Un altro grande ci ha lasciato. Ivor Cutler, personalità straordinaria e irripetibile nel panorama letterario musicale e culturale del Regno Unito, è morto l'altro ieri a Londra in seguito all'infarto che lo aveva colpito la scorsa settimana. Messaggi di ricordo e di commiato vengono pubblicati in queste ore un po' ovunque. Si può vedere in particolare il gruppo di discussione a lui dedicato: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ivor-list
Strano solo che la BBC - nei cui studi Cutler ha registrato per decenni molte delle sue proverbiali session, pochissime delle quali poi riprese nella discografia ufficiale - non ne abbia ancora fatto cenno.
Riporto qui i primi commenti:
We are very sorry to announce that Ivor Cutler died peacefully in London last Friday. He'd been ill for a while: he had a stroke last week, and passed away quickly, looked after by his family.
His funeral will be for family and close friends; a memorial event is being planned for later in the year.
Poet, singer, writer, composer, humourist and painter, Mr Cutler, as he liked to be known by those he didn't know him well, touched and changed the lives of many people and elicited great affection from his audiences and pupils. He will be remembered with great fondness.
His funeral will be for family and close friends; a memorial event is being planned for later in the year.
Poet, singer, writer, composer, humourist and painter, Mr Cutler, as he liked to be known by those he didn't know him well, touched and changed the lives of many people and elicited great affection from his audiences and pupils. He will be remembered with great fondness.
Ivor Cutler (15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, songwriter and humorist. Originally a teacher, he taught at A. S. Neill's Summerhill School. He appeared as Buster Bloodvessel in The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, on Neil Innes' television programmes and on John Peel's influential BBC radio programme, for which he recorded a total of twenty-one sessions between 1969 and 1991. In live performances he would accompany himself on a harmonium. Cutler died on 3 March 2006, following a stroke the previous week.
Many of his poems and songs involve conversations delivered as a monologue and, in these, one party is often Cutler as a child. The humour develops from the child's curiosity and the playful or self-serving lies the parent tells him to get, for example, a chore done or simply to stop the incessant questions. Phyllis April King appears on several albums and used to be a part of his concerts. She usually read small phrases but also read a few stories. The two also starred in a BBC Radio series, King Cutler, in which they performed their material jointly and singly. Cutler recited his poems in a gentle burr and this, combined with the absurdity of the subject matter, is a mix that earned him a faithful, if small, following.
Many of his poems and songs involve conversations delivered as a monologue and, in these, one party is often Cutler as a child. The humour develops from the child's curiosity and the playful or self-serving lies the parent tells him to get, for example, a chore done or simply to stop the incessant questions. Phyllis April King appears on several albums and used to be a part of his concerts. She usually read small phrases but also read a few stories. The two also starred in a BBC Radio series, King Cutler, in which they performed their material jointly and singly. Cutler recited his poems in a gentle burr and this, combined with the absurdity of the subject matter, is a mix that earned him a faithful, if small, following.