elephant songs 2012 – drumbiker

Blind people gather round an elephant. Touching it. They all feel different parts of the beast – the head feels like a pot, the tip of the tail could be a brush. A leg a pillar, the trunk a snake.
Elephant Songs is the optimistic inversion of the old story of the blind men and the elephant. Everyone experiences music differently, but we’re all partly in the right, and as musicians we can always create a piece of music together, whatever we call it and wherever we come from. From our different backgrounds and perceptions, we’ll compose an elephant – if our parts add up to an elephant, that is. Could be a bulldozer. A dead rabbit. A christmas tree, or an Enfield 350 cc motorcycle.
I’m playing with with a few musicians each time, ideally in a previously not existing combination. Each group creates original music based on tunes from my elephant songbook (playing with odd metre rock grooves, filmic melodies, South Indian rhythm games, homespun harmonies, and a delicate balance between composition and improvisation) and pieces brought by the other members-of-the-moment. We’ll perform – in someone’s living room or on a brightly-lit stage – and record the results.
 I post audio and video of the encounters on my blog nocount.org, along with stories and image of the motorcycle trip.
20,000 kilometres through fourteen countries on a 1979 350 cc Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle. From Madras and India’s deep south straight up to Amritsar, crossing into Pakistan at the Wagah border. After Lahore, Quetta, and the somewhat nervousness-inspiring Baluchistan desert, I crossed into Iran, travelling through through south eastern deserts, fairy-tale Isfahan, and Tehran. Came into Turkey near Doğubeyazıt (Armenia and Georgia were put on hold for the next trip), now following the stunningly beautiful northern coast to Istanbul. I’ll continue northwest into Europe: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and finally the low lands.

see more elephant songs videos

uploading the last of 2012’s videos over the next few weeks – video and audio including another track of the successful show at darbast, tehran in june), highlights of the elephant songs show with duygu demir and meriç demirkol at nina’s, istanbul (august), the final track of the elephant songs show at true brew, lahore (april), playing with dhol-drummers conga and mitthu sain at peeru’s café, lahore (april), elephant songs at plantation house, bangalore (february)

reports

the posts tagged elephant songs are about the “official concerts” with video, photos, and text

• elephant songs: last stop utrecht (11/3/2012)
• burootje beuk (10/27/2012)
• homely elephant improvisations (10/10/2012)
• photos: berlin (10/9/2012)
• brrrliner elephant songs: church cucumbers & suicidal pizza (10/5/2012)
• improv under a thousand spires (9/22/2012)
• into central europe (9/17/2012)
• photos: beograd (9/11/2012)
• wisdom & poetry (9/4/2012)
• istanbuli nights (8/25/2012)
• songs of beyoğlu (8/20/2012)
• elephant songs: nice to meet you (8/9/2012)
• safranbolu songs (7/28/2012)
• off with its head – again?!? (7/14/2012)
• off with its head! (7/11/2012)
• elephant songs: ba1pa, on one leg (7/8/2012)
• beach fun (7/5/2012)
• elephant songs: pil ahang at darbast (6/27/2012)
• elephant songs at parkingallery, tehran (6/11/2012)
• kodum guri hasti? (6/4/2012)
• elephant songs in lahore – multiple contacts (4/27/2012)
• rooftop meeting and show tonight (4/26/2012)
• jilebi chronicles (4/10/2012)
• peeru’s café (4/8/2012)
• takatak (4/1/2012)
• lahore! (3/26/2012)
• the thar desert: balesar to bikaner (3/21/2012)
• playing temple music in india’s deep south (3/4/2012)
• bye bye broadlands (2/29/2012)
• jamming with egor in the broadlands (2/23/2012)
• elephant songs #1 – all star jazzband (2/21/2012)
• elephant songs #0 – surprise prologue (1/17/2012)
• bullet, hanh? (12/27/2011)
• oto.3 these days (and: movie edit!) (12/19/2011)
• temporary homelands (11/23/2011)
• strong hands and candle light (11/21/2011)
• congratulations in india (11/17/2011)
• udaipur rooftops (11/13/2011)
• poha! (11/11/2011)
• till the cows come home (11/10/2011)
• test ride day one – my way is the highway (11/9/2011)
• siddhartha’s way (11/8/2011)
• mountains! please? (11/6/2011)
• lalala – a week in katmandu (10/31/2011)