These recording sessions took place in musicians’ houses in and around Bhuj, Gujarat, an area known as the Rann of Kutchh in January 1999. Located a stone’s throw from the India/Pakistan border, it remains one of the more remote parts of India.

Shockwave Status:

Click here to play

Much of the local musical heritage is under threat of extinction as traditional instruments fall out of favour with the younger generation. The music could not have been recorded without the kind assistance of Mr Umesh Jadia of the Museum of Kutchh in Bhuj.

Postscript: As a consequence of the earthquake disaster in the region the following year, much of Bhuj was destroyed. I dearly wish I could find out if the people I worked with and recorded are still around. So far, I’ve found no way of confirming whether they are alive or dead, and this still makes me feel very sad when I hear their beautiful music.

The upgraded and expanded demo for the second TOTP CDROM.

Sadly, these two demos only stay online because Telepathy host them. The BBC seem to have kind of given up on TOTP’s interactive content, though I’ve heard that they are busy transferring their focus to interactive TV instead. Since CDROMs seem to have died a death as an entertainment medium, this is probably a wise move.

Shockwave Status:

Click here to play

This is the first transfer of the Shockwave movies which used to be on my Flowmotion site.

The first TOTP CDROM was my first major interactive project – I spent six months of my life getting my head round the quirks and intricacies of Director to program it. A six month spell of working in India followed, as a means of rekindling my creative energies.

Still, winning the Macromedia UCON Best Entertainment CDROM award kind of compensated for all the heart- (and head-) aches. Now that Nigel and Sarah are leaving to spend the next few years on tropical beaches, I wonder what will become of the beautiful plastic award that used to sit on the shelf in the Telepathy toilets?

Shockwave Status:

Click here to play

Don’t ask me why, but I’ve decided to put my 1997 dissertation online… a small matter of 10,000 words describing my experiences of text-based online communities. If you enjoy speculations about the connections between flame wars and chaos theory, you might like to read it.

Click here if you’re up for it.