The other concerts of John Cale in the Archa Theatre
Photos from the performance




High Batten of the Archa

The opening of the Archa Theatre in Prague played in truly extraordinary circumstances. Japanese dancer MIN TANAKA and Welsh-American composer and musician JOHN CALE met each other here for the very first common performance. Immediately, for its first opportunity, Archa demonstrated that it is able in practice to fulfill its proclaimed ambitions: to be a place of unique meetings, to provide a space for above-genre events and to present authors of open concepts.

In the course of the evening, a word about the not-so-easy communication of different cultures sounded in the opening short speech of the director of the Archa Theatre Ondřej Hrab. John Cale had a relatively easier situation, as he only introduced his music to a confrontation - a momentary reaction for Tanaka was precise. For the greater part, Cale alternated the pre-recorded compositions with live performances of a piano repertoire including his most recent works (Chinese Envoy, Broken Hearts,...) and one (completely disharmonic) guitar solo to a pre-recorded composition. At first it seemed that the expression of the much more proportionate in the shadows of the intensity of expressions of the milder and entirely more abstract Min Tanaka was exposed to a confrontation of everything that came into his world from elsewhere - the gradually brought attention to a stronger experience that was strongly built on communication. The absolutely concentrated Tanaka (for several years, he was holder of the title Best Dancer in the Empire) gradually wandered through the evening. He started with barely visible movements, and near the end, he was already responding to the rhythm of the piano. At the end, John Cale acknowledged that the evening emerged from both sides: the meditation, the supple improvisation on the borders of harmony and disharmony was a magical approach to the exact imprint of the present moment.
          Archa arranged the Prague Happening, and at the same time, installed its own high batten. The news about other invited actors (Meredith Monk, The Residents) prompted that with Archa, Prague has received a very important place permanently.

Pavel Klusák, Lidové noviny, 7. 6. 1994