Here is a collaboration with Matthias, aka http://soundcloud.com/truehedonism, our contribution to the Soundcloud Collaboration Tombola. First of all, big thanks to the Rockshamrover boys for such a good idea, and especially to Barclaybunch Dave for all the hard work and fun he put into organising it.
I hadn't come across Matthias before but we've had a lovely time putting this together. The main musical ideas are all from Matthias. He developed a beautiful gentle electronic theme, both percussive and serene. It made me think of Japanese music so I added chopped up samples of Maria Callas singing from Madame Butterfly, (Puccini's opera set in Japan), some geiger counting hihats and BBC recordings of 9 year old Ayaki and her father Hitoshi who live near Fukushima. The words in English are
"We have a machine to measure radiation,
but it's in English, so I only used it at the start.
I don't really understand it
1.0 microsieverts is high and 0.3 microsieverts is a little bit high.
I check the levels in my room sometimes

The levels near grass and water are high, so we try to play on the tarmac
If I went over there I think dad would get cross. There are lots of trees and the radiation is probably high.
Dad told me to play in this car park so I only ever play here."

I found plenty of recordings of experts predicting one million Fukushima-related cancer cases in Japan over the next 10 years, or talking about the trillion dollar clean-up bill, but none of these were as powerful as a little girl learning how to measure radiation levels before going outside, and having to play in a car park instead of on the grass. Thanks again Matthias.

davemckeown.co.uk

SCT, Playtime in Fukushima, Dave McKeown with True Hedonism, (translation in track description)

I am a working full-time musician, teaching, performing, composing, recording and arranging, and my gigs in the last few years have included jazz combo, big band jazz, folk, Irish traditional, rock, soul, latin, klezmer, funk, orchestral, chamber, minimal techno, musical theatre and more, so, safe to say, I’ll have a go at anything. 

I'm a firm believer in demolishing boundaries between genres, cultures, languages and ultimately people, and Soundcloud is a terrific place where all this can happen.

starwars darkside: http://starwarsdarkside.blogspot.com
thank you for listening.