Folks from The Tolkien Society writes: The 2006 Tolkien Society Seminar will be held on Saturday 22nd July in the Pierce room at the Assembly House, Norwich, England.
Provisional Programme:
“Tolkien as a right-wing icon: The Strange case of Italy” Raffaella Benvenuto
“Join the Tolkien Party”. An exploration of how both Tolkien’s work and adaptations of his work relate to real life politics, left, right and centre. Lynn Whittaker
“Metaphysics, mythology, and the politics of the ‘fantastic’ in J R R Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring and Ben Okri’s The Famished Road” Rosetta Sirico-Codling
“The Purging of the Shire” An examination of the chapter “The Scouring of the Shire”. David Doughan
If you are interested in giving a paper please contact Trevor Reynolds, the seminar organiser (see below) as we still have room for one or two additional presentations.
Registration
The cost of places at the seminar are £18.00 for Tolkien Society members or £20.00 for non-members. Places can be paid for on-line (see above) or by use of booking forms circulated within the Society magazine Amon Hen, downloadable from the website, available by post from the seminar organiser, or you can simply send your payment together with your name, address and any dietary or access requirements to the seminar organiser:
Lunch and refreshments are included in the registration fee. The venue is wheelchair accessible. The closing date for registration is 14th July 2006, however spaces are limited so to secure your place please book early.
More information about the venue can be found at assemblyhousenorwich.co.uk Information about accommodation in Norwich can be obtained from the Tourist Information Centre: email, tourism@norwich.gov.uk; telephone, 01603 727927 or www.visitnorwich.co.uk
On Sunday, should enough people wish there will be an expedition to the wilds of the Norfolk Broads, to Berney Arms to look round the Windmill and visit the pub. More details will be sent when bookings are made, or see the website.
“One Morning Long Ago”
A JRR Tolkien Inspired Art Exhibition
Friday 19th to Tuesday 23rd May 2006
The Redesdale Hall, High Street, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire
Andrew writes: The exhibition opened at 7pm Friday 19th May 2006 for a private preview party by invite only. From the visitors book and replies 107 people attended in addition to the organisers, artists and performers. 1 large Eagle also attended. Complimentary drinks (soft drinks and alcoholic) and food was served throughout. A welcome speech was given by the organiser who introduced the programme of events, tour guide and the artists. Ted Nasmith formally opened the exhibition. Live music was performed, Piano pieces by Charlotte (Enting) Dom on the tin whistle and Tolkien inspired songs performed by Ted Nasmith, Madeline Anderson and Alex Lewis. The evening ended around midnight.
The Exhibition was open to the public from 9am until 5pm daily from Saturday 20th until Tuesday 23rd May 2006. In that time 1376 different visitors attended, including many Tolkien Society members, (some came back daily). In addition 1 senior school art group attended on Monday 22nd for a private guided tour (12 students) and 1 local junior school (30 students). Total Attendance 1525. (plus 1 dog and 1 large Eagle attended 3 times Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Overseas visitors came specifically from Germany, Belgium, many other overseas visitors in the UK added this event to their itinerary (USA, Australia, New Zealand).
15 new members joined The Tolkien Society (Malcolm Lindley has forms for 13 and the organiser has a further 2 applications).
25 people including organisers, helpers, artists, 1 member of the Tolkien Society Committee, and visitors staying in Moreton from overseas attended a special Hobbit meal (Stewed Rabbit) at The Bell Inn High Street Moreton in Marsh Saturday evening 7pm. Live music was performed into the night.
During the exhibition live music was performed, educational talks, drama and sketches, favourite readings from Tolkien passages. A number of visitors were moved to tears listening to Ted Nasmith. A quiz was held On Sunday at 3pm and the 1st prize (a limited edition framed Ted Nasmith Print) was won by Gary Emerton who donated this to The Tolkien society to be auctioned to help raise funds.
Cont………..
