Robin Richards, bass player from Manchester band Dutch Uncles, has scored a new film based on events surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Birdsong: Stories from Pripyat is a 40 minute film and cross-artform project blending original contemporary classical composition with film to explore the historic event through storytelling, montage and archival footage.
An amusement park in the Ukrainian city of Pripyat was due to be opened on 1 May 1986, but the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred just a few miles away on 26 April. The park’s owners opened the park for a couple of hours the following day for the people of Pripyat before the city was evacuated.
The piece aims to revisit a dramatic and devastating historical event using personal and scientific narratives to draw out the tensions and truths.
Commenting, Robin said: ‘Since hearing about the trips young evacuees from Pripyat and neighbouring towns made to my hometown Stockport as part of charity programmes over the last 25 years, and reading personal accounts of those affected by the catastrophic nuclear disaster I have wanted to create an art piece depicting the stories, whilst also addressing environmental and scientific dimensions.
‘I am fascinated by the gestural vocabulary of film and its relationship to the formal properties of musical composition. I want to push beyond the notion that music should always be in service to visual narrative, and explore the possibilities of music’s power to create and transform meaning.’
This project is supported by the Arts Council, HOME, and the University of Salford. The live dates are below:
30 September - HOME Cinema, Manchester
6 October - Stockport Plaza, Stockport
7 October - Peel Hall, University of Salford
Birdsong: Stories from Pripyat is a 40 minute film and cross-artform project blending original contemporary classical composition with film to explore the historic event through storytelling, montage and archival footage.
An amusement park in the Ukrainian city of Pripyat was due to be opened on 1 May 1986, but the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred just a few miles away on 26 April. The park’s owners opened the park for a couple of hours the following day for the people of Pripyat before the city was evacuated.
The piece aims to revisit a dramatic and devastating historical event using personal and scientific narratives to draw out the tensions and truths.
Commenting, Robin said: ‘Since hearing about the trips young evacuees from Pripyat and neighbouring towns made to my hometown Stockport as part of charity programmes over the last 25 years, and reading personal accounts of those affected by the catastrophic nuclear disaster I have wanted to create an art piece depicting the stories, whilst also addressing environmental and scientific dimensions.
‘I am fascinated by the gestural vocabulary of film and its relationship to the formal properties of musical composition. I want to push beyond the notion that music should always be in service to visual narrative, and explore the possibilities of music’s power to create and transform meaning.’
This project is supported by the Arts Council, HOME, and the University of Salford. The live dates are below:
30 September - HOME Cinema, Manchester
6 October - Stockport Plaza, Stockport
7 October - Peel Hall, University of Salford
