ANARCHESTRA
9 pm Friday, July 21
Brett Chomer Studios, 1302½ Cerrillos Road, 690-0505
No cover
At the turn of the century (1999), Alex Farris joined a unique club of instrument makers whose work is stimulating to both eye and ear. Unlike those who came before him,
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Farris didn't work in frail mediums; instead, he put fire to steel and began welding himself an
orchestra. Plumbing pipes became horns, gears became complex bows rubbing against strings, drums and xylophones were built and the conventions of music were tossed aside and embraced simultaneously.
Farris' Anarchestra sounds as post-apocalyptic as it looks. The strings don't have the delicacy of a violin or cello, but are tuned to perfection and replace the archaic without missing a note. Picking up one of the heavy horns gives an idea of the strength that comes out as it's played. This is heavy metal at its truest, most elemental form. The music produced is loud and hard, but can be harmonic and gentle.
Each performance of Anarchestra is unique, with instrumental lineup changes, pulling from the more than 80 instruments in the collection. Performing this weekend are musicians Dawn Edelman, Dezbah Stumpff, Gaspard Cabanes and Farris, who began impromptu jam sessions at the beginning of the year and have brought the Anarchestra out of the workshop a few times already this spring.
Anarchestra doesn't do anything by convention and their songs are a mix of experimentation, improvisation and more traditional musicianship. Farris feels that he and the members of his group belong to a longstanding tradition of music makers, but that music can be "formal and limiting." He instead aims to make music in its truest form, by using "innovation and discovery." Because of such openness to new ideas, the Anarchestra can be played by musicians and non-musicians alike. The instruments resemble their traditional cousins, but are unique enough in look and sound that they can be played by anyone who can keep a beat.
