Category: music

Barbie On The Half Shell (Operatically Speaking)

A new opera in Dresden features Barbies. Naked Barbies. “This Barbie spends a lot of her time without her clothes on and has a male alter ego (not the trustworthy Ken doll but a mutated Barbie with brutally cropped hair); together they indulge in wildly experimental sex play. In performance, the action is performed by real Barbies in a real Barbie house, with the musicians and singers behind. The dolls are manipulated by two puppeteers and the action is video-projected on to screens on either side of the house. It is a technical challenge.”

Those Daring Young Pianists On The Flying Trapeze

Piano competitions are a grand old classical music tradition, but in recent years, it’s become harder and harder for some of the smaller events on the circuit to raise enough money to keep it all going. A case in point is Canada’s Esther Honens competition, run by Andrew Raeburn, who has been employing every technique he can think of to generate interest, and cash. Inlcuding, believe it or not, trapeze artists.

Low-Fi, High-Tech: Is Chip Music The New Punk?

Technology has officially invaded pop music, and the results have been, well, bland. Endless digital remixes and computer-generated backing instrumentals have created an entire catalog of dull, generic, lifeless songs by artists who really ought to know better. But a new do-it-yourself movement known as “chip music,” vaguely remniescent of 1970s punk, has emerged from the shadow of the technology beast, employing high-tech but low-fidelity “instruments,” such as old Nintendo GameBoys, to create music which reeks of contempt for the mainstream music industry. “The essence of chip music is in reverse engineering an electronic interface – whether it’s a Game Boy or a computer’s sound chip – and subverting its original design.”

Music’s Do-It-Yourselfers

A new generation of musicians is producing recordings on its own. “It has never been easier to make a record than it is now. Computers and digital recording technology have put the means of production into the hands of the musician. So, if you can make a record that sounds every bit as polished as an expensive studio recording, press copies and produce an eye-catching sleeve with the aid of graphics programmes, what do you need a major record company for?”

Libeskind Pulls Out Of ‘Ring’ Production

Covent Garden thought it had scored a coup when it hired architect Daniel Libeskind to design sets for a new production of Wagner’s Ring. “But a Covent Garden spokesman said yesterday that he and director Keith Warner had been “unable to agree on the imagery”, for the operas whose design always provokes passionate – and sometimes vitriolic – debate among Wagner buffs.” So Libeskind has pulled out of the project.

Recording Industry On The Trail Of 204 More Music File-Traders

The recording industry has warned 204 more people that they will be prosecuted for file-sharing. “The RIAA’s second round of lawsuits started with a sternly worded letter giving the individuals 10 days to contact the RIAA to discuss a settlement and avoid being formally sued. Under copyright law, the defendants could face damages that range from $750 to $150,000 for each illegal song.”

A Tax To Pay Artists For Music Copying?

Harvard professor William Fisher has a proposal for a tax on digital playback devices. Music could be downloaded and copied freely and artists would be paid from the tax fees. “He predicts that his plan, debated at a recent copyright conference, eventually would boost music revenues. Since online distribution is cheaper than printing CDs, overhead should shrink. Promotion costs could drop, too, as fans spread the word themselves about talented artists. Legal costs should vanish along with copyright lawsuits.”