The nights are drawing in and there is definitely a chill in the air. The past month has been filled with applying for jobs and possible funding opportunities. I have felt like I have been stuck in the same groove post the rain forest. I have still yet to feel totally re immersed back into city life. I guess I am missing the simple life, the laughter of the kids while running up and down the street, or the dawn chorus of dogs, cats, frogs and chickens. I miss one of my favourite past times of standing at the window when it would rain, often a welcomed relief from the intense heat of the day. Tropical rain storms are unique and quite different to our grey cold rainy days in London. When it rained in Tohan  it would often last up to 8 hours with no let up, the village would become waterlogged and the river would rise and swell and be filled with debris that came down river everything from whole trees, other vegetation and other objects,  I even saw a cat one morning with a spear in its head! Washing was not much fun after one of these storms as it would churn up all the silt and the river would be browner than normal, so you would end up being a lot dirtier than normal. The kids relished these downpours and would ceremoniously find any excuse to run out and play in the rain. I found it extremely liberating to be party to this, and on one afternoon we all ran down to the river and had a lot of fun splashing around in the rain. Although two days later a few of us came down with a cold but it was worth the inconvenience.

I have also started to venture into making some new work based on my trip to Borneo and the working title is Tohan Tales, I am unsure if this will indeed be the final title but am liking it as of now. If you check the film page you will get the opportunity to view a preview of my forthcoming film. The soundtrack is actually from the new Future Sound of London from the Archives Volume 7 and features vocals from yours truly! Apparently this recording had been hidden under piles of quarter inch tapes which have been dusted off and released!

I am also trying to develop an opera based on my recent competition piece for the ENO mini operas. I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the 10 finalists and has encouraged me to delve deeper into this genre. There is also a number of films made as part of the competition and it is worth checking out all the entries on vimeo, please follow the link http://vimeo.com/channels/411371.  There are some beautiful interpretations, unfortunately none of these hard working film makers were not given a proper platform to showcase their work and don’t quite understand why such a well known organisation were not able to choose and overall winner, according to their website they felt there were not enough entries!

I feel it is my mission to invest some of my time in working on creating an antidote to what most people would consider traditional opera. I am not in anyway demeaning the artform but want to bring it into the 21st century and offer something that breaks with tradition pushing the envelop. I know its not going to be an easy path but I am up for the challenge.