Upclose with Vegetable Orchestra
The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra makes use of carrot-flutes and tomato-drums. Pavan Shamdasani talks to manager Ernst Reitermater about his organic fetish.
HK Magazine: Why a vegetable orchestra?
Ernst Reitermater: What’s nice about vegetables is that you can also smell and taste them; they’re more organic, softer sounding, not as exact and reliable and more difficult to control. And you can buy them anywhere. So we’re very interested in the unique soundworld that can be produced with vegetable instruments.
HK: How long does it take the make the instruments?
ER: It depends. The leek violin is a ready-made; the cucumberphone needs quite a bit of preparation.
HK: Ever tempted to eat the vegetables during the show?
ER: No, we eat before and after each show. But there is a soup made for the audience after the performance – it’s made of the extra vegetables that aren’t used for building the instruments, mainly because making a soup out of the instruments would take too much time. And it wouldn’t be that tasty.
HK: So you just throw them away? People are starving!
ER: Well, if you’re really concerned about the distribution of wealth, do something about it! Actually, our instruments cause fewer problems than traditional ones – their production needs much less energy, and they’re biodegradable.
HK: What do you think about the Graham Street Market closing?
ER: It’s a pity. We buy our vegetables in a similar market in Vienna – the “naschmarkt.” Open-air markets are very important for our work and also for our own shopping. Supermarket veggies don’t make good instruments!
HK: Do you feel threatened by real musical instruments?
ER: What do you mean, threatened by classical instruments? Why would we be? We know how to play classical instruments and we love their sound. And you shouldn’t call them “real instruments” – our vegetable instruments are real, too.