The Tapestry at the Oxford St Markets - Leederville.

Earlier this year my very good friend/colleague/ex-housemate Holly Norman and I formed a percussion and flute duo named The Tapestry. Holly is an amazing percussionist and muso, playing a lot lately with WASO (the West Australia Symphony Orchestra). Although, when she plays with me there isn't so much of the timpani or crash cymbals but more of the cajon, djembe and marimba. I try to mix up my style a fair bit too using some ethnic flutes like the Bansuri from India. Our sound is one aimed at drawing on flavours from around the globe. We don't try to be authentic with our sound but more take traditional tunes and make them our own.

The Tapestry creates an improvisatory and relaxed vibe perfect for outdoor markets! Our first busking gigs were at the Fremantle Markets pub, which was great! The crowd often took a little bit to get going but once they did they were very responsive. After a few months we came to the conclusion that if we wanted to keep playing there and actually earn a bit of cash we were going to have to play some covers....which we really didn't want to do. So after a few quiet months we started busking again at the Field of Greens Fresh Fare Market which is an offshoot of the Oxford St Markets in Leederville, Perth. The market is held behind the Aranmore Catholic College on Franklin St, Leederville every Sunday from 8am till 12pm. It's a gorgeous dog friendly market full of delicious things to eat! Both times that we have been there the organisers have been so friendly to us, the kids have been great (thanks for dancing!) and we have made a lovely bit of money as a bonus. As Holly commented today playing at the markets is just like going out for coffee with a friend, a perfect Sunday morning treat.

The Tapestry will be playing at the Oxford St Markets again for sure!

FUJARA!!

I wanna play this!!!



The fujara is a Slovakian flute which uses overtones. It looks pretty simple to play and make! But the prices for these instruments over the internet seem a little pricey to me, the cheapest being 90Euro. If anyone has any ideas how to make this instrument, let me know!

The Vegetable Orchestra

I must have a thing for instruments made of vegetables! I just think it's incredible. The time taken to make the instruments, the fact that the instrument would only last a few days and also that you would always have a different sound to work with are all things most instrumentalists would dread. Us muso's seem to rely so heavily on our instrument and if it's the slightest bit out, i.e; a leaky pad, a broken string, a lose key we freak out a little. But then again, these guys are playing very simple things on their instruments, recurring themes that don't require alot of technical brilliance. Though I'm sure finding the right embouchure for some of these flutes and other wind instruments is no easy feat. Here's a video of the Vegetable Orchestra that might get you as excited as I am.

Live at The Little Creatures Loft with Mitch Becker

I recently did a show with Mitch Becker, a muso who's only been in Perth for a short while. I introduced myself after hearing Mitch and his girlfriend Sylvie play at the Mojo's Open Mic Night (which was a real hoot by the way!). Mitch uses an awesome percussive technique on his guitar, somewhat reminiscent of Flamenco. Mitch (guitar and vox), Sylvie (vox) and I (flute, of course!) played a very chilled out gig at The Little Creatures Loft.

Flute Salad!

So a little while ago I stumbled across the cutest Japanese man. Heita3 on Youtube, makes all his flutes out of fruit, vegetables, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, capsicums, apples, radishes and even ostrich eggs. He seems to be able to make anything into a working instrument! Some aren't as successful as others, but he admits all this himself. But not only is Heita3 a skilled craftsman, he is also a crack up to watch. The mind boggles.....he's great!!



On further research I found Heita3 was not alone and there are many people around the world making flutes from fruit and vegetables. The best thing about this research is that I found a couple doing it right here in Perth! I'm always surprised when I find out there are awesome people like this Western Australia, I bet there's a whole lot more. You can check them out here: http://www.flutenveg.com/. It seems as though Alain Thirion and Kerry Fletcher have done a whole lot of vege flute making in their lives and I'm really keen to check them out.



There are so many people doing great things out there and it all gets me totally inspired. I'm off to try making my own vege flute! I'll let you know how I go.

Biography

After the completion of a Bachelor of Classical Music with Honours at WAAPA, flautist Asha Henfry has been on a journey of musical discovery. Studying at summer schools across Europe with renowned flautists Peter Lukas-Graf, Ian Clarke and Wil Offermans gave Asha the desire to explore her love of the flute beyond the boundaries of classical music. Whilst travelling through India, and immersing herself in its culture and music, Asha’s love of non-western styles also grew stronger.  In Western Australia she formed the flute and percussion duo, The Tapestry and played with Chris de Groot’s Annexia Ensemble, performing his award winning compositions for silent films. Asha moved to Melbourne in 2010 joining the blues/rock outfit The Jarrah Thompson Band. During the bands 3 tours of Brazil she was exposed to the sounds of Brazilian choro and was instantly drawn to its joyful, virtuosic and playful sounds. Upon returning to Melbourne, Asha turned her interest to choro music and other Brazilian genres and soon after became a member of Panorama do Brasil. As a passionate advocate of Brazilian music in Melbourne, Asha also plays with choro group Sexteto Zona Sul, lead by guitarist virtuoso Doug de Vries, at national festivals and renowned Melbourne music venues. 

Please email me for performance or teaching enquiries.
ashahenfry@gmail.com.

Welcome!

Hey Flautists and Flutists!

Welcome to "Stewed Flute!"

I've named it "Stewed Flute" because I have a funny feeling that this is going to turn out to be a whole lot of different flute topics mashed into one little Blog. The thing is, I'm interested in a whole lot of stuff to do with flutes and I tend to go for the topics that aren't really the "norm." You see, I don't think I'm actually your typical flute player, I love orchestral music but I don't desire the life of an orchestral musician, my recitals tend to comprise of mostly contemporary music or even old music no-one's really heard of. I suppose I have realised the full potential of my beautiful instrument and know it can do a whole lot more than what most people think or what most flautists dare to play.

So.....I will aim at presenting topics new to me and will very much enjoy hearing from you!

Asha.