The Squid's Ear Magazine


Normal (Fred Frith / Sudhu Tewari): Moving Parts (fo'c'sle)

A perfectly complementary pair of improvisers from the ever-inventive guitarist Fred Frith and instrument inventor Sudhu Tewari, Frith performing on home-made instruments as well-- string instruments he's developed since the 80s described as "planks of wood with strings"--as the two draw unexpected sonic environments and propulsive rhythmic passages through eight compelling dialogs.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Fred Frith-home made instruments

Sudhu Tewari-home made instruments


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UPC: 196852617111

Label: fo'c'sle
Catalog ID: FCSL-007
Squidco Product Code: 33380

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Guerilla Recording, in Oakland, California, on July 8th and 9th, 2022, by Myles Boisen.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Moving Parts is a collection of vibrant improvisations by Normal, the duo of Fred Frith and Sudhu Tewari, playing manually and electronically manipulated home-made instruments. The duo formed in 2002 when Tewari sparked a revitalization of Frith's early 80s explorations in self-made "planks of wood with strings". Approaching instrument making not as beautifully

"Moving Parts is a collection of vibrant improvisations by Normal, the duo of Fred Frith and Sudhu Tewari, playing manually and electronically manipulated home-made instruments. The duo formed in 2002 when Tewari sparked a revitalization of Frith's early 80s explorations in self-made "planks of wood with strings".

Approaching instrument making not as beautifully crafted art objects requiring virtuosic techniques, but rather as crude de-constructions patched together using the simplest of means and requiring only minimal exertion to produce sound, the duo turns the smallest spring into a potential orchestra, the bluntest needle into a sharp response.

As with any music, what is really going on is intense listening, tricks of memory, and the joy of discovery."-fo'c'sle

crafted art objects requiring virtuosic techniques, but rather as crude de-constructions patched together using the simplest of means and requiring only minimal exertion to produce sound, the duo turns the smallest spring into a potential orchestra, the bluntest needle into a sharp response. As with any music, what is really going on is intense listening, tricks of memory, and the joy of discovery."-fo'c'sle


Artist Biographies

"Though the point of reference for many remains the iconic band Henry Cow, which he co-founded in 1968 and which broke up more than 30 years ago, Fred Frith has never really stood still for an instant.

In bands such as Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog, Tense Serenity, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Eye to Ear, and most recently Cosa Brava, he has always held true to his roots in rock and folk music, while exploring influences that range from the literary works of Eduardo Galeano to the art installations of Cornelia Parker.

The release of the seminal Guitar Solos in 1974 enabled him to simultaneously carve out a place for himself in the international improvised music scene, not only as an acclaimed solo performer but in the company of artists as diverse as Han Bennink, Chris Cutler, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Evelyn Glennie, Ikue Mori, Louis Sclavis, Stevie Wishart, Wu Fei, Camel Zekri, John Zorn, and scores of others.

He has also developed a personal compositional language in works written for Arditti Quartet, Asko Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Modern, Concerto Köln, and ROVA Sax Quartet, for example. Fred has been active as a composer for dance since the early 1980s, working with choreographers Bebe Miller, François Verret, and especially long-time collaborator and friend Amanda Miller, with whom he has created a compelling body of work over the last twenty years.

His film soundtracks (for award-winning films like Thomas Riedelsheimer's Rivers and Tides and Touch the Sound, Peter Mettler's Gambling, Gods, and LSD, and Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow's Thirst, to name a few) won him a lifetime achievement award from Prague's "Music on Film, Film on Music" Festival (MOFFOM) in 2007. The following year he received Italy's Demetrio Stratos Prize (previously given to Diamanda Galas and Meredith Monk) for his life's work in experimental music, and in 2010 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in his home county of Yorkshire.

Fred currently teaches in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California (renowned for over fifty years as the epicenter of the American experimental tradition), and in the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland."

-Fred Frith Website (http://www.fredfrith.com/biography.html)
1/21/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Sudhu Tewari is an electro-acoustic composer, improvisor, and tinkerer in sound, kinetic and interactive art.

He has been called a professional bricoleur, junkyard maven and young audio-gadgeteer.

An early interest in disassembling alarm clocks and coffee makers gave rise to electro-acoustic instruments constructed with the remains of discarded stereo equipment, kinetic sculptures and sound installations. Sudhu builds audio electronics, acoustic instruments, kinetic sculptures, interactive installations, wearable sound art and recently began working with bicycles with wide variety of end results.

Highly educated at Mills College in electronic music, Tewari has been seen performing improvised music in various configurations with the likes of Fred Frith, Cenk Ergun, Mark Bartscher, Tadashi Usami, Gunda Gottschalk, Eric Glick-Rieman and Shelley Burgon.

In October 2006 Sudhu spent four months at the Artist in Residence program at the San Francisco Dump, crafting interactive installations, kinetic sculpture, lamps, and objects d'art from other people's trash. The residency culminated in a gallery show in January 2008. Since then, Tewari's visual and interactive art has been exhibited at Swarm Gallery, 21Grand, ProArts and FLOAT Gallery in Oakland, California, Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California, at UC Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California and at PROGR in Bern, Switzerland.

In 2007, Tewari collaborated with percussionist Kelvin Underwood on a project that integrated Taiko drumming with electronics, noise and chaos and incorporated Capoeira and Maculele movements.

Sudhu has been seen performing as a modern dancer with GroupA , the brainchild of choreographer Alyssa Lee Wimot. Tewari also collaborates with Alyssa Lee to create light installations, costumes and wearable sound art devices for GroupA performances.

In 2008 Tewari joined forces with Nuria Bowart and Melissa Crago to form SuDoNu, a performance art company focusing on developing new forms of movement and interaction arising from improvised play and spontaneous ritual to create meaningful interactions with an audience.

Tewari spent the majority of 2008 in Switzerland, working as project manager for Radio Village Nomade an online sound project of Laboratoire Village Nomade culminating in a sound play aired on Bavarian National Radio. During his residency Sudhu also participated in several collaborative art residencies with artists from around the world.

In 2010 Sudhu collaborated with sculptor Bryan Tedrick to create an interactive light and sound installation to "breathe life" into Tedrick's 50 foot tall climbable steel sculpture, Minaret. The Minaret was installed at Burning Man 2010 and well received. Tewari's installation took input from climbers on (and inside) the Minaret via microphones, light sensors and motion detectors and used the movement and interactions of climbers to control the lighting on the exterior of the Minaret. Sound elements, pre-recorded sound/music and electro-acoustic instruments in the base of the Minaret, were also controlled by the actions of climbers.

Tewari is currently a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz in the Cultural Musicology PhD program and the Digital Art and New Media MFA program. Tewari has also been working as a project manager for UCSC's OpenLab, a network for collaborative discourse fueled by academic communities, arts and science communities, and industry. Tewari also leads AUX, a collaborative research group focused on sound producing kinetic art and works with the Mechatronic project group in the DANM department."

-Sudhu Tewari Website (http://www.sudhutewari.com/Bio/ST_bio.html)
1/21/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Ritual Lament For What Is Not 4:22

2. Dance To Remember, Dance To Forget 4:03

3. Ripples In The Lake Of Awake 3:29

4. Far We Walked Over Sand And Salt 3:41

5. The Secret Seasons 4:06

6. Of Solitude 3:48

7. Lines On The Edges Of Life 15:37

8. Until We Entered The Forsaken Land 3:46

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Guitarists, &c.
Objects and Home-made Instruments
Frith, Fred
West Coast/Pacific US Jazz
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fo'c'sle.


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