| D | |
| D'AGOSTINO,
PETER DALO, ROBERTO PACI DARA, OLU DAVIDSON, TINA DAVIES, SHEILA DAVIS, BOB DECSENYI, JANOS DENIO, AMY DEJONG, CONSTANCE DONG, KUI DOVE, TONI DRIZIN, JULIE DUFTY, ALISON DUMAS, CHANTAL DYSON, FRANCES |
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| D'AGOSTINO, PETER | |
| Conundrums
(1990) (13:00) A work reflecting aspects of the paradox of personal
and cultural origins. Weaving together experiences from daily life and
of the mass media, D'Agostino explores the soundscape around us all—its
direct information and subliminal suggestions. Commentary challenges the
assumptions of the listener in tying sound references to particular places.
Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
PETER D'AGOSTINO (Philadelphia, PA) was born in New York City in 1945 and educated at the School of Visual Arts, where he studied painting and sculpture. In the 1970s he began to work with video and video installations. Since that time, he has created works for numerous exhibitions, including the 1981 Whitney Biennial, and the 17th Biennial in Sao Paulo, Brasil, in 1983. Currently an assistant professor in the radio/television/film department, School of Communications and Theater at Temple University, Philadelphia, D'Agostino is widely recognized as one of the most important figures working in the video medium today. top |
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| DALO, ROBERTO PACI | |
| Napoli
(1993) (12:00 excerpt) In spare, deliberate
"snap shots," Napoli explores the sounds of one Italian city: steps and
screams, songs and invocations, a celebration at Mount Vesuvius, traffic
noise. . .At times, the microphone is used as a lens to enlarge acoustical
fragments otherwise almost inaudible. In this way, micro-listening and
macro listening exist side by side, adding to a sense of mystery: An immersion
in the city through the mystery of hearing. Originally produced as an
8 channel sound installation produced for Kunstradio/ORF, Vienna, in collaboration
with Audiobox/RAI, Rome. [Listen]
ROBERTO PACI DALO (Rimini, Italy) A musician, composer, theater playwright and director, Dalo is considered among the most innovative contemporary European clarinetists. His composition Nodas was commissioned and premiered by the Kronos Quartet at the Vienna National Opera in 1993. His radio art works and audio installations have been presented in Austria, Italy, and Germany. top |
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| DARA, OLU | |
| Natchez
to New York (1989)
It's one of those quiet evenings on the front porch in Natchez, Mississippi.
Just crickets, the distant sound of a few cars, and a bluesy song for
harmonica and guitar—as sweet as the sugar shack it talks about.
But there's trouble ahead as Neville, a down-home juke-joint man and Diana,
who pursues a career at New York's Metropolitan Opera, collide. In Neville's
words: "Good Lord woman, send Madam Butterfly back to bed. What's left
to eat? I can't stand no opera on no empty stomach." They sing and fight
and sing and fight until eventually, they go together—from Nachez
to New York. An improvisational work in a fixed form! Commissioned by
NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
OLU DARA is a jazz innovator who has been described as "part band leader, part jazz soloist, part soul singer, and part West African storytelling bard." (Village Voice) Dara leads two New York groups that serve as backdrop to his bluesy humor and upbeat antics: the Okra Orchestra and the Natchezsippi Dance Band. Whether on cornet, harmonica or Tupperware, Dara's philosophy is to keep his approach to music within the traditions he learned as a child in Mississippi. He has recorded and performed with such talents as David Murray, Brian Eno, TaJ Mahal and Nona Hendrix. top |
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| DAVIDSON, TINA | |
| Requiem
for Something Lost(1990)
(7:00) The opening sketch for a larger musical work-in-progress. A child
is being taken up the stairs by an older person. "Although the work is
about some sort of abuse, I am not interested in what will happen but
what is happening. At the given moment there are sounds of ascent: the
dry scratch of the little shoes, the creak of wood, the smooth varnish
of the banister, the gentle insistence of the adult's voice, the nonspecific
reluctance of the child. The moment is one of sadness, loss, and anger."
(Davidson) Requiem for Something Lost is a piece for solo saxophone, multiple
saxophones, and sounds set within a sound environment created by Gregory
Whitehead. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
TINA DAVIDSON (Philadelphia, PA) was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1952 and raised in the United States. She has written for orchestra, mixed instrumental and vocal ensembles, soloists, live performers, and prerecorded tape. Her music has been performed throughout the United States and parts of Europe by many orchestras and ensembles, including the Kronos Quartet, the Relache Ensemble and the Mendelsohn String Quartet. top |
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| DAVIES, SHEILA | |
| The
Opponent's Queen: Detail (1990)
A strategy of moves between two players who are interested in preserving
passion through competition. Speculations, emotions, and philosophies
are developed through meetings and endings as the opponents struggle to
attain their highest forms. (Derived from the epistolary novel, The Opponent's
Queen, written in collaboration with Melody Sumner Carnahan.) Created
especially for NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen]
What Is the Matter in Amy Glennon? (1989) "A magnificent postmodern alchemical opus, the story of Amy Glennon who faces the dark ground of herself and thereby transmutes her bitterness into wisdom, who unites her matter and mind, and who redeems a human soul from the body of a putrefying snake—all toward the fruitful marriage of pure science and mythological philosophy." (from the work) Winner of a Special Commendation at the 1991 PRIX FUTURA Berlin. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] SHEILA DAVIES (Berkeley, CA) Sheila Davies studied short story writing at the University of Oregon, San Francisco State University, and Mills College. She is a past member of the vocal trio Girls Looking for Husbands. Her work as an experimental writer, singer, and radio producer has been aired on KPFA-FM (Berkeley), and through National Public Radio. Together with her husband, graphic designer Patrick Sumner, Davies also created One of One (Burning Books), an art book in magazine form. She has completed two works for New American Radio: What Is the Matter in Amy Glennon? (1989) and The Opponent's Queen: Detail (1990). After an eleven year break (1991-2002), Davies is now beginning new work in fiction and memoir. top |
|
| DAVIS, BOB | |
| See Allyn, Jerri, "American Dining: A Working Woman's Moment"; and Earwax Productions' "Bloody Angle," and "Ecomania, Parts 1 and 2."top | |
| DECSENYI, JANOS | |
| Birds
of the Cathedral (1993)
(14:10) A musical exploration of man's relationship to birds. Specifically,
it deals with the age-old connection between those birds living in the
vicinity of the Budapest cathedral and the human inhabitants of the city.