Also a cast was taken of Ted Nasmiths hand and a bronze mounted cast (holding a paint brush) will be produced and auctioned to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Approximately 1/3rd of all original art was sold and multiple orders received for Limited edition prints. Many Tolkien books were sold and Bob Blackham attended and signed copies of his new book “The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle earth”. 1 rare book was stolen.
Letters have been received from visitors and the organiser is aware that 3 children have been inspired to start painting and 4 visitors have purchased copies of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings to read them for the first time.
The exhibition will be repeated with a Private party on Friday 22nd September 2006 (a notable date) and the exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday 23rd until Tuesday 26th September 2006. (The week after Oxonmoot as proposed by Malcolm Lindley).
Hall of Fire this weekend focuses on Chapter 17 of the Silmarillion — The ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin. After a long, watchful peace, Morgoth smashes the leaguer of Angband that’s been maintained by the Noldor, unleashing orcs, Balrogs and an all-grown up Glaurung. Ard-Gelen is withered, Dorthonion is destroyed, the sons of Finarfin slain and the sons of Feanor scattered. Sauron takes Tol Sirion and uses it as a base from which to torment Beleriand. And the Noldorin high king Fingolfin rashly throws his life away in a suicidal challenge against Morgoth. In the midst of this tale of woe, is there any good news for the elves and human allies?
Here’s a couple of famous drawings of the confrontation between Morgoth and Fingolfin:
Asia-Pacific:
7.30am (Sunday) Brisbane
7.30am (Sunday) Sydney
9.30am (Sunday) Wellington
Chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!
Where?
Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net – the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.
To find out more about using mIRC to connect to TORn IRC server, check out these instructions.
Upcoming topics:
Over coming weeks we’ll be continuing chatting about the Silmarillion. Next chat – in two weeks time will be about the tale of Beren and Luthien.
1. Your project was to realize the first complete music interpretation of the Tolkien poetry with more than 150 artists, involving the Queen with her drawings and Christopher Lee as a narrator. Quite challenging! Ten years of work and it took shape. Some might say that ‘s quite a long time to invest in something – if it’s not a matter that’s near to one’s heart. How did you get the idea? How do you feel now that the project is accomplished?
10 years is a long time and the project was very challenging and more challenging than I knew when I started the project. The idea for the project came when I read The Lord of the Rings in the original language the first time. I read the poems and thought that these poems ought to be set to music.
And of course it’s a very special feeling to be at “the journeys end”…
2. Everything seems to have gone so naturally when listening to the CD Set. Can you tell us more about the foundation of the Tolkien Ensemble and what it practically means to realize such an imposing project?
There was some true “Lord of the Rings magic” about the foundation of The Tolkien Ensemble. I had for a couple of years had the idea to write music to the poems, but I needed more than that. A more specific project so to speak. A very small newspaper in Denmark mentioned that I had this idea and this was read by a count in Denmark, Peter Henrik Tesdorph. So, when I performed on guitar in a town near his castle he approached me and asked about this music for the poems from The Lord of the Rings. He would like to hear the songs performed and we agreed that we would set up a concert at his Castle, Gjorslev Castle, Denmark. That was basicly all I needed at that time: a reason to ask people to get involved in the project.
I formed the first Tolkien Ensemble asking my friends to join it. Only a few of them had ever read The Lord of the Rings… From that point on I worked on the idea of making the complete musical version of the poems. One of the first mucisians I asked to be involved was Peter Hall who became co-composer on the project. And of course: It takes a lot of hard work to compose the music to about 70 poems. Then to coordinate the recording of the music, deciding who should be the soloists, persuading record company’s etc. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication.
3. Was is it difficult to get Christopher Lee as a narrator? How was it working with him?
First of all it was wonderful to work with Christopher Lee. He is a living legend and when you meet him you fell very small. He reminds me of Tolkiens treepeople, the Ent’s, a race that have travelled the word and seen the world change. A wise and noble race. Christopher Lee is like that. He is an extraordinary man with an extraordinary life behind him.
I was very lucky that The Tolkien Ensemble was invited to perform at the Danish premiere of the first of Peter Jacksons movies. It was said The Christopher Lee would be there, so I wrote a letter to him, enclosed our 2 CD’s, and the arrangers of the premiere was able to pass it to him. He liked our music and ideas and decided to take part in the project.
