Rice N’ Sugar is a set of vocal pieces intended to be
performed in supermarkets - without permission.
There are currently nine published pieces. Most are ‘work in progress.’ Many other pieces are in development.
All the pieces deal gently - rather than confrontationally - with issues to do with the politics of food. Mange Fou, for example, is a comment on the absurdity of flying small packs of vegetables many thousands of miles. Bread of Heaven is about how all supermarket bread these days lacks taste and texture. Rice N’ Sugar, the title piece, is just about how sugar is a key ingredient in almost all breakfast cereals.
The pieces were rehearsed by a brilliant crew of a dozen volunteers in Sheffield during February 2005 and ‘world premiered’ at Tesco’s Abbeydale Road store on 6th March 2005. We got through four pieces before security men began to look too heavy to deal with. And then sang other pieces outside the store - including ‘This Door is Alarmed’ by a door so labelled.
As at November 2005, musical scores of Rice N’ Sugar have been circulated to community choirs in say a dozen cities in the UK. In London, the intention if possible is to link up with Action Aid’s supermarket protest activities.
The full set list is:
Bread Of Heaven - supermarket bread lacks taste and texture.
Diamond Geezer - the security man’s song
Mange Fou - Veg flown in for thousands of miles
Mechanical Meat - mooing noises, etc. A song against burger ‘meat.’
Peace. Out Of My Way. The upper middle professional woman’s song
Rice N’ Sugar - Sugar is in nearly breakfast foods
Shopping On Saturday - the onlookers response?
There’s Nobody Here But - the battery chickens lament
This Door Is Alarmed - in case anarchy and looting were to visit.
Titles in progress include:
Don’t Need A Bag - should now be available on ‘Baglady’ site, www.bagladyproductions.org
.
The working title is Rice And Sugar - after one of
the pieces.
Essentially, the project is to create a show - several vocal pieces, with the loose theme of ‘politics of food’ - to be performed - without permission, and therefore somewhat clandestinely - first in any convenient supermarket and then hopefully in supermarkets throughout the land. And maybe in concert also. Plus, somebody says, how about a version for McDonalds?
I figure there is no point in asking permission. “We’d like to stand next to the fish counter and sing about how the salmon is full of anti-biotic.” I don’t think so.
Actually, the necessity for a secretive yet audible performance has become, for me, part of the appeal. All sorts of choreography and ‘ways of singing with your mouth shut’ occupy my thoughts….
I find it hard to explain, even to myself, quite why I find this such an enchanting idea. But I do. Equally, if you are not fired up already by this bare bones description - then maybe this Project isn’t for you.
I suppose we might encounter a little awkwardness. But then I think - so many singers! So few security men!
Plus, nobody will be doing anything illegal. Indeed, we will be doing our shopping…
I’m quite sceptical about the value of ‘political song’ and am pretty certain it changes few minds. The pieces I’ve written are basically allusive reminders to the already enlightened….
I also recognise, from ‘street singing’ with Sheffield Socialist Choir and ‘street playing’ with Ragnarok (Sheffield Street Band) - that most shoppers are On A Mission. They plainly do not welcome any serious intrusion into their shopping consciousness. (Plus, they think it’s the Sally Army or something else religious).
So our performance has to be rather quiet, unobtrusive, subtle, inoffensive.
On the other hand, I presume we will attract a small ‘audience’ (even if we don’t ‘paper the house’ by inviting friends - which I’d rather not do).
As for security people - well, I have an idea to choreograph and sing about their involvement. (But haven’t developed this yet.)
For me the real political thing is that we’ll be singing in a supermarket (cf. dancing in the streets). On the same basis, this why the Sharrow lantern festival was so brilliant - art in the streets does change minds..)
I can send out scores -
printed, or emailed as .pdfs. These notes are to supplement the scores.
