Brion Gysin in Tangier, 1954: "One Night @ the 1001"

Who runs may read but few run fast enough. What are we here for? Does the great metaphysical nut revolve around that? Well, I'll crack it for you right now. What are we here for? We are here to go! (Brion Gysin)

In 1954 Brion Gysin operated The Thousand and One Nights, a Tangier restaurant, "in order to hear the musicians of Jajouka every night for the rest of my life." That bond remained even as Gysin went on to other things; eventually, in 1968, Gysin himself would introduce Brian Jones to the musicians and be involved in the recording of The Pipes of Pan at Jajouka, released in 1971 by the Rolling Stones.

According to a note from Paul Bowles included in One Night @ the 1001 he recalls bringing a tape recorder and capturing performances by the master musicians. Bowles writes: "Brion was wildly enthusiastic about the music, but he was not sure about my recording it" -- ironic, considering Gysin's later sound experiments and ever-present Uher tape-recorder.

He must have had a change of heart: Ramuntcho Matta, the disc's producer writes in the liner notes that 'Brion gave me 23 reel-to-reel tapes that he recorded himself" before Gysin died in 1986.

Gysin's nature as an artist was quicksilver: he tried his hand at so many arts, and loved to cross disciplines, that he remained an elusive figure throughout his life. This two-disc set presents two aspects of Gysin's Tangier stay. The first disc is an edited hour-long recording of the master musicians. The performance is intimate and energetic, almost sounding like wild chamber-music for Tangier's international set.

This is not the 24-hour-long pipes of Pan -- but it is mysterious, sometimes frantic, and otherworldly, qualities enhanced by the obvious on-site recording. Presented here without titles or text, translation or lyrics, the music remains as inscrutable as Gysin would have wished, and just as mesmerizing.

"Dilaloo," Gysin's 1955 recitation inspired by the rites of Pan, is on the second disc. It is included here with an added, improvised musical accompaniment by producer Ramuntcho Matta. Gysin's poem recreates the ritual of initiation and transformation in the village of Jajouka.

His reading has moments of force and power, an incantation that mirrors the swirling rhythms on the first disc. It's also a fascinating attempt at putting the ineffable into words. While the music of Jajouka speaks for itself, on their own Gysin's words are as much an explanation as the listener could ask of this strange and powerful music.

Like Gysin's novels, this re-issued set has slipped in-and-out-of-print over the years, a result of the artist's multifaceted legacy as a writer, performer, and artist. In a twist on the increasing popularity of other artists associated with the beat generation, Gysin's reputation remains as elusive as ever.

A free ten-hour festival of music today at the High Museum

Atlanta music fans get a rare opportunity to hear ten hours of music for free on Saturday, June 25, from 2 p.m. to midnight, in an even rarer venue: the lobby of the High Museum.

An event called SonicPalooza is offering the work of contemporary composers, ranging from Steve Reich to Atlanta's Mark Gresham, performed by the Atlanta group Sonic Generator. The concert's costs are being totally subsidized by the High Museum. The unique concert event, featuring 26 pieces of music, is the idea of Tom Sherwood, Sonic Generator's artistic director. The Georgia Tech group is the University's ensemble-in-residence.

Also featured will be a variety of compositional styles: Tristan Perich's "A/B/C/D" in the 2 p.m. hour, John Luther Adams' "Immeasurable Space of Tones" after 5 p.m., and "Unto the Hills" by George Crumb at 8 p.m. The conclusion will be a presentation of "Music for 18 Musicians," Steve Reich's groundbreaking 1970s composition, at 10:30 p.m.

Sonic Generator

If the extended free concert is a success Sherwood hopes to create other visual and musical events, with several ideas already in the planning stages. Pierre Ruhe recently talked with Tom Sherwood for an interview about today's event on the website ArtsCriticATL. Here's an excerpt:

Where’d this all-day festival come from?

“We’re obviously ripping off the Bang on a Can marathon, which I totally love,” says Sherwood, referring to the all-day new-music smackdown in New York, which has inspired similar events in Detroit and elsewhere. “I love being surrounded by all that music, and I wanted something like that in Atlanta. You come or go as you please, totally uninhibited. Stay five minutes or five hours. There’s such a burgeoning arts culture in Atlanta right now, people seem really hungry for exciting and different experiences.”

