Night in the Garden, 2024
HD video, 61'45"
Still from Night in the Garden, 2024.
Still from Night in the Garden, 2024.
Still from Night in the Garden, 2024.
Click here to view a trailer.
On November 10, 2023, artist Shezad Dawood joined forces with Adam Rudolph, Ralph Miles Jones, and Alexis Marcelo: three former long-time collaborators of one of the most prolific musicians of the 20th century, Yusef Lateef. Sharing deep insights into the creative process Lateef called autophysiopsychic (music coming from the mental, physical, and spiritual self), the musicians interpreted a special banner painted by Dawood as a musical score. The hour-long autophysiopsychic musical experience titled Night in the Garden was held in the Aga Khan Museum’s Nanji Family Auditorium.
Presented in seven movements, Night in the Garden performance and lighting transported the audience into a dawn-to-dusk experience; leading through the imagined garden, stopping along the way to reflect on the radiance of love. Prototypical sounds of spontaneous composition were heard as the musicians dialogued with one another, responding to the feelings that radiated from the audience. Performing as the fourth member of the quartet, Dawood blended sound and colour to create a truly multisensory experience.
Click here for more information about exhibition Shezad Dawood, Night in the Garden of Love, Inspired by & featuring Yusef Lateef, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.
Director: Shezad Dawood
Percussions and electronics: Adam Rudolph
Piano and keyboard: Alexis Marcelo
Woodwinds: Ralph Miles Jones
Lighting and painted banner (graphic score): Shezad Dawood
Executive producer: Craig Colby
Producer: Miranda Sharp
Camera operators: Mark Foerster, Brian Marleau and Alnasir Jamal
Sound recordist: Jason Porter
Audio production: James Dellatacoma and Adam Rudolph
Edited by: Sergio Vega Borrego and Caterina Monzani
Graded by: Jason Moffat
Production coordinators: Mason Sissona and Marin Stemmelen
Film & performance produced by: UBIK Productions
Commissioned by: Aga Khan Museum, Toronto
Special thanks to Amirali Alibhai, Melanie Fenner, Sascha Priewe, Marianne Fenton and everyone at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, as well as Alhena Katsof and Ayesha Lateef of the Estate of Yusef Lateef.
A film made in connection with the exhibition Shezad Dawood, Night in the Garden of Love, Inspired by & featuring Yusef Lateef, 2023. Co-commissioned by WIELS, Brussels and Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.
Shezad Dawood, In the Garden, 2023. Triptych, acrylic and print on vintage textile, 212 x 452 cm. Courtesy of the artist.
Music composed by Adam Rudolph, Ralph Miles Jones and Alexis Marcelo. Published by Migration Music BMI, Moreno Sounds ASCAP, Bumoch Music ASCAP © 2023.