BY SAMUEL COTTELL
Sitting in a café amidst a busy street in the leafy suburb of Crows Nest, in Sydney’s Northern Suburbs, I caught up with former member of ’70s improv group Teletopa, Peter Evans. It’s a rather appropriate setting for our interview. The street is bustling with cars driving past and a plethora of noises seamlessly passing by in the background create a quasi-soundscape to our meeting. The other reason this is an appropriate setting, is that a few hundred meters down the road, at Crows Nest Boys High School, Peter first began his involvement in experimental music with fellow student David Ahern.
Peter is still heavily involved in music today, not as a musician, but as the managing director of Zephyr Music, one of Sydney’s most reputable and busy sheet music stores. He spends his free time researching poetry, particularly that of Milton and Paradise Lost. Peter still retains the image of youth, his peppered hair long-ish and tied back in a small pony tail. He gives off the air of a wise man, well versed and travelled; his vest looks European and is black with an intricate pattern scattered throughout it, and he sips on his Sauvignon Blanc. Peter grew up in a musical household – his mother was Linda Vogt- one of Australia’s leading flautists, and his father was Colin Evans- Principal Flute/Piccolo player for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Raised in Sydney’s North Shore, Peter first became involved in music learning the flute and the piano and performing a diverse range of classical music. He was involved in the experimental and avant-garde music scene in Sydney and gave the Australian premier of Erik Satie’s Vexations (a fiendish piece in which the piano player has to perform a set of repetitions on a theme) as part of the first concert in the AZ Music series.
The electro-acoustic improvisation group Teletopa was founded in Sydney in late 1970 by David Ahern, Peter Evans and Roger Frampton and was one of the two subgroups to emerge out of the parent organisation AZ Music from 1970-1972 . Last July, Splitrec records released a two disc set of recordings from the group Teletopa (consisting of Geoffrey Collins, Peter Evans, David Ahern and Roger Frampton). These recordings come from tapes that belong to David Ahern’s collection of recordings and materials (now in the care of Geoff Barnard). They were originally recorded in Tokyo in 1972 at NHK radio studio – the group had arrived in Tokyo after touring.
“First of all, I’m astonished that the tapes came to light. I thought they had ceased to exist, or were buried somewhere in NHK’s vaults and never to be seen again. Younger people seem to have taken an interested in what was being done in those days,” Peter says.
“I do think about what we were doing in those days and what the purpose of it was, and what we were trying to achieve. I don’t know if other groups are on the same wavelength or really aiming for what we were.”
Part of the core concept behind music making within the context of Teletopa was, according to Peter, “to somehow align ourselves with the music of the spheres, the music of the world”.
“A world without people, a world devoid of culture where there was just air and sound, and embedded was this intriguing interaction that was going on that was of human origin. But it may well have been something that nature was doing as well. That was really the essence of it.”
The resurfacing of the tapes was a surprise to Peter and he provides some insight about what it was like to listen to them after a 40-year period of absence.
“There is an element of timelessness about them. They seem as fresh as when we made them. I think people are attuned to that as well, they listen to them today and they seem amazed that they happened more than 40 years ago.”
“I think in a way, this is somewhat in the reflection that sort of proves what we were doing, or what we thought we were doing. Trying to align ourselves with the natural world. It was quite, it was not an intellectual pursuit, when we played it was very much a sensory thing. We weren’t aiming to put into an effect an idea we have discussed before hand.”
“We knew there was something intriguing about this music and there was a liberation from playing notes on the page and making experiences in music as composer, performer and audience – we were the audience, too – all in one package.”
Teletopa explored the sounds of the everyday in the use of found objects in creating sounds and music from these materials. I asked Peter about the instruments that they used to create the sounds and music and how it was different from that of improvisation.
“In terms of instruments, we used what we had at hand. I played the flute, but I couldn’t do much with it in that context, it always sounded like a flute. When you add a contact microphone to a violin you can disguise the sound and it doesn’t sound like a violin anymore.”
“We used everyday objects to make the music: I had a matchbox, cricket clickers, a comb, paper and all kinds of ‘found’ objects, and the moment you put a contact microphone on them, you transform them.”
“It was like we were using the contact mics as magnifying glasses- roaming around nature until you find something, like a butterfly, for example.”
These tapes serve as a good example of improvised music, at a time when it was starting to take off and become part of the Australian cultural landscape. John Shand wrote that an appropriate title for the recordings might be “Music of the Now”, attesting to their relevance some 40 years later. These improvisations are a valuable resource for this generation working in improvised musical settings and soundscapes. Peter feels that the group was truly making some ground-breaking music in those days and doesn’t think that too many groups today are exploring the sounds and concepts that Teletopa had. The group parted ways in 1972 after conflicts regarding the artist nature behind the improvisations caused some friction.
The NHK tapes were the last recording by the group and it is somewhat of a fluke that they have survived until today. “If that’s all that’s left of that period I think that’s a good reflection indeed,” Peter says. He hopes that the tapes are of interest improvisers today.
“I hope that people performing this music might listen to it and glean something of interest from it.”
For further info, check out http://www.splitrec.com.
Image supplied.
