TIMO at The Barbican

Submitted by oliw-d on Wed, 05/19/2010 - 23:12

TIMO played a lovely gig at The Barbican on 12th May 2010. Ian and I had previously been working with a group of young poets and Guildhall music students to create new works of Words and Music. We performed these on the 11th May and the results were really well received by an audience in The Pit at The Barbican. The theme of the new poems, was, believe it or not, carpets and floor coverings! Our first workshop was in a really blank meeting room in The Barbican. When we looked down the slightly psychedelic carpet patterns started boggling before our eyes. We had found our inspiration. Poems about feet, slippers, lovers, friendships, families, the carpet's point of view, even Napoleon and his love of linoleum (!) all started to emerge from the minds and pens of some very talented writers. The musicians involved created subtle and sometimes shocking musical accompaniments to these, as well as some singalong songs. One of the poets said: "I've never enjoyed performing so much"

Here's some lyrics of one of the songs:

Aluminum linoleum
Was walked on when Napoleon
Was standing on the podium
In front of all the French

They pulled out the asbestos rug
And sent him to the trench he dug
To let the dirt give him a hug
And rid them of the stench

And when a house was built again
They tiled down the floors and then
Gave him a little count to ten...
Da da da da da da.

The melody for this was also composed by the young writer and had a lovely 1930s German cabaret feel to it.

Luke.

Pictures at www.fiddle.org.uk/ian_mcmillan_orchestra/blogs

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