Livin' it up + Melbourne International Arts Festival

Work hard and play (even) hard(er). That's the way I like to live my life. And increasingly so.

On my bedroom wall is a photograph taken by Ken Duncan (I love his stuff) of a beautiful sandy white beach (Whithaven Beach, Queensland). Admittedly I have never been to Whithaven Beach, and generally prefer mountains/lakes to beaches, but what I love most about the poster is the accompanying quote which serves as a reminder to me every day - "Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life".

Living a full life will mean different things to different people. For some it may mean being surrounded by close family and friends; for others it may mean travelling far and wide and seeing/experiencing all that the world has to offer; and yet others it maybe mean success and achievement in their spheres of influence/careers. Or it could be living a peaceful and quiet life, with lots of rest, enjoying nature and good health.

Although I haven't worked it out completely yet, I would say crucial elements of a full life for me would include:

- Friendships/relationships which are heart-deep and which are edifying and encouraging - 'building each other up and not tearing down', and a sense that we are sharing our journeys of life together through different seasons in life;

- Activities and experiences which expand and cultivate my mind and senses, which stretch me and grow me intellectually, emotionally, sometimes physically and even spiritually (may it be travelling to a foreign country and venture around with a Lonely Planet guide in hand, seeing art exhibitions/movies and reading good books which make me think, listening to amazing orchestral music, being inspired by a sermon at church ..) I must say that Melbourne is a great place for such.

In the last few weekends, I have had some particularly fun and blog-worthy experiences and I thought I'll jot down a few thoughts here. I attended several gigs/events as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival (www.melbournefestival.com.au)

-> 'Tyranny of Distance' - a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/ videography gig @ Hamer Hall on Sat 17 Oct 8pm

The first part was "Pictures at an exhibition" arranged by Julian Yu (based on Modest Mussorgsky's piano suite of the same name). It was ten short pieces representing different ideas - like moving from picture to picture at an exhibition. Some playful, some surreal & quirky, some more intense. Without knowing exactly what each piece was originally composed to represent, I found myself picturing a calm sea at times, a ship amongst stormy waters at another time, and a grand building against the music of church bells at yet another...On googling Mussorgsky's original after the fact, I learnt that the imagery I conjured in my mind didn't reflect the original items at all, but it was still fun to let my mind float along imaginatively with the music. The original piece by Mussorgsky was a piano suite - this has been made into an orchestral ensemble by Julian Yu. The experience would have been made more complete with 10 different pictures projected, appropriately matched to the essence of each musical piece.

The second part of the concert absolutely blew my mind. Titled 'Tyranny of Distance' by Brenton Broadstock (Composer-in-residence of the MSO this year). It was astounding, hypnotic, amazing, a fascinating concept and a holistic visual and music experience. I felt visually and audially spoilt. The MSO played with the MSO Chorus, soprano solo, didgeridoo solo and stunning videography.

The piece consisted of 3 movements.

i) Island: angry sounds and rumblings, didgeridoo and the chorus with a whisper/chant-like effect... the visuals consisted of electric-like waves which moved as if it felt the emotional changes in the music.

ii) Journey: intense movement of orchestral sounds and mesmerising videography of images of travelling - looking out of a fast-moving train window, over landscape as if on a chairlift, choc-a-bloc cars in peak hour traffic; and movement along a subway-like tunnel, gradually moving towards the light (exit) at the end of the tunnel. People meet you at the end of the journey.

iii) Home: pictures of greenery, a man (perhaps a father life figure?)... the idea that the journey is the home.

The Notes in the program offered so much food for thought and great quotes which speak of the cultural and philosophical ideas behind 'Tyranny of Distance' - not just geographical or physical separation, but social and much much more. I loved it.

-> Le Salon by Belgian theatre company Peeping Tom @ Arts Centre on Sat 24 October - about a family which used to be very wealthy, but are now in decline. Talks of the screwed up relationships and insanity which goes on in the house. The father has Alzheimers, the wife wants attention, the sons are probably a bit fed up with looking after the father, and the daughter-in-law is fragile and goes a bit mental at the end too. The cyclical patterns of destruction (father despising the wife; then son with his wife)... The main cast of five displayed excellent acting (particularly the father - Simon Versnel) - combined with interesting forms of dance and movements, and some singing. It was a play with a lot of nuances and undertones. Dark, mysterious, with melancholic insanity.

Regrettably, this is not my sort of thing at all - partly because I find it hard to relate to the themes, and I also struggle with periods of intense quiet and contemplative silence in a hall full of people. It makes me feel caustrophobic and uneasy for some reason.

-> Free World exhibition at Federation Square - rap poetry by young pan-African artists, with raw and honest lyrics e.g. re Sudanese refugees experiences in Australia. I was delighted by the talent showcased as part of this community project, and the lyrics really touched my heart and made me more aware of the experiences of young refugees here in Melbourne.


-> Beck's Rumpus Room @ Forum Theatre - gig on Friday 23 Oct
This was one of the funnest experiences I have had for a while! Wendy and I partied hard at the front of the stage - with hundreds of people behind us. The bands/artists were:

i) Ramallah Underground - a Palestinian hip hop/rap duo - they rapped in Arabic so I couldn't understand what they were saying but likely to have various political undertones as per the visual images displayed on screen. They were passionate and very good (I love their hand gestures while they rapped too..lol).

ii) Beans - African-American rap artist who was phenomenal at rapping - he rapped in English and I still had no idea what he was saying, but the beats were good (although tad repetitive later). Wendy and I just went crazy anyway - just grooving to the beats... While waiting for Act 3 to begin, this chick approached us asking which band was next - we said we had no idea; she thought we looked like hardcore fans.. haha.... We also made friends with this Taiwanese guy who had just arrived in Melbourne for 2 days for travels - he had read about the Festival in a visitor's guide and simply came along - he looked like he had an awesome time!

iii) The Cuban Brothers (with Kengo Sam) was a hilarious and entertaining three people group. Think lead singer with a sequenced outfit and the two accompanying dancers in pink and purple suits. They did crazy dances, spun on their heads, got the crowd cheering and pumping... To our surprise, they also stripped down to their underwear (two of them are middle-aged Cuban men, and Kengo Sam is a young Japanese guy) and wore ridiculous-looking tight grey bodysuits with fluoro green tassels!... They engaged the crowd, shook our hands and the lead singer talked obsessively about f***ing and penises - that part was probably a tad confronting and gross. But overall, heaps of entertainment value. They're on as the chief act on Saturday's Beck's Rumpus Room.

I loved the gig - unexpectedly so. The type of music and scene is quite alternative and (I thought) not naturally my type of thing. But the whole being crazy and groupie-like and dancing at the front of the stage and basically having carefree unrestricted fun the whole night (till 2am) was really really great!

Wendy and I will be tee-ing up more random gigs and experiences - so stay tuned. Here's to more random craziness, fake-eyelashes and getting hit-on by random people (more Wendy than me..) Cheers Wendy! lol