Everything Rises, an original staged musical work featuring Grammy-award winning violinist Jennifer Koh and singer Davone Tines, will make its world debut tomorrow evening in UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall. KCSB’s Ashley Rusch joins composer and UC Berkeley professor Ken Ueno to discuss the performance.

Tickets are $35 for community members and free for UCSB students. For more information, head to artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.

Music Credit:
Kosta T’s Informality
Jazaar’s Flood
Retribution Gospel Choir’s Electric Guitar

Reclaiming Space as Artists of Color: "Everything Rises" Comes to Campbell Hall

Kafka, Postmortem is based on Kafka’s story titled “The Judgment.” At the end of the story, the protagonist committed suicide after his father condemned him to death by drowning (“And therefore take note: I sentence you now to death by drowning!”). The absurdity!⁠⁠ Who would drown themselves right after hearing such a literal condemnation? The story is strange without even adding elements of magical realism or surrealism; Kafka simply creates the story in a realistic manner, but with characters acting strangely, distant from how human usually acts. In the spirit of this strangeness, I asked Redian Pragina Jali to create a Javanese translation of the story’s ending. By working with a Javanese translation of this unusual text, I intend to turn the language into a strange unto itself. I sang this text with a style in between sulukan, Debussy’s Pelleas & Melisande, and kargyraa: recitative after recitative, and at several moments, accompanied by a syntactical breakdown into harsh noise (kargyraa+rebab overpressure+electronic distortion). While writing the vocal part, I was inspired by the idea of asemic writing⁠—a kind of writing in that represents grammatical breakdown⁠—and by Kristeva’s notion of the semiotic/the symbolic⁠—the semiotic refers to rhythm and tone, and the symbolic refers to grammar and syntax⁠—, where noise would function as the breaking point of the symbolic to the semiotic. I attempt to push forward the experiments that we did with our previous piece; here, we utilized four new gendèrs, which in total would form a 36-tone tuning system (two of the gendèr do not have octave repetition). The electronic materials are sourced from field recordings as well as from Denis Smalley’s Base Metals—I intend this to be an homage to the first piece that gave me a deep understanding of the power behind bell’s timbre.

Text
English: 
His father said pityingly, in an offhand manner: “I suppose you wanted to say that sooner. But now it doesn’t matter.” And in a louder voice: “So now you know what else there was in the world besides yourself, till now you’ve known only about yourself! An innocent child, yes, that you were, truly, but still more truly have you been a devilish human being!—And therefore take note: I sentence you now to death by drowning!”
...
He swung himself over, like the distinguished gymnast he had once been in his youth, to his parents’ pride. With weakening grip he was still holding on when he spied between the railings a motor bus coming which would easily cover the noise of his fall, called in a low voice: “Dear parents, I have always loved you, all the same,” and let himself drop.

Javanese: 
Bapakke kandha karo memělas, swarane ngěmu rasa pasrah, “Tak kira yen kowe bakale ngandhani luwih cěpět. Ning, arěpa saiki ya ora dadi pěrkara.” Swarane sangsaya bantěr: “Dadi saiki kowe ngěrti apa maneh ing donya iki kajaba mung dhapurmu dhewe, tekan sěprene mung ngěrti pěrkara dhapurmu tok! Kowe bocah sing lugu, ya, pancen běněr kuwi sipatmu sing biyěn, nanging luwih běněr yen kowe saiki pancene bocah kěparat! Saiki gatekna, kowe tak ukum pati, tak blěběgke urip-uripan!” 
...
Georg gěgeyongan kaya dene atlit, mempěr kayata sing tahu dilakoni Georg nom-nomane biyen, kabeh mau dilakoni kanggo nuwuhake rasa mongkog wong tuwane. Gěgěmane sangsaya suwe sangsaya suda dayane, ing wěktu kuwi uga dheweke nyawang bus sing arěp liwat, swarane kaprungu guměděr, swarane bisa dadi srana anyamarake tibaning si Georg. Dheweke kandha nganggo swarane sing gěrok, “Pake, Bune, aku tětěp trěsna karo Panjěněngan kabeh. Salawase!”, Georg banjur nglalu nibakake dhiri. 


