Zurich Loopfest

[a k butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>]

hi loopers

Thanks to Bernard Wagner for organising an amazing festival.

Three nights of looping, with full support from a dedicated team of 
helpers/venue-staff and an appreciative audience.

The usual 30 minute per artist quickfire thing, but this
time Bernard got in some "name-brand" acts to do an hour set
at the end of the evening.

Highlights (well there were many, this is just a selection)
1) Stephen Keller's quadrophonic flute looping
2) Claude Voit's acoustic guitar treatment
3) Hearing Bill Walker for the first time
4) coming home with a bagful of traded cds
5) Rick Walker's sharing of his rhythm knowledge
6) an impromptu recording session with Rick and Bill in Bernard's 
stairwell.
7) hanging out with the guys, Mike, Bill, Rick, Per, Bernard, 
Matthias & co. , haven't laughed like that in years.
8)oh ...and having the chance to play

LowLights
1) not catching all the music, do to late arrival, loop-fatigue, or 
just because it was too loud for me(Christy Doran)
2) missing the workshop, .....damn
3) 2 new chunks out of my guitar


There was a lot of talk about what worked as a performance under 
those conditions,
the 30min time limit being significant.
1) preparation seems to be the key, allowing the performer to present 
a succession of ideas fitted to the available time
2) "hitting the wrong button" didn't spoil a performance, it was 
possible to deal with this either musically ( just allowing it to 
become part of the music) or by doing a bit of "performance art" to 
keep it entertaining for the audience.

andy butler