 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ simon green // a raya organiser when i first became involved with organising a club the potential of 2 decks and a mixer seemed a bit boring and restricting. as did the dance floor. so. we sat down as a crew and debated what we'd like in a club and why and how and stuff. real heart searching debates. and inspired by people who we respected at that time for trying this kinda stuff. ie: doing there own thing and trying to make a path forward (big chill, ninja, et al). this was about 3 years ago. we concluded we wanted raya to be: equal social a sum of its parts stimulating educational relaxing and safe <ahem> equal = we decided the cult of the performer in a space was too overpowering. we wanted to break down the virtual barrier between performer and audience. and to attempt to deconstruct the ego of the performer. we also decided that we'd seriously attempt to raise visuals to the same kinda level as music in a club space. and the interaction between audio and visual elements should be enhanced and proper explored. for example we decided never to have a vip room as this means the organisers and performers are remote from the audience and can not possibly interact on a social and therefore equal level. we attempt equality - it's hard though. 'specially lack of women on the scene. social = the relentless pressure of the e-experience was starting to take it's toll on us. most of the crew had jacked clubbing on any serious or hectic level. so at raya's birth we had a bunch of burned out and bored clubbers but ones who loved the scene and the music and the people and didn't want to "retire" just yet. but where could we go?... we decide we'd like a night that you could relate to without dropping any stimulants. an alternative space to the sometimes selfish atmosphere in a club or full on environment. we thought of clubs as "kinda anti-social" spaces. erk. a sum of it's parts = we decided the space was the most important thing. the audience second. the performers last. our mindset is to try and develop the atmosphere in a space and contribute to it by layering a whole load of ideas that will influence and maybe stimulate on a shallow level that space. total is the whole. iow: much more than 2 decks and a rig. we see ourselves as sorta amatuer space engineers i suppose. using best available resources. but if you scratch the surface of raya there's more to be found kinda thing. not full on edutainment. all contributors are treated equally. treated as mates (mostly 'cos they are mates! - ed) (nb. raya means "mates") stimulating = to challenge the audience without being overwhelming. for example we aren't afraid to be political but we're never full on or confrontational. although for example we featured images of anti war demos and stuff during the very begining of the yugoslavian crisis. at a time when the soft left were stumbling around burying their heads in the sand we were proud to be anti nato war. i digress but you get the drift. we gently push musical barriers and try and expose our audience to fresher musical ideas from many different contexts. the idea is we like our audience to come down and have a natter about eastenders or whatever and if they get bored chatting they glance up at something interesting. and maybe hear something interesting and maybe different. maybe not. it's no worries. educational = without being like a teacher or patronising we try and expose the audience subtly to ideas they might never have come across before. our perfect night is if we send someone away thinking. or even inspired! relaxing and safe = again the idea is not to overwhelme people or be confrontational. people should feel *safe* and *fluffy* in a social environment. then they can come outta their social shells fingers crossed and start to let their hair down and be happy. the nicest analagy of a club space i ever heard: "a club should be like an extension of your bedroom" more soon about how we would like to do more but are always bound over by budget considerations. ie: for us the debate isn't really about if we think it better/worser to have surround sound or mono. (we want to have quality surround stereo sound - this would give us the flexibility to change a mood in a more subtle and controlled way imho. and a lot of the ideas posted up here over the last period have been exciting and some of them we've already discussed on the raya crew in the past) but we can *like* it all we want .... 'cos we *can't afford* it. best wishes... simon * RAYA atmospheric engineering <http://c8.com/raya> diary dates: july 2 = ica, london august 4 - 11 = enchanted garden festival (big chill), dorset august 11 - 30 = crew holiday september 12 = brick lane festival, london (and 11 i suppose for the rehearsal) september 17 = ica, london (2nd birthday celebration) october 9 = spitz, london (residency launch... girls need modems) november 13 = spitz, london (may change... erm 99 per cent deffo) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- simon