4. How did you get Queen Margrethe II to be part of this project? I can imagine it’s not easy to establish contact to her?
The Queen is a great admirer of Tolkiens works. She did a complete illustration series for The Lord of the Rings, one illustration for each chapter and when we had to decide which illustrations we would like to use it was obvious to ask permission to use the Queens. So I sent a letter to the Court Marshall with the enquiry and fortunately the Queen accepted the request.
5. The Tolkien masterpiece made millions of people reading and searching continuously to get a deeper knowledge of it and it made you founding the Tolkien Ensemble. What do you think is the power of Tolkien’s masterpiece? Is it maybe a spell?
Tolkien is first of all one of the greatest writers ever. His spell is his deep knowledge of legends, Myths and different religions. This knowledge he uses as basis for his own invented world Middle-earth. The deep roots in “what is already there” for us through our myths, legends and religions is what makes his invented world seem so real to us, as if it really could have existed.
6. What is the best and what is the worst memory you have of the production?
There have been many wonderful experiences and fortunately few bad ones… Obviously the moment when we got the Tolkien Estates permission to work with the poems was unique, but also the first time we met Christopher Lee, meeting Tolkiens daughter, Priscilla, performing in Oxford at Tolkiens own college Exeter College, performing for the Danish Queen and Prince – I could go on and on.
With regard to bad memories I’ll just quote Christopher Lee who once said to me: “You have to be careful with Managers – They are in it for the money, you know…”
7. If you were an actor casted for LOTR, which character would you like to play most? Would you find it more interesting to play a role of the force of light or of the force of the darkness?
If I were casted for LOTR I would probably be asked to be swordsman number 4.567 in the left of the screen in the final big battle… But of course it’s always an interesting question “Who would you like to be if you had to pick a character from LOTR?” In My project with The Tolkien Ensemble my part has been a mixture of Frodo’s and Gandalf’s, so probably one of those two – and certainly a character of the force of light!
8. What about the relation with the Tolkien’s heirs. How was their reaction when you first presented your project? And how was it when they held the final CD set in their hands?
From the beginning The Tolkien Estate found our work and ideas interesting. They gave us their permission to go on with the project and could easily have stopped us during the past 10 years if they did not like our work… And of course: It was something very special for me to be able to send the final 4CDbox to them
9. Music is a language and a world apart, like Tolkien’s work. Is there a poem that you particularly like? Is there a music piece that reminds you of a particular moment of the project evolution?
I love “The Old Walking Song”
The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began Now far ahead the road has gone And I must follow if I can Pursuing it with eager feet Until it joins a larger way Where many paths and errands meet And wither then, I cannot say.
The poem is the first poem in The Lord of the Rings, it was one of the first poems I set to music and it is the first song on our 4CD Box.
10. What does the future hold for the Tolkien Ensemble? Did you already plan a promotion tour or are you going to take a well-deserved break?
We will go on performing the songs, we’ve got a new ensemble member in Nick Keir from The McCalmans and we have some major concerts ahead of us in Denmark so the future looks great.
Lady Tinania writes: Last Saturday, myself and my partner attended the 7th annual Tolkien weekend. It is an annual, two day event that takes place in the Shire Country Park, Moseley, Birmingham, run by the Tolkien Society and Birmingham City Council. This year’s theme was “The Shire”, which incorporated the public launch of The Shire Country Park and it’s plans for the future.
We were greeted at the gate by Gandalf and many others dressed in Middle Earth attire, and made our way to the information tent to book a tour of Sarehole Mill, which was a great influence in Tolkien’s Life. The mill is pretty much in working order and has a miller visit every weekend in August to work the mill. There is information available on the workings of the mill and the surrounding area and how it has changed since Tolkien lived there. Just outside the mill entrance, the Tolkien Society had a small shop with displays of their work and events, including their event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the complete publication of Lord of the Rings. Alongside these were items to buy including Tolkien Society t-shirts, videos of the areas that influenced the writing of Lord of the Rings and posters of film images.
