Tuesday, October 5, 2010

340 million things to say

The Wits Theatre is not the most the most glamorous of settings. Dimly lit (more dungeony than romantic) ; the floors are caked with decades of dust, the chairs worn thin by countless bottoms who've come to watch yet another updated, revisionist version of some Shakespeare something or the other. I'm getting restless. Ten minutes earlier I'd heard that 340ml would be performing here and sprinted across east campus to watch them. Now, glowing slightly and out of breath; I was beginning to believe I'd been duped. The lights fade. A screen comes on.
                   "Let's Discuss This. 5 4 3 2 1...."
Dustin Hoffman, geared up in scuba gear circa 1967. Heavy breathing . His boisterous father cajoling the unwilling young man out into the public. Pedro and Tiago shuffle onto the stage. The opening chords of a song. Pedro, quietly singing into the darkness that is us. "The shoes your living in/too new got some travelling to do...God bless you please Mrs. Robinson/heaven holds a place for those who pray"

A soundscape. Loosely defined as virtual/emotional environment created using sound. Add 340ml to that equation and you have a mortal version of what life is like beyond the clouds. Absolute heaven. A glimpse into the minds of these musical demi-gods. Pedro and Tiago, together with WITS FILM and TV, selected their favourite scenes from various movies, and made their own soundtracks for them. Mind-blowing. Novel, but what else could be expected from these two men. From their mash-up of their own Mood Swings with Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson to their cover of Micheal Jackson's Billie-Jean, every song was perfectly paired to the scenes on the screen, transporting me further into their heads, sealing their place in my heart. That day, I fell in love in with 340ml again.

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