Tapping into the the sounds of NATURE
The OurLand festival experience shows how w carrots and spuds can be the food of love
SPUDS, carrots, onions and radishes are pretty delicious in a soup. But who knew they were also the unlikely ingredients to a pretty yummy drumming jam – or vegetable circle, as musician and composer Rod Morris dubs it.
It’s mid-afternoon, deep in the woods around Ballinlough Castle, in Co Meath, where the Body&Soul Festival is in full flight and revellers and trees alike are reverberating to the strains of spuds and carrots being banged.
Using nature’s bounty and the odd tree trunk, all wired together and fed into a genius piece of sound equipment called a ‘MakeyMakey’, Rod Morris is leading his brilliant ‘Unstrument’ session from OurLand’s Air Stage, deep in the woods.
A few minutes’ amble from the magic, music and mania of the Main Stage, wide-eyed party people arrive into OurLand, in the woodlands area.
Try imagine how Alice in Wonderland may have felt when she tumbled down the rabbit hole and you’re almost there.
In under the lush canopy of trees a feast of glorious art, colour and movement greets visitors.
Twigs crackle underfoot as the mossy forest path leads us under arches towards a clearing called ‘OurLand’, running across three stages — Positive Energy, Earth and Air.
At festivals all over the country, OurLand is hosting some of the best and brightest artists, who mingle to sprinkle magic and spark creativity into curious minds of all ages — including mine. I sign up at Body & Soul where Rod Morris’s afternoon drumming session hits a high note and for the children — and grown-ups — who join in, dinnertime will never be the same again.
THE forest is as much a part of the festival as the artists, lending its own unique acoustics, energy, vibes and reverb. And anyone who passes the OurLand area can’t help but be stopped in their tracks to absorb the vibes. Rod’s tribal ‘Unstrument’ drumming session is the perfect fit.
‘It’s just a really novel way to get kids to interact with music,’ explains Rod, who programmed the equipment so when wannabe drummers arrive, all they need to do is join in.
It is just like any other music session — but with carrots. The various vegetables are hooked up to produce drum kicks, high hats, snares and more abstract drum sounds when struck using ‘makey makeys’.
Makey Makeys can be plugged into an iPad at the kitchen table, where they turn everything from plates to turnips into instruments.
But here in the forest, with tree trunks thrown into the music mix, it’s pure magic. Rod explains: ‘The forest is the perfect setting for it as we can use the trees and anything coming out of the ground. To me, the forest is where all the fun is to be had.
‘I love the idea of people interacting with the forest, as opposed to just walking through it. It’s an improvised session, but I encourage people to play in time and develop their rhythm too.
‘That’s how music works on a fundamental level. There are random noises but a pattern forms out of the chaos and everyone fits in.’
Rod mingles among Oscar-nominated animators, musicians, nature experts, painters and all round makers and doers at Ourland to work their magic while celebrating the natural world.
In fact, Bord Na Mona is the main sponsor of OurLand, promoting the idea that the programme is a celebration of the natural world and that nothing in nature should be overlooked or wasted.
Orla Kane, Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at Bord na Móna said of the partnership: ‘We are on a sustainability journey with ambitious
renewable energy and biodiversity targets, and the ethos of Body and Soul fits perfectly with our sustainability principles. OurLand, set in the backdrop of the spectacular Woodlands area, is designed to allow everyone to share the experience of our journey in a fun, interactive and exciting way.”
So, in one corner, illustrator and graphic designer Steve Simpson draws away on a gigantic doodle, while printmaker Gillian Henderson is on hand for kite-making, painting and fabric stencilling.
Here, everything from discarded tree bark and leaves are used for art works, but the best bit for lots of children is returning for the Festival of Flight in the afternoon, when they delight in installing their stunning creations in the forest.
TWICE-OSCAR nominated animators, Cartoon Saloon, invite passers-by into their cosy screening lounge for twicedaily screenings of Song of The Sea; while across the way, Oscarnominated graphic designer, Annie Atkins is also working her magic, while the party people step into a virtual reality world with immersive VR Projects and Character Trails hosted by illustrator Chris Haughton.
Donal Dineen, on the Positive Energy Stage, blows minds with his forest sounds set.
And by midday on the Sunday the sun is out, and even the most committed of party heads have rolled out of their sleeping bags.
After attempting to shake off hangovers with a cuppa and a bacon roll, dozens of night-owl clubbers are drawn, blinkingly, back into the forest.
Nursing sore heads and bottles of water, we sit cross-legged on yoga mats — rolled out under the trees in front of OurLand’s Positive Energy Stage — for the mindfulness meditation and yoga workshop with teacher Sinead O’Connor.
It was a first for me, but proved the perfect balm to the previous night’s antics. Within the hour, with the cobwebs blown off, the party begins afresh.