This piece treats authentic spirit possession as a vocal technique. The spirit possession is an example of traditional mediumism, where a dead person is invited to communicate by temporarily utilizing the voice of someone who is serving as a living "channel". During a performance I serve as this medium.  I fall into a trance and a gold miner who lived about 150 years ago, during the California Gold Rush, speaks through me. He recounts a particular tale, the story of his overzealous desire and eventual bad luck. The story that was originally communicated to me, and which is conveyed again in performance, holds an important message but the musical focus is on the spirit possession process itself, the effects on my voice and body and on the perception of those effects by an audience.

6 minute track composed by Sam Ashley. An acoustic version performed by "Blue" Gene Tyranny.

Freedom From Happiness - "Blue" Gene Tyranny

6 minute track composed by Sam Ashley. An acoustic version performed by Robert Ashley.

Freedom From Happiness - Robert Ashley

6 minute track composed by Sam Ashley. A MIDI/sampled piano version performed by Sam Ashley.

Freedom From Happiness - Sam Ashley

EVERYONE LAUGHED WHEN I SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO

by Sam Ashley
at Center for New Music
San Francisco, CA
Jan 27, 2016
Recorded by Brent Miller


I'D RATHER BE LUCKY THAN GOOD

Freedom From Happiness
10 piano performance

Description here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70381105/text_descriptions-pre/FREEDOM_FROM_HAPPINESS-description.pdf

"Achtundachtzig Klaviere"
Linz Austria 2012

Freedom From Happiness - Linz - Stereo Mix - 2012 - 01 - 03

A song about immortality, heaven and werewolves.

Mix done in collaboration with the Hairy Hand aka Adrian De Alfonso Prieto-Puga.

The opposite of heaven is not hell. The opposite of heaven is complacency.

EVERYONE LAUGHED WHEN I SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO

Sam Ashley

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