Ensemble incorporates drama into chamber music of ’90s From page 23 everyone would really start ex- perimenting with making music outside of the realm of their own instrument, and that’s where | was really introduced to the conch shell and the spoons. “It just sounded really intrigu- ing, and it was a whole new win- dow in terms of my musical education at that time, and it turned into my career.” Music Now: f find in listening to all of your music a socthing core, no matter what's going on, ts this intentional? Carla Hailett: “I guess a lot of the sounds we make are quiet, and it's not meant for the concert hall so much as it is more of a chamber music for the ‘90s. When we do perform we have things closely miked, and § guess that’s what creatés that intimate feeling.”’ Music Now: Dees a lot of the music originate on an im- provisational basis? Carla Hallett: ‘For our bottle or- chestras, sometimes we will start improvising together and gradually we'll start shaping a piece. “Other times Dewi Minden, who is sort of our formal arranger for the ensemble, she'll score music for full bottle orchestra or she might score for trumpet, flute, french horn and musical saw. She draws on her classical theory training for that.” Music Now: What considera- tions are made in discovering new instruments and incor- porating them within yaur work? Carla Hallett: ‘Usually if we’re excited about a sound we'll create a piece around it.” Music Now: Is singing a new direction for you personally or just new for the group? Carla Hallett: “I've been using my voice as a color in different performances in the past, but this is the first time it has been featured.” Music Now: What inspired the lyrics you put to the melody of Alone Together? Cada Hallett: “t think it was in- spired oy the melody that Robert wrote. fe actually composed that melody on tne longest day of the year, and it just sort of felt like this moment of taking stock of things. “You have this longest day, and you can look around, and you think of the planet, and it’s sort of an environmental song. Other people have interpreted it as a love song. | think it’s just the feel- ing of the melody.” Music Now: What challenges were met in the move fram a classical environment to the group you find yourself in now? Carla Hallett: “Training in the classical world is very strict and narrow. It took a long time to break out of that and feel like it’s OK to play something without 10 years of training on it. “You have to trust that you are musical and that you can trust the music that comes out of you, try- ing to forget all of the classical waining. “On the one hand it gives you a good basis and on the other hand it is very damaging because it really closes you off in terms of what you imagine music could e."" Music Now: Are the pieces on Film fortunate to get actor Ayub Khan Din From page 37 Rattan returned to India in 1984 and, after meetings with religious leaders, obtained permission to take a film crew inside the Golden Temple. But he couldn't convince the National Film Board of Canada to back his project. “They said they were more in- terested in South America. One month later a crisis occurred that had repercussions around the world,” he says of the film board’s bureaucratic bungling. He's had exactly the opposite reaction to his current project. Everyone involved saw great promise in the script right from the beginning. Puri, who has starred in hun- dreds of films including Sam and Me, The Jewel in the Crown and City of Joy, and who is worshipped by Indian audiences, was highly impressed with the script, he says. Khan Din (My Beautiful Laun- drette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid) liked the story so much he turned down a role in the latest Pink Pan- ther movie to play Sanda’s lover. “He called us and said, ‘You've got a far superior script.’ We're really fortunate to get him.” Vancouver's {ndian community has rallied around the project too. When the cornpany put out the word that it needed a few extras for one scene, more than 300 people showed up (including Rat- tan’s mother). The film has given his own fami- ly a first-hand look at the movie- making process, Rattan says. Prac- tically his entire family appears in the film, even two-year-old daugh- ter Jasminder, who plays Sharma’s a ren, daughter. “She likes to ham it up with the camera,” laughs Rattan. “When Ini on the set 1 put two hats on: baby wrangler and pro- ducer.”’ The Burning Season is scheduled te open in theatres across Canada next year and Raitan believes it will be well received. The success of such movies as Mississippi Masala, he says, has shown there is a growing audience for smail, non-Hollywoad films that depict other cultures. Heather Harris loves to tone not only because it gives her fots more enenpy and helps her lose inches ~- Heather has arthritis in her hip and tuning makes her feel great. 36-1 HR. SESSIONS In 3 mont $3.47 per session! $125 Guaranteed Inch loss Come in for a free session #02B-1124 Lonsdale 986-0110 {next wo North Shore Credit Union) Long Journey Home meant to be incorporated within a story-telling framework when you perform them live? Carla Hallett: ‘The album feels like one work to us, and we're thinking of developing it into a live performance, and in that case we'll tell more anecdotes before the pieces, but they are more stories in themselves. They are very foreground pieces.”’ Music Now: | was wondering what kinds of rewards you gain in participating in such an unusual group? Carla Hallett: ‘1 guess it’s really incredible to have a context where the limit seems to be your imagi- nation. “Sometimes that’s a huge re- sponsibility and other times it feels really freeing. It's a context where you have to be in the driver's seat for it to work.” BLED ST. ER oe PREMIUM LATEX EGGSHELL 03243 ne = : N WAL PAPER BOOK ORDER. nufscturer's hook price. raurles and cut goods excluded. REMIUM SEMI GLOSS ENAMEL ts HECK OL Cloverdale 1629 Lonsdale Avenue Across from SuperValu N. VANCOUVER 985-6815 HOURS: Monday-Thursday: 7:30am-5:30om Friday: 7:30am-9:00pm Saturday: 9:00am-5:30pm Sundays & Holidays: 10:00am-5:00pm