The two basic sound layers are sounds from the world of man and from the
world of birds. They can be heard separately from each other, entwining
and "rhyming" with each other, and contrasting each other. Ultimately,
with the help of computer programs, they are transformed and completed
in a synthetic world of sounds. Produced for Magyar Radio. Is It Better To Leave With The Cranes? (1998) is a symphony composed of sounds and music from Hortibagy, the Hungarian Plains or Pussta. A work from the multi-part series "Hungarian Soundscapes" produced by Hungarian Radio, it is deeply rooted in the composer's cultural heritage and personal experience: "I spent many hours at Hortobagy, in the silence of people, animals and lakes - paying close attention to the constantly blowing wind, the pounding of hooves, and the screaming of migratory birds ... " (the artist). The sound materials recorded on the Pussta are supplemented with Hungarian folk songs, violin tunes and a 16th century verse-chronicle and composed into soundscapes of great suggestive power. JANOS DECSENYI (Budapest, Hungary) is a composer whose interests cover a wide range of musical ground. He has composed symphonic and chamber music, chorales, film music, electroacoustic music and incidental music for radio and theater. Since 1951 he has been on the staff of Magyar Radio, Budapest. Among his many awards are the Erkel Prize (1975), the prize of the Hungarian critics (1981 and 1991) and Honored Artist (1986). top |
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| DENIO, AMY | |
|
The
Seattle Sound (1994)
(14:20) "When I was asked to do a segment for AUDIOBOX/ RAI, Italy, with
a special theme, I decided to work with the cliché "The Seattle
Sound." There is so much hype and media attention given to the music,
fashion, and "Generation X" attitude coming from the grunge phenomenon
in Seattle. But Seattle has many other subcultures and forms of expression
from the streets. . .So one day, I took my tape recorder and walked around
. . .I found many natural rhythms and interesting tones in the streets,
and so I constructed a piece of "music concrète". . .To complete
the work, I composed and played music on alto saxophone, accordion, percussion,
guitar, bass guitar, voice, and Celtic harp." (the artist)
AMY DENIO (Seattle, WA) is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer. A founding member of the rock groups Tone Dogs and Nudes (with Chris Cutler and Wadi Gysi), she regularly tours with the all-female Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet. Denio also composes for theater, dance, cinema, and television. top |
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| DEJONG, CONSTANCE | |
| Vanishing
Act II (1993)
(10:00) With sound design by Brenda Hutchinson. A woman journeys from
the inner city to the country—to return a lost pet to its eighty-four-year-old
owner, Alice. A journey through memories takes place as Alice searches
among her possessions for an appropriate reward. Her voice and the sounds
that accompany memory bring life to a collection of inanimate objects.
Their invisible pasts and unseen meanings, good and bad, are released
like genies from the lamp. Co commissioned by Harvestworks, Inc., the
Wexner Center for the Arts, and NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
CONSTANCE DEJONG (New York) is an award-winning author who has made performance a natural extension of her writing. Since 1977 she has toured extensively in the U.S., Canada, and Europe presenting oral adaptations of her texts. She was the librettist for the Philip Glass opera Satyagraha and has recently collaborated on several video works. top |
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| DONG, KUI | |
| Flying
Apples (1995)
(10:10) An algorithmic composition that takes the listener into the colorful,
playful, and fantastic realm of an unfinished childhood dream. Programmed
in Small-talk language, using extremely nested patterns based on a repeated
three-note motive, the work was completed on newly developed software
operating on a Mac workstation at the Computer Center of Research in Music
and Acoustic, Stanford University. [Listen]
KUI DONG was born in Beijing, China. Her compositions and commissions include a 3-act ballet for orchestra, chamber works, and works for Electronic-acoustics. Between 1988 and 1993 she also produced a number of scores for Chinese film and television. Kui Dong has received performances from Other Minds Music Festival, Bonk Festival, Festival Synthèse 99, Bourges, France, Composers Inc. (SF), Pacific Contemporary Music Festival (LA), Alea III (Boston), Central Ballet of China, Music From China Inc., The New York New Music Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Earplay, Windsor Symphony (Canada), Society of Composers Inc. (Miami), Soundbox 2.0, Beijing Dance Institute, Meridian Gallery (SF), Visual Symbols (SJ), LIMP (Argentina), among others. Her music has been broadcast on KPFA, New Radio Performing Art Inc., (New York) and the European Broadcast Union and among others. Her honors include first prizes from 1994 Alea III International Composition Prize, Boston, National Art Song Competition, Beijing, National Dance Music Competition (Beijing), Diploma of 1999 International Competitions of the Val Tidone for Composer, Italy, Honorary mention at Ars Electronica (1996), as well as awards from The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust Commissioning award (1999-2000) Meet The Composer/USA Commissioning Award (1997-98), Dickey Foundation (1998), ASCAP (1995), the Djaressi Foundation for Art (1995), Santa Clara Art Council (1995), Asia-Pacific National Fund (1993). She has been to Djaressi artist residency program and will be in Bellagio this summer. She is currently writing a few chamber works for pianist Sarah Cahill, Dale Singers and Music from China as well as performing with Larry Polansky and Christian Wolff. Kui Dong is an Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College. top |
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| DOVE, TONI | |
| Mesmer—Secrets
of the Human Frame (1991)
Both abstract and sensual, sci-fi and reality, Mesmer traces the way we
construct human identity and subjectivity, and reflects the images we
have created of our relationship to technology: "There was a story to
tell, and the story was about the century we're about to exit. It starts
with Thomas Edison, the birth of cinema, the phonograph. With Freud and
psychoanalysis. With the gothic novel and the Industrial Revolution. And
the story is about how we changed as the century changed. This story is
about building an Android." (from the work) With a soundtrack by the artist
composed entirely from electronically processed vocal sound. Commissioned
by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
The Blessed Abyss—A Tale of Unmanageable Ecstasies (1991) A composition that began with the idea of the popular song as a story or narrative of romantic love. "I then started applying one of my favorite themes to the topic: our changing social constructions of identity in an era of transition (technological revolution) and the dialectic between private intention and social narrative." (Dove) The result: a sensual and powerful series of narrative songs that deal with desire and repression and the return of the repressed in the form of excesses and ecstasies. Composed from a variety of texts— ecstatic Persian poetry, erotic literature, snips of film dialogue, excerpts from nineteenth-century American writings on sexual and social mores, and lyrics from opera and contemporary song—The Blessed Abyss includes a duet between "Repression" and "Desire," and a polyvocal chorus of "Rapture and Ecstasy." Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] TONI DOVE (New York, NY), originally from Boston, began her career as a painter. In the 1980s she started to work with electronic media—visual and audio. Her credits include one-person exhibits in San Francisco and Brookline, Massachusetts; group exhibits at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, and the David Adamson Gallery in Washington, D.C. Her first major radio work, Mesmer was originally presented in 1990 as an installation in Brooklyn, New York, commissioned by Creative Time, Inc. for Art in the Anchorage. top |
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| DRIZIN, JULIE | |
| After Roe
(1992) A blend of documentary and fiction,
in which everything is true and false, credible and incredible, real and
imagined. The work explores the social and cultural consequences of the
criminalizing of abortion in America. It not only looks back at life before
Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion, but projects itself forward into an imaginary
near future when the U.S. once again denies women the right to legal abortion.
Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen]
JULIE DRIZIN (Washington, DC) has been producing news and information programming for public radio for 18 years. Her most recent position was Senior Producer of NPR's Justice Talking (www.justicetalking.org). Prior to that, Julie was the Bureau Chief and Executive Producer of National Programming at Pacifica Radio (www.pacifica.org) in Washington, D.C. where she launched the award-winning Democracy Now! (www.democracynow.org) a daily public affairs and investigative journalism program which was named in the April 11, 1999 New York Times Magazine as "Talk radio worth talking about." She started her radio career at WXPN in Philadelphia. (11/03) top |
|
| DUFTY, ALISON | |
| Killing
the Cat (1990) (10:00) A sound story about
Dufty's family's contradictory history of one-upsmanship and secrecy about
disease, and the endless battle of choosing to act or flee when faced
with the necessity of decision. The title refers to the culminating moment
in one week of Dufty's life, when, in the space of a few days "I got mugged,
then attacked, and then discovered that my mother had an incurable cancer,
her secret. After an all-night drive to confront her, and just a few miles
before arriving, I ran over a cat. Stopping, I sat in the darkness next
to it, waiting for it to die." (Dufty) Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
ALLISON DUFTY (San Francisco, CA) received her B.A. in English with honors from Temple University, Philadelphia. She is the president and founder of Talk/Story Productions, and has supported a habit in radio as a waitress (retired), fashion model, and radio feature reporter/producer for Philadelphia station, WHYY-FM and the nationally syndicated public radio program, Fresh Air. Dufty is currently with San Franciso's Magic Theater. top |
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| DUMAS, CHANTAL | |
| Les frontieres (14:25) (1996/97) is part 3 of Dumas' radio art trilogy "The Perfume of Women" commissioned by the German radio stations, SFB and DeutschlandRadio, Berlin. At a time when globalization takes hold of economics and communications, the geopolitical frontiers are shut tight. From the point of view of migrants, borders are not stopping and crossing points anymore, but fortresses. This piece offers migrant perspectives from four countries: Germany, Algeria, Switzerland, and Mexico. CHANTAL DUMAS (Montreal, Canada) was born in 1959. After her musical studies, she took part in the promotion of new music by organizing concerts and presenting shows as a freelance journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and on community radios in Montreal. In 1993, she began her career as a radio artist, creating commissioned work for public radio in Germany and France that have been presented throughout Europe. Her most recent awards includes first prize in the 1997 HEAR festival sponsored by Hungarian Radio. |
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| DYSON, FRANCES | |
| The
Logic of Waste (1990)
How does Japan dispose of the tremendous amount of waste its gift wrapping
tradition creates? What proposals have been developed in the Soviet Union
to eliminate nuclear missiles? And what methods seem to help Anglo-Saxon
middle-class Canberra, Australia deal with the uncomfortable culture of
its Hispanic immigrants? These questions are pursued in this audio-art
documentary with remarkable subtlety and intelligence. Commissioned by
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. [Listen]
Voices Lost and Calling (1989) A highly original and intriguing radio art suspense story. It opens with a woman friend telling the narrator that she'd been hearing voices in the middle of the night but that no one was there, and that she had the uncanny feeling that it was she herself who was speaking, but in a voice not her own. The narrator does not know how to respond and is relieved when the telephone rings. But as soon as she picks up the phone the call is terminated. More terminated calls follow. "Voices without bodies. Calls without callers. I had the impression of a massive but anonymous switchboard dialing in, perhaps to check on my continued existence." Will she be able to listen and thus be truly "called"? Who is the voiceless caller from the other side? Commissioned by The Listening Room, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. [Listen] FRANCES DYSON (Davis, CA) is a writer, media artist and associate professor in Techno-Cultural Studies at the University of California at Davis. Her writing has been published nationally and internationally, with book chapters in Catherine Richards - Excitable Tissues (Ottawa Art Gallery); Uncertain Ground, (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales) 2000, The Virtual Dimension: Architecture, Representation, and Crash Culture, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press)1998, and Immersed in Technology (Massachusetts: MIT Press) 1996; and articles in journals such as Les Cahiers de L’Herne, (forthcoming) Circa, Leonardo Music Journal, Artbyte and World Art. She was recently awarded a Researcher in Residence from the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology for 2004-5. Dyson has exhibited installation/performance works in the US, Canada, Japan and Australia and for over a decade has been a regular contributor to Australia’s premier audio arts program, The Listening Room (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), where she recently completed Fur and Sheen – an experimental fictional series based in the near future, comprising “Static”, “Drift” and “Sheen”. She currently serves on the board of Davis Community Television and is active in community media projects.top |
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| E | |
| EARWAX
PRODUCTIONS ECKERT, RINDE EGLOFF, CHRISTINA ERICKSON, STEPHEN |
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| EARWAX PRODUCTIONS | |
| Audiographs:
Songs from the Tenderloin (1987)
Barney Jones, Marcos Kounilakis, and Jim McKee. Condensed and dramatized
portraits of people living on the streets of San Francisco. Recorded interviews
form the basis of this work, but interviews set in alternating environments:
in the street and within a musical score. In the music, the edited and
repeated voices become part of the rhythm: recurring beats that intensify
the toughness and tenderness of the people's reflections— the pain,
humor, and ethics that govern their lives. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN
RADIO. [Listen]
Bloody Angle (1990) Bob Davis with Naut Humon. On 5 May 1864 Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant commenced a bloody and relentless struggle that would finally end eleven moths later at Appomattox Court House. The climactic point was reached on 12 May at the Bloody Angle, where the longest sustained hand-to-hand combat in recorded history was fought. In 1989 the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park sponsored a series of lectures, tours, and symposia in commemoration of the battle. Naut Humon, leader of the industrial culture band Rhythm and Noise, attended and recorded these events. With sound designer Bob Davis, he created an astounding, larger-than-life acoustic spectacle that echoes the inhuman mania of war. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. Ecomania, Parts 1 and 2 (1992) Barney Jones and Bob Davis with students from the Redwood High School's Ensemble Theater. Addresses the complicated and controversial issue of commercial logging in Northern California, its long-term effects on the communities involved and the planet. Students from the Ensemble Theater Company conducted numerous interviews with members of lumber companies in Arcata and Eureka, California, with loggers, housewives, protesters, business people, Earth Firsters, hippies and foresters, as well as recording their own impressions of the people and the area. They then made the material into a stage play excerpts of which are woven into this documentary. Ecomania is musical, dramatic and informative, and takes an open-minded approach to its subject matter. Metal—Views from the Karamozov Vista (1989) Jim McKee with Andy Newell. A curious, sympathetic glimpse into the heavy metal music industry and its social environment: the music, the artists, the producers, the fans, the parents, the opposition. Meet Sandy Pearlman who coined the term Heavy Metal. Listen to bands like "Exodus" and musicians like Joe Satriani. Hear what Debbie Abonos, at sixty-four the oldest female roady in the business, has to say. Never mind you don't like the music and you're strictly anti-violence, anti-Satanic cult, anti-Nazi cult. Metal offers some unexpected observations and is presented with a remarkably artistic/digital touch. