#4921, Voice "Places"
Hear pieces using voices in combination with other instruments to create a place by Lithuanian composer Zibuokle Martinaitytė, Kenyan composer/sound artist Nyokabi Kariuki, and American composer John Luther Adams, known for his expansive works inspired by stillness, solitude and the natural landscapes of his home.
New York-based Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė creates works that “explore the tensions and longings of identity and place” (Starkland Bandcamp). “The Blue of Distance” although not a setting of a text, was inspired by a text: Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, in which Solnit speculates that blue is perceived as the color of distance itself:
"blue is not in the place those miles away at the horizon, but in the atmospheric distance between you and the mountains."
-excerpted Solnit quote from an essay on the Solnit text in the Marginalian
The composer Martinaitytė makes musical use of the near and far dichotomies described in the text, and offers vowel sounds with “voices as [a] sound painting device” (Schaefer.)
There’s also new music by Japanese composer and percussionist Masayoshi Fujita, from his 2024 release Migratory, featuring the voice of London-based vocalist and composer Hatis Noit, and a blend of vibraphone, marimba, and synths which uses the voice to create its own fictional country. Also, hear music by Kenyan composer/sound artist Nyokabi Kariuki which draws on her voice, field recordings, from her album, peace places: kenyan memories.
Also, listen to a nocturnal work by American composer John Luther Adams, about being in the Okefenokee Swamp, under the stars at night, (this is before his time in Alaska – where he lived and worked for many years) from when he was living and working at an old farm south of Atlanta in the 1970's, (ArtsATL.) That, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4921, Voice "Places" (First aired 9/10/2024)
ARTIST: Masayoshi Fujita
WORK: Higurashi, feat. Hatis Noit [1:30]
RECORDING: Migratory
SOURCE: Erased Tapes
INFO: https://masayoshifujita.bandcamp.com/album/migratory
ARTIST: San Francisco Girls Chorus and Kronos Quartet
WORK: Aulis Sallinen: Winter Was Hard Op.20 [1:40]
RECORDING: Winter Was Hard
SOURCE: Nonesuch 79181
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Lionheart & ETHEL
WORK: Phil Kline: Dark Was the Night [5:50]
RECORDING: John the Revelator
SOURCE: Cantaloupe 21047
INFO: cantaloupemusic.com
ARTIST: Nyokabi Kariũki
WORK: Naila’s Peace Place [4:41]
RECORDING: peace places: kenyan memories
SOURCE: SA Recordings
INFO: nyokabikariuki.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Masayoshi Fujita
WORK: Higurashi, feat. Hatis Noit [3:36]
RECORDING: Migratory
SOURCE: Erased Tapes
INFO: https://masayoshifujita.bandcamp.com/album/migratory
ARTIST: Sigvards Klava, Latvian Radio Choir
WORK: Zibuokle Martinaityte: The Blue of Distance [12:52]
RECORDING: Zibuokle Martinaityte: Horizons
SOURCE: Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Centre
INFO: https://miclithuania.bandcamp.com/album/horizons
ARTIST: John Luther Adams
WORK: Night Peace [14:55]
RECORDING: The Far Country
SOURCE: Opus One #88, rereleased as New Albion 061
INFO: https://johnlutheradams.net/recordings
