Sælvage Collective is a dynamic new ensemble comprised of composers and performers from Ōtepoti Dunedin and Ōtautahi Christchurch (Luka Reardon, Henry Nicholson, Ihlara McIndoe, and Nathaniel Otley). In July 2023, the Collective premiered three new works by McIndoe, Reardon and Otley at the New Athenaeum Theatre in Dunedin. Drawing on local themes to craft unique works deeply connected to place and time, these process-based compositions embrace collaborative music making, found sounds, graphic notation, physicality, and the acoustic sonorities of the iconic Ōtepoti historical theatre to immerse the audience in a sound world which blends together new music, theatre, and poetry.
The concert was presented in its original concept location at the New Athenaeum Theatre in Dunedin, and subsequently recreated at The Art Centre Recital Hall in Christchurch.
About my work: This funny weather, these silly little things
Taking its inspiration from the uninspirational, this work is an exploration of the ordinary. I am interested in the vitality of the apparently uninteresting, the significance of the seemingly banal, the beauty of the reputedly tacky. Part sound-art, part theatre, part poetry, this work is a coming of age reflection on growing up in an extraordinary ordinary little city at the bottom of the world. A study of rhythm through the bread from my favourite bakery, a sonic mosaic crafted from years of Otago Daily Times headlines, a lesson on abstractionism from the seagull droppings on Robbie Burns’ head: these are just a few of the Ōtepoti offerings explored in the work, and which the foundation of my identity as a Dunedin artist is built upon.
This is a work deeply rooted in a sense of place, which draws on archival materials, homemade and toy instruments, and fragments of individual and collective memories, to explore themes of Scottish colonial settler heritage and identity in Southern New Zealand.
The work totals to approximately 30 minutes, and is made up of 8 movements. Snippets of the score are below.
Recording comes from Sælvage Collective’s lecture recital at the University of Canterbury, July 2023.
Ihlara McIndoe. 