Edited iPhone Photo of Sun Ra Arkestra at Cafe Oto
Once again the Sun Ra Arkestra led by the dynamic 90 year old Marshall Allen graced the intimate confines of Cafe Oto with their vibrant presence. This was not one of their crazy barnstorming sets, but built slowly and very lyrically to a beautiful and charming moment at the end of the first set with the whole audience, virtually unprompted, chanting “Space is the Place” as the band wandered through them to take a well deserved interval.
A good part of the unique atmosphere of this show came from the commanding musical presence of Farid Barron playing grand piano, singing and unveiling the wonders of the Roli Seaboard. During the gig I could not understand where the new spatial sounds I was hearing emanated from. Of course I knew all about the wondrous use of synths Sun Ra had himself employed, having seen him with his Arkestra at The Venue, Victoria, back in the 80s, but this was something entirely new: both dynamic and luxuriant. There was none of the slight clumsiness and didacticism of the classic electronic keyboard – in fact I could not even see one. No, there was just a beautiful grand piano with what appeared to be 2 keyboards, one of which was taking me somewhere else entirely. If you look at the lo-res photo above you can just make out the light grey stripe (3cm deep) atop the piano, this is a Roli Seaboard GRAND Limited First Edition, with 88 keys which can be stroked, pushed, squeezed and pressed. I started hearing sounds and seeing playing which seemed impossible, but ok this was Sun Ra, so expect the unexpected!
During the second set, orchestrated carefully by Marshall, we had masked dancers, some great sax and EVI (electronic valve instrument) solos, yet the singing and the keyboards seemed to take us back in time to the grace and wonder of a 1930s spaceship, rather than the overheated modern version. This was in fact being accomplished by the unique rubbery and adaptive seaboard which “reimagines the piano keyboard as a soft, continuous surface” and allows “you to sound a note and then take it on a musical journey”. I was indeed transported…
Roli Seaboard with continuous touch
After the gig I congratulated Farid and discovered the secret (and name) of this unique keyboard. It was a prototype made locally in Dalston which he had never seen before the gig and had only one hour to rehearse with. More information was forthcoming from one of the Roli technical team who was carefully putting away the seaboard, and yes this does indeed appear to be a revolutionary instrument which they intend to be a multi purpose interface with many different applications for music, gaming, you name it!
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Meanwhile here’s the Arkestra in full infra swing at Cafe Oto in 2011 with an old synth
And an even older panorama at Cafe Oto on the actual Sun Ra website here
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