In één ruk duuzend jaar koormuziek
Wasditdan?
WOBBLY’S 1,000-YEAR MP3: Somewhere there’s a mega-traditionalist who views the birth of polyphony in Western music as the start of its downfall, not just of Western music but of the West. With the mixing of voices came the opportunity for confusion, chaos and conflict, in place of the uniformity of single melodic lines (and of devoted, obedient theological thought, or at least the illusion thereof).
To hear a mind-bogglingly broad DJ set by Wobbly consisting almost entirely of vocal music, “Thousand Year Choir” (MP3), polyphony was a kind of implicit precursor of sampling, as multiple voices began to quote and reference each other in a form that grew increasingly center-less as composition evolved. That rudimentary folk music per se persists in various cultures to this day, whether as continuous cultural practice or backwards-glancing tradition, is no contradiction; if anything, the persistence of ritual singing reinforces the very simultaneity that enables Wobbly’s many-layered performance.
Of course, given the antipathy in some circles toward sampling, these two considerations of polyphony may not be unrelated.
In any case, Wobbly (aka Jon Leidecker) plays out this centuries-spanning process in a nearly hour-long mix, recorded live in his home on three sound sources (allowing for two post-production edits, he explains), that begins with early-music heroes Hildegard von Bingen and Perotin, makes its way around the globe, stopping in Japan and Kenya, before leaping into the recent present, courtesy of Morton Feldman, Gyorgy Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Female voices are particularly well represented, including those of Yoko Ono, Diamanda Galas and Mystere des Voix Bulgares. Though the overlays here often sound unprecedented in their imaginative leaps, they do bring to mind the pop-Gregorian antics of Enigma and the pre-Columbian-flavored mass that Ennio Morricone scored for the film The Mission.
When Wobbly DJ’d at the opening of the Matthew Barney exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art last week, he did a four-player take on this choral continuum, albeit with his own electronic effects and some more pop-minded reference points. (Full list of the contents of the “Thousand Year Choir” MP3 available at Wobbly’s website, detritus.net/wobbly.)
Tracklisting
part one
hildegard von bingen - “columbia aspexit”, gothic voices
perotin - “viderunt omnes”, hilliard ensemble
chant cistercien - “ascension: répons de procession”, ensemble organum
thomas tallis - “sancte deus”, tallis scholars
gesualdo - “se la mia morte brami”, concerto italiano
monteverdi - “hymnus 1610 vespers”, taverner consort
aka pgymies
gyoto monks - “guhyasamaja tantra, chapter II”
monks of kopan - “evening prayer”
music of ancient japan - “zyodo syomyo”
“svatba” - mystere des voix bulgares
south russian wedding dance song from belgorod province
“kargyraa” - huun-huur-tu
ainu music of japan
“istensegits”, lászló györgyné (from the zoltán kodály cylinders)
chants et tambours inuit de thulé au détroit de béring
folkways records recordings from malawi & kenya
“the story of jerusalem”
“drunken beauty”, john lone
“logan” - all day singing from the sacred harp
“rockin’ jerusalem”, fisk jubilee singers
bali - “kecak”
“nearer my god to thee”, chicago symphony choruspart two
pierre henry - “vocalises”
gyorgy ligeti - “lux aeterna”
giacinto scelsi - “canti del capricorno”, michiko hiayama
luigi nono - “la fabbrica illuminata”, carla henius
luciano berio - “sequenza III”, cathy berberian
cornelius cardew - “the great learning, paragraph 7″, scratch orchestra
stockhausen - “stimmung”, singcircle
joan labarbara - “october music: star showers and extraterrestrials”
morton feldman - “three voices for joan labarbara”, joan labarbara
prima materia - “the tail of the tiger”
demetrio stratos - “mirologhi 2″
david hykes - “arc descents”, harmonic choir
fatima miranda - “dhrupad dream”
yoko ono - “fly”
phil niblock - “a.y.u.”, thomas buckner
meredith monk - “explorers’ junctures”
tera de marez oyens, “dreams of madness”
“amazing grace”, diamanda galasepilogue / border
“handel festival at crystal palace”, oldest surviving recording of music: chorus of 4,000 voices recorded with phonograph over 100 yards away, june 29, 1888 (from john schott’s ’shuffle play’)