#4659, Music Based On Ancient Books of the Dead

Listen to music inspired by and based on ancient books of the dead, in work by New York-based multi-disciplinary artist Laurie Anderson, Swiss violinist and composer Paul Giger, and Lebanese-born composer/musicologist Ali Jihad Racy.

From Swiss violinist and composer Paul Giger, hear music that looks at death and renewal, from his recent album, ars moriendi – “the art of dying”. The text is from the Egyptian Book of the Dead "Pert Em Hru" ("Coming forth by day") and has contrasting notes of where the deceased merges with the sun god Ra, contrasted with the eventuality of being still at the end of life. There’s more music based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead from Philip Glass, and a scene from his opera, Akhnaten, along with music by Lebanese-born composer/musicologist Ali Jihad Racy.

Then, hear the text of the Tibetan book of the Dead, set to music, from New York-based multi-disciplinary artist Laurie Anderson, who has worked in film, music, installations, writing, photography, sculpture, and NASA. Together with Tibetan multi-instrumentalist Tenzin Choegyal on  flute, lute and Tibetan singing bowls, and composer and activist Jesse Paris Smith on piano and crystal bowls as drone, hear sound, flow, and words of “Lotus Born No Need to Fear”, one of the Songs from the Bardo.

Hear music from the late composer, accordionist, sound experimenter, and all-around musical pioneer Pauline Oliveros, also based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Plus, there’s music from the German band Popol Vuh, named for a text "recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples", (Wikipedia). - Caryn Havlik

Program #4659, music based on ancient Books of the Dead (First aired 9/8/2022)

ARTIST: Paul Giger
WORK: Pert Em Hru [10:33] 
RECORDING: Ars Moriendi
SOURCE:  ECM Records 2756
INFO: ecmrecords.com

ARTIST: Stuttgart Opera Chorus, Stuttgart Opera Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor
WORK: Akhnaten- Act 1, Funeral Dance [9:02] 
RECORDING: Philip Glass: Akhnaten
SOURCE: Sony Masterworks
INFO: https://philipglass.com/recordings/akhnaten

ARTIST: Ali Jihad Racy
WORK: The Boat of Millions of Years [4:47] 
RECORDING: Ancient Egypt
SOURCE: Lyrichord #7347
INFO: lyrichord.com

ARTIST: Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, Jesse Paris Smith
WORK: Lotus Born No Need to Fear [7:08] 
RECORDING: Songs from the Bardo
SOURCE: Smithsonian Folkways
INFO: folkways.si.edu/songs-from-the-bardo

ARTIST: Pauline Oliveros
WORK: Queens of Space [5:49] 
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Merkin Hall, 1991
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available
INFO: https://paulineoliveros.us | https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/works/work/42842/

ARTIST: Popol Vuh
WORK: Nosferatu: Brothers Of Darkness - Sons Of Light [5:55] 
RECORDING: Best of Popol Vuh: From the Films of Werner Herzog
SOURCE: Milan 35639
INFO: Try Amazon.com, AppleMusic, YouTube Music, Spotify