TOMORROW IN A YEAR – THE KNIFE
A BIRD SINGING, THE RAIN FALLING ON LEAVES, THE WIND CARESSING BUSHES AND BRANCHES ARE SOUNDS AND MUSIC OF NATURE AND THE KNIFE WITH MT. SIMS AND PLANNINGTOROCK HAVE CHANNELED THESE MELODIES IN THE ELECTRONIC OPERA “TOMORROW, IN A YEAR”.
Through the centuries nature has inspired many poets, painters, writers and musicians, who have tried to express the beauty, strength and complexity of the world around them. But these guys have gone beyond.
The project was proposed by the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma who wanted to take on stage Darwin’s “On The Origin Of The Species” and his researches about nature and wildlife.
The Knife were the first to be contacted and they then decided to let Mt. Sims and Planningtorock take part in the realization of this innovative work.
The result is an electronic opera that combines artificial sounds and field recordings. Olof Dreijer (The Knife) went in fact to the Amazon and Iceland to find inspiration and to record real sounds from wild nature.
He says: “At first it was very difficult as we really didn’t know anything about opera. But after some studying, and just getting used to opera’s essence of pretentious and dramatic gestures, I found that there is a lot to learn and play with. In fact, our ignorance gave us a positive respectless approach to making opera. It took me about a year to become emotionally moved by an opera singer and now I really do. I really like the basic theatrical values of opera and the easy way it brings forward a narrative. We’ve approached this before in The Knife but never in such a clear way.”
15 tracks compose the melodic world of Tomorrow, In A Year: a wonderful, dreaming but dangerous world in which the mystery of unknown nature but also the surprise of discovering new animal and plant species are described.
An opera singer, a pop singer and an actor also enrich the performance, all this accompanied by light projections.
The show is a real travel in a new world seen through Darwin’s eyes and it changes as fast as life and nature do. During the first part single elements are introduced, then they gather and merge becoming a whole before changing again in something new and undiscovered.
Ralf Richardt Strøbech is the co-director with Kirsten Dehlholm. He explains, “Time forms our lives, gives our existence meaning and populates the globe. Generations, eons and millions of years create the new and eradicate existences. Nature selects, invites and dares everything without limitation.”
Everything changes. Today, tomorrow, in a year, forever. Things develop, mutate and so do we.
rabidrecords.com/tomorrowinayear
Words Luca Russo
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