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] Virtual Paradise—The Reality Tape (1992-93) With David Lawrence. An exciting production created in the spirit of the technology it focuses on. Virtual Paradise examines the ideas, issues, and attitudes that currently surround virtual reality. As this technology evolves, it brings with it the potential for redefining our most basic assumptions about media, experience, and reality. Virtual Paradise features many voices recorded at Cyberthon, a 24-hour virtual reality event presented by Whole Earth Institute in 1990. It also includes interviews with such visionaries as science-fiction author William Gibson, VR architect Jaron Lanier, artificial reality pioneer Myron Krueger, and Timothy Leary—all intercut with music and sound effects and shaped into a highly entertaining and insightful "virtual" tape composition. Virtual Paradise was the winner of the 1994 AIR Award for Innovation and Excellence. Production assistance by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] Wake for Tom (1991) A follow-up on Audiographs—Songs from the Tenderloin created in 1987. Using the techniques developed for the earlier work, Wake for Tom takes interviews with people living on the streets of San Francisco and sets them in alternating environments: in the street and within a musical score. It explores the lives of the same close-knit group of alcoholic panhandlers. Many have died in the intervening four years, including Tom Scanlon, one of the principal voices in the earlier work. Interviews with him made just before his death are intercut with interviews with his friends and with the professionals whose job it is to deal with the death of indigents. A moving continuation of a sad, humorous, and virtually untold story about America's homeless. Barney Jones and Jim McKee are the producers. [Listen] EARWAX PRODUCTIONS, an award-winning sound design facility in San Francisco, founded in 1984, produces original sound design and music for all media. In addition, it offers a wide array of professional recording studio services (recording booth, CD mastering, audio clean-up, voice editing, etc.). Its group of designers and composers, along with the company's owners, Barney Jones and Jim McKee, work in film, television, radio, multimedia, as well as design/provide audio for tours, museum and theme park installations, toys and electronics, and the Internet. Their projects range from major Hollywood features to educational CD-ROMs, and from online cartoon episodes to interactive museum installations. Earwax Productions Inc. was voted best sound design team in San Francisco and has won honors in The Bay Area Critics Circle awards, Northern California Broadcasters, Association of Independents in Radio, as well as the Academy Award for Francis Ford Coppola's production of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Composers/Sound Designers/Engineers: BOB DAVIS (San Francisco, CA) has worked as a composer and musical director with San Francisco-based SOON 3 Theater since 1980; during 1982-83 he was sound engineer for over seventy-five performances of Laurie Anderson's "United States." Davis has also collaborated with dancers Karen Epperlein, poet G.P. Skratz, and cartoonist Dori Seda. BARNEY JONES (San Francisco, CA) is a composer and sound designer, and a partner in Earwax Productions. He is also a conductor. For over fifteen years he has been the principal conductor of the Chicago Light Opera Works. He has produced numerous radio dramas for public radio, including the Sheila Davies production, What Is the Matter in Amy Glennon? for New American Radio. JIM MCKEE (San Francisco, CA), a partner in Earwax Productions of San Francisco, is a composer and sound designer. He worked on such Antenna Theater productions as Amnesia and Russia, which were presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's "Next Wave" festival. McKee has also worked on many large-scale radio drama productions with Eric Bauersfeld for KPFA, Berkeley, and National Public Radio. ANDY NEWELL (San Francisco, CA), a visiting professor of composition at the University of Illinois for three years, and the producer of several rock groups in the Chicago area, is also one of Earwax's principal composer/ producers. He has recently completed work for Apple's Multi Media Group, and a new song demo with singer/writer Sheila Riley. Collaborators: NAUT HUMON (San Francisco, CA) collaborator: Bloody Angle. The leader of Rhythm and Noise, an industrial culture band featuring a combination of state of the arts technology and original percussion creations. R&N works to understand the harmonics of noise as well as its dissonance. Their live performances are startlingly grand in gesture: big dissonant sounds and a choreography in which every movement is related directly to the production of the sounds. DAVID H. LAWRENCE (San Francisco, CA), collaborator Virtual Paradise—The Reality Tape. Lawrence is an independent designer and producer. From 1986-88 he worked with the San Francisco-based Lukas Film Education Group in interactive media. He also produced a series of interactive video discs that teach American history (Geography Society), and produced The Mystery of the Disappearing Ducks (for the Audubon Society). In 1991 Lawrence was an Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco's Exploratorium. top |
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| ECKERT, RINDE | |
| Cold
War Diary (1990) A thought-travelogue.
Somewhere in Europe a woman stands at her hotel window. She looks out
over a public square, contemplates the monuments, writes mental postcards,
and more importantly, asks about a person apparently missing. An intriguing
blend of new music/audio art and performance. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN
RADIO. [Listen]
Four Songs Lost in a Wall (1995) An elaborate multi-vocal and instrumental piece based on the story of the famous eighteenth century castrate Carlo Broschi Farinelli. In 1737 Farinelli was commissioned by King Philip V of Spain to sing the same four songs every night. Philip reigned nine years thereafter! Four Songs Lost in a Wall evolves around the repetition and evolution of those songs, ranging from the sentimental ballad to aria to contrapuntal choral arrangements to processed voice overlays. The piece focuses on Eckert's own exquisite falsetto voice, which over the years has become a major aspect of his musical life. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] Shoot the Moving Things (1987-89) The story of an early morning hunting trip, told by the artist using electronic voice manipulations, evocative sound, and his exceptional singing voice. The music is Eckert's own—original new age, rap, rock, and country gospel. It drives his narrative along giving intensity and passion to its unfolding. Shoot the Moving Things was created for Soundings (KPFK-FM, Los Angeles, Jacki Apple host) and High Performance in 1987 and reworked in 1989 especially for NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] RINDE ECKERT (Santa Monica, CA) Rinde Eckert is a singer, writer, composer, actor, and director known internationally for the remarkable flexibility and inventiveness of his singing voice. His solo pieces and collaborations with other composers, dancers, and musicians have been performed throughout North America and abroad. Long celebrated for his performances in multimedia with the Paul Dresher Ensemble and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, his more recent work as a solo artist has won him wide acclaim. Described as "the most exciting performance artist this writer has encountered since the early days of Laurie Anderson" by John Rockwell, critic for the New York Times, Eckert's musical approach transcends stylistic pigeonholes. He is a classically trained singer who has expanded his vocabulary to reflect a wide range of contemporary musical styles. This modern treatment of a variety of vernacular and classical music straddles the boundary between the time-honored and the new, the mysterious and the familiar, taking the listener on an uncommonly fascinating journey. top |
