International Carnival of Experimental Sound
International Carnival of Experimental Sound (ICES 72) was an event held at the London Roundhouse from August 13-27 , 1972 , organized by Harvey Matusow . Under the motto “Myth, Magic, Madness and Mysticism” , avant-garde presentations were held for 13 days , with experimental music as well as performance activities. The event was also referred to as "Woodstock of the Avant Garde". Entry for the entire 13 days was £ 12 .
The idea
Harvey Matusow was married to the composer Annea Lockwood at the time. The two worked together on various projects, such as Lockwood's Glass Concert, Matusow's Jews Harp Band or the Naked Software Ensemble. Matusow was also the European correspondent for the American magazine Source , which dealt with avant-garde music. It was in this environment that the idea for a comprehensive avant-garde music festival was born.
More than 300 sound and performance artists from more than 20 countries were invited. A book, a film and a series of live albums were to document the festival. The artists should receive neither fees nor reimbursement of travel expenses, but they should be fed and accommodated. Dance and film screenings, laser shows and exhibitions, happenings and performances in transport, even a train connection to Edinburgh were planned .
An announcement of the International Carnival of Experimental Sound appeared in Source magazine. The ad spoke of 26 performances including night and travel concerts, staged in trains, boats on the Thames, concert halls, radio and television. Films, events, electronics, lasers, software, computers, sculptures, audio poetry and other categories still to be invented should be shown. There was a melting ice cream in the waffle cone with a big ear.
Gee Vaucher designed the ICES poster with 8 by 8 stylized yellow ice cream cone cones leaning to the right, each with a white ice cream ball and a red cherry, underneath the simple black lettering “ICES 72”.
The artists
Artists and groups that have performed at the International Carnival of Experimental Sound include AMM , Amra Arma, David Bedford , Jacques Bekaert, Steve Beresford , John Cage , Lawrence Casserley , Gavin Bryars , Cornelius Cardew , Lol Coxhill , Lady June , Takehisa Kosugi , Annea Lockwood, Charlotte Moorman , Penny Rimbaud and many more.
The festival
ICES began on Sunday, August 13th, 1972 with the performance of John Cage's multimedia play HPSCHD . Around 1200 spectators - 2000 more were no longer admitted - experienced a spectacle with 80 slide and 16 film projectors whose images could be seen on the walls, transparent screens and large balloons, 7 harpsichords and computer-generated sound. The event was broadcast live on the BBC . Black ice cream was offered, but it was soon sold out.
The festival was much less attended in the further course. Various artists canceled their participation at short notice. The organization was described as chaotic. None of the journalists invited appeared, presumably because they too had to pay the normal entrance fee.
One of the highlights of the festival was the performance of Charlotte Moorman playing naked on a melting ice cello . On August 22nd, a group of festival artists took a train from London to Edinburgh. Among them was Charlotte Moorman, who presented her "TV Bra" show in a gallery there.
Aftermath
Neither the publisher of the planned book nor the filmmakers addressed showed up at the festival. However, the concerts were recorded on tape, but only a few of them were broadcast on the radio or released on record . Eventually Matusow turned the tapes over to the University of Kansas for safekeeping. It wasn't until 30 years later that they were released on CD .
Web links
- ICES 72 and Harvey Matusow Portal of the music magazine The Wire (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Dave Thompson : ICES 72 - The Woodstock of the Avant Garde . In: June 1st 1974 , published 2013 (English)
- ↑ a b c Liner Notes of the CD AMM At the Roundhouse (1972) ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on MatchlessRecordings.com (English); the CD was released in 2004
- ↑ Larry Austin , Douglas Kahn (ed.): Source: Music of the Avant-garde, 1966-1973 (English)
- ↑ a b ICES 72 and Harvey Matusow Portal of the music magazine The Wire (English)
- ↑ AMM at the Roundhouse (meeting) ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2009) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Carman Moore: International Carnival of Experimental Sound . Article in The Saturday Review , Nov. 4, 1972
