All aboard for a narrowboat tour; A folk singer and an electronic music boffin combine for an unusual gig: Music.Byline: Terry Grimley ACANALSIDE gig in Birmingham next Wednesday will bring to a conclusion a three week narrowboat journey and an innovative series of shows. Traditional folk singer Lisa Knapp and electronic music bof-fin Leafcutter John, best known for his work as a member of the Mercury Prize-nominated jazz ensemble, Polar Bear polar bear, large white bear, Ursus maritimus, formerly Thalarctos maritimus, of the coasts of arctic North America. Polar bears usually live on drifting pack ice, but sometimes wander long distances inland. , teamed up for a canal odyssey that began at the London Canal Museum London Canal Museum is situated in the King's Cross area of London, England, beside Battlebridge Basin on the Regent's Canal. The museum was opened in 1992. The building was constructed around 1860 as a warehouse for ice imported from Norway by ship and canal barge. on September 9 and ends with a performance at Birmingham's Flapper & Firkin fir·kin n. 1. A small wooden barrel or covered vessel. 2. Any of several British units of capacity, usually equal to about 1/4 of a barrel or 9 gallons (34 liters). on September 30. Most shows have been performed on a special deck added to the front of the boat, but a couple, including the final one in Birmingham, are taking place indoors. In one respect my romantic illusions about the project were shattered when I spoke to Lisa and John. While the 1937-vintage Chiswick narrowboat and its skipper Bob Wakely is making the whole 100-mile journey, the musicians are only be linking up with them at the various performance venues. "If the project was slightly differently structured I think we were into it enough to spend time on the boat," John explains. "But it's three weeks and I've got other things to do." Lisa and John had never met before they were approached about taking part in the project. "I did a gig a couple of years ago at the Bath Festival and it was the organiser from there who called me and asked if I would be interested in doing a gig on a canal boat with an artist called Leafcutter John," Lisa recalls. "I had come across John on Myspace but hadn't met him. "But I had a look and was really interested. "It sounded like a great idea. "We had a meeting and discussed it a bit more. "It seemed they wanted at least some material to be influenced by the subject of canals. "It went from there, and John and I decided we wanted to do something revolving around the whole idea of canals." As well as traditional and new songs, the performances feature excerpts from field recordings and sounds associated with the boat itself - recorded with the aid of John's home-made hydrophone hydrophone (hī`drəfōn'), device that receives underwater sound waves and converts them to electrical energy; the voltage generated can then be read on a meter or played through a loudspeaker. or underwater microphone. Not only an electronic musician This article is about musicians. For the magazine, see Electronic Musician. An electronic musician is a musician who composes or plays music from synthetic sounds generated with synthesizers, samplers, drum machines or music sequencers. , John also writes songs and performs them with a homemade guitar. "I really like to make things, and for me it's about anything that makes sound. "There was a time when the guitar was a brand-new instrument, there was a time when the harpsichord harpsichord, stringed musical instrument played from a keyboard. Its strings, two or more to a note, are plucked by quills or jacks. The harpsichord originated in the 14th cent. and by the 16th cent. Venice was the center of its manufacture. was a revolution. "We've just got used to these things. A guitar is rarely described as a machine, but to me it's as much a machine as a computer. "I don't really like distinctions between musical genres. "When I'm performing with Polar Bear I'm playing sound rather than jazz. "The absolutely fantastic thing about Lisa is that she's really open to ideas, which is quite surprising for someone who is known for traditional music." TicketInfo LISA KNAPP & LEAFCUTTER JOHN Sept 27: Hatton Locks Cafe, nr Warwick (01926 409432) Sept 30: Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham (0121 236 2421) CAPTION(S): Canals: Lisa Knapp and, instet, Leafcutter John simply love messing about on boats |
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