Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
A Deluxe LIMITED EDITION Double-CD Package (CD1 English; CD2 Korean) that comes in a Large Gatefold Case with a 48-page Booklet insert containing all the stories from the performance, printed in both English and Korean (fully bilingual edition).
Beautifully illustrated by Ju-Hyung Lee and designed by Kathe Gray, with extended liner notes and commentary from Artistic Director Dong-Won Kim, Korean music expert Dr. Josh Pilzer (University of Toronto), and others.
Includes unlimited streaming of When Rivers Meet
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
When Rivers Meet is a live recording of an improvised performance that took place on November 29, 2014, at the River Run Centre in Guelph, Ontario. It featured the Guelph Symphony Orchestra conducted by Judith Yan; the Guelph Youth Jazz Ensemble directed by Brent Rowan; musicians Jeff Bird, Daniel Fischlin, and Lewis Melville (RiverFree Ensemble); dancer Georgia Simms; and storyteller, hurdy-gurdy master Ben Grossman.
Improviser-in-residence, Dong-Won Kim, the world-renowned Korean percussionist and traditional musician who has played for years in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, served as conceptor and Artistic Director of the project.
The fully bilingual (English/Korean) 2-CD recording was released in October 2015 by Barcode Free Music and features large-scale group improvisations, traditional storytelling, intercultural musical forms, dance interludes, and even audience participation.
Showcasing how diverse elements of a community can come together to make inspiring music using story and movement, When Rivers Meet brought together intergenerational audiences through words, sounds and movement that spoke to young and old alike.
The Improviser-in-Residence Program is a collaborative partnership of Musagetes, the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI), and the Laurier Centre for Music in the Community. The program brings improvising musicians into meaningful, sustained contact with local residents of all ages and musical persuasions in Guelph and the surrounding areas. Dong-Won Kim held the post of 2014 Improviser‑in‑Residence, a position he has held along with Douglas Ewart, Jane Bunnett, Rich Marsella, Miya Masaoka, Scott Thomson, and Susanna Hood.
When Rivers Meet was the culmination of four months of talking, playing, dancing, singing, observing, and debating about improvisation within the diverse creative communities in Guelph and Kitchener‑Waterloo.
Barcode Free Music is proud to showcase this uniquely collaborative, intercultural exploration of improvisation in a storytelling context led by a master musician.
Click here to download the complete When Rivers Meet booklet, which includes a note from the Director, performer commentary, the full performance program, a short essay by distinguished ethnomusicologist Dr. Joshua Pilzer, images from the performance and recording, and bilingual transcriptions of the traditional stories that were the basis of the performance.
Sponsoring Organizations:
When Rivers Meet brought together a remarkable number of community organizations and would not have been possible without the generous contributions made by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, Musagetes, The Guelph Symphony Orchestra, Silence, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
credits
released April 23, 2021
Artistic Director: Dong-Won Kim is a percussionist, pedagogue, vocalist, composer, and improviser. He has studied various forms of traditional music from great Korean music masters since 1984, including farmers’ drumming and dance, shamanic music, Pansori accompaniment, and music theory. Dong-Won currently teaches music online as a professor of Wonkwang Digital University. He has also written several fairy tales for children and was featured in the music documentary film Intangible Asset Number 82 (2009). For many years he has been a regular member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project and has toured all over the world with the group.
Storyteller: Ben Grossman is a vielle à roue (hurdy gurdy/Drehleier) player, percussionist, composer and improviser. Over the last fifteen years, Ben has performed and recorded with an assortment of traditional, folk, experimental, early music, jazz, pop and fusion groups. For the last few years, he has toured the US with electronic music innovator BT and extensively in North America and Europe with Loreena McKennitt. Ben’s work has appeared on over eighty CDs and can also be heard on film soundtracks, radio dramas, and television shows and commercials. Today, his main focus is the vielle à roue and its applications in early, traditional, experimental, and ambient music.
Dancer: Georgia Simms is a professional modern dancer, choreographer and educator. She has been studying with accomplished artists, David Earle and Suzette Sherman, in a unique studio-based context since 2003. Georgia first performed with Dancetheatre David Earle in 2005 and continues to be an active member of the company. In addition to an intensive study of modern dance traditions, she has also worked with several other Canadian choreographers exploring different contemporary and improvisational dance languages. Georgia’s choreography has been presented at the Guelph Dance Festival (2011, 2013) and she was twice commissioned by the City of Guelph to animate the Downtown Market Square Splash Pad, creating memorable, participatory, public performance events. She has taught modern dance at the Royal City School of Ballet and at the University of Waterloo and continues to teach technique and improvisation for adults. In addition to her dance practice, Georgia is also active in the academic community. Since earning her MA she has been investigating the intersection of social science and arts practice.
The Silence Collective: Jeff Bird, Daniel Fischlin, Lewis Melville
The Guelph Symphony Orchestra conducted by Judith Yan
The Guelph Youth Jazz Band directed by Brent Rowan
Barcode Free Music promotes alternative forms of musical cocreation that are community-based and socially engaged––bringing these projects to a wider audience. We are a not-for-profit collective.
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