Janek Schaefer

Profile of British avant-garde musician, composer, inventor, sound and installation artist .

Extended Play [triptych for the child survivors of war and conflict] [2007]

The sound installation 'Extended Play' continuously and positively celebrates hope and new beginnings, for child survivors in all situations around the world. Inspired by the artists own family legacy spanning from his mother’s birth in Warsaw in 1942, and the birth of his first child in 2005. He began drawing the comparisons and differneces between two very diverse childhoods.

The departure point for the composition, came from learning about the 'Jodoform' system of secret musical messages, that were broadcast by the BBC World Service, during World War II. The music they played was given a particular meaning, which was interpreted by The Polish Underground. Schaefer discovered from the original Jodoform log book, that the Polish folk song 'Tango Lyczakowskie', was broadcast on the day his mother was born. The song describes how children in 1918, had been forced to take up arms, in defence of their town. From this tune, a short rising musical phrase was chosen, and with the arranger Michael Jennings a ten minute score was developed. Each of the three solo parts was then recorded separately, edited, and cut onto vinyl.
 
In the gallery, 3 x Cello EP's, 3 x Piano EP's, and 3 x Violin EP's are played at either 33, 45, or 78rpm using nine retro record players. These play continuously, and each was modified to stop playing briefly in response to the audience moving around the exhibition. This has the effect of changing and extending the composition, so that it is never the same again.

In 2008 the project won The British Composer of the Year Award for Sonic Art & The Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers Prize.


he Times, review by Richard Morrison : “If you want to experience the thrilling interface where music, visual art, theatre and digital technology meet, hasten to Glasgow where the sparky new Sonica Festival has taken over venues across the city..... ....Best of all is Janek Schaefer’s Extended Play, haunting, elegiac and beautiful." 




More information at the Janek Schaefer Web site here

Janek Schaefer



After graduating from the RCA with the annual portfolio prize, Schaefer invented the Tri-phonic Turntable in 1997, to create new music from discarded media, and began performing and touring live. The turntable is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the "World's Most Versatile Record Player".[5] Schaefer has performed, lectured, and exhibited in 30 countries throughout Europe (Sonar, Tate Modern, ICA), USA & Canada (The Walker, XI, Mutek, FIMAV, Princeton), and toured across Japan and Australia including a performance at the Sydney Opera House in 2003

Biography

His debut reverse play LP "His Masters Voices" was released in 1997. His first studio CD Above Buildings (2000) was released on Fat Cat and was CD of the week in The Guardian. He created the original random playing LP called 'Skate' in 2004, which evolved into an audio visual installation, which won Award of Distinction at Ars Electronica in Austria 2004.

Schaefer has collaborated on albums with Philip Jeck (Songs for Europe), Robert Hampson (Comae), Stephan Mathieu (Hidden Name), Charlemagne Palestine (Day of the Demons), and William Basinski (... on reflection).

While studying Architecture at the Royal College of Art, he recorded the fragmented noises of a sound activated dictaphone travelling overnight through the Post Office. That work, titled ‘Recorded Delivery’ was made for the ‘Self Storage’ exhibition [Time Out critics choice] with Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson and Artangel.
Schaefer is a visiting professor in sound art, and PhD external examiner.