Breakdown is about many kinds of breaking down. Three singers  separately recorded their own improvisation on the word "Breakdown," (loosely in Gmin at 90 bpm). I took these tracks, listened and began to make associations, connections and combinations and choices. I then created my own inventory (language) of sounds. I played with combining these in Ableton and found a few arrangements that interested me. Then I went into the process of sculpting and refining them in a manner that is deeply personal and specific, what I find interesting in each voice, each phrase, each phonemes. In these improvisations I heard relationships to the word, the meaning, but also the feel of the sound in the mouth, the choice of pitch relevant to each singer's tessitura, each one's socially coded sense of utterance. Manipulating these voices sometimes feels like taxidermy, like the disembowelment of the integral vitality of these beautifully expressive singers. It is also a testimony of the harsh reality of isolation- the fact that these voices only exist in this digital deformity. The piece is a metaphor for how I love to listen to voices, in their glorious prosody and far beyond syntax. The meaning of the word "breakdown" is broken down; syntax is forfeited for aural pleasure. The performer's voice is also broken down from its original intention and musical context in order to be combined with another voice in order to make something completely new.The process feels like weaving a tapestry to me, and so the image of the editing window feels like an important part of the piece.
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Breakdown concerne de nombreux types de pannes. Trois chanteurs ont enregistré séparément leur propre improvisation sur le mot "Breakdown" (en Gmin à 90 bpm). J'ai pris ces morceaux, je les ai écoutés et j'ai commencé à faire des associations, des connexions, des combinaisons et des choix. J'ai ensuite créé mon propre inventaire (langage) des sons. J'ai joué à les combiner dans Ableton et j'ai trouvé quelques arrangements qui m'ont intéressé. Je me suis ensuite lancé dans le processus de sculpture et d'affinage de ces sons d'une manière profondément personnelle et spécifique, ce que je trouve intéressant dans chaque voix, chaque phrase, chaque phonème. Dans ces improvisations, j'ai entendu des rapports au mot, au sens, mais aussi à la sensation du son dans la bouche, au choix de la hauteur en fonction de la tessiture de chaque chanteur, au sens de l'énoncé socialement codé de chacun. Manipuler ces voix ressemble parfois à de la taxidermie, comme l'éviscération de la vitalité intégrale de ces chanteurs magnifiquement expressifs. C'est aussi un témoignage de la dure réalité de l'isolement - le fait que ces voix n'existent que dans cette déformation digitale. La pièce est une métaphore de la façon dont j'aime écouter les voix, dans leur glorieuse prosodie et bien au-delà de la syntaxe. Le sens du mot "panne" est décomposé ; la syntaxe est perdue pour le plaisir auditif. La voix de l'interprète est également décomposée de son intention et de son contexte musical d'origine pour être combinée avec une autre voix afin de créer quelque chose de complètement nouveau. Le processus me donne l'impression de tisser une tapisserie, et l'image de la fenêtre de montage me semble donc être une partie importante de la pièce.

Breakdown (with Sarah Rossy and Kim Zombik)

(one of five sections of The Counting Game 1995) Excerpt of another performance for 100 singers and radio. It was commissioned by Western Front Gallery, and performed for the opening of the Vancouver New Public Library.  All text was composed by the choir members. The composition was intended specifically for the different acoustic properties of that architecture. Rehearsals with this large group of singers was very much about the embodiment of public space. I began to refer to this style of performance as "Sonic Choreography." Poem by Connie Fife.

