Robert Fripp String Quartet - Kan-Non Power

[ellyssian]

Heading back to the smaller ensembles and leaving the 20+ players in the League of Crafty Guitarists behind, we slip down to five players, still very crafty. There's a bit of Frippertronics going on here. The middle of the three acoustic guitarists is playing with an EBow, a device that allows infinite sustain. There's also - in place of a bass guitar - a guy playing the Chapman Stick.

Here's the Robert Fripp String Quartet, with Kan-Non Power, from the album The Bridge Between:

Comments

[purdypiedad.livejournal.com]

Much coolness there. They had some awesome effects on those guitars. I kept looking for the wind instruments. Never seen a Chapman Stick before, so that was cool. The beginning of that piece was crying for a djembe, though.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

The beginning of that piece was crying for a djembe, though.

But... it's the string quintet...

The California Guitar Trio often plays with Tony Levin (often on Stick!) or other guys, and I've seen them bill themselves as CGT+1 or +2...

Gotta be able to keep count! =)

The Stick is a neat thing - you play it with the two-handed tapping technique, instead of plucking, strumming, or bowing. Well, I expect you could use those methods to play it, but that's not what it excels at.

The EBow is pretty neat. If I remember right, it uses magnets to cycle back and forth and get steel strings to vibrate without coming into contact with them, so you get the wind instrument effect.

Of course, it can do that until its battery(-ies?) run out, whereas a wind player can't quite last that long... =)

[purdypiedad.livejournal.com]

I could totally get into the EBow.

--But... it's the string quintet... --

I get that. But it NEEDED a djembe!

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Percussionists are never there when you need them... =)