a r t i s t : Yoshi Wada
t i t l e : Lament for the Rise and Fall of the Elephantine Crocodile d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : EM (EM1074CD)
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Jan/2008
t r a c k s : 02
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 93,2 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
If you have heard the music of YOSHI WADA, you have no doubt
been impressed by his amazing sound-worlds.
Born in Kyoto, he moved to New York in the late 1960s. He is
well-known as a Fluxus artist with links to La Monte Young,
and has been involved in many performances and sound
installations. However, he has released only 2 recordings (as
his solo albums) , both hard to find. Finally, a CD reissue of
his most important and rarest LP, "Lament For Rise And Fall Of
The Elephantine Crocodile" (Recorded in 1981, Issued on India
Navigation in 1982).
This CD contains 2 pieces: track 1 - solo overtone voice (he
studied with legendary Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath)
recorded at performance space 'Dry Pool', with a deep
underground echo feeling; track 2 - dense psychedelic drones
using bagpipe-like self-made instrument. These wondrous sounds
will take you to another, better world!!
"Lament For the Rise and Fall of the Elephantine Crocodile is
a vocal and instrumental work, on which I started working in
1979. This recording is meant to be one continuous piece; side
A: solo singing & side B: the instrumental music of the
bagpipe with singing. The piece itself is an experiment with
reed & improvisational singing within the modal structure. The
instrument could be played solo or as a drone accompaniment
for voice. I originally built the bagpipe instrument out of
plumbing fittings & pipes pumped by a large air compressor. I
called it "An adapted bagpipe with sympathy". Since that time,
the original instrument has been altered and improved for the
stability of the air source and accuracy of the tuning".
"The photograph above shows the instruments used for this
recording (note; see the CD back cover). The Elephantine
Crocodile (right) & the Alligator (left) are both reed
instruments pumped by the air. The alligator instrument plays
precise pitch and enables me to tune the Elephantine Crocodile
drone pipe pitch. When I began to work with these cane reed
pipes, I realized that they could be tuned to produce the
intervals of extremely fine tolerance. One of the strong
characteristics of these bagpipe drones is the clarity of
harmonics & partials in the higher octaves. When these pipes
are perfectly in tune, in unison, or in different intervals,
one can hear the high microtonal partials very clearly."
"In 1979, I came to the "Dry Pool" (An empty swimming pool in
the basement of Media Study, Buffalo, N.Y.) with "An adapted
bagpipe with sympathy" to do a concert. Although I normally do
not like long reverberation added to my music, when I entered
the pool I immediately liked the acoustics of the space, which
had very long delay time. The pool gave rich resonance to the
voice & bagpipe sound. Since that time, I became much more
aware of the psychological effect of the acoustics of the
room."
"Last November, I had a chance to come to the "Dry Pool" to do
the recording. I stayed in the pool for preparation and slept
there as well. It was very quiet. It gave me the feeling as
though I were in an anechoic chamber. I started to hear all
kinds of droning sound and almost could not tell as if I were
hallucinating or not. When I began singing, it was with a very
simple overtone series, then I gradually developed a series of
intervals which I felt strong. My concern is with the timbre
and tuning of the multiple chords which enable me to evolve my
improvisational singing and the mode in progression."
(Taken from original LP liner notes on "LAMENT FOR THE RISE
AND FALL OF THE ELEPHANTINE CROCODILE" in 1982)
http://www.emrecords.net/records/00089.html
_______________________________________________________________________
01-Singing [31:06]
02-Bagpipe [33:17]
-------
64:23 min