Jonny Greenwood on Sigur Ros collaboration

Posted on April 26th, 2003.

As reported earlier on ateaseweb.com Radiohead and Sigur Ros will create new music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s piece “Split Sides,” which will debut Oct. 14 at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood reveals to Billboard.com that on opening night, each group will perform 20 minutes of live music with a twist: the dancers “won’t have heard the music until they start.”

“It is raising lots of interesting problems about what dance music is,” Greenwood admits. “We’re talking about the bands crossing from one to the other or sorting out a structure. It could be interesting. Maybe we’ll all kind of surprise each other and do the opposite kind of music that we’re known for.”

“Split Sides” will also be staged Oct. 16-18 at BAM, with the dancers performing to a combination of pre-recorded music and live musicians attempting to recreate the Radiohead and Sigur Ros compositions. A similar arrangement will be utilized when Cunningham’s troupe performs the piece elsewhere.

“Musicians copying what we’re doing sounds bizarre to me,” says Greenwood. “I feel for them! We only just know what we’re doing. I’m sure it will be easy for them, but it just might be a bit weird.”

A BAM spokesperson says Cunningham will add to the improvisational nature of the piece by employing two different stages and two different sets of costumes, allowing for various future permutations of the performance. Ticket information is not yet available, but the Oct. 14 debut will be a fundraiser of some kind. [from billboard.com, thanks josh]

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