Threshold Houseboys Choir: Form Grows Rampant

A very rare screening of the now out of print DVD film of ’s solo project Peter Christopherson Threshold Houseboys Choir: Form Grows Rampant Doors 7:30pm Tickets: £10 Tickets - Bangkok January 3rd 2007 Screening starts at 8:30pm. "In 2003 I was invited to attend the Ginjae Festival in Krabi Town in the south of Thailand. Ginjae literally means vegetarian, though the connection is obscure. The major celebrations of this festival take place on the nearby island of Phuket, but there, the atmosphere is one of spectacle, rather than purpose. I had been told about a very different celebration, based around a small chinese shrine or holy place, behind a Toyota dealership in Krabi Town, some 50 kilometres from Phuket island, on the mainland. The Ginjae Festival takes place on the 9th full moon of the year. Over the course of ten days (during which participants wear white and abstain from meat, alcohol and sex) a series of rituals are performed. intended to keep the world spinning on the correct axis. To bring merit and good luck to the village, and to scare away malign spirits that might otherwise bring misfortune to the neighbourhood; especially at busy intersections, accident black spots, etc... The participants setting out from the shrine we visited were all young men, led by a young 'khatoey" holy man. For the most part they were tattooed tearaways or troublemakers and not the kind of person you would expect to see the local shop-keepers on their knees praying to by the side of the road. In all cases that I witnessed, the rituals were carried out while the participants were in trance or possessed states; often lasting several hours. The boys were trained in, and induced into these states by their holy man, in whom they had complete trust. Removed from immediate contact with the present by these mental states, the boys seemed not to feel pain. Though as their expressions show, this was not always the case when the trance weakened. Their trances also assisted their speedy recovery - along with the ice-water that their assistants poured on their wounds from kettles throughout the ritual. I saw most of these boys in the days that followed and they appeared to have suffered no ill-effects. and indeed to be almost completely scar free. Certainly emotionally they seemed buoyed by events, as did the worshippers in the neighbourhoods they passed through. By contrast I was admitted to hospital for several days, suffering from some undiagnosed disorder, which I ascribe to temporarily becoming inadvertent host to one of the evil spirits that their rituals disturbed. In this work my interpretation of the rituals - my focus and my music - ape entirely personal, and not directly connected to purpose of the Ginjae Festival. I simply believe I saw and filmed something profound, transcendent; the deity incarnate even; in the most unlikely of settings and want to share that with you. As Jhonn said: "We all get the gods we deserve..." Peter Christopherson Posted in,, Upcoming Music Film