BELLASTRA (London) by BELLIGHTNING

BELLASTRA is a tool to create collaborative improvisations.

The process begins with one person walking around a location of their choosing for 30 minutes all the while making field recordings during their walk. That 30-minute recording is then split into 1-minute separate tracks. Ten tracks are then sent to each of the three BELLIGHTNING members.

The members then play to the raw field recordings using the BELLASTRA, a random prompt generator used to guide the improvised response. The 10 tracks – minus the field recordings – are then shared with another collaborator, then onto another, with the BELLASTRA dictating the approach taken.

The result is 30 one-minute pieces where all collaborators have played in their own way on each track guided by the BELLASTRA.

Thanks to Mark Beazley / Christopher Mathews-Larsen / PD Sexton / Chris Videll / Peter Aldrich

Eukaryotic is a modern classical music record label based in London.