Asylum was the right word

So last Thursday, while the rest of the country was coming to terms with the potential change in government, here at the Edge we were an experiencing an incredible night of sonic wonderfullnessness.  The Edge was decked out with a number of sonic toys, the phone box contained five new telephones with a range of mood-altering music and sounds, Stan brought his watchamacallit – a mike with headphones and an effects bank so you could make your own voice make the most amazing range of sounds – and we stocked up on cupcakes and cider.

First up during the evening were Bet 4 Motion – a ten-strong performance art group containing sax players, trombones, ‘creative drumming’, three visual artists, a dancer and a guy making an incredible range of sounds with his mouth and voice box, all responding to each other and the audience to make a piece of ‘synaesthesic’ art.  Frankly, it was pretty challenging for the audience, at worst, the ‘music’ being made was like some of the maddest ’70s free jazz you’ve ever heard, but sometimes the whole cacophony would take you over and you’d find your mind going to all kinds of interesting places while the performance went off around you.

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In complete contrast from the head-exploding Bet4 experience, our second act for the evening brought a very different atmosphere to the Edge.  The Wilderness of Manitoba treated us to a beautiful set of Canadian folk songs, sung with wonderful four-part harmonies and accompanied by banjo, guitar, cello and Tibetan singing bowls.  Check out their Myspace site for a sample of their really beautiful music.  In the middle of their set they stopped to announce that they will be playing the End of the Road Festival in September, and they would like to make a return visit to the Edge at that time, as it was their most favourite venue on their UK tour.  Of course we said, ‘I bet you say that to all the venues’ – the lead singer turned to me, looked me very hard in the eyes and said ‘No, we don’t’.  so we’re starting to get a bit of a pattern here – the atmosphere at the Edge is unique, intimate, fun and you’re never sure what you might find – exactly the kind of place we always wanted.

We’re off to the Goat Milk Festival in Bulgaria for the next couple of weeks, so next up, here at the Edge, we’re hooking up with the BASS Festival and are hosting Bulgarian artist Raycho Stanev’s ‘Great Excursion’ installation.  An interactive artwork documenting the effect  of the enforced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian Turks in 1989.  This is particularly relevant with the BNP’s manifesto ‘offer’ of a £50ooo ‘sweetener’ to repatriate ‘non-white’ British people back to their ‘homelands’. This is pretty much what happened in ’89 (without the 50 grand), and we are holding a ‘critical debate’ on the launch night (June 3rd from 6-9pm) examining issues around DNA, race, ethnicity and mobility – Raycho will be there and we’re lining up a really interesting panel – watch this space for news.

see you at the Edge