Composer: Dion Nataraja

Performer:
Sandikala Ensemble
Yustiawan Paradigma Umar (gendèr)
Suseno Setyo Wibowo (gendèr)
Roni Driyastoto (rebab)
Mustika Garis Sejati (rebab)
Michael Wimberly (percussion)
Dion Nataraja (voice and electronics)

Translator (to Javanese): Redian Pragina Jali

Producer: Yustiawan Paradigma Umar

Mixing & mastering: Luke Taylor

Kafka, Postmortem

Zetsu (2015)- note by Robert Kirzinger
For Rob Amory and Steven Schick

Ken Ueno’s music sets up systems of multivalent resonance, combining sympathetic sources of expressive energy to catalyze new artistic possibilities, some predictable (by the composer), some serendipitous. These systems, or situations, or amalgams, begin with sound itself: Ueno pushes instruments beyond traditional performance methods to achieve sonic realities of visceral and evocative power. As a performer himself, a one-time rock guitarist and now a vocalist using extended throat-singing techniques, he anchors the musical gestures of his music in an awareness of the intense physical and emotional demands of performance. Ueno’s extraordinarily broad cultural interests, which include architecture, film, and other visual arts, literature, sociology and philosophy, and cuisine (the latter suggesting a concern for “applied” art), enrich the already lively musical details of his work. He continually seeks out, and is sought himself by, performers and collaborators who share his sense of challenge and exploration.

Music of this kind is not without risk; in fact it cultivates and channels the energy of risk. Virtuosity, the necessity of close communication among players in an unusual musical environment, learning and artistically performing perhaps never-before-encountered techniques (and even pitches) creates a sense of living on the edge that positively energizes the players to strive beyond complacency. This energy is in turn transmitted, again positively, to the listener, who reaches a new level of understanding of the work’s joy and challenge. Zetsu takes its title from a 2003 art ceramic by the Japanese sculptor Nishida Jun (1977-2005), now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. TenFourteen Project commissioner Rob Amory alerted Ueno to this piece, in which Nishida Jun createad a work of protean form, combining careful structure the chaotically amorphous results of experimental material and kiln techniques. The beautiful, enigmatic resulting pieces analogize processes of the formation of the earth itself. Nishida Jun’s willingness to push traditional ceramics beyond what could be considered failure was not only artistically but physically dangerous. At age twenty-eight, two years after the creation of Zetsu No. 8, he was killed in a kiln explosion while working with traditional potters on Bali.

In addition to a solo violin part that celebrates Diaz’s relationship to the violin—her extensive experience as a performer of new music as well as of standard repertoire—Zetsu generalizes the situation-specific idea with the creation of new instruments: percussion idiophones using microtonal tunings unique to the harmonic spectra of the piece, and the “hookah sax,” played via a tube inserted in its bell. Knowing his performers, Ueno taps into their senses of humor as well as of adventure. Formally, Zetsu pushes and pulls gestures and textures to extremes: the slowly evolving shimmer in the solo violin of the opening gives way to discrete, rhythmically clarified polyphony for the ensemble. The soloist returns with an intricate part ranging widely in articulation and tessitura, microtonal contours lending an organic, improvised, very human intensity.

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6E-sN8RhgQ

Zetsu

Free Download

Eryn Allen Kane - Dead Or Alive

Community MusicWorks commissioned composer and vocalist Ken Ueno to write Four Contemplations for the restoration and rededication of RISD Museum’s Dainichi Buddha.

Ken Ueno / Four Contemplations: A Composition Commemorating the Restored Dainichi Buddha

Majel Connery & Ken Ueno with The Living Earth Show

https://soundcloud.com/majelaconnery
https://soundcloud.com/ken-ueno-composer
https://soundcloud.com/thelivingearthshow

Two sets of collaborators at the extremes of new music find one another in this unlikely partnership. Hailing from the outsider worlds of avant-garde opera, Tuvan throat-singing, and wicked good performance art, Majel Connery, Ken Ueno and The Living Earth Show (Andy Meyerson and Travis Andrews) team up for Switchboard Music Festival to produce something truly novel: bona fide pop music.

Switchboard Music Festival 
June 18, 2016 
Brava Theater, San Francisco 
2781 - 24th St (at York) 
switchboardmusic.com

Majel Connery

"The Cruel Waters"
Composed by Adam Silverman, 2015
Performed by Troy University Percussion (T. Adam Blackstock, director)
Justis Davis, Andrew Patzig and Tyler Whitehead, marimbas
Recorded 2016 by Garnet House Productions
John W. Parks IV, engineer

The Cruel Waters

'Inspiration!' is taken from the debut double A side 10" single from W. H. Lung, also featuring the track 'Nothing Is'. Released 12th May on Melodic. Digital available immediately.

Buy vinyl and digital at Melodic: www.melodic.co.uk/whlung
iTunes: hyperurl.co/ipskqn

Inspiration!

Ken Ueno & dj sniff Track 5

Libertad Sonora Chicago.

Libertad Sonora es un proyecto que nació en México en el año 2011 después de haber estado en lista de espera por mucho tiempo. Conjunta el coleccionismo, la imagen encarnada mediante el objeto, el sonido como manifestación artística y la transferencia de datos a través de la radio.

