In Fire Wild
sound and text performance piece
In Fire Wild was commissioned by Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK for the citywide 34 Bristols event, and performed on the Fifth Floor of the Gallery with musician Siôn Dafydd Dawson as part of the official opening evening events. The performance bridges composition and improvisation, utilising text, voice and electronic sound to create journeys, both outer and inner.
Inspired by Bristol, New York State, USA, a Bristol now called Home by around two thousand people, it's fourth in a line of re-namings tracking fiercely driven settlers from deep seaports, through wildernesses, dense forests and snow-capped mountains. Some incomers chanced upon this green and blue valley paradise: wondered at its flaming water - a spring where water burnt fiercely, unable to be extinguished by anything other than equally elemental forces.
Inspired by Bristol, New York State, USA, a Bristol now called Home by around two thousand people, it's fourth in a line of re-namings tracking fiercely driven settlers from deep seaports, through wildernesses, dense forests and snow-capped mountains. Some incomers chanced upon this green and blue valley paradise: wondered at its flaming water - a spring where water burnt fiercely, unable to be extinguished by anything other than equally elemental forces.
Fire enables Bristol, NY, its economy now founded on natural gas. But fire enables all the other Bristols, too.
Fire - scientifically defined chemical reaction, giving homo sapiens the means for continual development
Fire - metaphorical flame of inward spaces and complex internal drives, giving us the fuel to keep journeying
Fire - fundamental to all human life
Referencing the centuries-old oral tradition of passing on histories and stories, often to the accompaniment of musical instruments, the text highlights key moments from the history of Bristol, New York State - similar moments preceded and repeated across many histories, cultures and times, and often sparked by transient random conjunctions of events. Semi-improvised harmonic resonances starting from single notes are used to discover melody/no melody, consonance/dissonance, as 'music' comes into existence and then dies down, mirroring the flickering and flaring of flames of actual fire and internal passions.
Placed in this twenty-first century sonic context capable of extending voice and sound are ideas from the philosophy of language, particularly referencing the debate around Proper Names, interwoven with psychoanalytical theories' questions about human driving forces. Voice, written text, and improvised sound all work together on an equal basis, each supporting and informing the others.
Placed in this twenty-first century sonic context capable of extending voice and sound are ideas from the philosophy of language, particularly referencing the debate around Proper Names, interwoven with psychoanalytical theories' questions about human driving forces. Voice, written text, and improvised sound all work together on an equal basis, each supporting and informing the others.