Bowerbird
presents
Gate
experimental series
This month features
NAKATANI GONG ORCHESTRA with Eli Litwin, Jacob Mitas, Carolina Maugeri, JJ Tiziou, and Anna Drozdowski
+ TATSUYA NAKATANI solo
Master percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani returns to Philadelphia with his array of drums, cymbals, bows, sticks, and gongs for an improvisational tour-de-force. This concert will feature both a solo set by Tatsuya, and a collaboration with five local participants to form the Nakatani Gong Orchestra. At the core of the N.G.O. is 40-inch gong that creates extremely low-frequency sound waves. These low, ebbing sounds are layered with the tones of the other gongs to create a pool of sounds that can be felt deep in the body.
From the Citypaper: “It’s doubtful that anyone who’s ever seen Tatsuya Nakatani’s solo performances, in which the master percussionist deftly juggles a wealth of instruments from tiny noisemakers to enormous gongs, has ever come away thinking he lacks in the limb department. But even if from the outside it appears he has the dexterity of an octopus, Nakatani himself has sonic concepts that simply can’t be realized by only two arms. Enter the Gong Orchestra, a five-person ensemble conducted by the Osaka-born, Easton-based experimentalist, which allows for a far greater range of sound and interaction. Despite the ear-splitting volume allowed by the instruments, the gongs - collected during Nakatani’s world travels and played with handmade bows and mallets - are most often used to generate unearthly drones, what he refers to as “a metallic temple of deep harmonies.” ~Shaun Brady.
Admission is FREE