Robe rehearsal 181017

from Affectio performed by Ayelet Harpaz (voice), Anne Faulbourn (harpsichord), Tatiana Koleva (percussion)
From the performance: Spinoza
and CD: The Thing Like Us (UNSOUNDS 11U)

Affectio [excerpt]

The spike organ or nail chello (sic) is thought to originate from an early middle Europe monastic sect, the Iscariotians. They may have used the instrument to accompany their lengthy rituals contemplating the pain of the crucifixion.  

The Iscariotians are said to have been wiped out by returning crusaders at the behest of emperor Leopold III. Other commentators have suggested that the whole story may have been a constructed  alibi for the defeated crusaders plunder and desecration of the brewery of ..Santa Quaffa...


A possible surviving 'chello' object, made from of lignum vitae and iron, resides in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Its interpretation is not without controversy with some critics asserting the object is nothing more than a kind of agricultural implement, though this does not explain its cruciform shape and carved decoration.

In 1972 the scholar . Roland de Févin was granted permission to investigate the Rouen Chello, explore its sound making capabilities and make recordings. his theory was that the instrument was to be played by a rosined bow.  Unfortunately de Févin's playing and handling resulted in two of the nails fracturing and so the investigation was terminated after only one day. The single recording de Févin made was never released but it was played to audiences on an European lecture tour he conducted shortly before his death in 1974. 

It has been subsequently alleged that de Févin's  investigation  coincided with the great fire at  Nantes cathedral. This lead to several occultist conspiracy theories, most notably retold in the pulp fiction novel Blood Nail-(Brownie Dane,1975) much of the plot was lifted for the Italian soft core film Sistero Orgasma (1977) where the action was switched away from a monastery to a scantily clad convent.(citation needed) 

On the film soundtrack, the sounds of the Chello were replicated by experimental electronic synthesiser the achoirorium- itself the  subject of intrigue- as its extremely high operating voltages caused the death of its creator  Luigi soon after the recording session.


This recording was made in 1980 by UK avant geographer Forster Iberix who attended several of de Févin's lectures.  He set about building a replica device and making reconstructions of the Iscariotarian mass based on a column of scribbled numbers  which appear reverso  in one of Leonardo da Vinci's codex's (Coded notebooks). The recording was released on an untitled flexi disk issued by cult French label sordide sentimental -who now deny any knowledge of its existence. It does not appear on their official discography.  Improbably- Haringey local studies library, London, has a copy in their archive. The library does not provide any method of playback for the flexidisc and items from the archive cannot be withdrawn -so some subterfuge was involved in me getting this track taped. Whilst the disk was in my possession an inexplicable number of minor disasters befell me -so I can assure you I hurriedly returned it.

disquiet0385
More on this 385th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Audubonus Instrumentum / The Assignment: Imagine a fake instrument, and make music with it — at:
https://disquiet.com/0385/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Thanks to Paul Harrington for the Latin assistance.
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0385-audubonus-instrumentum/

The Nail Chello (disquiet0385)

Ruggine (for string quartet + electronics, 2019 - Casa Ricordi)
co-commissioned by Fondazione I Teatri Reggio Emilia / De Sono Associazione per la Musica
written for / dedicated to / premiered by:  Quartetto Maurice
Live recording:  09.11.2019 @ Willem Twee Concert Hall, Den Bosch (NL) - 
November Music Festival

Ruggine

Ruggine (2019)

paaapii

Bird (Naviarhaiku 330)

Omri Cohen - Silver Lining

Stab of Pain, the new album of Sig Valax, is now available at Snow in Water Records (release date: July 3rd 2020).

In Stab of Pain, Sig Valax presents synthetic landscapes open like dreams through which she invites us to travel. Interior spaces of endless resonance, drones piercing the blanket of the night like a beacon, sequences that force us to listen differently. The listener is caught up in a magical flow of multiple streams.
There is something very feminine - stiched or woven - in Sig Valax's music, and there are clearly correspondences with her work as a digital artist and her onirochromes which draw wave tables and three-dimensional spectra. Dream figures that escape our perception, threads that intersect and create a mesh where the pattern alters repetition, a spirituality that is both wise and adolescent and offers new paths mapped out through sound synthesis. These 8 inspiring and singular titles resonate with the universe of artists such as Sarah Davachi, Eliane Radigue, Delya Derbyshire and Laurie Spiegel.

Sig Valax - Broken Eden

Short excerpt of a 40 minutes live improv 
15 October 2019 @ Les Instants Chavirés
Sharing the bill with Kate Carr, a concert produced by La Fabrique Agitée
https://www.instantschavires.com/kate-carrvalerie-vivancos/

Valerie Vivancos Live Instants Chavirés  15 Oct 2019 (excerpt)

From the Origin EP
Now on bandcamp

https://balsam.bandcamp.com/album/origin-ep

Origin EP

Remembering Antisana

This dark ambient track comes from the beginning of Lockdown Jam 5, recorded on the 28th May 2020, again using the inspiring work of of @idin-samimi-mofakham, @martyna-kosecka and Michael Vallone (@taraexperiment), as well reintroducing the work of our dear friend @arshia-samsaminia.

Affectio [excerpt]

yannis_kyriakides

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