"Some things are never gonna come back again
and not that it's making me sad
It's quite a normal process
but it's giving a bit of a feeling "
PJ Harvey & Seamus Murphy - Pity for the Old Road
Ever since I was a young child the Scottish city of Glasgow and every aspect of it fascinated me. On the train journey from Inverness to Glasgow Queen Street Station I often arrived in Glasgow at night time. The train tracks passing close by Sighthill cemetery
and beyond that the gaze of the Sighthill flats among other high rises. The backdrop of night, the orange glow of the city, the seemly millions of tiny light windows shooting at the uncivilised darkness gave these dark towers a brutal presence. This image of them at night was striking to me. Although the sight of high rise flats can be seen as quite mundane and boring. To me it definitely gave a bit of a feeling. The
feeling that:
Within each tiny window of light was a life.
Within each window was a story.
Within each window was a song.
Within each block was a photo album in the sky.
When it was announced that flats such as the ones at Sighthill were to be demolished there was mixed feelings for me. These feelings were then amplified a great deal when the demolition of the Red Road flats was to be celebrated and broadcast to people around the world for the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow City Council thought this would signify to the world that Glasgow like the rest of the world was moving on. On the other hand I found that it was really a failed housing scheme, peoples best times/worst times and their memories that were being destroyed.
Click on image to " Glasgow Commonwealth Games scraps live 'celebration' of flats demolition"
by Robert Booth for The Guardian.
The parcel abandonment of these towers is the main point of interest here for me. These great buildings stood empty awaiting their destruction. Failed giants looking at the city as the world moves on without them. The point I find interesting is that all around them the city moves. People rushing to get to meetings, buying expensive clothes and homeless people struggling by. There was something so scary and terrifying in these buildings and it is a feeling that creeps up on me whenever I see images of them. Chris Leslies book Disappearing Glasgow documents the destruction of the Sighthill flats and the others in photographic form. This book offered more insight. In particular the fact that these flats were used by asylum seekers in their abandonment. One that struck me was the Bird man of Red Road. This man was called Jamal from Iraq and lived in the block for 8 months with only two canaries for company. Loneliness is something we all fear no matter who we are. Humans need each other to help them think, to help them feel and to help them through the maze of life. Imagine how terrifying having a large block of flats to yourself would be. The cold dark empty noises filling the space and the lights of the city at night. The feeling that everyone in the city is moving forward while you are alone. Hard to think of for some but a painful reality to others.
With this story it gave an added human face to the abandonment and it sparked my musical idea for this blog. With the birdman I also used the images of the various blocks at night-time where you could see the city lights in their endless battle to keep the dark out.
Looking at all these images and people made me want to create a piece of music with a dark feeling. But at the same time create a feeling of hope. I wanted this piece to speak of the darkness and the way these dark towers looked at night with no lights on. I wanted the aspect of hope to come into this because as the video about Sighthill said although there were bad people there was also a lot of good.
Sighthill Video
I worked to the title of The Birdman of Red Road for the song but as time went on I felt this was not right. It was not just one story I was speaking of it was all of them. The title Photo Albums In The Sky came to mind while I was thinking about the flats. This gave me the idea of space within the music. A big aspect of my thinking is that the song is going to take a somewhat brutal sound. This brings to mind pounding drums and rhythm to mirror the massive buildings. At the same time however this will be contrasted by the fragility of the melody. An over arching feeling is that these great empty buildings and homes will eventually be dust. You could have picked some of it up in your hand. This thought will be key in the development of the song and will be explored more in part two of this blog post.
References
PJ Harvey Official website. Poetry: http://pjharvey.net/words/
PJ Harvey Poem Readings. Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/user-548593244
Seamus Murphy Official website. The Hollow of the Hand : https://seamusmurphy.com/Photography/The-Hollow-of-the-Hand/1/thumbs
Image taken from Google Maps.
Glasgow City Council: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/
Official Glasgow Commonwealth Games website: http://www.glasgow2014.com/
The Guardian Article by Robert Booth. "Glasgow Commonwealth Games scrapes live 'celebration' of flats demolition" : https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/13/glasgow-commonwealth-games-scraps-live-celebration-flats-demolition-red-road
Disappearing Glasgow by Chris Leslie: http://www.disappearing-glasgow.com/
The Bird Man of Red Road video by Chris Leslie: https://vimeo.com/77202614
Sighthill by Chris Leslie video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx1tZhnPuUU
