Fanfare For An Uncommon Man (for Paul Burwell 1949 - 2007) was composed using various fireworks recordings taken from my back garden in recent years. I first came across Paul Burwell through his work with The Bow Gamelan, a lively and inspiring UK performance group that used clapped-out machinery, metal percussion and pyrotechnics to stage raucous, shambolic shows once described as being like “a cross between Turner and Apocalypse Now”. Paul loved fireworks, considering them a form of percussion, always integral to Bow Gamelan’s shows. As a wild spark himself, the celebratory nature of fireworks seems like a fitting tribute.
Fergus Kelly is a visual and sound artist/improvisor based in Dublin. In 2005 he established a CDR label and website, roomtemperature.org as an outlet for his solo and collaborative work, producing the CDs Kelly/Lacey/McNulty/Vogel (2005), Unmoor (2005), Material Evidence (2006), Bevel (with David Lacey) (2006), A Host Of Particulars (2007) & Strange Weather (2007). He works live with an invented instrument called The Cabinet of Curiosities or a range of found metal percussion. Apart from regular collaborator David Lacey he has worked with Jürgen Simpson, Dennis McNulty, Paul Vogel, Danny McCarthy and Max Eastley.
