This is not a trick question. How many jazz musicians care about whether the packaging of their latest CD is contributing to the landfill problem?
You can probably come up with a couple of them. If you think very hard, maybe you can think of as many as the fingers on both hands.
Now, how many of them do something about it.
A few minutes into a conversation with Simon Barker about anything and you realize that one of his key motivators is ‘sustainability’. From his interest in the shamanistic drumming traditions of South Korea through to his new label Kimnara Records Barker addresses the concept of sustainability on a number of levels. For example, the packaging of Kimnara CDs—featuring the unique and beautiful artwork of Fusae Ikeda—is specifically designed to minimize resource usage and the impact on landfill. It was Ikeda’s sensitivity to the music and to the ideology that made her a first choice for this project. .But leaving aside the warm fuzzy feeling that idealogically sound packaging might give the purchaser, the Kimnara project is also about sustainability in music. And Barker is at a stage in his life—a new label, a new baby with wife Junko, and a number of teaching and playing commitments—when he has to find ways to sustain his energy levels as well.
Alongside the normal demands of a musician’s life and the additional requirements of the new label, Barker has spent the last few years immersed in learning about the shamanistic drumming tradition of South Korea. Barker says that the great Kim Sok Chul who passed away recently and was one of the country’s acknowledged living legends, has been “probably the biggest influence on my playing since I was learning music and listening to jazz.” The shamanistic drumming tradition in South Korea is steeped in history and carries with it a deeply embedded spirituality and physicality that strongly attracts Barker and is evident now in his own music. This is where he gets the ‘powerfully relaxed’ manner that is his trademark ‘way of being’ when playing. The journey into learning has changed Barker, giving him what he says are some of the greatest musical experiences he’s ever had.
Meanwhile, the entire Kimnara Label project has been paced and put together with a view to longevity, and to recording and releasing music that might not be attracting the funding and support that Barker would like it to have. After a year or more of planning, a first release on the label is a re-issue of the first, eponymous Band of Five Names CD, which came out initially in 1999 after the band (Matt McMahon on keyboards, Phil Slater on trumpet, and Barker on drums) won the Eastside Radio Band Competition. Band of Five Names has had a continuous following since its early days and there has been a consistent small interest in the CD. The band, described in a recent review as one that demonstrates_’…great originality and high-level musicianship…’_ creating ‘highly individual territory…’ has a small strong following. Barker understands the value of this, and believes that it’s important to ensure recorded music by such ‘niche’ groups remains available.
Even before taking form as a label, the ideas behind Kimnara been brewing for around three years. Barker cites three main factors behind his decision to actually start his own label instead of working with existing ones.
Firstly, there’s the packaging and artwork. He’s pragmatic, and understands that the visual presentation is often the listener’s introduction to the aural experience. He wanted packaging and artwork that had some relationship to the music. And he wanted something other than plastic jewel cases.
Secondly, Barker and the musicians he worked with had a number of worthwhile recordings waiting to be released. These, and a number of ideas in the works for future recordings, mean that he knows he can sustain a consistent, high quality output for years to come.
Thirdly, there is a demand for the sort of music that Barker wants to release—music by groups such as the Band of Five Names and the improvised guitar and drums duo release featuring Carl Dewhurst.
A project such as this, undertaken by a musician who is already active with a full schedule of playing and teaching, must raise questions about how to manage the marriage between the demands of a creative life, and those of a business. Barker admits he already has a complicated life, with touring, teaching and playing. He also acknowledges that releases on the label will serve a small community and admits that financial considerations are not the main ones. He’s committed though, and the first releases are a credit to the project. This is a man with an eye on a sustainable future.
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Simon Barker’s attempt to find and hear Kim Sok Chul is the subject of a recently completed documentary film by Emma Franz that is currently being pitched at a number of international film festivals.
Barker has recently arranged tours of South Korea that involve collaborations between Australian jazz musicians and Korean Pansori singer Bae Il Tong and drummer Kim Dong Won
He has also been teaching in New Zealand, is playing in various groups around the traps in Sydney and other cities.
Contact Kimnara Records by email on kimnara@optusnet.com.au
Kimnara releases are available at ABC shops around the country. Releases coming soon include a new Band of Five Names CD, a Matt McMahon Trio release and the CD that McMahon is releasing as part of his 2005 Freedman Fellowship prize.
See the Jazz Australia feature on Matt McMahon here >
