until then I bid you adieu…..

THIRTY SIX

Your outline is elsewhere, you leave no trace

THIRTY SEVEN

Your shadow escaping a dangerous place

THIRTY EIGHT

Passing the streethawks, crossing the tracks

THIRTY NINE

The marketplace columns, the jungle unmapped

FORTY

I wish we were there where your shadow appears

FORTY ONE

Tending the memory or your disappeared

FORTY TWO

Forever I seek you, your flickering hand 

FORTY THREE

Forever I fall, where Araliya lands

Images of Suba and Chandra by Periplum & Brian Hartley

CR/DW Sura Medura 6
 

Twenty Nine Thirty Five Twenty Four Thirty

TWENTY NINE

Turn left for pleasure, turn right for trade. Turn to the ocean, your footprints erased.

THIRTY

Wish you were here crossing divides

THIRTY ONE

Between beach and street, shadowed by shore side

THIRTY TWO

Wish you were here sharing the waves

THIRTY THREE

Your family calls, your silhouette fades

THIRTY FOUR

Your fear on the shoreline, your laughter inland

THIRTY FIVE

Dancing in shadows, far from western sands

Images of Suba and Chandra by Periplum & Brian Hartley

CR/DW Sura Medura 5
 

Twenty Two Eight Seventeen Twenty Three

TWENTY TWO

Wish you were here, footprints in sand

TWENTY THREE

Where you fall, where I land 

TWENTY FOUR

Invisible lines divide the shore

TWENTY FIVE

Hidden in coral, your imprint no more

TWENTY SIX

Wish you were here, where wild breakers rise

TWENTY SEVEN

Crashing the shore

TWENTY EIGHT

To crash paradise 

Images of Suba and Chandra by Periplum & Brian Hartley

CR/DW Sura Medura 4
 

Fifteen Twenty One Ten Sixteen

FIFTEEN 

The fisherman haul their nets inland. Shoals of tourists film them, while the fish suffocate on the shore. 

SIXTEEN

Bodies outlined in the sand and flowers thrown into the sea, the shadows of an idea ebb and flow.

Photo by Brian Hartley

SEVENTEEN 

Abandon the spirit house in the spirit of simplicity.

EIGHTEEN

Treasure hunt to find the wandering Pirate vagabond & Sleepdog sounds from under the sand.

NINETEEN

Adventure to the Temple of the Tooth with incredible monkey crow dramas played out on our Kandy apartment balcony. 

TWENTY

Climbing up the eternal steps to observe eternally reclining Buddhas, return to blockades, military police and a curfew in Kandy, we observe the tensions rise. 

TWENTY ONE 

Sri Lankan trains a running less rapidly lose their novelty and charm

CR/DW Sura Medura 3 

Eight  Fourteen Two Nine

EIGHT

Take boulder climbing tuk-tuks to surf the Sinharaja Forest. Spiders, lizards, butterflies, invisible vipers can’t frighten such intrepid travelers: with our socks pulled up over our trousers we are all set to scare away the leeches.

NINE

Hide in the shade of Galle’s colonial elegance watching it’s harbour glisten with the shiny new debris in the sea.

TEN

Paradise angst subsides from rods, sticks and shifting sands. 

ELEVEN

Take a step to the left for tourists, tuk tuks and touts and a step to the right for  idyllic rural village. Lining the lanes in funeral white, we pay our respects to timeless passing.

TWELVE 

Lightning strike storms rain and the Galle to Hikkaduwa bus seats steam, overseen by a disco Buddha.

THIRTEEN

Plumbing rods in the sand bend our thoughts to roadside steel plate deals, lightning guides us to Koggalla where the fishermen balance on crooked posts with an overexposed catch.

FOURTEEN

Even a lifelong Buddhist can only gain one glass of knowledge from an ocean of thought, your bad deeds become your shadow: your shadow is with you, and my shadow is with me. The young Sri Lankan girl in the supermarket hides from the shadow of a foreign order.

CR/DW Sura Medura 2
 

One Seven One

ONE

There are hurt turtles swimming in the sanctuary. One in a million is albino.

TWO

The ocean takes a deep breath, undresses coral to expose paradise

THREE

Travelers stand waist-deep in the waves, searching for a straight line.

We meet and submerge.