In the Performance arena, the Birmingham Vikings Re-enactment Society were giving a fight demonstration which was closely followed by the Black Adder Morris Dancers. Elsewhere in the Unexpected Party Café you could catch the Greenman Story Teller followed by folk music with Stuart Estell and Allan Recardo, whilst enjoying hot tea and biscuits provided by local Scout groups. While all this was going on, we caught some rather over enthusiastic Games Workshop staff holding a classic good versus evil game in the Tolkien tent before grabbing a bite to eat from one of the vendors on site.
Not wishing to miss anything, we did a quick scour of all the tents before planning out the rest of the day. Starting at the Farmers Market, we moved onto the Activity Tent, which was filled with adults and children making wands, wicker swords and headdresses. I had to have a go and weaved myself a rather wonky headdress which ended up too big for my head! There were also two Craft Tents at the event, both filled with a variety of crafts from local groups and societies. I was particularly taken with Under Capricorn, who sell handmade soaps infused with essential oils and natural products. They had specially made three soaps for the weekend; Gandalf, Mordor and best of all, The One Soap. I just had to have one!!
Moving back to the Tolkien Tent, we listened to Philip Coker read “The Scouring of the Shire” from the Lord of the Rings before learning about plans to put a permanent sculpture in Moseley of Treebeard on a bed of leaves, with Tolkien and his brother, Hillary. Needing to prove I could compete with the boys, our next stop was at the Archery Range where I had my first taste of archery. Considering it was my first time, I was pretty good, hitting almost all bulls-eye’s! Feeling the need for more action, we watched the Birmingham Vikings Re-enactment Society beat each other with swords and axes. It was quite something to see, and some really got into their parts.
Since I had proved myself in the Archery and the weather was turning bad, I needed a rest and a cup of tea, so we settled in at The Unexpected Party Café with some tea and biscuits to listen to Chris Adderley reading from Beowulf. Even though the sound system was unavailable, it was very good and a great way to relax for a while whilst still keeping the atmosphere. So good that we decided to stay in our seats to listen to the Greenman Storyteller.
We had missed the first performance of The Hobbit by Shire Productions, earlier in the day, so we booked our seats for the 5:30 performance and decided to brave the rain and spend some money before the tents closed for the day. Back at the Tolkien Society shop, after much deliberation we purchased some posters and postcards before buying a few nick-naks at the Craft Tents. After one last look around the Tolkien Tent, we took our seats for the performance of The Hobbit. Despite the soggy ground and cold, the performance was excellent, with the actors doing a great job of excepts from The Hobbit, adapted for the weekend by Vivienne Wilkes.
It was a great day out for both those who enjoy Tolkien’s works, and for those just looking for a day out. Besides all the things we got to do over the day, there was also guided walks, including “In the Footsteps of Tolkien” and a “Wildlife Walk”, and bus rides around other areas that influenced Tolkien as he was growing up, and plenty of activities for children.
Prog-rock icons and Middle-earth travelers Glass Hammer have just released their 2nd DVD, “Live At Belmont” – a double-disc 5.1 concert featuring the 150 member Belmont University Choir. The Nashville, Tennessee event was filmed at last year’s “Past Watchful Dragons”, a C. S. Lewis conference which featured Inklings scholars from around the world. At the concert’s emotional crescendo, Glass Hammer has the massive choir singing in Elven, Latin and English – all at once.
“We chose to work with Elven during the recording of The Inconsolable Secret” last year,” says GH founder Steve Babb. “It’s such a beautiful language. We had access to Tolkien scholars and experts, so we did have some help. But what a powerful experience, and thankfully one we filmed!”
Critics are already hailing “Live at Belmont” as another hit for “the world’s greatest prog-band.”
Glass Hammer released the Tolkien-inspired “Journey of the Dunadan” in 1993, and “The Middle-earth Album” in 2001.
For more information and to view the “Live at Belmont” trailer, visit the band’s website at glasshammer.com.