|
| EGLOFF, CHRISTINA | |
| See Allison, Jay, "Hide and Seek," "Killer Whales," and "Noah's Ark." top | |
| ERICKSON, STEPHEN | |
| Brick
Bread Oven (1989)
Quality bread, the product of an old world craft is a commodity much sought
after by today's health-conscious new world consumers. But what of the
way it is made? What of the brick oven in which it is baked. Tucked away
in the tenement basements in New York's lower Manhattan, the brick bread
oven is still the heart of some small bakeries. This work presents a night
and day in the life of a 100-year-old coal-fired oven in one of these
family businesses. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
STEPHEN ERICKSON is a radio producer, sound recordist, and audio engineer. For ten years he has produced news, features, documentaries, drama, sound installations and books-on-tape. Among his most notable documentary productions for radio are two works for the series, The Territory of Art: Radiowaves and The Exile of Breyten Brextenbach. Erickson has also collaborated with award-winning playwright/composer Elisabeth Swados on the radio production of Jerusalem, an oratorio for twenty voices and percussion. His work, The Undead, recently won a Special Commendation at the 1995 PRIX FUTURA Berlin. Erickson now works in New York City and in Berlin, Germany, where he has audio studios. top |
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| F | |
| FAARBORG, INGE FAHEY, SHANE FANATIC FNT-CORA FORNES, MARIE IRENE |
|
| FAARBORG, INGE | |
| Ponte Del Molino (10:50) (1997), with Inge Faarborg, tells of the destruction of a bridge near Naleppa's house in Italy during a flood and its subsequent reconstruction. The work is also a reflection on bridges build between people and on their destruction. With brief texts in German, English and Danish, and with the sounds of the river Prino in Liguria, Italy. Preceded by a brief interview (in English) with Naleppa. INGE FAARBORG (Copenhagen, Denmark) is a staff editor at the radio drama department at Danish Radio. She is a member of the group overseeing the recently established radio art series at her station. GOETZ NALEPPA (Berlin, Germany) has been a freelance radio playwright and director as well as a staff editor at the radio drama department of DeutschlandRadio Berlin (formerly RIAS Berlin) for many years. |
|
| FAHEY, SHANE | |
| See Rue, Rik, "The World Behind You." top | |
| FANATIC | |
| Opera
(1987) A long-form musical work, composed
of such operatic elements as arias and choral presentations. But a FANATIC
opera is not a traditional opera. Imagine a dense bassey, enveloping fabric
of industrial sounds with patterns of whispering, non-narrative singing,
utterances, jingling keys, seagulls' cries, boat horns, and the passionate
statements of Jon Rose's home-made violin-like instruments. A fascinating
meditation for radio! [Listen]
FANATIC (Holland) is an art ensemble composed of Willem de Ridder, Cora de Ridder, Hessel and Nicole Veldman, and visiting friends. De Ridder is known for his unconventional approach to radio. Since 1972 he has developed a number of different forms of interactive Transmission Art for official and illegal radio stations. A 3-hour nighttime program for listeners willing to follow instructions put thousands of cars on the road headed for an unknown destination as part of the denouement of a radio theater play. Together with the members of FANATIC, he produces ritual concerts, audio cassettes for Walkman Theater, alternative Museum and City Walks; one-of-a-kind pieces like the different lip-sync soundtrack for "Dynasty"; and All Chemix Radio, a series of free-form plays recorded in real time. top |
|
| FNT-CORA | |
| Kali
(1989) An unusual sonic meditation.
Kali invokes the Hindu goddess associated with death, destruction, and
disease. Though often represented as a terrifying monster, garlanded with
skulls and bearing a bloody sword in one of her many arms, Kali is also
worshipped by many as Mata, the Divine Mother. Kali was originally produced
for the All Chemix Radio Series at the Radio Art Foundation in Amsterdam,
Holland.
FNT-CORA, the Dutch improvisational radio art ensemble is composed of Nicole and Hessel Veldman, Cora and Willam de Ridder, Andrew McKenzie, and Ben Uijtjens. (see FANATIC) top |
|
| FORNES, MARIE IRENE | |
| Hunger
(1989) A poignant chronicle of the dehumanizing process that accompanies
homelessness. Told through the lives of four people—two men and two
women, related by blood and family ties -- who with every reason to expect
more of their lives find themselves together in a city shelter. Fornes's
language and direction convey the slow withering away of energy; the loss
of memory and personality that afflict the homeless. Hunger is a work
of stark realism—an intensely quiet work from one whom Susan Sontag
has described as "conducting with exemplary tenacity and scrupulousness
a unique career in the American theater." Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN
RADIO. [Listen]
Cuban-born MARIA IRENE FORNES (New York, NY) is one of America's most distinguished playwrights. The author of more than two dozen works for the stage, Fornes has received six Obie awards in recognition of her sustained achievement in the theater. Hunger, her first radio work, was adapted by the author from a larger theater piece dealing with the same family in three different epochs. top |
|
| FOWLER, BRUCE | |
| See Apple, Jacki, "The Amazon." top | |
| G | |
| GALÁS,
DIAMANDA GAUTHIER, MARIO GILL, JOSEPH P. GOLDING, BARRETT GOMEZ-PENA, GUILLERMO GRESHAM-LANCASTER, SCOT GRIMES, EV |
|
| GALÁS, DIAMANDA | |
| Schrei
27 (1994)
Consists of several short performances over the space of twenty-seven
minutes alternating extreme high-energy vocal work with absolute silence.
The performances are chapters of a confession which might have been induced
through a chemical or mechanical manipulation of the brain. There is a
high density of speech-sound over time which is often machine-like in
its velocity. The work employs the atypical speech and vocal signal processing
that Galas has been researching since 1979. A co commission of the Walker
Art Center (Minneapolis) and NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen]
DIAMANDA GALÁS (New York, NY) "She plays the piano like driving rain slapping on concrete, and she sings like a demon going to war, a valkyrie scatting, a lizard queen seeking revenge for the dead..Galás is profound, rigorous, vocally unlimited, terrifying and utterly compelling. To hear her is to have your soul scoured clean." Diamanda Galás is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, pianist, composer and poet. Raised in San Diego, California, she was born to Greek Orthodox parents who always encouraged her gift for piano. She studied a wide range of musical forms, as well as visual-art performance, and then moved to Europe where she made her performance debut at the Festival d'Avignon in France in 1979. Galás' numerous musical and theatrical works include the pivotal "Plague Mass" (1990), a haunting mass for People with Aids, "Vena Cava"(1992), the solo voice and electronic work concerning AIDS dementia and clinical depression, Schrei 27 (1996), which deals with torture in isolation, She is currently working on the composition and commissioning of the opera "Nekropolis." top |
|
| GAUTHIER, MARIO | |
| Ouverture
No. 1 (1994) (4:00) Realized as
a teaser for a series of French radio dramas on Societe Radio-Canada.
