KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ New Music America: 1981: The True and False Occult
Analog Audio
Event Type
MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
NMA.1981.06.12.1Program Series
New Music AmericaProgram Length
28 minDates
1981-06-12 | broadcast| 1981-06-12 | created
Description
The first Act of the June 12th concert of the 1981 New Music America Festival was a multi-media dance piece by choreographer Margaret Fisher with music by Robert Hughes. Entitled “The True and False Occult” this work involved three dancers, image projection, and music by Robert Hughes with additional music provided by the Azuma Kabuki Musicians. The New York Times (8/16/81) describes the piece as: “set to a suite that begins with coolly percussive music by the Azuma Kabuki Musicians and ends with atmospheric flute and cello music and an electronic sequencer study by Robert Hughes, Miss Fisher's collaborator. The dance, newly revised for solo performance, spreads out across the entire performance space with rectangular panels used for projections of words, the letter sequence ''abracadabra'' and mysterious line drawings of figures, one of which Miss Fisher suddenly inhabits. In several of the sequences she appears to perch, suspended, over water, now swimming it, now riding it, her long arms and deft fingers diving, it seems, into a teeming sea to retrieve its smallest treasures. At other moments she stands, her upper body and arms wavering and scribbling in flyaway gesture. There is a sequence in which she unfolds and curls atop a tiny pedestal as projections of a wonderfully innocent looking teapot, designed by Beth Fein, sail through the air above. A flying Ouija board and two hands skim across the space, settling neatly to end the dance. The fragments have come together into a cohesive waking dream.”Genres
New musicPerformance Art
Musical Selections
The True and False Occult (26:20) / Margaret Fisher, Robert Hughes & the Azuma Kabuki MusiciansPerformers
Azuma Kabuki MusiciansSubjects
New musicModern dance music
Percussion ensembles
Flute and cello music
Electronic music
Acknowledgment
Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by Save America’s Treasures, a program of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.Related places
San Francisco (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
New Music America (Festival)Azuma Kabuki Musicians
Hughes, Robert, 1933-2022
Fisher, Margaret, 1948-