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Six Turntables
Workshop and Performance

Six Turntables is a series of experimental music/sound workshops with youth participants that have been organized by Christopher Willes, in collaboration with Akash Bansal, in various neighbourhoods in Toronto since 2017. In each session, groups of young artists are brought together to listen to, reflect on and remix recordings of 1970s “Canadian” avant-garde music found in the vinyl record collections of the Toronto Reference Library, Music Gallery Editions, and the Canadian Music Centre. Through a facilitated process that blends somatic practice, sound-making and listening exercises, writing and dialog, the workshops explore practices of collective listening that treat records not as commodity objects but as shared experiences.

Using turntables, amplifiers, and custom-made vinyl records (which hold samples from the collection) participants develop techniques for physically transforming fragments of the archive into new sonic compositions together. The workshops conclude with public performance in which participants reconstruct scores and soundscapes devised through the process.

For more background on project see this document. You can also read this call for workshop participants from a previous iteration.

Presentations

Upcoming:
- Toronto, Toronto Biennial of Art, October 30 - November 7 2024

Past:
- The Music Gallery, X Avant Festival, October 3-11 2023
- Toronto Public Library (Albion), February 11-March 4 2023
- Toronto Public Library (Cedarbrea), development residency, 2019
- Toronto Public Library (Scarborough Civic Centre), October 12-29 2017

Credits

Project by Christopher Willes, created in collaboration with Akash Bansal (dramaturge). Workshop co-facilitated by Akash Bansal and Christopher Willes. Photo by Kendra Epik.

Music Gallery workshop participants/performers: Aliyah Aziz, Jada Fleming, Julianna Angheloni, Ky Gray, Nikki Gilani and Will Carriere. Toronto Public Library workshop participants 2017-2023: Gian Caracciolo, Gianluca Occhipinti, James Wells, Jason Li, Lucas McCarten, Maria Patricia Abuel, Taggart Quinn, Ximuna Diego, and Nanthini Namasti.

Special thanks to Jenn Goodwin, Roxanne Fernandes, James Baily, Gayle Young, Sanjeet Takhar, Matthew Fava, Max Halparin, Mitchell Akiyama, Seika Boye, Jim Lewis, Michelle Brownrigg, Emerald Ekong, Olang Cerda-Moesker, Joseph Glaser, Keith Stratton, Ellen Furey, Claire Harvie, Joe Strutt, Anne Bourne, Ishan Davé, Kendra Epik, Philip Nozuka, Erika Hennebury, Beau Levitt, Bill Vrantsidis, Radha Shilash, Liz Hysen, and Raymond Bai for helping us to develop this project through it’s various stages.

Custom vinyl records cut by Jackson Darby (Personal Touch Vinyl).

Developed with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Toronto Arts Council - Artists in the Library Program (2017-23). Produced by Christopher Willes, in partnership with Public Recordings.