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Review: The Pineapple Orchestra, Colston Hall foyer
As The Pineapple Orchestra’s first and only gig built to a rousing crescendo, two percussionists took some sliced-up pineapples and on cue from composer Rowan Bishop threw them onto their drums, causing the pieces of fruit to explode into tiny pieces.
It was a wholly unexpected conclusion to a wholly unexpected evening: a wonderfully bizarre and gloriously fun show in the foyer of the Colston Hall which used the joy of music to ask challenging questions about the venue’s name change.
This one-off gig by The Pineapple Orchestra was the culmination of a project by artist Savinder Bual that aimed to draw a parallel with the current name of the venue and the history of the pineapple.
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Commissioned by Colston Hall special projects director Sarah Robertson, who admitted that a few eyebrows were raised when the idea was first mooted, the innovative and collaborative project funded by Arts Council England even had Big Jeff loudly applauding them by the end.
The Pineapple Orchestra’s unique instruments were all made by a small team of luthiers
Two pieces were played on Thursday night, with the first sounding at times like the Beta Band’s Three EPs meets George Harrison’s Indian-tinged Beatles songs meets foot-tapping African tribal rhythms.
The smiles of the musicians – many of who had never played in an orchestra before and who had only rehearsed together for just over a month – were infectious as they played their unique instruments, with Bishop’s score giving most of them the chance for a solo, even if that meant banging a can of pineapple chunks.
As a toddler in a rainbow jumper almost managed to evade his mum’s grasp to join in the fun on stage, the audience drank pineapple juice and ate delicious pineapple cake.
For artist Sauvinder Bual, The Pineapple Orchestra was an attempt to “create inclusive narratives about today’s society whilst acknowledging the past”
The first piece ended in an echo of how it had begun, with a melange of sounds melding in and out of one another.
An arrangement of Scott Joplin’s Pineapple Rag was the introduction to the second piece, which had a more improvisational feel to it.
At one stage, one band member at the back who was playing his instrument in a sweeping movement with a pineapple balanced at the end of a stick saw his piece of fruit go flying off to land on the shoulder of the band member next to him, whose smile never left her face during the entire performance.
The Pineapple Orchestra explored a divisive issue as the Colston Hall knows best: through the power of music.
Read more: Playing music with pineapples
Photos by Barbara Evripidou / www.firstavenuephotography.com
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