KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ New Music America: New Sounds USA, Program No. 2, 1983

Analog Audio

Event Type

Music

Origin

NPR / WNYC

Identifier

NMA.1983.10.14.2

Program Series

New Music America

Program Length

59 min

Dates

1983-11-12 | broadcast
| 1983-10-14 | created

Description

Hosts Alan Rich and Nancy Shear present highlights from the October 14th concert of the 1983 New Music America Festival, which was held in Washington D.C. The program begins with the Orchestra of Excited Strings, in a performance of several unidentified works composed in just intonation by the ensemble’s founder Arnold Dreyblatt. Each of the unidentified works involves modified instruments in which strings are strummed, rubbed, picked, and hit, to produce an entrancing mix of minimalist, microtonal, music. Next in the program is Douglas Ewart’s “The Birth of Bamboo” a lengthy meditative piece for an assortment of flutes and percussion. The fprogram then concludes with a pair of Inuit throat singers performing a selection of traditional katadjait, or throat songs, a type of traditional music originating from above the Arctic Circle in Canada. The duets are performed by the women who stand close together and produce guttural vocal sounds through voice manipulation and breathing techniques.

Genres

New music
Microtonal music

Musical Selections

[unidentified work No. 1] (10:06) / Arnold Dreyblatt -- [unidentified work no. 2] (6:00) / Arnold Dreyblatt -- [unidentified work No. 3] (3:06) / Arnold Dreyblatt -- [unidentified work No. 4] (2:08) / Arnold Dreyblatt -- The Birth of the Bamboo Flute (15:20) / Douglas Ewart -- [unidentified song No. 1] (1:10) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [song about of Northern Lights] (1:27) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [mouth harp piece No. 1] (1:02) / Inuit Throat Singers-- [mouth harp piece No. 2] (0:47) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [mouth harp piece No. 3] (0:30) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [mouth harp piece for a child] (0:40) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [unidentified song No. 2] (1:08) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [song about a goose] (0:48) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [a lullaby] (0:52) / Inuit Throat Singers -- [unidentified song No. 3] (0:42) / Inuit Throat Singers

Performers

Orchestra of Excited Strings (1st - 4th works)
Inuit Throat Singers: (6th - 15th works)
Alasi Alasuak, vocalist and mouth harp (6th -15th works)
Nellie Nungak, vocalist (6th -15th works)

Subjects

New music
Microntonal music
Just intonation
Minimal music
Flute with instrumental ensemble
New Age music
Folk music
Throat singing

Related places

Washington (D.C.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)

Related Entities

New Music America (Festival)
Orchestra of Excited Strings
Inuit Throat Singers
Rich, Alan
Shear, Nancy
Dreyblatt, Arnold
Ewart,
Nungak, Nellie
Alasuak, Alasi