Forum 1 - Week 4 - Collaborations

This week the students started their presentations, this week being on the subject of 'collaborations'.
David started with his presentation on a orchestral performance incorporating Metallica.
The orchestra was conducted by a man named Michael Karmen. He was actually the man who thought of the idea of having Metallica play with his orchestra. After agreeing to the idea in 1998, they had the actual performances in 1999. There were a few critics who said it was a failure, but personally i really enjoyed it. I thought it was great that Metallica can show this side of them and prove that this type of band can even work an orchestra.

Vinny went next, doing his presentation on an Indian composer named Trilok Gurtu. He told us about how Trilok composes many collaborations with people like Daniel Gayone, Nana Vasconcelos (Brazillion Percussionist), Nicolas Fiszman (Belgium Bassist) and Tundes Jegedee ( British Kora player).
We listened to a few of his songs, including 'African Fantasy' and 'Cheery Town'. I found this composer very interesting, as i had never heard music like this before, and it made it so much more enjoyable seeing to enthusiastic Vinny was when talking about him!


Thirdly, William decided to talk to us about the 'process of collaboration' instead of choosing a composer or performance. I didn't really understand what he was talking about most of the time, but it was interesting to see that he took a different approach towards the subject, and if i did understand what he was talking about, I'm sure I would have been very interested.

Lastly, Sanad handed out to the class a sheet of paper stating his opinion on music technology and 'Globalisation'. He then went on to explain how he thought that the term 'world music' was being used unfairly, when being referred to Australian, American, or, on a general note, English music. What was interesting about this talk was that it almost seemed to start an argument throughout the class, with each seperate person having their different opinion.
It was almost like he started a discussion which ended up going in a completely different direction! He told me later on that he would try to keep his mouth shut as mmuch as possible from now on!