A rare 1880’s sound print, capturing a single tune played by a traveling band of black fiddlers and banjoists at a remote Texas cow-town, was the origin of this haunting work. This musical anomaly lay forgotten in the desert sands of time until the 3hattrio unearthed it and began working to restore its spirit.
This video purports to be a recently discovered film created in 1907 using a Lumière Brothers Cinématographe by an unknown auteur. The contemporary use of glowing screens and projectors traces a lineage back to the magic lanterns of the 1600s. This technology was used to project a phantasmagoria of devils, animated skeletons, spirits and the uncanny. Traveling magicians and showmen adopted this device to create wonders of unseeable worlds. The stage magic of the 19th-century inspired early filmmakers and is the source of our contemporary digital cinema.
“Texas Time Traveler,” is featured on 3hattrio’s 3rd CD “Solitaire.” Edward Bateman designed the album cover and used this music for inspiration as he meticulously restored this video. In its silent version, “Untitled Cinématorgraphe, 1907” was a finalist in the prestigious London-based Lumen Prize.
Animation: Edward Bateman