From
a triumphant Fran
Kora aloft a speaker in front of a sea of faces, to an intimate side-of-the-stage
shot of
Delaney Davidson in mid ballad, Alexander
Hallag and his cameras have captured it all. He’s the guy
you’ll see at every gig, dressed head-to-toe in black, jostling for the best
spot in the pit, watching the light and chasing the music.
Now the internationally renowned photographer is sharing 200 captivating images
of the New Zealand music scene, across 200 pages in a stunning book,
Shhh… The Music Is Talking,
to be released on December 15, 2015.
Born in Austria, raised in Seattle and New York City, and now residing in New
Zealand, Hallag has spent decades taking photos of some of the most important bands, musicians
and singers in the world. They include B.B.
King, Black
Sabbath, David
Bowie, Leonard
Cohen, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, U2, and many more.
Acclaimed British author Neil
Gaiman remembers Hallag’s
talent at an early age, as he writes in the book’s introduction: “Alexander
took a photograph of me in Seattle, when we were both young, pressed up against
a hotel balcony railing, and made something beautiful out of a moment.
Beautiful and peculiarly iconic”.
For the past five years, Hallag has travelled the length and breadth of New Zealand, documenting the Kiwi music
scene in a series of beautifully shot colour and black-and-white images,
hand-picked for
Shhh…
The Music Is Talking.
The exclusive photos capture the special and unique essence of contemporary
live performance in New Zealand. Some tell visual stories of living legends
such as Dave Dobbyn,
Neil Finn, Jordan Luck and
Don McGlashan; others harness the power
and energy of unforgettable gigs by the likes of
Shihad,
Kora,
Shapeshifter and
Head Like A Hole.
They sit alongside never-before-seen images of some of the country’s most
celebrated acts, from
Fat
Freddy’s Drop and
The
Black Seeds, to Cairo
Knife Fight and
Flight
of The Conchords.
There are also rare shots of
Lorde’s
second-ever concert at the legendary, now defunct, Mighty Mighty in Wellington,
as the teen tip-toed on the cusp of international stardom. The gig sold out in
45 seconds!
Other well-known identities and bands that weave together the pages of this
25.4cm by 25.4cm hardcover labour of love, include
Ladi6,
Kimbra,
Tiki Taane,
David Dallas,
Chris Knox, Unknown
Mortal Orchestra,
AHoriBuzz,
Ladyhawke,
Orchestra of Spheres,
Julia Deans, Grayson
Gilmour,
Beastwars,
Anna Coddington,
Liam Finn and many more.
Shhh… The Music Is
Talking is a five-year work of passion that encapsulates all
that is wonderful about New Zealand’s musical landscape and the myriad of
wonderful artists that dwell on it. It delves into the whakapapa of the local
industry; revealing a historical snap shot of its musicians, the fans and some
of those that spin the wheels of the machine behind the scenes. It is told
through the eyes and lenses of one of New Zealand’s most prolific and talented photographers.
The last words are best left to his old friend Neil Gaiman: “It’s a photographer’s eye
that catches the details, and Hallag has that. So few of these shots are posed in any way; the moments are caught,
and are beautiful and peculiarly or not, iconic. You can almost hear the music.
You can almost smell the spilled beer.”
Notes:
Hallag will
print only 500 copies of Shhh…
The Music Is Talking, with two editions - the signed and
numbered deluxe edition, limited to 50 copies, which comes in a specially-created
slipcase and includes a 17.8cm x 17.8cm print; and the standard edition, of
which 450 copies have been printed.
Shhh… The Music Is
Talking is available for pre-order from
http://www.themusicistalking.com/store or
Facebook with delivery from December 15 onwards.
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