Lament (1997)
Lament, Evan Chambers, (1997) for Zeta violin, sampler, computer and tape, (or tape alone) is based almost entirely on sounds that were gathered on a trip to Ireland in 1995, and on the voices of traditional musicians: a close friend and fiddler, Pam Meisel and an Irish émigré, friend, and Bodhrán player, Dez Ryan. These sounds have been processed and sequenced into a tape part, through which are threaded vocal samples which are performed live, triggered on a Kurzweil K2000 sampler through MAX programming by the Zeta violin. The piece is based on the traditional Irish form of the slow air or lament, and aims to capture the overwhelming sense of sadness and loss that seeps slowly out of the abandoned places in the West of Ireland. Although beautifully desolate, these areas were once densely populated, and even now are marked with reminders catastrophe and of overwhelming human loss. On a visit to the island of Insiboffin, this somewhat distant and lingering sense of loss was given a more personal face as the result of the tragic deaths of two of the islanders in a short period of time. It seemed at the time that a pall of sorrow drifted over the island, and that even the bleating of the sheep and the crashing of the waves were filled with grief.
THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT MUST ACCOMPANY IN WRITTEN FORM WITH NO CHANGES ALL PERFORMANCES OF THE WORK
This activity is supported by the Arts Foundation of Michigan in conjunction with the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
Lament, Evan Chambers, (1997) for Zeta violin, sampler, computer and tape, (or tape alone) is based almost entirely on sounds that were gathered on a trip to Ireland in 1995, and on the voices of traditional musicians: a close friend and fiddler, Pam Meisel and an Irish émigré, friend, and Bodhrán player, Dez Ryan. These sounds have been processed and sequenced into a tape part, through which are threaded vocal samples which are performed live, triggered on a Kurzweil K2000 sampler through MAX programming by the Zeta violin. The piece is based on the traditional Irish form of the slow air or lament, and aims to capture the overwhelming sense of sadness and loss that seeps slowly out of the abandoned places in the West of Ireland. Although beautifully desolate, these areas were once densely populated, and even now are marked with reminders catastrophe and of overwhelming human loss. On a visit to the island of Insiboffin, this somewhat distant and lingering sense of loss was given a more personal face as the result of the tragic deaths of two of the islanders in a short period of time. It seemed at the time that a pall of sorrow drifted over the island, and that even the bleating of the sheep and the crashing of the waves were filled with grief.
THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT MUST ACCOMPANY IN WRITTEN FORM WITH NO CHANGES ALL PERFORMANCES OF THE WORK
This activity is supported by the Arts Foundation of Michigan in conjunction with the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs