Illusionary World of a Young Culinary – in New LP by Arturas Bumšteinas

2020 08 21

Listen attentively, not casually – a reminder coming along the newly released double LP of audio performance Audiokaukas by sound artist Arturas Bumšteinas. Nostalgia for active, private and repeated listening, along with a desire to present a modern transformation of pre-1990s radio theatre tradition have led to this new musical release, reminding of the phantasmagorical time of the nineties. On Sunday, 23rd of August, at 4pm a presentation of the LP will take place at creative industries’ centre Pakrantė (Rupert), accompanied by the conversation of the author with musicologist and philosopher Edvardas Šumila.

In the 1990s, there was a television show Videokaukas, which triggered the imagination with injections of western culture. At the same time, books published by the publishing house Eridanas as part of the “Golden Classics of Science Fiction” series encouraged interest in the mysteries of the so-called Sci-fi. Audiokaukas is a kind of fiction concentrate inspired by these experiences, presented in a form of radio theatre A. Bumšteinas is a fan of, narrating a tale about the illusionary adventures of young and talented culinary Denis.

“Audiokaukas turns to a time more than twenty years ago, bringing back memories of our dreams, lives and the period itself – a period that we sought to escape back then and are now remembering with sentiments. In view of post-Soviet transformation, fantasy plays a special role. Meanwhile, science fiction was inviting to experience something else, namely – utopias and dystopias outside the post-Soviet reality; most of these books were published decades earlier, but have never reached us, hence so many translators (often amateur) at the time worked hard to fill the gap with numerous editions. It comes as no surprise – imagination and future have turned into a worldview; everyone was dreaming about his/her future, while the social promise of a better life seemed to be within a hand’s reach”,

writes E. Šumila in LP cover text.

Performers of Audiokaukas include many well-known personalities, including Vytautas Tinteris (Denisas Denisovas), Šarūnas Nakas (Apolonijus Polonskis), Svetlana Bagdonaitė (Announcer), Birutė Mar (Announcer’s daughter), Karina Metrikytė (Host of talk show Guest of the Day), Irmantas Jankaitis (False morel), Benas Šarka (The Shaggy one, the performer of sound effects), Armantas Gečiauskas (Ambassador), Mikas Žukauskas (Ambassador’s interpreter), Aušrinė Benedikt (Jūratė), Vidmina Stasiulytė (Justė), Marija Rasa Kudabaitė (Jurga), Šalnė Bučiūtė (Cita), Audrius Pocius (Friend), Žilvinas Andriušis (Librarian), Nick Bastis (Commander). Musical instruments are played by Eglė Janauskaitė (flute), Dovydas Stalmokas (saxophone), Dominykas Vyšniauskas (trumpet, horns), Laimonas Masevičius (tuba), Gailė Griciūtė (piano), Arnas Mikalkėnas (accordion), Tadas Žukauskas (violin) and Kęstutis Pleita (viola).

Audiokaukas LP adds to the quickly growing collection of LPs produced by Operomanija, which includes recordings of opera Have a Good Day! and Baroque theatre noise machines performance Bad Weather. This year we have also recorded the dance opera NO AI DI (celebrating its 10th anniversary) by composer Rita Mačiliūnaitė and the comic strip opera Alpha by Dr. GoraParasit, Albertas Navickas and Gabrielė Labanauskaitė.

During the presentation of audio performance Audiokaukas LP the listeners will hear fragments of the work, thus joining Denis and other characters of the piece on their journey into the world of phantasmagorical illusions, followed by conversation between A. Bumšteinas and E. Šumila. The presentation will be broadcast live by Palanga Street Radio. Entrance is free, prior registration is required via noa@noa.lt.

This event is part of Art Meadows series of informal meetings with diverse Lithuanian artists. Organisers: Operomanija, Pakrantė, Rupert, Palanga Street Radio. Supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.

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