Giving Voice: Harmonic Accord, Encounters Through Song

Abstract

Giving Voice springs from a strong belief in the voice’s ability to communicate beyond language and cultural difference, and that working with the voice can allow people, from wherever they come, to enjoy and value the riches of difference as well as the recognition and celebration of a common humanity. Giving Voice is an established biennial international event mounted in Wales by the Centre for Performance Research (CPR). It aims to advance the appreciation and understanding of the expressive voice and celebrate its many and varied manifestations across time and culture. Sharing ideas and practice through workshop, performance, and discussion, the festival brings together those - performers, teachers, scholars, healers - who have an interest in the voice but who may not necessarily meet in the usual course of their practice. Harmonic Accord: Encounters through Song is a special edition of Giving Voice hosted by the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland. The year 2009 marks several important anniversaries of the Polish theatre director, Jerzy Grotowski , and, in tribute, our aims of resourcing and resounding in this edition take inspiration from Grotowski’s profound and pioneering work on song and the voice in action.There are many other events programmed for the Year of Grotowski 2009 in addition to this special edition of Giving Voice, information of which may be found on www.grotowski-institute.art.pl. The theme of this edition – Encounters Through Song - springs also from mutual and long-held interests of CPR, the Grotowski Institute - and its associate theatre company,Teatr ZAR - on the ‘inspiration’ of song and traditions of song, and in particular the expressive and connective potential of song and the act of singing as encounter. Encounter that is not only musical and intercultural, but introspective and communal, where the attentive act of singing and necessary act of listening can help us shed the de-sensitised skins of everyday life, and vitally re-connect us to ourselves, to others, and to the present through connecting with the past; to re-source, re-sound, re-sonate. It may be - as asserted by two other voice pioneers, Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart - that ‘the voice is the muscle of the soul’. Despite an increasing focus on the ‘visual’ in contemporary theatre and performance practice, there is a growing interest in the performance body being ‘all ears’ (listening, receiving, sourcing),working beyond and with ‘the tyranny of the eye’ (taking, mis-taking, habitualising). In seeking theatre out of the spirit of music, our questions embrace: aesthetics; technique; the culturally specific; matters of repertoire; archaism and the relationship of tradition to innovation and mutation; collectivity, polyphony and chorus; legacy and legitimacy. But above all Giving Voice: Harmonic Accord is simply about ethos, and encounter with others through song; the festival brings together many extraordinary voices from around the world. We are delighted to welcome back some voices returning to Giving Voice, and also the many who are new to the festival and who include those encountered by Teatr ZAR on their expeditions in search of living sources of traditional music, some unknown outside their ethnographic context. In addition to a feast of performances, concerts and presentations, there will be a wide array of workshops and work sessions, offering the opportunity to encounter particular forms of singing practically (the texture, harmonies, melodies and demands), as well as training and practical work on voice support and release. Join us for an uplifting and resounding compendium of performances, voice workshops, talks, seminars and lecture demonstrations. Meet with other voice enthusiasts and artists from around the world.