aBANDon

aBANDon is a group of sonic innovators formed out of the nexus of the improvisational ensemble DUCT.

aBANDon performs at the intersection of music/sound poetry/poetry. Performances feature jazz/new music/new age/innovation/improvisation/vocal pyrotechnics/radically-scored- charts and other sonic possibilities.

The members of aBANDon are:

Steven Ross Smith, Lia Pas, Chris Cawthray.

Steven Ross Smith is a sound poet, who also writes poetry and fiction. He performed with the Toronto sound/performance ensemble Owen Sound from 1975 to 1985. In 1991, he found some willing musicians in Saskatoon and formed DUCT, an improvisatory sound/voice/music ensemble which gave more than eighty improvisatory performances in and around Saskatoon until 2000. Smith performs solo and has also published eight books, and has been featured on several edgy recordings, including 'Carnivocal', the 1999 compilation of Canadian sound poetry, and 'Homo Sonorus', a compilation and catalogue of world sound poetry published in Russia by the National Centre for Contemporary Art, Kaliningrad.

Lia Pas is a musician, composer, writer. She performs on oboe, voice, piano, keyboards and any other sound-making device she can get her hands on. Her studies of contemporary music were at York University. She writes poetry, and fiction edging toward the bizarre and speculative. She also creates innovative theatrical performances, and leads 'sound and body' workshops. Lia lives and teaches yoga. She performed with DUCT between 1994 and 2000.

Chris Cawthray, is a percussionist who is active as a composer and accompanist for modern dance companies in his hometown of Toronto. Chris enjoys words like "boom", "bap", "crash", "squkreeeeeeeeeeeeeonk", and he likes paintings about fishing.

For bookings, contact Steven Ross Smith via fluttertongue.ca. Or contact Lia by using the form on her blog.

Return to the Lia Pas archives index

Recent Performances

Lia Pas and Steven Ross Smith performed as aBANDon on March 12, 2003 at Her-icane Ethel's Howlin' Literary Readings at the Refinery in Saskatoon. The program included a selection of sound poems by female artists.