Droop: Jason Singh
c. 1300, droupen, "to sink or hang down; be downcast or sad," from Old Norse drupa “to drop, sink”.
The piece is a lament in response to our climate crisis and the impact of our actions on everything we share our world with. The music is a collaboration between plant, humans and technology and has been created by converting the electrical signals generated by the Camellia plant into musical notes played through analogue and digital synthesisers. The main compositional idea was generated by the Camellia with cello by Liz Hanks and arranged, processed and produced by Jason Singh. Although a lament, the piece is also an offering of hope to listen to, appreciate and respect all life on earth.
Mixes by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow , June 2022
Arooj Aftab & Maeve Gilchrist
‘See You’
Arooj Aftab - vocals
Maeve Gilchrist- harp and synthesisers
Nadje Noordhuis - flugelhorn
Gabriel Fraivillig - rhodes
Composed and produced by Maeve Gilchrist (BMI) and Arooj Aftab (BMI)
Engineered and mixed by Eli Crews at Spillway Sounds NY, May 2022
Quad mix by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow, June 2022
Claire M Singer
‘Dandelion Organ Suite (W/T)’
Claire M Singer - Organs
Patsy Reid - Violin, Viola & Cello
Andy - French Horns
Yann - Bass Clarinets
Composed and produced by Claire M Singer (PRS/MCPS)
Claire M Singer has written a new multi-channel work that echoes the idea of this geographic span featuring organs recorded across Scotland at Haddo House Aberdeenshire, Old High Church Inverness, St James’ Episcopal Church Stonehaven, Knightswood St Margaret’s Church and Cottiers Glasgow.
Engineered and mixed Claire M Singer
Quad mix by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow, June 2022
Trio Da Kali
African Gaelic Session - ‘Bagola’/ ‘Bala’/ ‘Tolon’
Trio Da Kali :
Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté - Vocals
Lassana Diabaté - Balafon
Mamadou Kouyaté - Ngoni
with
Kim Carnie - Vocals
Ross Ainslie - Whistle & Cittern
Donald Shaw - Accordion & Wurlitzer
Recorded at Bogolan à Bamako in Mali & Glo-Worm in Scotland
Quad mix by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow, June 2022
Additional support form British Council Scotland.
Craig Armstrong & Steve Jones
‘Endless’
Craig Armstrong - Keyboards & Programming
Steve J Jones - Engineering
‘The Lothian Hairst’ (Jane Mackie Matthew) recorded by Kenneth Goldstein 1960.
‘Harvest Customs’ (Helen Galloway) recorded by John MacSween in Kirkmaiden 1972.
Both excerpts used with kind permission if The School of Scottish Studies Archive.
Composed by Craig Armstrong (Universal Music) and Steve Jones (PRS)
Produced by Symphonic Ltd.
Brian d’Souza - All instruments, samples and field recordings
Composed by Brian d’Souza (MCPS/PRS)
Recorded at Swell Studio, London 2022
Quad mix by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow, June 2022
Brian d’Souza (AKA Auntie Flo) has composed ’Spring Symphony (Sage, Basil, Mint and Lavender)’ - a biophilic soundscape that harnesses the power of nature through sound. It was created by using a Plant Wave device to pick up electromagnetic activity from the different plants which translated each into MIDI notes. These notes then literally ‘played’ samples of various traditional instruments from Scotland, recorded in the Hebrides - including Clarsarch, Whistle, Flute, Pipes and Fiddle. I then let the plants play... totally naturally to produce a kind of ‘acoustic ecology’.
Vedanth Bharadwaj
‘Vrukshan Se Mati Le’ / ‘Yelelo Ailasa’
Composed, produced & arranged by Vedanth Bharadwaj
Voice, Guitar & Banjo by Vedanth Bharadwaj
Additional voice on Yelelo Ailasa - Gurupriya Atreya
Lyrics Traditional - Surdas (16th century poet in Braj)
‘Vrukshan Se Mati Le’ is a song written by Surdas (an Indian mystic poet from the 16th century). He writes about how one ought to learn compassion from trees. Trees neither love you more when you water them, nor do they hate you if you cut them down. It provides us shade, while bearing all the heat from the sun on its own head. If you throw a stone at it, it gives you a fruit! Lucky are we, to live in a world among trees. Surdas pleads to us to learn compassion from trees, or at least, from the indigenous people.