All of Rice And Sugar is essentially work in progress. It owes a
lot to a wonderful vocal group called How Like Life which sadly never
really saw the light of day. Many more pieces could be written, but so far they
are (in alphabetical order) :
Starts with vocal (and/
or other i.e. real) percussion - people
could be all over the store and converge on the bread counters/ aisles. Done at
Tesco’s 6/3/05
The song for the Security
Man! And others. This has been rehearsed, but never performed. Its unfinished -
I have the melody and harmony for a bridge, but stopped there. Collaborations
welcome.
This
piece has been rehearsed, by a small group, and without the bass/tenor parts -
but never performed. I look forward to hearing it and then maybe making changes.
Meanwhile I am very much open to suggestions for improvement.
The piece is for 8 voices
altogether - each SATB part splits into two at some point.
The (T/B) backing is
often intentionally dissonant. I’m not at all sure that humming is the way to
go, but try that first.
The top line of the alto
part is really a soprano part (goes up to a D).
A key thing will be the
interpretation of ‘whoosh’. I have written it as pitched, but it does not need
to be. Or it might, each time, ‘scoop’ up towards the written note? It is meant
to be a jet plane - and so quite loud. Maybe with a siren or something in the
background? An electronic keyboard might help?
This piece, made up of
mooing ( or ‘lowing,’ to use the proper word)
plus harsh sounds (cah! ni!) - is meant for the frozen burgers or
butcher’s stall. If I were doing R&S again, I’d start with this. There’s
nothing quite like coming out in a quiet supermarket with a loud moo (‘mwah?’)
to - er - release your inhibitions.
This is also Work In
Progress. Its about a middle class woman shopper. The are three parts (2
soprano, 1 alto) - maybe just three voices will be enough?
Especially at the start,
there is a lot of empty space in this song. While the performers might be counting
furiously, the audience should not feel there’s a ‘beat.’
(I originally meant to
develop the woman’s inner thoughts in the gaps, but then decided I like it
empty. Watch this space.)
Its never been rehearsed,
let alone performed.
Is a simple song which
should take place in the Breakfast Cereal aisle. Its got a clunky, chromatic
downward slide (e.g. bar 4 to 5) which is meant to be ‘corny’ (geddit?) and
which should be emphasised.
We started with this in
Tesco on 6/3/05.
What a large part of the
‘audience’ is thinking? “Fuck off, with your business with the protest.”Can be
done as a round. Also done on 6/3/05
This is a ‘squawk’ which
refers to the chicken rotisserie counter. This piece has been performed many
times, all over the place, but never
with Part 3.
Terrified,
in fact, of being opened…
Performed
6/3/05, beside one of the alarmed doors.
Well - there you are.
Hope you like it. Let me know how things go?
6th March, 2005
Well Gang,
First of all, thanks to one and all. I loved every minute - while all the time worrying lest there would be seriously heavy ‘security.’ Which might have interfered with my trip tomorrow to Spain to see grand-daughter no. 1..
Am now brimming with new ideas about how to do it somewhere else & better… just some little examples are:
Rice N’ Sugar (or maybe any song) should start with just hummed two-chord intro ooh-oohs to set the scene
Bread of heaven rhythm could start from all four corners of the supermarket, because a single bell call to start it off would carry..
Now we’re all safely out of that, it would be great to meet up and chat (and / or sing) - but will someone else volunteer to get that together? I quite want a break from organising it all, so over to you on that.
Plus it might be nice to seek ‘we did that’ press coverage?
Out of curiosity I rang the Duty Manager at Tesco and, after asking who I was - I’m Tom Fordo, an independent journalist- he did confirm:
· A group of people ‘either drunk or mad’
· Had sung outside the supermarket (not inside)
· But they had done their shopping and paid for it
· There were about 10 of them
· It was something about meat
· This is not going to be the start of something wider, affecting Tesco nationwide.
All together now .. oh yes it is….
I do feel more intensive media scrutiny might be in order there.
Big Love, M xxxx