Video – Page 32 – Frames of Reference

Radio Carbon

When cosmic rays strike the atmosphere they create the radioactive isotope carbon 14, which can be detected in living matter and decays at a fixed rate over many millennia. Radiocarbon dating is the method by which we measure prehistoric time, and with which our own detritus will one day be measured. The filmpoem Radio Carbon takes this transient yet permanent record of time as a personal metaphor, fashioning a hypnotic journey into the human past, from the neolithic to the present moment. It’s a film with eternity at its centre, the vastness of space at its core, and a reverie of images clustering to the lens like the flashing in a stranger’s eye. Continue reading “Radio Carbon”

Shenandoah & Cape Cod Girls

First there was Rogue’s Gallery in 2006, now followed by Son of Rogue’s Gallery, both compilations of pirate ballads, sea songs & chanteys, from an idea by Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean II. Continue reading “Shenandoah & Cape Cod Girls”

The Moo Man

The story of a maverick dairy farmer and his unruly cows, filmed over four years on the marshes of the Pevensey Levels. Cows are happiest out in the fields eating grass. However in winter there is no grass and their hooves plough up the wet fields so much that they must come indoors, to be looked after for the winter. But once Spring arrives and the days lengthen, the smell of fresh grass wafts in the air, and the cows shout and whine for the great outdoors. This clip is from the happiest day of their year, the day the cows go out for summer. For more information visit The Moo Man.

Goodnight Moon

Once upon a time three bears came to The Rowley Gallery to find a picture frame. They were from a story called Goodnight Moon. They just wanted to go to sleep but they couldn’t relax until they were safely tucked up inside a snug, warm, sunshine frame. Continue reading “Goodnight Moon”

Organizing The Bookcase

Stop motion animation by Sean Ohlenkamp with music by Rodrigo & Gabriela.

Irish Folk Furniture

This delightful film, described by its director as propaganda for Irish rural dressers, has just won the prize for Best Animated Short Film at the Sundance Film Festival. No home is complete without one.

Casals & Bach

August 1954, aged 77, Pablo Casals performs Bach’s G-Major Suite for solo cello at Abbaye Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa near Prades in the French Pyrénées.

In an ancient abbey in the south of France I once heard invisible plainsong. I realised eventually that it came not from speakers, nor from monks hidden behind a screen, but from a fellow tourist who sang as he moved through the building, exploring its rich acoustics. It was surprising and beautiful. How amazing it would have been to discover Casals playing Bach.

Bach Unwrapped is a year long series of over 70 concerts throughout 2013 at Kings Place, London.

Landfill Harmonic

When these children in Paraguay were given the opportunity to learn music there were more students than instruments. Cateura is Paraguay’s biggest landfill with a resourceful tradition of recycling. It seemed only appropriate to make musical instruments from waste materials. Scrap was transformed into violin, cello, double-bass, flute, saxophone, guitar and The Recycled Orchestra was born.

For Ravi Shankar

A little video clip of Ravi Shankar and George Harrison (Hari Georgeson to his friends). This was a pivotal moment. Ravi Shankar had been hoping to introduce western audiences to eastern music since the 1940s. These two were made for each other. Within You, Without You was always my favourite song on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I saw Ravi Shankar just once. He was in the front row of the audience at the Barbican Hall. John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain and all the other members of Remember Shakti bowed to him from the stage before beginning their performance, acknowledging that without his pioneering example they probably would not have been there.

Category: Video