Out-takes from studio recordings, the voices of various announcers, fragments
from drama productions, are mixed into an expressive and musical minidrama
that, while conceived as a way of getting listeners interested in an actual
drama series, can easily stand on its own. (#41,95 with Jovanovic and
Zwedberg)
MARIO GAUTHIER Biography unavailable. top |
|
| GILL, JOSEPH P. | |
| Come
Straight (1989)
With Progressive Life Center, Inc. This radio play provides a glimpse
into the psyche of drug-involved black youth. It explores the drives,
motives, and social rewards that precondition illicit activity and alienate
these young people from traditional support systems. The work develops
on three interlocking levels: a radio news broadcast presents factual
information; dramatic scenes reveal the attitudes and activities of dealing
teenagers; and a real-life interview with a young man who was a dealer
and whose best friend was shot by another drug dealer brings the terrible
truth of drug dealing home. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
The Force (1990) A look at student activism in the nineties from an Afro centric point of view. A creative documentary, the work focuses on Black NiaForce, a freedom organization for racial and cultural enlightenment that grew out of the efforts of students like Ras Baraka, the son of poet Amiri Baraka, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Uncomfortable with the apathy of Howard students they organized themselves to share their knowledge and to re-educate themselves and their fellow students in pursuit of liberation for black people worldwide. Producer Joe Gill, himself a Howard graduate, returned to Howard to take a close look at this group and to become a part of its on-going effort. Gill's production is a vivid picture of concerned brothers and sisters preparing to take an active role in the shaping of their country's future. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. JOSEPH P. GILL, a native Washingtonian, received his Bachelor of Arts in Broadcasting Production from Howard University's School of Communications. While at Howard he served as production assistant on three radio plays produced by Judi Moore Lata. Gill also interned for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and did freelance sound gathering for the program Crossroads. PROGRESSIVE LIFE CENTER, collaborator Come Straight. A private, minority-owned facility for mental health services in Washington, D.C. top |
|
| GOLDING, BARRETT | |
| Dreamtime
(1994) unfolds as a collaged narrative teeming with themes, drama,
comedy, and possibility: A woman makes love to a whale—a man listens
to the heartbeat of the world on a mountain top through a giant stethoscope—a
dead father appears to his son pleading for communication. . .Evocative
descriptions combine with reflections on dreams, and with original music
that invite the listener into a "dreamscape" that is both real and surreal,
insightful and entertaining.
BARRETT GOLDING (Bozeman, MT) is a producer of documentary features and audio art. His work regularly airs on both National Public Radio and Public Radio International. Golding has received production awards and grants from various organizations, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Montana Broadcasting Association, and Harvestworks/Studio PASS, New York City. top |
|
| GOMEZ-PENA, GUILLERMO | |
| I
Don't Speak English Only, Vato! (1995)
Challenges the notion of English as the official language of the United
States, in light of the growing population of Spanish speakers and the
xenophobic backlash against bilingualism. Artists Guillermo Gomez-Pena,
Sergio Arau, Yareli Arizmendi, Betto Arcos and Ellen Klaver humorously
criticize the easy "love for the exotic" tendencies of American society,
and its rejection of otherness and complexity when it appears to threaten
U.S. values and culture. [Listen]
Menage à Trade (1994) With radio journalist Betto Arcos and Yareli Arizmendi, Sergio Arau, Mireille Perron and others. An experimental multilingual radio program created in response to the increasing economic and cultural ties between Mexico, the United States and Canada in the wake of the North America Free Trade Agreement. Humorous, satirical and a critical exploration of culture, language, and nationality, it questions the real issues before us in NAFTA: cultural homogenization, economic dependency and human displacement. [Listen] NAFTAZTEC (1994) A bilingual work on NAFTA produced in the tradition of Gomez-Pena's radio performance interventions. Taped live at KPFK-FM, Los Angeles, during Jacki Apple's weekly show, Soundings, especially for NEW AMERICAN RADIO. Temple of Confessions (1995) Documents the performance installation series by Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Roberto Sifuentes. Radio journalist and producer Betto Arcos and soundscape composer Rona Michelle join the end-of-the-century Santos in their exposure of America's obsession with public and private confessions. Participants reveal their most intimate feelings, fantasies and memories of Mexico, Mexicans, and Chicanos. GUILLERMO GOMEZ-PENA (San Diego, CA/Tijuana, Mexico) is a performance artist and writer. He was born in Mexico and arrived in the US in 1978. Since then he has investigated border culture and trans-cultural identity. Through journalism, performance, radio, video, poetry and installations he has explored the relationship between Latinos and the US. From 1984 to 1990 he founded and participated in the "Border Arts Workshop", and contributed to the national radio program "Crossroads." He was one of the editors of "High Performance" magazine and the "Drama Review." He has received the Prix de la Parole at the International Theatre Festival of the Americas (1989), the Bessie prize in New York (1989) and a MacArthur Fellowship (1991), among other awards. He is author of the book "Warrior for Gringostroika" published by Graywolf Press in 1993 and "The New World Border" (1996), which received the American Book Award, and “Mexican Beasts and Living Santos” (1997) Collaborators: BETTO ARCOS (Los Angeles, CA) Co-producer, I Don't Speak English Only, Vato!, Menage-a-Trade, and Temple of Confessions. A border crosser since 1977, Arcos crossed into the United States in 1985 and lived in Colorado until March 1995. He makes a (difficult) living as a freelance radio producer, as a regular contributor to NPR's Latino USA and Radio Bilingue's Noticiero Latino. In 1986 he began producing a weekly bilingual program on KGNU-FM (Boulder, Colorado). In 1993 he received a degree from the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado. In 1994 he began producing radio programs with Guillermo Gomez-Pena, including the satirical work on the North American Free Trade Agreement, Menage-a-Trade, which received a 1995 Golden Reel Award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters for best radio drama production. RONA MICHELE (San Francisco, CA) Soundscape composer for Temple of Confessions. A soundscape composer and co-founder of Michele-Shine Media in San Francisco, Michele received a B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston in 1987 with a major in painting and computer generated music. She taught at the Montrose School in Westwood, Massachusetts, where she was head of the arts department, before moving to San Francisco in 1980. She has collaborated with such groups and artists as Earwax Productions, Elbows Akimbo, Chris Shine, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena developing works for theater, radio, film and video. Her recent works include presentations at Mobius (Boston), Theater Artaud and the Magic Theater (San Francisco). Michel-Shine Media is currently working on a series of performance installations that are meditations on interactivity. Michele is also designing sound for an upcoming production at the Magic Theater. ROBERTO SIFUENTES (New York, NY) Co-writer and co-director, Temples of Confessions. An interdisciplinary artist originally from Los Angeles, Sifuentes utilizes performance and installation. He has performed and exhibited in Santa Fe, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, and New York, as well as in Mexico and Canada. He recently completed his participation in a bi-national project "Terreno Peligroso/Danger Zone," a month-long exchange of performance art and ideas that took place in Los Angeles and Mexico City between U.S. Latino and Mexican performance artists. top |
|
| GOYETTE, MARIE | |
|
See Carnahan, Melody Sumner, "Manananggal." top |
|
| GRESHAM-LANCASTER, SCOT | |
| Times
Remembered (1995)
A non-narrative sound-music journey that evokes an idea Blue Gene Tierny
once introduced the artist to: that music derives from a memory of place.
The harmonic structure of the work comes directly from the spectrum of
the original environmental sound sources. All musical materials are resonant
chords based on that spectrum. Harmonically based on the beautiful chromatic
Bill Evan's ballad "Time Remembered," Times Remembered then creates an
artistic bridge between sound and music.
SCOT GRESHAM-LANCASTER (Oakland, CA) has been active in electronic and acoustic music for over twenty years. A composer, performer, and instrument designer, he has performed with Alvin Curran, John Zorn, and John Cage, and worked as a technical assistant to Iannis Xenakis, David Tudor, and Pauline Oliveros among others. Gresham-Lancaster is a founding member of the interactive computer music network band, the HUB. He has been a composer-in-residence at Mills College and at STEIM, Amsterdam, and a recipient of a fellowship from the Djerassi Residence Artist Program (Woodside, CA). Gresham-Lancaster is currently a lecturer in computer and music studies at California State University at Hayward. top |
|
| GRIMES, EV | |
| Sic
Transit Gloria Bossie (Thus
Passes the Glory of Bossie) (1989) Something "udder" for the "Moo American
Radio" series as the producer takes on the cow fad that has swept her
native Vermont. A hilarious fast paced collage of cow jokes, cow limericks,
stories about the cow in Vermont folklore, the sounds of a mooing contest,
with interviews with cow artist and marketer, Woody Jackson, and psycho-therapist
Dr. Michael Watson, Vermont's cow trivia expert Dan Connor, and, of course,
statements by "the girls" themselves. Consider it a charming high-tech
vacation for the mind with an underlying note of sadness as it becomes
clear that fads like this derive part of their meaning from a sense of
loss. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
EV GRIMES is an independent radio producer whose programs have won ten national and international awards. In 1988 she received the American Women in Radio and Television's top award for her cultural documentary Ruth Crawford Seeger: An American Music Maker, and she received an Armstrong Award for a program on composer Lou Harrison. Grimes is currently working on projects for the International League of Women Composers and the National Gardening Association. top |
|
| H | |
| HAINES,
JULIA HARRIS, LORELEI HASTINGS, CHRISTOPHER HAUTA-AHO, TEPPO HEBEL, MARTIN D. HERSKOVICS, ISABELLA HIRSCH, SHELLEY HLAVAC, TED HODIAN, JOHN HUHTAMAKI, HARRI HUTCHINSON, BRENDA |
|
| HAINES, JULIA | |
| Earthwork
(1990) (10:00) Made up of the first
two pieces of a larger song cycle-in-progress, exploring sounds, songs,
commentary and concern about contemporary environmental consciousness.
Part 1: Voices of Young People is filled with the vitality of children
and young adults enthusiastic in their knowledge and urgent in their search
for solutions. In Part 2: The careful reflection of the Voices of the
Elders serves as a reminder of our interdependency. A multi-layered fabric
of sound, Earthwork includes interviews with activist Maggie Ruhn, artist
Mildred Greenberg, composer Pauline Oliveros, farmer Myra Perkins, members
of the Cheltenham Students for Environmental Action, and a variety of
young people, who came together at the Philadelphia Earth Fest, 22 April
1990. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
JULIA HAINES is an independent composer and multi-instrumentalist who has a decade-long history of collaboration with dancers, filmmakers, video artists, poets and storytellers. Nominated Best (Folk) Instrumentalist, by the Philadelphia Music Foundation in 1990, Haines was commissioned by the New Jersey Foster Parent Association to create a work in honor of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and AIDS caregivers with percussionist Glen Velez. Over the past ten years, she has also developed music therapy programs in hospital, educational, and community settings to address the creative needs of young people through improvisation. top |
|
| HARRIS, LORELEI | |
| Dreaming
of Fat Men (1993-94)
A delightful and insightful dinner conversation among five women of size.
Why do they love to eat? Do they really all eat for the pleasure of it?
In what way can a lobster become a symbol of liberation? Are the men in
their lives understanding of their appetites? In the work, the sounds
from the animated dinner conversations blend with excerpts from one-to-one
interviews with the women to shape lively portraits that defy easy categorizing.
Dreaming of Fat Men is the winner of the prestigious 1995 PRIX ITALIA
documentary award. Produced for RTE, Radio 1, Dublin, Ireland. Edited
version presented by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen]
LORELEI HARRIS (Dublin, Ireland) was born and raised in South Africa. She has since become one of the foremost radio documentary producers in Ireland. Her works include the intensively personal Attempt at a Homecoming (on revisiting South Africa after many years) and the sensitive portrayal of a lonely eccentric trying to find a partner through contact ads, Hermann. Harris also holds an editorial position in the documentary & features department at Irish National Radio (RTE, Radio 1). top |
|
| HASTINGS, CHRISTOPHER | |
|
See Sleight of Mind Group, "The Underseen World of Claude Jateau, Parts 1 & 2." top |
|
| HAUTA-AHO, TEPPO | |
|
See Huhtamaki, Harri, "Calewalayana." top |
|
| HEBEL, MARTIN D. | |
| See Barnes, David, "Survivors of Hama." top |
|
| HERSKOVICS, ISABELLA | |
| Sounds of Therapy (1998) is a deeply personal docu-composition about the communicative process and power of art ritual. It documents acoustically that the desire for communication and selfexpression crosses international boundaries, and that there are hidden artistic talents in all of us. This at least, is what producer Isabella Herskovics discovered when she took part in the Easter Symposium of expressive art therapists from 18 nations that was held in Leuk, Switzerland, in 1995. It is also a portrait of the charismatic Paolo Knill -a Swiss born musician and art therapist, and Professor Emeritus of Lesley College in Cambridge, MA - who influenced the spread of expressive art therapy throughout Europe, Israel and the United States. ISABELLA HERSKOVICS (Berlin, Germany) is an actress and independent radio journalist/documentary producer. After receiving her PhD in German literature and communication sciences at the Free University in Berlin, she began a successful career in German public radio. Specializing in long-form cultural entertainment programs, Herskovics has also produced numerous documentary features and radio plays. In 1997, she received her diploma in expressive art therapy and is considering a second career in this field. |
|
| HIRSCH, SHELLEY | |
|
#39(1991) (8:13) A text by Angela Carter
spoken and sung by Hirsch in an environment of intricately woven rhythms
evocative of the jungle environment of the Carter text. With David Weinstein
on sampling keyboard. Co-commissioned by Harvestworks, Inc., the Wexner
Center for the Arts, and NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen]
O Little Town of East New York (1992) An autobiographical docu-musical about growing up in East New York. The artist describes, creates and inhabits remembered environments, situations and persons. Musical fragments, characterizations, accents, and sound images evoke the ethnically diverse neighborhood from the 1960s to the present: Hirsch's Russian schoolmate's living room; the home of her own working class Jewish family; synagogue; high school; rallies against the Vietnam War; drugs. O Little Town of East New York was the winner of the prestigious 1993 PRIX FUTURA Berlin, in the Ake Blomstrom competition for new, promising documentary talent. Music co-composed and performed with David Weinstein. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] States (1997) A complex soundscape that mixes polyphonic renditions of American pop songs ("Blue Moon" and "Blue Skies"), cocktail lounge monologues, techno music, exotica, Bulgarian choral singing, and the Firebird Suite, all strung together in a stew of electronically-treated found sounds. It's not an easy thing melding all this territory into coherence yet Hirsch manages to keep the thing seamlessly afloat for almost 20 minutes. "Tenemos" is a hypnotic treatment of a Steinian sentence, "Don't touch the rosebush." There are grunts and groans, cut up words, drony echoes, clicks and pops. It's a marvelous update on vocal techniques pioneered by Cathy Berberian earlier in the century. When Hirsch keeps things loose, free, and abstract, it works. [Listen] The Vidzer Family (1991) A portrait of a family with roots in Russia, who traveled to South America and ended up in Brooklyn's East New York in the 1960s. The work includes interview materials that are intricately interwoven into a poetic performance text and embedded in a richly textured sound score of singing, vocalization, and synthesizer music created by Hirsch with keyboards played by David Weinstein. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. War of Dreams (8:07) Musical improvisations, story, and expressive, processed breathing are woven into a piece of kinetic theater. With a text based on Angela Carter's "Doctor Hoffmanns Infernal Machines of Desire." SHELLEY HIRSCH is an accomplished vocalist/performer/composer whose original compositions, staged musical works, improvisations, and collaborations have been presented in concert halls, museums, clubs, galleries, theaters, and on television across America and Europe. A three time artist-in-residence at STEIM (Amsterdam) and at Harvestworks/Studio PASS in New York, Hirsch has also received a DAAD fellowship to live and work in Berlin, Germany. She can be heard on over twenty-five CDs including Singing, her record of solos and duos, and Haiku Lingo, a duo CD/LP with her longtime collaborator, keyboardist David Weinstein. top |
|
| HLAVAC, TED | |
| See Sleight of Mind Group, "The Underseen World of Claude Jateau, Parts 1 & 2." top | |
| HODIAN, JOHN | |
|
Artaud
Ascending (1992)
With writer John Quinn. "Tragedy on the stage is not enough for me," Anton
Artaud told Jean-Louis Barrault in 1935, "I am going to carry it over
into my life." Artaud Ascending shows Artaud carrying tragedy even further,
into his death and into the consciousness of modern man. The work is an
examination of the mind of one of our century's most celebrated madmen/artists.
Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
JOHN HODIAN (Philadelphia, PA) began training as a classical pianist at age thirteen, and later studied jazz and free improvisation. Formal study included a master's degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts and studies in conducting with maestro Max Rudolf. In 1984 he opened Digital Sound, Philadelphia's first computer-based recording facility, where he has scored numerous feature films, documentaries and broadcast commercials for television and radio. Hodian also composes and performs theater and dance works in which he blends multimedia with live performance. JOHN QUINN (Philadelphia, PA) is a writer and journalist. A graduate of Temple University and a recipient of a Clinton Journalism scholarship, Quinn has written European travel articles, business reports and investigative political pieces for such publications as Vis a Vis, Focus, and Philadelphia's City Paper. He is the author of numerous works of short fiction and a novel, Balancing Act. He is also the co-author of Prometheus, a mixed-media stage adaptation of the Greek myth, and the author of a play, Emma. top |
|
| HUHTAMAKI, HARRI | |
|
Calawalayana—Changes
in the Ecology of the Mind (1986)
With Teppo Hauta-aho, Pekka Lappi, Seppo Paakunainen, and Pekka Ruohoranta.
Bear Island, a remote wilderness area of Finland served as the primary
recording location for this remarkable work that reverberates with the
sounds of nature and ancient musical instruments. Additional recordings
were made in the streets of Helsinki, where jazz musicians Seppo Paakunainen
and Teppo Hauta-aho improvised on bass and saxophone. In the words of
its producers, Calewalayana is our way of interpreting the Finnish national
epic, the Kalevala, from which the text is taken. It's a documentary about
the Finnish identity, about breaking boundaries, and about nostalgia."
Calewalayana won a Special Commendation at the 1987 PRIX FUTURA competition
in Berlin, West Germany. Produced for the Finnish Broadcasting Company
(YLE). An edited version in the original language with an English translation
presented by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. [Listen] Concerto for Doors (1993) (13:40) With Teppo Hauta-aho, Pekka Lappi, and Christine Topos. In this work, doors represent a transition—a threshold and a metaphor of change: "Because something is happening, but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?" Evocative nature sounds combine with squeaky doors and other musical expressions. A collaborative composition produced for Radio Atelier at Yleisradio, Finland . HARRI HUHTAMAKI (Helsinki, Finland) is a theater director, university lecturer, and the present Head of Radio Atelier at Yleisradio, Finland. One of Finland's most accomplished radio producers, Huhtamaki has authored hundreds of radio documentaries, features and radio plays. His works have received numerous awards, including a PRIX FUTURA Berlin award for "Calewalayana" (1987) and for Cockroach (1989), the Prix Italia special commendation for "Amazon © as natural music" 1996, Prix Europa special commendation for "A Happy Childhood" 2000. Berlin, and a Prix Italia special commendation for "Voices from Hiroshima," 2001. He is also the author of the book, The Five Ways of The Radio, Like©Publishing House, Helsinki 1993. His works are available on CDs and DVDs. Collaborators: TEPPO HAUTA-AHO (Helsinki, Finland) Music Calewalayana and Concerto for Doors. A well-known musician and composer, especially in the areas of modern jazz and classical music. He is presently employed as a bass player in the orchestra of the Finnish National Opera. PEKKA LAPPI (Helsinki, Finland) Music Calewalayana and Concerto for Doors. Lappi studied classical music at the Sibelius Academy. He is currently sound engineer and sound designer at the Yleisradio (Finland) Features Department. SEPPO PAAKUNAINEN (Helsinki, Finland) Music Calewalayana. One of the foremost Finnish jazz musicians and composers with a special interest in ancient Finno-Ugric folk music. PEKKA RUOHORANTA (Helsinki, Finland) Co-producer, Calewalayana. A freelance journalist and director of radio plays and documentaries at Yleisradio. top |
|
| HUMON, NAUT | |
| See Earwax Productions, "Bloody Angle." top | |
| HUTCHINSON, BRENDA | |
|
Violet
Flames, Parts 1 & 2 (1993)
In rare interviews, sound and music recordings, this work portrays the
philosophy and doctrine of the "Church Universal and Triumphant" headquartered
in Corwin Springs and Emigrant, Montana. The producer's sister has been
a member of the church for many years, sparking Hutchinson's interest
in this controversial religious community. Part 1 is made up of many stories
that reflect the individual and his/her relationship to the Church and
its teachings. Part 2 includes more controversial topics such as politics,
weapons, and shelters. This work is not an exposé but an attempt
to provide complex and sympathetic portraits of the people involved. Co-commissioned
by Harvestworks, Inc. and NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
[Listen
Part 1] [Listen
Part 2]
Every Dream Has Its Number (1995-96) A documentary/sound piece about the artist and her mother, a lifelong compulsive gambler now dying of cancer. Through stories, conflicting memories, music, and the sounds of gambling environments, Hutchinson shapes a portrait of a difficult relationship in its final stages. Terminal illness as a catalyst for healing and acceptance is both ironic and poignant. For the two women, it also provides a sharp and constant sense of urgency to discover and touch some basic thread connecting their lives. BRENDA HUTCHINSON (San Francisco, CA) is a sound artist whose work includes performance and compositions for dance, opera, film, video, and radio. She has built interactive installations and exhibits; worked as a video producer and sound consultant at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, as a sound engineer at Harvestworks, Inc. in New York, and as Senior Sound Designer for the multimedia company, Convivial Design in San Francisco. Recordings of her work are available through Tellus and Deep Listening/Oliveros Foundation. top |
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