Sounds of Sustainability

Artillery shells crash, sewage pipes thump, a stack of vintage oil cans booms across the stage.

Fred Van Diem

ScrapArtsMusic brings “action percussion” to Edison Jan. 23.

Welcome to the world of ScrapArtsMusic, the outrageously kinetic Vancouver-based percussion ensemble, which performs on hand-made instruments built entirely of salvaged and recycled materials.

In January, ScrapArtsMusic will bring its unforgettable “action percussion” to Washington University’s Edison Theatre as part of the 2009-10 OVATIONS Series. The one-night-only performance will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23. Tickets are $32; $28 for senior citizens and Washington University faculty and staff; and $20 for students and children.

In addition, at 11 a.m. that morning, the five-member ensemble will present a special all-ages matinee as part of the ovations for young people series. Tickets are $10.

Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre Box Office and through all MetroTix outlets. Edison Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. For more information, call (314) 935-6543 or e-mail edison@wustl.edu.

ScrapArtsMusic

ScrapArtsMusic is the brainchild of Gregory Kozak, a composer and avant-garde jazz musician who learned the art of welding in order to build the group’s Dr. Seuss-like instruments — or “creatures,” as he calls them.

Don Lee

ScrapArtsMusic

Hunting through junkyards, shipyards and demolition sites near his home in British Columbia, Kozak spends hours searching for scrap metal and other industrial cast-offs. To date, he has fabricated more than 145 instruments, ranging from the spinning Ziggurat Drum to the Junk-on-a-Stick cymbal tree to the 13-string Mojo, which incorporates a sailboard mast, steel bowls, balloons, wood and aluminum scraps.

Other examples include the Chime Array, made from artillery shells and stainless steel scrap; the Gong Array, made from boat railings and monkey bar “seconds”; and the Plankophone, a kind of marimba made from wooden railings pulled out of a condemned building.

Meanwhile, the group’s music fuses world and pop sensibilities, reflecting Kozak’s training with master musicians such as Pandit Pran Nath, Abraham Adzenyah and Steve Berrios. At the same time, each composition is tailored to the unique properties of the instruments on which it is performed as well as to the innovative sticking techniques developed by Kozak and his fellow performers.

The resulting show is at once improvisational and highly choreographed — equal parts drumming, theater and dance.

The New York Times says that ScrapArtsMusic has “evoked the primitive, embodied the hip and reached out to an almost extraterrestrial avant-garde.”

“The sheer physical energy of the company is extraordinary, and the power with which they go through their paces is enough to leave one feeling utterly exhausted,” adds the Evening Post (Wales, UK), pointing out that “there is enough humour, wit and genuine subtlety to satisfy the most jaded musical palette.”

Fred Van Diem

ScrapArtsMusic

Sounds of Sustainability

In conjunction with the performance, Edison Theatre is working with a handful of campus groups to sponsor the Sounds of Sustainability Instrument Building Competition.

Open to all Washington University students, the competition challenges participants to build their own ScrapArtsMusic-style instruments using only found, recycled and reused materials. Students may enter individually or as part of a team with up to 10 members.

Winners will be selected by members of ScrapArtsMusic on Friday, Jan. 22. All participants will receive free tickets to the ScrapArtsMusic performance the following day. In addition, all instruments will be displayed at locations across campus, including Edison Theatre and the Danforth University Center, during the spring semester.

Sounds of Sustainability is co-sponsored by Edison Theatre, the EnCouncil, Green Action, CS40 Sustainability and the Office of Sustainability. For more information, visit encouncil.wustl.edu/sounds.

Edison Theatre

Founded in 1973, the Edison Theatre OVATIONS Series serves both Washington University and the St. Louis community by providing the highest caliber national and international artists in music, dance and theater, performing new works as well as innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis.

Edison Theatre programs are made possible with support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis; and private contributors. The OVATIONS Season is supported by The Mid-America Arts Alliance with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

ovations for young people

ovations for young people presents affordably priced — and family friendly — matinee shows by nationally and internationally recognized performing artists. Subsequent performances will include Rosa, a tribute to civil rights activist Rosa Parks by the contemporary African-American dance company PHILADANCO (Feb. 20) and Darwin, a heart-warming dinosaur story by Corbian Visual Arts and Dance, which uses electroluminescent wire to create glowing, crayon-like creatures that light up the stage (May 8).