In Your Ear

Featuring performances by well-known Canadian artists such as Christine Duncan, Paul Dutton and John Oswald with Sook Yin Lee, In Your Ear kicked off the month-long Deep Wireless festival with a radio program that ranged from the hilarious to the gut-wrenching to the just plain wacky.

The program was hosted by Anna Friz, last year’s Deep Wireless artist-in-residence, and broadcast live on CKLN 88.1 FM. Unable to make it down to the Drake for the evening, I tuned into CKLN and experienced the performances downstairs in my living room and upstairs in my studio as I finished preparing for my trip to Windsor the next day.

Highlights included Tell, a work-in-progress by Soraya Peerbaye and originally produced by Theatre Direct. A poem cycle based on the murder of Reena Virk, the performance riffs off various meanings of the word “tell” through a sequence of emotionally-charged imagistic poems.

On a lighter note, John Oswald & Sook Yin Lee presented the first North American performance of the All Request Redirect Band. Designed to expand the musical palette of audience members, the DJs asked for requests – specific or stylistic – and then redirected the listener to another selection. The first request, for Celtic fiddle music, was redirected to Konono No. 1, a band from the Congo known for playing the likembe, or thumb piano. Much silliness ensued as the DJs carried on from here, aiming to redirect 12 requests over 12 minutes. One redirect (from London Calling by The Clash to a song by the Young Marble Giants) turned me on to a post-punk band I’d like to hear more from.

Among the wackier performances, the antics of the Harvey Christ gang lived up the rep that they established at last year’s festival. Although I missed out on the visual dimension of the underground live performance, the comedic effects and vocal pyrotechnics came through over the air waves loud and clear. The same held true for the Bat, an improv performance by Toronto’s Impatient Theatre Co. As compelling as it was over the radio, though, I do hope I have another chance to experience this show live.

Always provocative, the radio art offerings presented this evening set the bar high for the events to follow. If you missed Wednesday night’s show, don’t worry: a one-hour version of In Your Ear will be featured on CBC Radio’s Ideas program later this year.