The crude horns’ inability to sustain a discrete pitch introduced tonal drifting as a fundamental concept. The concrete electronic sounds of the synthesizer contrasted with the organic acoustic sounds of steel and copper horns, as well as the reed organ, which produced slightly rhythmic wooden clicking when pumped. Over time, the dynamic interplay of simple tones and complex sonorities revealed acute acoustical difference in the ensemble.
Yoshi music mix series#
For the following 50 minutes, the composition unfolded with a series of back-and-forth harmonic layering, giving particular emphasis to variations on the fifth and octave ratios (two of the most recognizable harmonic relationships), with added chromatics from the reed organ. The third horn joined with a distinctly stuttered technique, notated in the score, and more easily merged with din outside. Two of the longest and deepest instruments were played with a steady continuity, rivaling the electrical constancy of the tone generators. The breathy undulating tones of the metal horns soon joined the car horns of the street. The intrusions appeared to annoy some in attendance, including the composer, but these extra-musical elements added surprising texture to a composition that was already largely improvisational. The mixture of controlled and uncontrolled sound recalled Young and Zazeela’s Dream House, as well as composer Maryanne Amacher and sound artist Max Neuhaus. The roar of delivery trucks, blaring sirens and car horn bursts on Broadway were boldly asserted in the mix, providing an arrhythmic sonic backdrop that continued throughout the performance. The sustained electronic sounds vibrated the walls, causing sympathetic chatter in the ceiling fixtures and intermingling with industrial noise from the street. The evening began slowly with the swell of deeply resonant sine tones played by the composer’s son, Tashi Wada, who has performed with his father for several years. 5) was first built for Young by artist and sound engineer Bob Bielecki who, like Wada, also spent the 1970s constructing instruments for the New York City musical avant-garde. The custom system used on Thursday night (Nov. While the pipes are artifacts of the composition in its earliest state, the harmonium and synthesizer are recent additions, and together replace an original electronic music system built by sound artist Liz Phillips. The instruments consisted of four customized metal horns handcrafted by the composer in the 1970s using industrial pipe an air-pumped reed organ, or harmonium, with foot pedal and a homemade synthesizer with six sine-wave tone generators. The performance lasted about an hour and a half-rather brief for a drone concert-and balanced precariously between the ideas of preservation and adaptation. Wada’s recent presentation provided a unique opportunity to reconsider the history of drone in contemporary art, as well as the conditions of its re-performance.įirst composed in 1970 and then recomposed in 2015, “Earth Horns with Electronic Drone” defines the genre both at its emergence and in its present state. However, its roots in Fluxus, in the work of composers like Wada and his mentor Young, suggest that drone’s rich connections to postwar art have been overlooked, especially in the realms of sculpture, performance and dance. Drone has always been a subterranean genre. But drone, the lesser-known branch of musical Minimalism, never really went away, although it never attained the popularity of its pulse-driven counterparts in the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley. The event was organized by ISSUE Project Room and hosted by the Emily Harvey Foundation in SoHo, where Wada lived and worked in the 1970s. 5 and 6 of the early 1970s work “Earth Horns with Electronic Drone” by Fluxus composer Yoshi Wada, who was born in Japan but lived most of his life in New York City, might also support this hypothesis. The environment hosted multiple performances of drone-based music over the summer, including rarely heard compositions by Young, an innovator of the genre. Consider the high profile reconstruction of the Dream House, a 1960s sound and light installation by the artists La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, which was purchased by Dia earlier this year. Drone music seems to be experiencing a comeback.
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