Stars

Composer Warwick Blair presents his latest work, STARS, a 24 hour long audio visual project with video by Paul Moss and live vocals by Arpita Chanda.

Stars is inspired by the Indian concept anoraniyan mahatomahiyan which proposes an intertwined relationship between the cosmos and the human body. Stars is a meditative/ambient work for Indian female singer & computer backing with a view of the stars/heavens. Each day is a 24 hour work divided into sections of 3 hours (praharas) that correspond to the Gandharva Veda time theory (samaya chakra) where specific qualities of music are applied to specific times of the day thus establishing a harmonious resonance and ultimately creating peace/health for the individual, society and the environment.

The work references a poem from a previous work in 1985 called Evening, by Staff, which refers to the Indian concept that the cosmos is in the body:

I lie in a boat
In the evening stillness
Stars above me
Stars below me
And stars within me

In the late 1980s, Composer Warwick Blair was described as 'one of New Zealand's most original musical thinkers' (NZ Herald) and the 'enfant terrible of New Zealand Music' (NZ Listener). His first trip to Europe in 1987 was to perform at the Huddersfield
Contemporary Music Festival with legendary Greek polymath Iannis Xenakis. Blair has since given many concerts in the UK and Europe, including London's prestigious SouthBank Centre. In 1998 he recorded with the group Mandalay in a role that saw him working alongside Madonna/Bjork producer Guy Sigsworth.

The video images in Stars are by Astronomer Paul Moss; a multi-disciplinary artist, "currently exploring the relationship between atmospheric sky phenomena and human responses, creating movements just above and below the human threshold of perception."

Moss is also an environmentalist who has run many events with music, astronomy, marine and maori star and cosmology themes. As an astronomer he runs public events for occasions such as Lunar and Solar Eclipses, International Sidewalk Astronomy Night and Astronomy Day, annually.

Blair has practised many different areas of Indian Vedic culture for approximately 20 years including: Maharishi transcendental meditation, primordial sound technique, gandharva music, ayurved, sthapathya ved, jyotish and sanskrit which he says "continue to influence my life profoundly." Many of his past works have used Indian texts both in original sanskrit and English translations.

About Stars Blair says "I've always had in mind to write a work that expresses my interest in Vedic culture, generative systems and health."

Event listed by Paul Moss

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