Yelelo Ailasa is a beautiful Tamil folk song that is usually sung as a work song by farmers during the harvest season, while working in the fields. This song talks about how nature and humans are symbiotic or interdependent.
amiina & Kathleen MacInnes
‘Crodh Chailein’ / ‘blauwber’ / ‘Dhachaidh’
Kathleen MacInnes - Vocal
Donald Shaw - Piano
All other instruments - amiina
Recorded & Produced by amiina
Engineer: Birgir Jón Birgisson
Mixed by Ívar Ragnarsson
Recorded at Sundlaugin, Iceland
Trad. arranged by MacKinnes/Shaw/amiina (PRS/MCPS & INNI Music ehf)
Fergus McCreadie
‘Life Cycle’
Part 1: Germination (2.46)
Part 2: Growing (7.42)
Part 3: Flowering (8.06)
Part 4: Pollination (6.15)
Fergus McCreadie - Piano
Seonaid Aitken-Violin
Emma Pantel - Violin
Sarah Leonard - Viola
Juliette Lemoine - Cello
Composed by Fergus McCreadie
Recorded by Garry Boyle at Castle Sound Studios
Mixes by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow , June 2022
Maya Youssef
‘Back to Earth’ / ‘Barley Blessing’ / ‘Eastern Wind’
Maya Youseff - Qanun
Innes White Guitar
Catriona Price - Fiddle
Craig Baxter - Bodhran
Alice Allen - Cello
Ciorstaidh Beaton -Harp
Moslem Rahal - Nay
Composed by Maya Youssef (PRS/MCPS)
Recorded by Kevin Burleigh at Gorbals Sound Studios
Glasgow Quad mix by Iain Hutchison at Glo-Worm, Glasgow, June 2022
Ravi Bandhu
Hailing from Sri Lanka, this acclaimed drummer, dancer and choreographer has taken his magnificent drum ensemble to stages as far afield as WOMAD in Reading and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. And now for Dandelion, we’ll be discovering if the irresistible rhythms of his music spur our seeds into action.
Dandelion Cubes
At the centre of Dandelion is an experiment between art and science captured by the design and invention of 200 compact accelerated growing environments, known as the Cubes of Perpetual Light. The cubes carry both a practical function and an aesthetic value. Whilst the cubes have been developed to specifically provide a controlled setting in which to use white light LEDs to enhance root, stem and leaf growth in vegetables and herbs, as in a vertical farm, the control system is also programmable enabling a wide range of colour states to activate the cubes, artistically exploring their form as well as function.
The cubes can demonstrate accelerated growing in a wide range of settings, both the expected and unexpected. Placed in a particular environment they create a micro-world within a world, allowing musicians and listeners to imagine a sonic landscape that surrounds us, providing a space for contemplation and for us to imagine a future where we sow, grow and share differently.
Dandelion Music Commissions
In these times of ecological crisis, artists are increasingly exploring the role of music and other artforms in helping us respond differently to the environment. Our musicians have been invited to create music exploring the notion of growing.
They have been commissioned to create new music, not for a concert hall or a new album but to encourage listeners to think more deeply about how, where and why plants grow. How might we reimagine our relationship with the natural world? As we confront a future where we must feed many billions more people on ever-degraded land, how might science, and imagination help us forward?
Just as plants can grow from tiny seeds, so does music. Traditions of music and growing, particularly harvest, have been entwined since time immemorial. How might we, in contemporary societies, recover and renew those old connections between music, poetry and the land? How might we better ‘dig where we stand’, weave in traditions from the many cultures Scotland embraces, and forge new traditions to celebrate the living world around us?
Find out more about Music Commissions
Sign up to our mailing list to find out more about Dandelion events and activities