Music for the performance VINYL by Arnita Jaunsubrēna

Music by Nguyễn Baly
Mastered by Queer Ear Mastering

“It all began two years ago when, driven by nostalgia, I relistened to a vinyl from my childhood and that of several other generations of kids born in the Soviet Union – the radio theatre production of “School of Snegurochka”. Already as a child I identified with the character Little Wolf, portrayed in the production by Vera Singajevska, and, even though it was not in line with the commonly accepted interpretation, I was convinced that in the play Little Wolf is treated very unjustly. But – why is it that Little Wolf doesn’t want to learn? How come bear Mishka’s mother doesn’t want him to go to school? What do we learn from the personified animal characters and how does it later resonate within us? It’s time to take a look at the vinyl through adult eyes.”
Inspired by the vinyl “School of Snegurochka” and its animal characters, director Arnita Jaunsubrēna and actresses Anta Aizupa and Ieva Džindža explore the relationships between humans and animals from a philosophical viewpoint. “Vinyl” is a coming of age story of girls who are searching for their inner animal and for its place in society.

The play “School of Snegurochka” (playwright Georgy Landau, music by Grigory Teplitsky), commissioned by Moscow State Puppet Theatre and written in 1952, was very successful. Therefore, it was decided to stage it in other Soviet Republics as well. In 1954 it was produced by the Latvian Radio Theatre, later to be released as a vinyl. This legendary recording can still be listened on the website of the Latvian Radio 1.

A fragment of the film “Derrida” by Amy Ziering Kofman and Kirby Dick is used in the production “Vinyl”, as well as photographs by George Shiras and a mask design by Steve Wintercroft.

Photo: Elmārs Sedols

Vinyl 04 (Ende)

Vinyl 03 (Tanz)

Vinyl 02 (Beat)

Vinyl 01 (Vinyl)

Part Two

Voice: Katharina Hauke
Modular Synthesizer: Nguyễn Baly
Mastering: Queer Ear Mastering

Premiered on 08/05/2020 at Cashmere Radio.

Part Two (Katharina Hauke & Nguyễn Baly)

Nguyễn Baly is a Vietnamese-German diasporic sound artist who works and lives in Berlin. Baly combines performance, experimental music and post-colonialism in her work. Since 2010 Baly has been working at the intersection of sound and performing arts. Together with Tara Transitory as Nguyễn + Transitory, they work primarily with modular synthesizers, attempting to approach sound, synthesis, noise, rhythm, and performance from a less colonial angle. Looking into how frequencies, the physicality of producing sounds and its incidental vibrations relate to cognitive memories, stored emotions and catharsis. They have performed internationally at Siam Museum Bangkok, Lava Film Festival Kraków, Museum of Modern Art Warsaw and SAVVY Contemporay Berlin amongst others. Their most recent work »Bird Bird, Touch Touch, Sing Sing«, an immersive site-specific installative sound performance, was presented at CTM Festival 2019 (Berlin), Serralves Museum (Porto), Ultima 2019 (Oslo), WORM (Rotterdam), Submerge Festival 2019 (Bristol), HeK (Basel) and PACT Zollverein (Essen) amongst others.

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