This recording of Totem was made on 5 March 2017 by the wonderful Spanish percussionist Noè Rodrigo Gisbert.
In Totem I & II, Arnold Marinissen creates a sequence of strong images, like animal and human faces on a totem pole. The result is poetic and somewhat unsettling at the same time. And just like the crafter of totem poles, the marimba player has to dig deep into the wood underneath his hands, in order to bring to life the spirit that is hidden inside. Totem I & II was written for Ramon Lormans.

Totem I

Fingerlings 3

Dark Matter

François J. Bonnet talks about ‘The Order of Sounds: A Sonorous Archipelago’, his book on the philosophy of sound and listening, explaining the motivation behind its examination of modes of listening and its mapping of plural sonic ontologies, and expanding on some of the concepts he introduces in order to take account of the ‘schizological’ nature of sound. The podcast concludes with an exclusive track by Bonnet’s alter-ego Kassel Jaeger. 

Buy the Book

Archipelagic Listening: Interview with François J. Bonnet

The Venda reedpipe dance (from Limpopo, the most northerly province of South Africa), can involve over 100 players each blowing a single reed pipe. With dancing and drumming, a performance may last anything up to an hour or longer. Symphony No 2 (“Tshikona”) is a portrait of the Venda reedpipe dance, translated through the model of the French organ symphony – a short, one-movement symphony in this case, and simulated using a hypothetical African-tuned heptatonic scale, made possible by the microtonal Huygens-Fokker organ. (My First Symphony “From the Third World” is for orchestra.) There is also reference to mechanical fairground organs, and the drums are simulated by microtonal clusters for the pedals, a notion borrowed from Charles Ives. It is dedicated to Christina Viola Oorebeek and lasts around 9 minutes. The first performance was given in the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam on 13 May 2018. This recording was made by Sabrina ter Horst for the Concertzender Nederland.

Laboratorium 3

Symphony No 2 ("Tshikona") for midi-controlled Huygens-Fokker organ (2018)

oh, a small but potent point from which a large thing may emerge...perhaps a series of signals from hell... time will tell... 

A small signal from Hell (I hear it's doing fine)

An emotional response to sometimes being so over whelmed with the commodification of existence and the repetitive grind of daily life within the inescapable structures of our materialistic society... please buy this track...