Trinity Apse, Chalmers
Close, 42 High Street, August 1st-September 1st
Sarah Kenchington has
no desire to be a one-woman band. This is clear in her latest
hand-built musical instrument/installation for Edinburgh Art
Festival, am interactive construction made from a hundred
decommissioned church organ pipes, which, with no keyboards involved,
requires at least six players to operate the bellows.
“The pipe organ's
becoming a bit of an endangered species,” says Kenchington, who
began making Heath Robinsonesque musical instruments out of collected
detritus a decade ago. “A lot of them are being scrapped, because
they're incredibly expensive to maintain and repair, so this has
become a bit of an orphanage for unwanted pipes. There are enough
bellows for twenty-four people. Normally only one bloke gets to play
a church organ, but now anyone can play. ”
This is part of a
mission Cambridge-born Kenchington appears to be on to reclaim the
effort of making music as well as to democratise it.
“It's about swimming
against the tide of everything being plugged in, and putting the
physical back in music,” she says. “I started off as a maker, but
was never quite happy with just sticking something on a plinth. At
one point I ended up making a pedal-powered instrument that was just
operated by me. I felt I'd gone off track, because I didn't want it
to be me just sitting there on a stage. I felt like I'd let my
instruments down.”
As well as its daily
showings, a series of concerts will feature contributions from the
likes of Eagleowl and regular collaborator, The One Ensemble's Daniel
Padden, all of whom will have to deal with the instrument's more
random elements.
“It's a great
leveller,” Kenchington says. “it's not designed for virtuosos.
It's more about groups of people playing simple parts together. At a
very early age, you either get music or you don't, because of the way
it's taught. This is about getting music back to the people.”
The List, July 2013
ends
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