Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- John Kameel Farah
Simple Rotation (2017)
- Bosworth Music (World)
Unavailable for performance.
Programme Note
A couple of days before I was to leave the studio, the album was mostly finished and I enjoyed some relaxation. But then, 24 hours before the piano was scheduled to be returned to the shop, I realized I wanted to make one more piece. I approached it as an exercise in simplicity, to have one note repeating itself in groups of three: a synthesizer tone in the left ear, a different synth in the right ear, and a flat piano note in the middle. This soundtriangle repeats itself like three blinking lights orbiting in the background, while other events pop up and dissipate in the foreground. The piano was to be picked up at 9:00 a.m. the next morning, so I pulled an all-nighter, and was recording phrases right until the piano movers arrived. This involved taking power-naps beside the radiator, and fuelling myself with the only snack I had left: salted raisins.
Both the video and the musical composition of “Simple Rotation” are based on one of my pointillistic ink drawings, one from a series of about 200. The drawing is a set of circles, each containing a smaller circle, each made up of many rows of dots. The contrasting directions of the rows creates a kind of perpetual motion that is both steady and uneven. The background of the music reflects this with a gently repeating ostinato on one note, like an endless row of point-dots, alternating between synthesizer and piano tones, as other chords and textures unfold around it. When video artist Sahar Homami and I discussed making the video, I asked if she could somehow use the drawing as material. Sahar transformed it into different planes and layers of depth in her video, and in the last few seconds it reveals a semblance of the original drawing.
- John Kameel Farah
Both the video and the musical composition of “Simple Rotation” are based on one of my pointillistic ink drawings, one from a series of about 200. The drawing is a set of circles, each containing a smaller circle, each made up of many rows of dots. The contrasting directions of the rows creates a kind of perpetual motion that is both steady and uneven. The background of the music reflects this with a gently repeating ostinato on one note, like an endless row of point-dots, alternating between synthesizer and piano tones, as other chords and textures unfold around it. When video artist Sahar Homami and I discussed making the video, I asked if she could somehow use the drawing as material. Sahar transformed it into different planes and layers of depth in her video, and in the last few seconds it reveals a semblance of the original drawing.
- John Kameel Farah
Media
Discography
Time Sketches
- LabelNeue Meister
- Catalogue Number0300945NM
- SoloistJohn Kameel Farah, piano/synthesizer/electronics
- Released24th March 2017