Like the last night of Dalí at the High Museum, open all night?

“Did you see that? We were there at midnight and the line was out the door, stretching down to Peachtree Street. That’s an energy we’re trying to tap.”

But hasn’t the visual arts scene always seemed less structured, more hip?

“In the visual arts you’re at your leisure to take in what you want, go between rooms, return to a painting you like, watch the reaction of other people to a work of art. We want SonicPalooza to be closer to that vibe than a typical concert hall setting.”

But 10 hours of music? That sounds like a lot of work.

“It’s really not that much harder, logistically speaking, to program two hours or 10 hours. I’ve always wanted to do ‘Music for 18 Musicians,’ which is probably the greatest piece of music from the late 20th century that I can think of. So when we’ve got five percussionists for that, you start to think, ‘What if we added another hour?’ It snowballs. Add a few solo pieces [which musicians can rehearse on their own] and you start thinking about a larger time span. And your imagination starts to take off. And the implications of the event start to take on a whole larger meaning.”

Then there’s the cost of the show.

“The Woodruff Arts Center is paying for the whole thing, part of its Celebrate Diversity Program. We’re testing the waters in collaboration with the arts center. We’re talking about other things, like [the silent film] ‘Metropolis’ projected on an outside wall [of the High Museum], with a modern French score. It would be cool if this festival could happen once a year.”

And the music?

“These are all American composers, and a lot of it is music Sonic Generator has performed at some point before. We’re committed to it. Our marathon should hopefully raise the exposure to how much really beautiful and interesting contemporary music is out there. John Luther Adams’ music will sound really beautiful in the lobby space, just magical. To me, it’s not about getting someone to stay for 10 hours, it’s about giving them the chance to check it out."

The complete program schedule is listed in Pierre Ruhe's comprehensive article. As he notes, most of the featured composers have their individual websites. For more information on the marathon, visit Sonic Generator’s website.

The JFK papers go online at the Kennedy Library

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is now providing access to 250,000 documents from the Kennedy Library online. This is the first move toward making a large portion of the library's material digitally available free of charge. The 35th president himself pledged to make all of his papers publicly available more than fifty years ago. All together, this will account for approximately eight million pages of library materials, out of a total of 48 million pages of documents in the archives.

In a recent press release Caroline Kennedy states that "it is our hope that the Library’s online archive will allow a new generation to learn about this important chapter in American history. And as they discover the heroes of the civil rights movement, the pioneers of outer space, and the first Peace Corps volunteers, we hope they too are inspired to ask what they can do for their country.”

Curators have chosen to make 200 hours of audio and video available as well, often-requested material that historians and the general public use for research. This includes an initial collection marking the fiftieth anniversary of Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. From The New York Times article by Katie Zezima:

“Until now, if people wanted to see the documents they had to come to Boston, go to our research room and we’d pull out boxes,” said Thomas J. Putnam, director of the library. “Now anyone with access to a computer with an Internet connection could replicate that experience.”
This release is to be the first of many, Mr. Putnam said, and the library started with the files most used by researchers, including Kennedy’s office files, personal papers and correspondence. Also included are recorded telephone calls between Kennedy and heads of state.
“Literally these were the pieces of paper that went across his desk, that have his handwriting on it, his speech drafts, his doodles,” Mr. Putnam said.
Mr. Putnam said it was impossible to digitally archive all 48 million pages of documents the library holds, but the goal is to get about eight million pages online. He hopes the next release will include national security files, more television video and documents relating to civil rights.
The digital archives are searchable. Entering “inaugural address,” for example, brings up a draft by Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy’s speechwriter, and video of the event.
Telephone calls include one between Kennedy and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower discussing the Cuban missile crisis.
Caroline Kennedy said the goal of the project was to make her father’s presidency and legacy accessible to a generation raised on computers.

More information about the digital project called Access to a Legacy is available at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum website. The library's searchable interface includes photographic and audio components (the President's Office Files, the White House Central Chronological Files, and the John F. Kennedy Personal Papers); one collection of audio files (the White House Audio collection); one moving image collection (the White House Film collection); one collection of museum artifacts (the State Gifts); and a portion of the White House Photograph collection, which consists of over 35,000 photographs.

(Photo of John F. and Robert F. Kennedy in the Oval Office by Art Rickerby.)