Event overview
Featuring 'Unravelling' - A film by Kuldip Powar with soundtrack by Nitin Sawhney, and Post Colonial War Requiem - a new composition by Francis Silkstone.
Coventry Cathedral - Double Bill Premiere
On Saturday 8 November 2008 Goldsmiths, University of London presents ‘Noise of the Past’ a double bill premiere of film and music at Coventry Cathedral as part of Coventry’s Peace Month to celebrate ex-colonial soldiers. With special opening address by Martin Bell OBE, UNICEF Ambassador, former broadcast war reporter and independent politician.
‘Noise of the Past’ casts a new spotlight onto the story of ex-colonial soldiers and hopes to revitalise their status in the space of public remembrance. Featuring ‘Unravelling’: a film by Kuldip Powar, original score by Nitin Sawhney and ‘Post Colonial War Requiem’ – new music composed and conducted by Francis Silkstone of Goldsmiths. The evening event is preceded by a pre-event conference which includes speakers and a discussion.
The starting point for this commission was an inter-generational dialogue in poetry about how one asks and tells of the experiences of war between Sawarn Singh - a WWII soldier who fought in Burma, the Middle East and Africa before moving to Coventry – and his grandson Kuldip Powar. Powar - a film director - posed questions in Urdu poetry to which his Grandfather responded.
Internationally acclaimed music composer Nitin Sawhney took this poetic dialogue as the basis of a multi-faceted haunting composition, which Powar responded to in the form of a searching and evocative film Unravelling. Unravelling (2008 / 17 mins) is the result of a unique film-making process, creatively working with poetry, archive materials, music and visual art.
Musical composer Francis Silkstone also took the Urdu poetic dialogue as the basis of Post Colonial War Requiem, a new score to be performed in interaction with the space of the Cathedral. Benjamin Britten’s original War Requiem inaugurated the newly-built Cathedral in 1962 which also took the poetry of Wilfred Owen as its inspiration.
The Cathedral itself is significant as after the medieval cathedral was bombed in the blitz of 14 November 1940, the new cathedral represented post-war reconstruction, renewal and reconciliation. The installation and live performance of 8 November will interact with the architecture of the cathedral, with multiple projections and moving musicians.
Unravelling will continue to be screened 11–23 November 2008, The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Jordan Well, Coventry, CV1 5QP. The Herbert Gallery is open from 10am-5.30pm Monday to Saturday and from 12pm to 5pm on Sundays visit: http://www.theherbert.org
For more on the project, and for travel information please http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/methods-lab/noise-past.php
Funded and supported by the AHRC, Goldsmiths, University of London & Coventry Peace Month.
Event information:
Unravelling and Post-Colonial War Requiem
With special opening address by Martin Bell.
Where: Coventry Cathedral, Priory St, CV1 5AB
When: Saturday 8 November 2008, 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Admission: FREE, including reception.
Also - Free coach from London
There will also be a pre-launch conference:
War, Memory & the Postcolonial
St Mary’s Guildhall, Bayley Lane, Coventry, CV1 5RR.
Saturday 8th November 2008, 1.30 – 5pm
Speakers include: A. Portelli (Rome), L. Back (Goldsmiths), P. Parmar (Royal Holloway) and a discussion with film director Kuldip Powar and composer Francis Silkstone.
Admission: FREE - register in advance by emailing jo@daykin.co.uk
www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/methods-lab
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
---|---|---|
8 Nov 2008 | 7:00pm - 9:00pm |
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