A SHOW taking place between 9pm and 9am the following morning may sound a bit of a slog, but what if you got a sleep? What if sleep was a key part of the deal? Helmed by Glasgow kosmische pop duo Happy Meals, Full Ashram Sleep Garden – for which you are asked to bring your own sleeping bag and pillows – aims to be “a 12-hour communal immersion involving live music, visual art, food, sleep and yoga” curated to encourage “the forming of a quantum community consciousness through shared experience”.
So far, so far-out. Held at Kinning Park Complex, it features a cast of similarly inquisitive DJs, musicians and artist-performers such as synth polymath Sue Zuki, and one-offs such as gentle chanteuse Wenonoah, Optimo Music’s Taoist-influenced instrumentalist Iona Fortune and Alex Macarte, drummer with industrial crew Gnod, who will perform in his droney, loopy solo guise Ahrkh.
“The guidance given to musicians is that the 12 hours will be split into seven phases, each of which is linked to the alchemical stages of transformation,” explains Suzanne Rodden, one half of Happy Meals with Lewis Cook.
“For example, midnight to 1am is ‘separation’ which will involve guided meditation and will be consciously bringing the music into a more minimal sphere.
“Phase four is ‘fermentation’ – 3am to 6.30am – and is the ‘deep sleep’ phase”, she continues. “This part of the night may only be drones, tones and very low frequencies of sound, for example. The idea is that the music and visuals will gradually and naturally allow people to relax into deep sleep and back again.”
In the morning, there’s an optional all-abilities yoga class and breakfast provided by the Milk Cafe. Like the artists, the Glasgow social enterprise is volunteering their time for the event, which will donate all profits to CalAid, a humanitarian aid charity working with displaced people.
“It was really important to us that inward reflection leads to outward reaction and in a way we wanted to embody that sentiment,” says Rodden.
“The idea of a continuous performance and a collaboration between a community of artists is a concept we’ve been thinking about for a long time,” she says. “The night is centred on the idea of complete immersion. We aren’t looking for there to be a distinction between ‘artists’ and ‘audience’, but rather, everyone involved is a participant over the 12 hours.
“We also hope that by taking away traditional expectations of what would normally be part of a performance, like clapping and conversation between sets, everyone involved will be able to drop themselves into a deep state of relaxation and eventually sleep.
“It’s going to be a night of incredible sounds, visuals and deep vibrations.”
August 12/13, Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow, 9pm to 9am, £20 +bf.
Tickets: bit.ly/SleepGarden
Happy Meals’ Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony Vol IV-V is out now on So Low www.facebook.com/hahahappymeals
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