Si tuviéramos que describir Libertad Sonora paso por paso sería de la siguiente manera.

1)Objeto: se refiere a radio grabadoras que son comisionadas a artistas para realizar una intervención completamente libre a partir de diferentes técnicas y soportes.

2)Sonido: es un terreno muy flexible, puede reproducir piezas de un mismo artista o de diferentes artistas al mismo tiempo, creando composiciones aleatorias en tiempo real.

3)Datos: para lograr una perfecta sincronía de las grabadoras se transmiten las piezas con la colaboración de una estación de radio. Abriendo la transferencia de las mismas a todo el público que sintonice la estación en el momento de la intervención.

4)Espacio: es un proyecto pensado para la intervención del espacio público, dando preferencia a espacios abiertos sin discriminar otros sitios de transito.

Libertad Sonora Chicago; es un proyecto que se realiza en colaboración con el FMEL (Festival de Música Electrónica Latina), Linconln Zoo Park y Sociacusia.

La manera en como se da esta colaboración es por medio de un ejercicio de gestión y realización del proyecto en el que se involucran el desarrollo de la cultura y el vinculo con la comunidad latina de la ciudad de Chicago.

El FMEL, cumpliendo su quinta edición en 2012, presenta Echo / Sistemas, una exhibición de arte electrónico que reúne piezas de Arcángel Constantini, Amanda Gutiérrez, Juan Pablo Villegas, Pepe Mogt, Yurián Zerón, Iván Abreu y Eric García.

En este mismo espacio se instala Libertad Sonora con piezas de los artistas visuales: Marcos Raya, Diana Solis, Gabriel Villa, Chema Skand!, Nicole Marroquin & Antonio Martínez. Será acompañada de Onomatopeyas, pieza de Florencia Guillen y A.T.C.H.U de Alejandro Fournier e Hix Eléctrico (piezas pertenecientes a la edición de Libertad Sonora en México, exhibidas antes en Guanajuato, Morelia, Puerto Vallarta, Tijuana y Guadalajara).

El sonido contenido en la edición de Libertad Sonora Chicago, es tomado del Lincoln Zoo Park con piezas sonoras de Bryan Holmes (BRA / CL), Tito Rivas (MX), Sandra Gallo & Miguel Mesa (MX), Elías Puc (MX), Sergio Olimán (MX) y Manuel Estrella (MX), la curaduría de las piezas es realizada por Yair López quien además incluye una pieza dentro del proyecto.

Elías Puc- N-birds

Ɔ C

1. WINGLESS WHITE BIRD 0:01
2. INK 1:53
3. YES 3:52
4. Ɔ C 6:39

Wakana Kohsaka
August 2020

https://youtu.be/N_z1Sd8M7SY

Ɔ C (2020)

A recipient of the Rome Prize and the Berlin Prize, Ken Ueno, is a composer/vocalist/sound artist who is currently a Professor at UC Berkeley, where he holds the Jerry and Evelyn Hemmings Chambers Distinguished Professor Chair in Music. Ensembles and performers who have played Ken’s music include Kim Kashkashian and Robyn Schulkowsky, Mayumi Miyata, Teodoro Anzellotti, Aki Takahashi, Wendy Richman, Greg Oakes, BMOP, Alarm Will Sound, Steve Schick and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Nieuw Ensemble, and Frances-Marie Uitti. His music has been performed at such venues as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MusikTriennale Köln Festival, the Muziekgebouw, Ars Musica, Warsaw Autumn, Other Minds, the Hopkins Center, Spoleto USA, Steim, and at the Norfolk Music Festival. Ken’s piece for the Hilliard Ensemble, Shiroi Ishi, was featured in their repertoire for over ten years, with performances at such venues as Queen Elizabeth Hall in England, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and was aired on Italian national radio, RAI 3. Another work, Pharmakon, was performed dozens of times nationally by Eighth Blackbird during their 2001-2003 seasons. A portrait concert of Ken’s was featured on MaerzMusik in Berlin in 2011. In 2012, he was a featured artist on Other Minds 17. In 2014, Frances-Mairie Uitti and the Boston Modern Orchestra premiered his concerto for two-bow cello and orchestra, and Guerilla Opera premiered a run of his chamber opera, Gallo, to critical acclaim. He has performed as soloist in his vocal concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in New York and Boston, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Lithuanian National Symphony, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and with orchestras in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and California. Ken holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. A monograph CD of three orchestral concertos was released on the Bmop/sound label. His bio appears in The Grove Dictionary of American Music.

Zetsu

Ken Ueno Composer

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