FOUR

The ancient masks ward off ailments, the guide points us to one you shouldn’t look directly in the eye 

FIVE

The Dogs will take a bite, but you should really try not to bite back 

SIX

We release the baby turtles to the shoreline. All scuttle to the sea, one in a hundred will survive.

SEVEN

The pulp from the paper factory makes banana, lemongrass & elephant dung amalgamate to create a blank canvas of many textures.  I’ve arrived.

CR Sura Medura 1

MOVEMENTS

From shore to street. From street to shore. 

Boomtide landings echo memories of thunder.

Red dawn-ants rising to beat silent ever-widening waltz of floors & walls.

Black moth concertina-bird looping imperceptible threads & unrepeatable patterns from palm to sky to frond to fall. 

Sand-dogs delivering jut jaw-call, doing lookout for their ever-absent keeper.

Buzz-bomb traffic shuttering the street side corridor, doing bulletline doppler symphony in series, eager for expressway. 

Bread arriving by work-bike motor.

Wave-breakers wading out towards the hope for mother-pulse to work the wonder / lift the water to their spray of levitation and dissolve in the arc of arrival.

Ever & always the claim-claws of the young-ancient amnesiac ocean raking – forgotten, what they reach for, forgetting what they’re taking.

Petals unmoving in the grit. 

DW Sura Medura 1
 

Performing in both live music groups and outdoor theatre productions Anders tours across the UK extensively. His primary live musical focus, Samson Sounds, is a fusion of different cultures and grooves from across the world.

You can read the interview by following the link below, and get a better insight into the background of the residency programme, and what it’s like to take part:

http://www.creativescotland.com/explore/read/stories/features/2017/the-story-of-sura-medura

We hope you like it as much as we do.

So, what’s new?

• We’ve developed the layout so that it’s more user friendly and so that it’s easier to find all those important bits of information about the residency programme and its artists.
• Check out the new, easier to navigate, News section.
• New features coming soon – keep an eye out for the upcoming Forum page, more details to come.

And now that we’re comfy in our new home we can share some of the blogs from the artists currently taking part in the residency.

You can find information about them in their new home here: Residency Line Up

And you can read their blogs, and the blogs of all our previous artists here: Residents’ Blogs

Moving Through

Noon – Midnight

Saturday 12th December

Sunbeach Hotel Hikkaduwa and Dodanduwa

On December 12th, Hikkaduwa and Dodanduwa will host an extraordinary international programme of performances, music and installations featuring performers and artists from 7 countries and Sri Lanka.

The programme is organised by Scottish based artist and producer Neil Butler of international arts organisation UZ Arts. Neil has been bringing international artists and performers to Sri Lanka since 200, organising the first Hikkaduwa Beach Carnival in 2005 and establishing the Sura Medura Residency for international artists the following year.

In 2007, Neil organised a Peace Concert with the Maharaja Organisation. Since its inception he has supported the Colombo Arts Biennale as International Curator and for the second edition as co-director. In February 2015 he brough an extraordinary range of artists to audiences in Hikkaduwa and Colombo, with the finale being the building of a life size paper boat by the artist Frank Bölter, which delighted and bemused audiences as Frank attempted to sail back to Germany.

For the December 12th event, he has brought together artists from Scotland, Austria, Nigeria, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic and Ireland.

Over a 6-week residency the artists have created their own installations and performances as they response to the country and culture surrounding them. Over the last two weeks they have worked together to create a collective performance where they will be joined on the 12th of Decemeber for the finale by Sri Lankan artists and performers, and performers from the Afro Sri Lankan community of Puttalam and Sirambiadiya.

Said Neil Butler; “We invite the public to meet the artists, enjoy their installations and performances and then join in the party at the end of the day for a rice and curry banquet, singing, dancing and fireworks”.

The day starts at noon at Sunbeach Hotel in Hikkaduwa and continues with a journey to nearby fishing village of Dodanduwa, where there will be remarkable installations and performances centred around a wrecked trawler that has been turned into a musical instrument. There will be performances in and around the sea and then a party in the evening back at Sunbeach Hotel.

All the events are free but if you wish to join the artists for lunch or dinner, you should reserve a place by emailing – movingthrough@uzarts.com

Matteo Lanfranchi Sura Medura blog post 2