silenced voices, improvisation & instruments

silence: can be a political act or have a political dimension. can be used very specifically by visual artists. e.g. Sonny Assu work ‘ellipsis’ 2012 where 136 records are cast in copper, copper having a ceremonial dimension in west coast indigenous people and references the golden record made to keep recordings for communicating with people outside our world. and his people had been silenced ion the past as there was a ban on indigenous ceremonies. he wanted to resurrect this voice of his ancestors. Ida Halprin was an ethnomusicologist who had collected recordings of these indigenous people. the political dimension of silence – who has been silenced and who’s voices do you hear? why?

improvision: in the 1940s and 1950s musicians were challenging the way music was notated. classical notation cannot embody all of the sounds that musicians make or want to make. a rupture in classical notation gave way to graphic notation, e.g. John Cage. George Lewis and the beginning of bebop music culture mixing with improvising jazz, creating a new musical form. Lewis defined 2 traditions as afrological and eurological. afrological references segregation and political dimensions of black people. within those traditions there is the possibility for resistance and Lewis felt improvisation offered the possibility to speak and speak back. what is improvisation and how is it used beyond music dimensions.

resistance: ‘noise and capitalism’ by Mattin an artist who sees improvisation as a way of looking at and resisting capitalism and how we might have alternating economic systems. something he calls copyleft! at the mexican border with the US there is a sound piece ‘rules of the game’ by Gustavo Artigas started in 2000. here improvisation plays with the rules of music, rules that are not restrictive. rules allow participants to play themselves into the piece. here, on one court a basketball and football game take place simultaneously and harmony rather than chaos results.

instruments: this physical element is crucial to the production of sound – musical instruments, objects, voice etc. Guillermo Galdino artist developed a piece ‘border cantos’ collects ‘relics’ or objects at the mexican us border. working with photographer, he makes instruments with these objects – combs, books, batteries etc and sees these instrument sounds as a way of entering into these peoples lives – of hardship, of movement, of migration of hope, of despair. he also developed musical scores for these instruments which he prints of fabric from the flags marking where water is in the desert. he has also developed scores and instruments from lesbos and the migration people to europe. reflecting the global migration of people as different yet all contending with similar issues – war, economic turmoil, again, giving voice to those who have been silenced through this music and instruments.