Music of Silence - a short list

"The Voice of Silence" by Peter Michael Hamel
"Silence is the Answer" by Deuter
"Silence" by Charlie Haden

While the first two take the idea of silence from religion & philosophy, Charlie Haden knows something about silence for a very different reason.
From the age of 2 till he was 15 he was part of his family's country music radio show, he then contracted a form of Polio & in effect lost his voice & stopped singing.
He didn't sing again in public or on record until 1999, when he recorded a version of "Wayfaring Stranger". He had kept rather busy in the meantime as perhaps the most sort after double bass player in jazz.

Hallucination

A few weeks ago I read Dr Oliver Sacks's latest book, "Hallucinations", in which he talks about the many ways in which we hallucinate & the conditions that cause them.

Most of course, were visual hallucinations. When we hear the word hallucination, we do think in visual terms. But there are also hallucinations for the other senses as well. The most well known is that of hearing voices. For the most part people don't admit to hearing voices as we think that is a sign of madness - something that is reinforced by the media & popular culture.
Sacks tells us that that is not always the case & if anything, madness is the least usual explanation.
It seems that hearing voices can frequently occur in the state between sleep & fully being awake.
Yesterday morning as I awoke, I heard a voice say a word. It was a hallucination.
The word?
"Pizzeria"

(Oliver Sacks with book)

Onomatopoeia

Hiccup
Ping-pong
Sizzle
Cuckoo
Splash
Drip
Bang
Purr
Ring
Rustle

and did you know that a zip is called a zip, because of the sound it makes?

"Boing, Boom, Tschak" to quote Kraftwerk.

Vienna 1903

On a BBC World Service documentary about silence that I was just listening to, it was claimed that one of the early noise abatement societies was formed in Vienna in 1903 & that one of their main concerns, was the sound produced by people beating carpets!
Something that I guess will not bother them now.

Influx

Influx of CDs this week. In 48 hours the following arrived:
Amiina - "The Lighthouse Project"
Greg Haines - "Where We Were"
Date Palms - "The Dusted Sessions"
Ry Cooder - "Live in Hamburg 1977"
Rauelsson - "Vora"
Marcus Fischer - "The Crow"
Gail Priest - "The Common Koel"

3 of these are numbered, limited editions. 2 of them are 3" CDs. 1 is perhaps released without the artist's permission. The musicians come from Iceland, UK, USA, Spain & Australia. The CDs are released by labels in Iceland, Germany, USA & Australia. (A world of music.)
All I have to do now is listen to them......

After the Noise Rush

Last night went with DB to see Neil Young & Crazy Horse, at Newcastle Arena.
It was the most rock and roll show I've been to for a long time.
But this wasn't the Neil Young of "After the Gold Rush" or "Harvest", this was the Neil Young of "Arc/Weld". So, amp turned up to 11, guitar set to maximum distort & stand back.
During some of the long noise sections (I'm talking 10 mins or so), and there isn't a better description really (especially the fans who didn't like it), I kept thinking, what do the likes of Glenn Branca & Rhys Chatham make of it all?
I guess mainly it comes down to whether you call it rock n' roll or art.
All 3 musicians/composers are using the guitar to create walls of sound, that go beyond the melodic, overtones are to the fore.
There again, what does Neil Young make of the likes of Branca et al using rock n' roll sound and instruments to create their sound? Is Chatham's "Guitar Trio" any different?

An Mordros

Read this in an issue of Granta years ago, that Cornish is one of only two languages that have a word for the sound that the sea (surf) makes. An mordros. I think that's great!
The other? Greek I believe.

Afternoon

Hot sunny day today. Sitting outside this afternoon I realised that I couldn't hear any gardeners at work - no lawn mowers or the like. Unusual. And that kept up for several hours. Just the sound of birds, the occasional passer-by & the far off hum of traffic.
The traffic reminded me of the sound of surf retreating over a pebble beach.

Lunch

Tried heading out this lunchtime to listen to a podcast from "Wireless Nights", the Jarvis Cocker fronted Radio 4 programme, now in it's second series.
A bit of peace and quiet to enjoy the documentary. But even if I did walk on the back streets & minor roads, there was nothing but disruption today.
• Painters taking a break across the street from where they were working, but still the radio turned up to 11.
• Guys with chainsaws cutting down trees.
• The path being dug up.
• Two dogs out with their owners taking a dislike to each other.
• Police cars on their way to some urgent appointment.
• Recycling lorry carrying glass bottles, rattling past.
• More than the usual number of cars. (Including a learner who passed me 3 times.)
• 3 times the path was blocked so I had to cross roads.
And so it went on.
So, not the best listening experience really.

Rush Hour

Yesterday's rush hour driving music was Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians". Wonderful! But the traffic didn't always travel at the speed of the music.

Harold Budd

I've just been playing what must be my favourite Harold Budd album, 1988's "White Arcades". Beautiful as most of his work is, full of echoing piano & shimmering atmosphere.
I'm often reminded of his comment about New Age music, a style/genre that he often gets linked with - "the trouble with New Age music is that there is no evil in it" is what I believe he said. While evil may not be the right work, he is correct in that most NewAge music is very one dimensional, while his work isn't.
Perhaps I should really be playing his very latest album that's just out "Jane 1-11" a set of improvisations, and I believe the 11th or 12th album he has released since he said he was retiring back in 2004 when he released his "final" album, the excellent "Avalon Sutra" (love that title!).
Once I was in the same restaurant as Budd, in Kendal of all places. But it was just before he performed at the arts centre next door, so I wasn't really surprised to see him there.