For me, the most surprising initiative in Stirling this year has been the promotion of a series of contemporary music concerts by Stirling Council. Much else that has been presented by "official" culture has been a thin gruel of consultant-skimmed heritage-based events.
The promotion of the Death Ambient and Ground Zero concerts at the Tolbooth during the Spring is something else altogether, and something which is, I think, unique in the UK. The promotion of these concerts is not without its problems.
In practical terms, not the least of these is the relationship with the restaurant next door, which has led to concerts beginning no earlier than 10pm. The working assumption is that many of those attending are coming from outwith the area (an assumption which is evident from the flyers, which list the times of the last trains to Glasgow and Edinburgh). This has produced an uncomfortably tight timing situation - when a large part of the audience suddenly stands up and leaves at the latest possible moment.
This satellite situation also limits the scope of what can successfully done as an economic success, so that, for example, the feasibility of an anticipated AMM concert in June was weakened by the realisation that their Glasgow concert the previous day would reduce the potential audience for a Tolbooth concert.
This leads towards a wider point. To my knowledge, the Stirling initiative is the first attempt to create a contemporary music scene by "top-down" methods. The norm has been some kind of "bottom-up" project, whether it be
or
If the Tolbooth events are to have any lasting impact, it needs to be as something around which musicians begin to develop their own projects. It is always possible that this may begin to happen within Stirling itself, albeit unlikely. It may also fail to gather sufficient velocity for people attending from elsewhere in Scotland, if the experience of attending a Tolbooth concert becomes like shopping at an out-of-town superstore warehouse desert. Some means is needed of compensating for the "top-down" promotion.
In the meantime, if this appears too negative, there is the music itself.
Death Ambient: 25th March
On this occasion, Death Ambient were Ikue Mori (el. percussion), Kato Hideki (bass) and Jim Plotkin (gtr). Their industrial soundscapes were well suited to the Tolbooth. The hall was on the right scale to be filled to reverberation by the sound.
Ground Zero: 22nd May
The following event was the only Scottish appearance by Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero. This was a well-attended evening, much enjoyed by those attending.
A. Dickson
August 1997
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