Choeur Maha

Sept (The Counting Game)

One of several live radio shows hosted and produced by Kathy Kennedy for Biennale Barachois In Situ 
https://vasteetvague.ca/barachoisinsitu-2021/
Interviews by Gerald Mackenzie

RadioBarachois august 4

One of several live radio shows hosted and produced by Kathy Kennedy for Biennale Barachois In Situ
vasteetvague.ca/barachoisinsitu-2021/
Lonzo Tapp, Marilyn Asselin, Yetta Dion, Bill Cameron, Ralph Mitchell, Verna Chicoyne, Will Tapp and Kim Gray

Radio Barachois August 3 Lonzo Tapp and friends

Radio Interviews made by Kathy Kennedy and Gerald Mackenzie for la Biennale de Barachois In Situ 2021.
Will Tapp, Marlee Asselin, Yetta Dion and Bill Cameron, Verna Chicoyne, Will Tapp, Ralph Mitchell and Kim Gray

Radio Barachois August 5 interviews

Datamix (rough draft on oct. 11, 2021... just for fun)

Here is a composition for Radio Talk Show, a performance that incorporates the events of the day. This was part of Festival Phenomena  2014, a few days before the municipal elections.

Radio Talk Show

Ourtime

Dec. 21, 2021 friends gathered with triangles, singing bowls and other tinkly sounds at Parc du Portugal (outside of Leonard Cohen's house). Recording by Tod Van Dyke

Solstice Scintillant

Based on field recordings during a residency at the Drake Hotel in Toronto in 2009 with Deep Wireless.

Queenst Mix

Howl is a piece for live vocals and accompanying soundtrack in 5.1 surround sound. It uses recordings of wolves. It was first performed in 1997.

Howl Excerpt

3 part canon for singing anywhere anytime.

Listentotheearth

This is a collaborative composition from a writing workshop of 8 Montreal-based writers, led by french artist Annie Abrams in 2006, produced by Agence-topo.

Esolitude

Fun improv in Montreal's series Mardi Spaghetti with Alex Pelchat on guitar, Cabral Jacobs on bass and Charlie Buss on drums. 
KK is on a Boss VE-20 vocal pedal

Mardi Spaghetti 20 12 2022

Composed and arranged by Kathy Kennedy. Performed by Choeur Maha. Solos by Kathy Kennedy and Robin Gorn 1995

Different Angels (Maha Mix)

Arrangement of Bali Climate Justice Accord of 2002 read in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Vietnamese and Russian  for the video installation The Patch by Bonnie Baxter.

Climate Chorus for Bonnie Baxter' The Patch

Brouillon de la matière sonore utilisé pour l'accompaniment de cette pièce chorale insitu.

Hereandnowmarchmix

Composition and production by Larry Steelman, 2000. KK background vocals

Lunagua

Howoo

Home Series by https://samizdatrecords.bandcamp.com/ live broadcast on CKUT-FM Radio McGill Dec. 16, 2024 https://ckut.ca/playlists/US

Home Series on Underground Sounds CKUT 90.3

Radio Art Performance; Audio Interview with Martine Rodriguez

Radio Art Performance; Audio Interview

Swamp Mix 4

Bean Feasa (Wise Woman in Irish) is a textile work by artist Unà Ni Shé. This soundtrack contains words in english and irish relating to the theme of the wise woman's connection to nature, sung and spoken by Unà Ni Shé and Kathy Kennedy

bean feasa

Theme song for the morning show on CBC-FM Radio 1 from 2002-2010.

daybreak

Electroacoustic composition originally mixed for 5.1 surround sound.

soupire

First improvisation with violist Jennifer Thiessen, november 2016

Viola Itch

Vowel Jam

Non non

Composed by Kathy Kennedy in 2008, this choral work is a response to Glenn Gould's famous composition about perceptions of the north. This version is exclusively from the perspective of women. The four female sections imitate traditional Inuit throatsinging, and the words are descriptions of snow in Inuktituk.

An Idea Of North

Wavefarm Residency, Acra, NY, 2019. Using low watt radio to connect us across a wide terrain. 
Jeffrey Lependorf is a certified shakuhachi master, improvising with Kathy Kennedy through low watt radio transmission across the wavefarm.org property. Recording is of two musicians 10 acres apart, being transmitted to each other with two transmitters and two receivers.June 5, 2019

Jeffrey Lependorf collaboration2

the Keep Going song was composed by singersongwriters The Bengsons (http://bengsons.com/) in October 2020. Extra vocals were improvised remotely and added by Concordia University Music Students in Montreal. editing and mixing by Kathy Kennedy and David Dafre.

kathykennedy

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