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During the course of the concert I learned that the concert was part of a series of events to launch the ‘re-birth’ of the ‘Minster Quarter’; a new artistic, cultural and commercial collaboration that aims to ‘energise the cultural values of the city’ (Minster Quarter website).
The nave greeted its audience with an unusual set up: it was decorated with surreal, Ikon-like artworks from Kingdom, one of the project’s collaborators, arranged like a triptych. While being evocative they also possessed the spiritual/cultural versatility adaptability and that many pre-renaissance art works seem to have through their relative simplicity.
Blacked-out lights and celestial song, drifting from afar in the Minster’s cavernous acoustic marked the start of ‘round one’ (the Anglo-saxon, aesthetically less experimental portion of the evening). ‘Canty’ a four-woman vocal ensemble performed an array of music, sacred and secular, spanning from Hildegard von Bingen of the 12th century to the world premiere of ‘Two Hadiths’ by the living composter John Tavener: a conventional program for the venue, but rich nonetheless.
The blacked-out lights allowed an appreciation of the music without visual distraction and later on, created an atmosphere as similar to a night-club as the minster could ever hope to get. It persuaded the same escapism from the here-and-now of a theatres or nightclub. Here, spiritual and uplifting music and art suspended long-standing cultural boundaries and the every-day.
Tavener’s ‘Two Hadiths’ commissioned specially for the event set Islamic texts for voice and harp formed a welcome stylistic counterpoint amongst a lengthy first half. The beautiful settings evoked Arabic music as well as featuring complex cross-rhythms, fluttering voices, ground bass ostinatos and Tavener’s distinctive harmonic style.
The excellent quality of Canty's performance set them apart. Their ensemble was sensitive, and their collective sound, while pure and delicately articulated, was succulent. It was almost as if their floating phrases were being eked from their bodies, received by the cavernous, divine space. As if the whole first half had been a dream, Canty processed out singing as they had begun, leaving behind them a blur of lingering echoes.
In ‘round 2’ this celestial backdrop was well and truly ruptured by bass-y dub-step. But first, Umdumo Wesizwe, a gospel choir from Zimbabwe (you may have seen them busking on the streets of York...), were invited to perform a set of their signature style of ‘Imbube’ (think Paul Simon’s Graceland, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, etc...).
Their presence on stage in a building steeped in western ritual was symbolically touching, a sentiment expressed by a member of the choir: ‘If artists from our cultures can share a platform, why cannot our wise leaders?’
Supposedly clashing musics, in fact, shared spiritual and meditative common ground. Umdumo Wesizwe’s vibrant, visceral set made for an invigorating contrast to Canty’s soaring ethereal lines. A sublime combination, especially including what was to come next.
Finally, the hard-core dub-steppers’ moment had come, and the moment, eagerly or anxiously, anticipated by everyone. I’ll be honest: it wasn’t heady, body-brimming, chest-vibrating experience dub-step conjures in me (although this didn’t stop the accumulated clubbers giving it some action in the side-aisles). But tame it was certainly not, and the reference to the rupturing of cultural boundaries it provided was the vital and admirably balls-y heart of the project.
While this set, unlike the previous two, presented no overt religious content, it did offer ‘a sublime homage to the power of deep bass’ (MQ website). Eclectic compositions written specially for the event (by E. Thomas, T. Evans and D. Howard) fused operatic voice with drum kit, the minster’s colossal organ with brass band, and piano with throbbing bass, to mention just a few. While the array of influences was exciting in theory, I couldn’t help but find it a little ungrounded and a touch overwhelming in by comparison with previous acts. But perhaps comparing such new music to music steeped in history is unfair...
It was also a shame that one of the tone of one of the soloists put a dampener on the whole set with a vibrato that made pitch almost imperceptible.
However, these minor defects hardly tainted an extraordinary night. Ewan Allinson iced the cake with his informative and thoughtful interjections that successfully clinched the concert’s diverse components. What a shame this extraordinary event wasn’t better publicised – the meagre turn out didn’t do it justice.
The ‘Minster Quarter’ is a new collaboration between the artists of Kingdom, Mulberry Hall, Sarah Coggles, Minster Quarter Member businesses, the City of York Council, York Business Pride and The Ranking Records Crew, Leeds. Find out more at the Minster Quarter online.
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