Joby Burgess gives the first UK performances of John Luther Adams’s Qilyaun, for solo bass drum. The piece takes its name from the Iñupiaq (indigenous people of north-western Alaska) word for the shaman's drum. Translated literally, it means 'device of power' – the shaman’s ‘vehicle’ for their journeys, riding the sound of the drum to and from the spirit world.
Written for US percussionist Scott Deal in the late 1990’s, Qilyaun was conceived as a work for solo bass drum with electronic delay, also existing in a version for 4 players at 4 bass drums.
Joby Burgess performs Qilyuan in London at Nonclassical on 18th of September and Daylight Music on 5th of October.