A fraction, of a fraction of time…
On the weekend of the 12th September I awoke at an ungodly hour and headed into London to experience the first live performance of Longplayer - Jem Finer’s 1000 year long musical composition.
Upon entering the Main Space at The Roundhouse I was confronted with a most amazing sight, a 20-metre wide instrument, comprised of six concentric circles of Tibetan Singing Bowls (234 in total) and 20 players - albeit dressed, as pointed out by @RiddlerMusic, like villains from a Bond movie. After a flurry of photographs, videos and Tweets I took my place amongst the pillars and sat down to experience the music.
I must admit that my first thoughts concerned the hushed silence and how this would have been an ideal place for a game of Dick & Doms ‘BOGEYS’, but very quickly the immaturity slipped away and I began to slip into a state of tranquility where the passing of time seemed to disappear. Each time I looked at my phone to check the latest #longplayer tweet huge chunks of my morning had flown by.
After several hours in this state I decided to relocate to the bar and partake of an Old Speckled Hen with @RiddlerMusic and, once we had discussed various theories on how Derren Brown had predicted the Lottery, we contemplated the meaning behind this unique event.
It’s difficult to describe in words what it was like listening to a fraction of this 1000 minute section of the full 1000 year long composition - imagine trying to explain what it was like to hear 0.000351* seconds of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ - but there is one thing I can assure you of, it all feels very different after a few ales.
*Apologies in advance if my maths are slightly out, but you get the point!
