40 Part Chorus Work - on 40 Loudspeakers

Yesterday at the Open Coffee event in Leeds a colleague informed me about this very nice sound installation which had been run at the Grand Theatre in Leeds from 4. February. So I went yesterday evening after work. 40 speakers are placed in the Howard Assembly Room in the Grand Theatre, and each of those speakers plays the recording of one solo singer. The work is the 40 part "Spem in Alium" by Thomas Tallis, the installation is by Janet Cardiff. A wonderful experience - 11 minutes long, played the whole afternoon from 2pm to 8pm. Today, 3.March, is the last day that this is being performed there - I can recommend to anyone to go there and have a listen. Btw, the admission for this is free.

Last Evening Dinner, and Folk Dance Performances

We are all going out for dinner to one of the restaurants, and we invite our hosts who have made our stay there in Vallabh Vidyanagar so smooth and pleasant. Afterwards some of us go to the area where the West Indian Youth Festival Competition has been taken place since Monday (when there was this procession in the streets). This is located on a large open sports ground, covered by a marquee tent. Traditional Indian music can be heard from outside. We walk into the tent, and see immediately colleagues from the university. Also Kanu Patel is there, as he was involved in the organisation of this whole event, and he points us to seats in the very first row. Behind us are probably 1000 young people, listening and applauding the performances that are ongoing at the stage. We sit down and watch a bit. The speakers are very close, and the sound makes everything vibrate. Kanu offers me a seat in the centre, wher eI have a better view for taking video and pictures. The different groups who are competing in this dance competition wear colorful costumes and perform several different dances. They also provide the music for their dance, with the musicians in the background playing while in the foreground the dancers show their performance.





We leave before midnight, shortly before the whole show ends.