From very early on I have wished to be considered in relation to a specific form of music – a strong popular musical tradition – in the same way that Bela Bartok relates to rhapsody, Miles Davis to the blues, Granados to fandango and bulerias. Unfortunately, neither “bourre” (an old French dance tune in common time) and “passacaille” (a slow instrumental work in ¾ time), nor the pop songs played on radio were appealing enough to my imagination.

I found a solid base however, in my own experiences as a child. MECANOID is just a sophisticated development of our childish sound games with a bicycle, when we were adding a piece of cardboard that would pluck the spokes of the wheels. As far back as I can remember, my friends and I had other similar sonic (and musical) experiences such as whistling through flower petals or pulling a twisted thread to make a button revolve and whizz. The PAPER ORGANS & DRUMS arise from those practical experiences on which my activities are based: I consider them as my true folklore – an underestimated Western tradition.

Pierre Bastien (born Paris, 1953) post-graduated in eighteenth-century French literature at University Paris-Sorbonne. In 1977 he built his first musical machinery. For the next ten years he has been composing for dance companies and playing with Pascal Comelade. In the meantime he was constantly developing his mechanical orchestra. Since 1987 he concentrates on it through solo performances, sound installations, recordings and collaborations with such artists as Pierrick Sorin, Karel Doing, Jean Weinfeld, Robert Wyatt or Issey Miyake. www.pierrebastien.com

Pierre Bastien supported by AFAA , the French Embassy, and Alliance Francaise

Pierre Bastien is part of Liquid Architecture. Liquid Architecture is an annual festival of sound arts presented by the ((tRansMIT)) sound collective and RMIT Union Arts. This year, presentations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane will feature international guests Tony Conrad, Pierre Bastien, Reinhold Friedl and Michael Vorfeld plus the cream of the local crop.

www.liquidarchitecture.org.au

Liquid Architecture gratefully acknowledge the support of the Federal Government’s arts funding and advisory body the Australia Council, Arts Victoria and the City Of Melbourne.