If you hear about an implausibly offbeat show in Oxford, something that is so startling and inventive you could never have imagined anyone would have the audacity to put it in front of an audience, chances are it’s the team at Oxford Contemporary Music who lie behind it. They are true iconoclasts. By bringing together experimental artists from different backgrounds, shake them up, add a light show, give them a stage, and the result is a wildly imaginative display of eclecticism The breadth of the material they cover is remarkable; they mix live poetry and sculpture at the Jam Factory, put on a light and music display at The Botanical Gardens, helped arrange the Luminox event in Broad St. a few weeks ago. Sounds weird? If you like the safe and predictable, stay at home. Or go catch a stale musical at The New Theatre. At the Jacqueline Du Pre building on Thursday night, we saw a homage to the pioneering German electronic band “Kraftwerk” by a string quartet paired with avant garde percussionist Joby Burgess. Stage left was the Elysian Quartet, young classical musicians clad in skin tight jeans and high heels. Dishy and dashing, easy on the eye and the ear. Stage right was a futuristic bank of computer hardware and synthesisers, like the bridge on Starship Enterprise with fresh faced boffin Joby Burgess as Captain Kirk. These two traditions blended superbly as they zoomed through Kraftwerk’s influential back catalogue of “Tour de France”, “She’s a Model”, “Pocket Calculator” and the seminal “Autobahn”. Traffic has never sounded this entertaining. It was mesmerising; a stark, pulsing, hypnotic multi layered sound which drilled right into your bone marrow. The animated images projected behind the stage were an entrancing invitation to either epilepsy or day dreaming, depending on the listener. So hats off to Oxford Contemporary Music for a memorable evening. Next week check out the Tunisian musician collaborating with an Estonian Choir at the same venue. These shows deserve a bigger audience, so broaden your horizons and get yourself along to the next Oxford Contemporary Music event. |
