Curated by Deliaphonic and Coventry University’s School of Arts & Creative Industries, the artist and musician Bill Drummond will present a unique event at the Delia Derbyshire Building.
On the night of 14th November 1940, Coventry was devastated by bombing during the Second World War. That night’s operation by the German Luftwaffe was given the code name "Moonlight Sonata" a reference to Beethoven’s famous piano piece.
This same piece of music later formed the emotional backbone of The Shangri-Las' 1966 song 'Past, Present and Future', which has inspired a new global music project led by Drummond.
Over the past 480 days, a fictional band — The Tied Hands — has travelled the world via the internet, inviting artists to respond to 'Past, Present and Future' in their own creative ways. Some of these new versions were recorded by Coventry artists as the tour reached its final step, here in the city, accompanied by posters created by Coventry University students and staff.
Now, to mark the end of that journey, Bill Drummond will return to Coventry but not with music, with posters, soup and questions.
Just as Coventry-born composer Delia Derbyshire responded to the Blitz by turning the sound of air raid sirens into abstract music — shaping a career in electronic sound and creating iconic works like the Doctor Who theme — Drummond will respond to the events of 14 November 1940 in his own idiosyncratic way. He will serve soup to 100 people in exchange for an answer to questions he has not yet written.
This event brings together threads of history, music, personal memory and creativity, exploring how artists respond to the world around them, each in their own unexpected way.