Music and its stories stage at Chapter

If you think music is something individuals enjoy in solitude, with headphones or alone in their rooms, an upcoming event might make you change your mind.

Next week Canadian trio PME-ART brings to town a performance about the presence of music in our lives.

Staging at Chapter Arts Centre on Wednesday 4 November, their show The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information explores the way songs and stories around them infiltrate personal and social lives.

“Two Records” by Mathieu Chartrand. Caroline Dubois holds two records during a performance of “The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information”

Co-artistic director Jacob Wren says, “The show is about how from just a pile of records it’s possible to talk about all aspects of life and the world: work, love, politics, religion, friendship.”

The event is part of Chapter’s “Experimentica”, a five-day festival of live art, performance and interdisciplinary projects.

How is the performance structured?

146 records rest on the table that separates the audience from the three DJs – Caroline Dubois, Claudia Fancello and Jacob Wren.

Co-artistic director Jacob Wren said the show revolves around the stories that each record brings with itself, be it historical facts about the artists, individual stories or other anectodes.

“Jacob’s Line of Records” by David Jacques. Jacob Wren aligns his records during the show

“The performance is a game between the three DJs”, says Wren. “One of us starts by telling a story and playing a track from the record connected to it. The other two then have to think of another story and song in the pile of records that connects to it.”

Thus, the show changes every performance.

The day after, a follow-up takes place at Spillers Records: members of the audience are invited to bring a record they like, and to start the game themselves.

“While watching the show, people realise they also have stories connected to songs and records”, says Wren. “And, if they like, they can then bring these stories to the Bring Your Own Record/Listening Party the next day at Spillers Records.”

Tickets are on sale online starting at £8.

To know more about the show, you can visit Jacob Wren’s blog, read a review, or have a look at its Facebook page.