Sounding the Whau
Saturday 9 April – 5 pm – 6 pm
Te Whau Pathway, Archibald Park, Kelston (entrance from Beaubank Road)

On Saturday 9 April the Te Whau River Pathway through Archibald Park will come alive with musical sounds starting a short performance by Kelston students created during a workshop on the day led by Phil Dadson before going onto a sound walk involving five different musical works by Auckland musicians. The performances will be spread out along the walkway so you can walk from one to another, listening to the music they create in response to the river’s edge and enjoying the park in the early evening.

Artists include: Rosie Langabeer (NZ/USA), Malcolm Dunn, Andrew McMillan and Chris O’Connor, Kevin Kim / Rui Inaba / Phil Dadson and Singularity – Matt Reece / Jeremy Hantler / Tristan Hancock / Joel Vinsen

The musicians will use a wide variety of instruments to create their performances, ranging from traditional instruments like mandolin, classical recorder, electric guitar and Taonga Puoro as well as experimental tools and home made tubular bells made using lengths of pipe. Each station along the Pathway will be a different musical experience where you can choose to stay and listen or walk on to the next station to get a different audio experience.

The sound walk will be a fun and interesting way to get out and celebrate the river, experience the pathway and listen to new sounds weaving into the natural environment.

Soundworks – A sound workshop
Youth studying at Kelston’s schools, including Kelston Girls’ College and Kelston Boys’ High School, will participate in a four hour workshop with internationally renowned sound artist Phil Dadson. Known for  building experimental instruments and sonic objects and music composition involving graphic scores and improvisations Phil’s work has long had a strong connection to the environment. Over the course of the workshop he will introduce ways of listening differently to the ambient sounds of the environment, how to use the body to recreate the sounds discovered by conscious listening, and how to compose and improvise music in response to the river. The workshop will end with a short presentation of the music created by the participants.

This project is organised by Kinstry Smythe, the Audio Foundation and the Whau Community Arts Broker with support from the Whau Local Board and Kelston Schools.