Do not expect an actual machine with the Gypsy Jukebox. All it consists of is a large piece of cloth, a songbook and a big red button. It is fueled by the imagination of the audience, and operated by the musical talents of Taipei-based Canadian musician Rose Goossen, who usually performs as Radio Rose.
Pressing the button a certain number of times will “activate” the machine and make Goossen do different things — once for a random song, twice to select a song and three times to have her choose a song based on a keyword. It gets more adventurous after that — four times to do karaoke, five for a jam session and with six, the participant switches places with Goossen altogether and becomes the jukebox.
Do not forget to say “beep” out loud as you press it — remember, it is a machine of the imagination.
Photo courtesy of Joyce Wolf
And what if nobody presses the button?
“Based on the artistic concept, I would like to just stop and wait until someone presses it,” she says, noting that it is not always possible especially if the jukebox has been hired to provide music at an event.
GENEALOGY OF A JUKEBOX
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
The Gypsy Jukebox originated in the Kingdom of Swaziland in 2012 as a much smaller, simpler contraption attached to Goossen’s waist. The first two versions saw action in South Africa, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain before retiring after the buttons fell off in Hamburg. The latest incarnation, completed last week, will make its Taiwan debut tonight at Taipei’s Rev-Now, as a farewell celebration before Goossen takes it on the road back to her native land on Thursday.
“It is a send-off party for me just in case I get eaten by a bear in Canada,” Goossen quips.
Goossen visited Swaziland out of “curiosity” on her five-year trip around the world. During her stay, she took up a number of volunteer and odd jobs, one of which was to play music in a mall during a holiday weekend.
She was no stranger to performing on the street, but decided to step up her game for the job.
“A street performance is less interesting if you are just an object to look at,” she says. “It becomes more interesting when you become a participant in the scene and when other people are also willing to participate in the act.”
The first two jukeboxes were much smaller and only had two functions, rather than the six today. As the concept grew, so did Goossen’s songbook, which now contains more than 200 songs — including Radio Rose originals, some Beatles, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits as well as tunes in Italian, French, Turkish, Chinese and more.
Goossen says she has to know what the song means when singing in a foreign language, which also helps with learning it. It is almost a meditative process when someone requests a random song.
“My mind goes blank, I let my fingers start doing something and I start the first song that comes to mind,” she says. “Sometimes it can be inspired by the song I did before. It is like having iTunes on shuffle.”
The jukebox is more suitable for performing while traveling, and since Goossen is settled in Taiwan with a tutoring job and a busy musical life with her solo project and multiple bands, she didn’t have a chance to build a new version.
“It’s for this trip to Canada really,” she says, as she plans on operating it throughout her two month trip from Vancouver to her native Manitoba.
But since Goossen went through the trouble of recreating it (even using cloth purchased in Lhasa with a matching outfit), we will likely be seeing more of it in Taiwan after she returns in August.
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